Author: admin_poj

How do you build engaged communities around your brand? The most successful businesses design for fans not customers. They focus on the human not the transactional. They are innovative but also sincere, delivering compelling products that have the brand’s DNA embedded. But it’s easy to hit the wrong note. 

I found someone who knows exactly what to avoid and what to push for. Philippe Roucoule has had a hugely varied, 30-year career. He held senior roles in F&B businesses and retail before Disney called. After a decade, he moved to become Senior Vice President at Warner Bros Discovery. In every role, he has worked with partners to make his brands come to life in products that connect with customers every day. These customers become fans; and this is the key to his success. 

It’s no secret that forging an emotional connection with customers is a tool that can elevate a business. An article in the Harvard Business Review detailed how diverse businesses have done just this. As the authors write: “The most sophisticated firms are making emotional connection part of a broad strategy that involves every function in the value chain, from product development and marketing to sales and service.”

It’s game play straight out of the sports industry where fans have always been fans (but now have everything from experiences to merchandise to buy to proudly show off their loyalties). According to 90min.com, Nike topped the list for shirt and merchandise sales in 2023, making £153m from Barcelona’s merchandise. These are products bought by fans not customers; and it’s big money. 

Creating that emotional connection

Let me make this clear – it’s not the sole responsibility of your marketing department. As Philippe explains: “They are not the guardians of how the brand comes to life for fans.” Each person in a business – and partners too – share this responsibility. It’s built on trust. This means they have ownership and it changes creative thinking. 

Philippe sums this up. “Gone are the days of saying, I’m going to put the logo of my brand on the product, and that’s called licensing. It’s not the case”, he explains. “You have to be much more inclusive in the way you look at it. You have to be able to actually translate the essence and the DNA of the brand onto the product itself. It becomes really symbiotic.”

“You have to make sure it’s right for the fans, because you don’t get a second chance.”

If you get it wrong – especially if you are not authentic – the fans will pick up on this. If they are emotionally invested in a brand, anything that doesn’t do it justice will immediately be on their radar. As Philippe states: “You have to make sure it’s right for the fans, because you don’t get a second chance.” He admits walking away from deals with “multi-billion dollar” businesses for exactly this reason. “[They were] easy money, but they weren’t right for the brand,” he shares.  

But when you get it right…

The companies that have fostered the emotional connection – making fans of customers – win not only fans but sometimes lifelong loyalty. Philippe holds Lego up as an example of how a laser-focus on humans has changed a company’s fortunes. 

The company was in dire straits in 2003 with a reported $800 million debt. News reports suggested it was just weeks away from collapse. A new CEO, Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, was brought in. Key to his new strategy was created partnerships with huge brands including Stars Wars. 

Not only did Lego fans go wild for the new launches but Lego also won over the fans of the iconic brands it partnered with. Lego doesn’t disclose how much these branded products bring in for the company, but its revenue was DKK 65.9 billion (nearly 9 billion euros) in FY 2023, which was up 2% despite a declining toy market.

Yes – there will be people who will not come on that journey with your brand. Businesses need to stay connected with those who will. As Philippe says: “…give fans a spectrum of options for them to be able to connect with a brand through a multiplicity of products – and products that are relevant to them.”

Measuring loyalty

To unravel your fans’ preferences – and be nimble – you need data. Warner processes vast amounts of data using AI. But what do you do with this data? Philippe argues that you must have clarity of vision on where you want to be. This then gives you the problems that you need to solve; but all with an end goal in sight. These are your metrics and the data will tell you if you are hitting them. Are you solving the problems? Are you delivering what your fans want? Keep focussed on this. 

“If you can’t measure it, don’t do it.”

“Starting with the end in mind makes sure that you don’t get distracted along that path. You can go a bit right and a bit left, but you know where you’re heading,” explains Philippe. 

He adds categorically: “If you can’t measure it, don’t do it.” Success is a measure of the emotional connection that you have with your fans. To be agile and reactionary – to keep delivering – you need to measure this engagement so you can build when things are working and tweak when they’re not. This rigorous approach to getting it right – along with authenticity and consistency – are what makes fans of customers; and keeps people engaging with your brand even when the competition is fierce. 

Performance is the metric that we are judged upon daily. Employees at Meta were told last month that more job cuts were incoming. “I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said. But what defines performance and does potential come into it at all? 

With companies making dramatic changes, the focus is on what employees can deliver in the here and now. Tough decisions are being made and people are scared. Because of this, employee growth is stymied. Employees don’t have a growth mindset as they are in fight or flight mode; and the C-suites of these companies don’t have one, either, as they are furiously changing their roadmaps. 

Growth should be sustainable

I would argue that growth should be sustainable. Mass hiring then mass redundancies aren’t healthy for anyone. Instead, hire people and emphasise to them that their role will change over time as the world around them evolves. Give employees a growth mindset – and by that I mean, the tools to develop and learn constantly; and to maintain their relevance as technology and world events transform every industry. As Till Leopold, Head of Work, Wages and Job Creation at the World Economic Forum said: “Trends such as generative AI and rapid technological shifts are upending industries and labour markets, creating both unprecedented opportunities and profound risks. The time is now for businesses and governments to work together, invest in skills and build an equitable and resilient global workforce.”

Future proofing

Having a growth mindset yourself – and helping foster it in others – supports this. Psychologist Carol Dweck said in her now legendary TED Talk on growth mindset: “People with a fixed mindset believe that their talents and abilities are fixed traits” while “people with a growth mindset believe that their abilities can be developed through hard work, good strategies, and mentoring.”

For me, it’s central to everything that I do and I have committed to life-long learning. Every single year, I do some type of executive training and in some cases, I redo them because I want to see how the thinking has evolved since the last time I did it. 

”Thinking does evolve – not just because of technological or political shifts – but because we are discovering more every month about how our minds work.” 

We know our brains are not fixed and can be changed. Before the age of 25 years old, our brain can rewire just by passive exposure to information. After that age, you have to actively pursue new information or carry out new activities to change your neural pathways. It’s a conscious choice. But why wouldn’t you? 

Co-creating

When I work with a team, I see the impact profoundly. During a client project recently, we were about to hit a critical point. I was focussed on creating and delivering value, but there was an amazing moment when my own insights lead the client towards their own – and totally unique – solution. This means that my growth mindset has encouraged the same in them. You end up as co-creators instead of just plugging away with a static approach. 

“The moment when you all land upon an idea that you hadn’t thought about before is magic.” 

No one has all of the answers, after all. Instead, be curious, be willing to ask questions and hone the ability to learn and change. As Albert Einstein is quoted as saying: “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change”. If you haven’t read it, look up Matthew Sayed’s book, Bounce, which is brilliant on this. 

With a growth mindset comes resilience, which feels pretty essential right now as the world of work changes at breakneck pace. Learn how to develop your growth mindset in times of calm so that when life throws a curveball your way, you have the knowledge and tools to deal with it. This is a way not just to cope, but to come through times of adversity stronger. Yes, growth mindset can be a buzzword.  And yes, it’s a topic that might well get some eye rolls when you talk about it. And yet, when the stakes are high, having a growth mindset will get you through – and you will be stronger than before.