GOD SAVE OUR BRANDING QUEEN

GOD BLESS OUR BRANDING QUEEN

My first experience of our much loved and much mourned Her Majesty The Queen was in 1953 when I watched her Coronation on a tiny black and white TV screen. It was also my first of a TV set!

So, in this sense, Her Majesty and media innovation (aka television) arrived at the same time in my life.

In 1953, in case the younger readers of Campaign thought that Twitter and Facebook have always been with us, it was a world where electronic media, mobile phones, ITV, Channel 4, SKY and the whole cacophony of multi-channel TV, not to mention the excitement of Netflix and Disney+ hadn’t been conceived, let alone invented. Neither had Campaign, a mere 54-year-old stripling.

And very few of the top 20 ad agencies today were alive and kicking in 1953. Grey, McCanns, Ogilvy and a few others?

But others, like Erwin Wasey, the London Press Exchange, Dorlands, Ted Bates and S.H. Benson, Masius and even the mighty J. Walter Thompson have all failed to survive the ‘Long-May She Reign’ over us era.

But though Her Majesty was not directly responsible for the greatest explosion in the media world, she was a major player in the world of branding that the media explosion unleashed.

Though Her Majesty would probably hate to be regarded as a ‘brand’, she was an instinctive manager of the Royal Family brand.

Her Christmas broadcasts took the form of a ‘brand review’ when she reported to her ‘consumers’ the story of the Royal brand in any particular year. As a wise brand leader, she presented her ‘annus horribilis’ with honesty and accuracy – the sad end of the marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana and the fire that destroyed Windsor Castle.

And ‘recollections may vary’ beautifully burst Meghan’s Hollywood bubble.

In all this management of Family issues Her Majesty protected the reputation of her brand making the Royal Family the world’s most admired brand because of the power of her convictions.

The heart of her achievement was that Her Majesty was a natural conviction brand. To her, her Coronation Oath meant that she had been anointed by God to deliver on her unswerving duty: no brand ever had such a purpose. And it was this inner conviction that drove her forward over the 70 years of her reign.

She did not need any of the weapons of social media, to manage her brand. Largely initiated by her brilliant Consort communicated with subtle effectiveness. Though Her Majesty did have a Royal website and Royal Twitter and even Royal Facebook, this was mere digital plumbing. It was her natural compassion, her utter integrity, her driving conviction and her ability to embrace more changes than any monarch in our history that has sustained the Royal brand over 70 years.

Prince Philip was certainly more of a media person than Her Majesty. His love of innovation, his commitment to young people witnessed by the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and his ability to puncture the pomposity of royalty with jokes in poor taste, all gave originality and wit to the Royal brand.

Her Majesty, as the brand manager – would hold her fire on all these issues that could’ve bought controversy. Though not lacking in spontaneity, she was cautious and considered and always provided the vital component for her brand of continuity.

It is a manager’s use of continuity as a brand weapon that our industry should emulate more.

The temptations of social media have meant that continuity is the ultimate driver of brand success has been so frequently discarded.

We all sang God Save The Queen happily for all those years. But we don’t, to make an absurd comparison, hear BMW talking about the Ultimate Driving Machine or Coca-Cola talk about the The Real Thing. Her Majesty remained The Real Thing throughout her 70 years.

If more brands had followed the continuity model of Her Majesty, The Queen – built around continuity with trust, conviction and respect at its centre – they would be more successful.

“What would Her Majesty The Queen have done?” is a question that might even now improve many marketing plans that, too often, reverts to a zig-zag strategy in the pointless quest for a novelty.

For all her great age, Her Majesty always seemed to be part of the new world.

And the fact that the Monarchy is still so strong recognises that even those who didn’t speak to her regarded her as somebody very special in their lives.

She achieved with her instincts what no mere commercial brand ever achieved with their focus groups, management consultants and, yes, advertising agencies.

I would argue that her role brand is stronger today than when she succeeded to the throne all those years ago.

Working with young people for the Jubilee on an Ideas Foundation brief to get young people to celebrate the values of The Queen, I found respect and enthusiasm.

One poster full of brilliant ideas by 14- and 15-year-olds shows how Her Majesty inspired young people. And this love and respect didn’t only exist in the UK. The transfer of the British Empire into the Commonwealth, with its 53 independent nations – and many still with The Queen as their sovereign, should surely win the Advertising Effectiveness Award of all time – if it was not such a trivial comparison.

Great brand leaders build their successors. And in Prince Charles and later Prince William, I am sure we have sovereigns who have learnt their instinctive branding skills at the foot of this extraordinary woman.

Her Majesty has sadly left us.

But the strength of the Royal Family and its brand will be her living legacy.

©Robin Wight CVO CBE

8 September 2022