Multilogue

"He who wishes to secure the good of others has already secured his own." -- Confucius

Three years after Missy's Diet Coke comment, I began working to strengthen the Coca-Cola brand name with the then executive vice president, John Reid. Pepsi had waged a powerful cola war, and Coca-Cola was concerned. What ideas could I contribute to make Coca-Cola's marketing budgets more effective? How could we solidify the brand's preeminent global position?

After several discussions about budgets and media, I walked by an assistant's desk piled high with mail. I asked John about it. "Oh, that," he responded. "We get hundreds of letters from people telling us stories about how much Coke is part of their lives."

I asked John what Coca-Cola did with those letters. Nonchalantly, he replied, "The assistants open them up and see if there is anything important inside that we need to respond to. Any serious complaints or problems are handled right away. Usually, however, the letters just contain comments on how much people like Coke and think of it as part of their family's everyday life. We usually discard them."

I thought of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Purloined Letter." The hidden letter that no one can find is in the most obvious spot, sitting on the mantle over the living-room fireplace. So it was at that time at Coca-Cola Corporate. The brand equity of Coca-Cola was sitting in an assistant's wastepaper basket.

"The ultimate paradox of selfishness is that we can only become significant, important, by concentrating on others." -- Charles Handy

What opportunities to harness the power of multilogue branding are you missing in your own life? How can you know that when you leave a party, everyone will say the nicest things about you? Here are three examples:

• I always enjoyed visits with Harvard Business School Professor Jim Cash. Whatever we discussed, I knew that when I left his office, I'd be walking on air. Jim knew how to make you feel great: important, smart, and engaging. And he always got his point across as well.
• Sam Walton's first company-wide speech to his sales associates was entitled "You Are Important." He talked about how they made Wal-Mart special. And no associate's comments ever ended up in a wastepaper basket.
• In Victorian England, there were two great prime ministers: Disraeli and Gladstone. It was said that after you dined with Gladstone, you came away thinking you had dined with the wisest man in the Empire. But after you dined with Disraeli, you came away thinking you were the wisest soul in the Empire -- and knowing he was.

All these people had their own abilities, their own greatness -- and used those abilities to help others discover theirs. These people knew how to create a climate that brought out the best in others. I am sure they got invited back to parties for years to come.

"Freedom is actually a bigger game than power. Power is about what you can control. Freedom is about what you can unleash." -- Harriet Rubin

Copyright © 2000 Dr. Mark S. Albion. All rights reserved.

by Mark Albion

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