TM - May 2008 - (Page 4) [from the editor] by Mike Prokopeak L L Coffee, Lovemarks and Talent Management ike many of you, I’m a caffeine junkie. And for more than a dozen years, my beverage of choice has been Starbucks coffee. Most mornings, I simply can’t get going unless I get a taste of the dark, rich brew served up by my local barista. I’ll go out of my way, even when I’m running late, to visit Starbucks over another coffee shop. If you asked me to explain why I choose Starbucks over other places, I’d talk about experiences: the steam rising off a hot cup, the rich But as consumers were given more choices and gained more power, control of the brand shifted from corporate brand managers to the consumer. The real strength of a brand now lies in creating a connection with a product. Trust is still important, but the truly successful brands realize it’s more complex and personal. That’s the central idea of Roberts’ lovemark concept — creating a powerful emotional connection between a brand and the consumer. As Roberts points out, the differwill workers be more loyal to your brand and evangelize for it, but they also will perform at a higher level. Add marketing to the talent manager’s ever-growing tool kit. This month’s cover story takes a look at branding as a strategy for attracting and retaining employees. In many ways, the growth of talent management mirrors the rise of marketing as an important business discipline. As competition increased and markets expanded from local to national and now to global, marketing grew out of the sales function as organizations realized they needed a more sophisticated and targeted strategy to get customers to buy their products. Marketing gave them the ability to be more responsive to consumer demands and made marketing practitioners invaluable to the organization. Talent managers are evolving into the forward-looking, strategic arm of HR, using sophisticated analytics, strategies and techniques to attract, retain and develop their consumer bases — the organization’s workforce. As the environment talent managers operate in becomes more complex and competitive, thinking the status quo is OK is a mistake. Talent managers must realize, as Saatchi & Saatchi’s Roberts did, that times change. To remain competitive you have insight into the consumer and the foresight to act on it. What are you doing to make your organization the employer of choice? Talent managers would do well to create an employer brand that fosters emotional connections with existing and potential employees. aroma of brewing coffee, the ink that rubs off on my hands from the newspaper I’m reading, the warm music playing in the background. Part of my preference is product based. I just happen to like their coffee. But there are plenty of other coffee purveyors out there whose brews are just as good, if not better. Much of why I choose their store rather than a competitor’s is marketing — a connection with the brand tied to positive personal experiences. Kevin Roberts, CEO of global advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, coined a term for those kinds of connections: lovemarks. A lovemark is a brand that has created consumer loyalty that goes beyond reason. Up until about a decade ago, most product marketing was built around trust. Consumers wanted a brand they felt was reliable and always there for them: a Craftsman tool, a Maytag appliance, a Kraft Foods dinner. ences between most products are, for the most part, relatively minimal. So the key to getting consumers to choose your product is the feeling you can trigger in them. Nike led the way with its Just Do It campaign, encouraging consumers to set lofty goals and strive to achieve those aspirations. If you think about the workforce as a consumer base, there are clear lessons talent managers can learn from marketers such as Roberts. As the labor pool shrinks and competition for talent increases, workers will have more choices. The power increasingly resides with them. With so many choices, how can an organization attract and retain the talent it needs to be successful? There is no single key, but talent managers would do well to think like Roberts and strive to create an employer brand that fosters emotional connections with existing and potential employees. Not only Mike Prokopeak Editorial Director mikep@TalentMgt.com May 2008 4 talent management magazine www.TalentMgt.com http://www.TalentMgt.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of TM - May 2008 Talent Management - May 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Human Performance Leading Edge Learning Connections Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take The Four Pillars of Managing Performance Transform Talent With Deeper Skill Specialization Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning Graybar: Supporting a Long-Term View of Talent Management American Diabetes Association: On a Mission to Improve Employee Health Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? American Systems Employees Earn a Piece of the Pie Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources Full Potential TM - May 2008 TM - May 2008 - (Page Intro) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page Cover1) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page Cover2) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page 1) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page 2) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page 3) TM - May 2008 - Editor's Letter (Page 4) TM - May 2008 - Editor's Letter (Page 5) TM - May 2008 - Contents (Page 6) TM - May 2008 - Contents (Page 7) TM - May 2008 - Contents (Page 8) TM - May 2008 - Contents (Page 9) TM - May 2008 - Human Performance (Page 10) TM - May 2008 - Human Performance (Page 11) TM - May 2008 - Leading Edge (Page 12) TM - May 2008 - Leading Edge (Page 13) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 14) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 15) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 16) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 17) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 18) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 19) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 20) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 21) TM - May 2008 - Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations (Page 22) TM - May 2008 - Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations (Page 23) TM - May 2008 - Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations (Page 24) TM - May 2008 - Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations (Page 25) TM - May 2008 - Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take (Page 26) TM - May 2008 - Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take (Page 27) TM - May 2008 - Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take (Page 28) TM - May 2008 - Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take (Page 29) TM - May 2008 - The Four Pillars of Managing Performance (Page 30) TM - May 2008 - The Four Pillars of Managing Performance (Page 31) TM - May 2008 - The Four Pillars of Managing Performance (Page 32) TM - May 2008 - The Four Pillars of Managing Performance (Page 33) TM - May 2008 - Transform Talent With Deeper Skill Specialization (Page 34) TM - May 2008 - Transform Talent With Deeper Skill Specialization (Page 35) TM - May 2008 - Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning (Page 36) TM - May 2008 - Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning (Page 37) TM - May 2008 - Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning (Page 38) TM - May 2008 - Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning (Page 39) TM - May 2008 - Graybar: Supporting a Long-Term View of Talent Management (Page 40) TM - May 2008 - Graybar: Supporting a Long-Term View of Talent Management (Page 41) TM - May 2008 - American Diabetes Association: On a Mission to Improve Employee Health (Page 42) TM - May 2008 - American Diabetes Association: On a Mission to Improve Employee Health (Page 43) TM - May 2008 - Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? (Page 44) TM - May 2008 - Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? (Page 45) TM - May 2008 - Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? (Page 46) TM - May 2008 - Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? (Page 47) TM - May 2008 - American Systems Employees Earn a Piece of the Pie (Page 48) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page 49) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page 50) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page 51) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page 52) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page Cover3) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page Cover4)
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