Part I
Linking the Big World of Branding to Customer Service

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Because of the huge sums of money invested in brands and the billions of dollars of shareholder value they represent, marketing professionals know a great deal about the subject. They know how branding works, its components, and what it takes to create a brand leader.

Brand fads appear from time to time, not so dissimilar from Andy Warhol’s fifteen-minutes-of-fame concept. Yet there is a sufficient mystery that leaves even the most rigorous marketers in awe of successful brands, especially the immediately recognized ones that have maintained their appeal over long periods of time.

This section of the book establishes a backdrop against which you can evaluate how to brand your service experiences. You will be introduced to language that cuts to the quick in determining if your service is on-brand or off-brand. You will also become acquainted with organizations that have done well with their service branding—and those that have not.

At the end of part I, you should be able to decide whether you want to take the next steps in linking your service delivery to your brand and what those next steps should be.