Trendsetter - Barry Shepard

Ideally, the visual cues and brand dimensions shape more than an advertising campaign, says Shepard. They influence business strategy, product design, customer service -- even the office environment. That's what it means to live the brand. It becomes a thread -- a consistent set of traits -- running through the entire organization, or, in the case of a large organization, the relevant department.

To help its clients achieve this degree of integration, SHR conducts a roll-in program, helping employees in various departments identify ways to support the brand strategy. In addition to a lengthy and comprehensive report reviewing the visual-positioning process, SHR gives its clients a four-page summary, complete with dimensions and the recommended visual elements. "It's like a design guide that you can slide into your notebook or your pocket," says Teri Ward, SHR's director of marketing. "It helps our clients spread the knowledge through their organization."

Designed for Success

One company that has taken SHR's philosophy to heart is Tauck World Discovery, a travel outfit based in Westport, Connecticut. Last year, its 75th year in business, copresidents and siblings Robin and Peter Tauck realized it was time to update the brand. Despite a growing number of international packages, consumers thought of Tauck Tours, as it was then known, as a domestic operator. Also, the company got extremely high customer-satisfaction marks, but it didn't fully understand why. "We learned we were changing their lives through unique travel experiences," says Robin Tauck. Yet Tauck Tours wasn't marketing itself that way.

With SHR's help, Robin Tauck's company reinvented itself around brand dimensions such as "authentic, engaging discovery" and "genuine personal interaction." "The process gave us a very powerful understanding of what the brand stands for," she says. "It took us away from the bricks and mortar of our business and reminded us of the fundamental components and emotions of travel." The changes included a new name, logo, Web site, brochures, strategy, itineraries, and terminology (tours are now called "experiences").

The result? Double-digit revenue growth, says Robin Tauck, and a staff -- 220 in the office, 250 in the field -- focused on the same priorities. The dimensions are now so integral to Tauck World Discovery that they are part of job evaluations. "If you're not genuine and personal on the job, then no matter how well you achieve your other goals, you won't get the high rating that you expect," she says. "These dimensions are who we are."

The same can be said for SHR, which Shepard has put through the visual-positioning process. The firm's brand dimensions -- "dynamic impact," "genuine partnering," and "strategic discovery" -- affect nearly every part of the business, he says: the daylong creative workshops; the Innovative Thinking Conference that the company hosts every year in Scottsdale (Rodgers started the event in 1989); and, of course, its outrageous offices. "There's constant discovery as you walk around this space," says Shepard, after strolling across the bridge from the outside world into the world of SHR. "We believe in the idea of surrounding your customer with your brand, and that's what we do here."

Chuck Salter (csalter@fastcompany.com) is a Fast Company senior writer based in Baltimore. Contact Barry Shepard by email (bshepard@shr.com), or learn more about SHR Perceptual Management on the Web (http://www.shr.com).

What's Fast

How do you build brands that get noticed and connect with the audience? It's a problem that Barry Shepard, president of SHR Perceptual Management, has tackled for companies such as Audi, Coke, Ford, Mary Kay, and Mattel. Here are some of the ideas behind his approach.

A picture is worth a thousand words. If you want to shape perceptions of your brand, you can't simply claim to have innovative, fun, or edgy products. You have to show it, to communicate the brand expression at every point of customer contact.

Find the hidden emotional connection. Understanding a brand isn't about listing functional benefits. It's about asking, "How do I feel when I'm using this product?" SHR posed that question while working with Rockford Fosgate on a car amplifier that was targeted at teens. The answer? Rebellious and antiestablishment. The amp, which looks like something out of Mad Max, was designed to tap those feelings.

Building a brand requires discipline. SHR asks clients to limit their brand dimensions to three or four core values. That discipline forces companies to decide what matters to them most. The fewer the dimensions, the more effective the message is likely to be.

Brand strategy drives business strategy. Embracing their brand dimensions has helped SHR client Tauck World Discovery decide which trips are right for them. Despite interest from cruise lines to coordinate a tour, copresident Robin Tauck says that a cruise with 2,000 or more passengers isn't the sort of personal and distinctive travel experience that the brand promises. Instead, the company offers small cruises (usually 60 to 80 people), including one to the Greek Isles aboard Aristotle Onassis's former yacht.