Wag the Dog
The phrase "the tail that wags the dog" dates from around 1907.
Although the meaning is rather straightforward, when directed towards the subject of branding I started to see that modern day dog breeders were developing a whole new generation of Labradors – the dog with two tails.
Everywhere you look there are articles about Employment Branding and the dire need to implement its structure. Speed is always of major importance. The old advertising belief that being first to market is more important than actually being ready is evident.
So, on the one hand companies are being informed that they need to create a strong corporate environment that aligns with growth expectations and employee fit.
On the other hand, action and implementation are being requested at a break-neck pace, to meet a perceived consumer need for speed. But the very same consumer is also, now more than ever, demanding truth and accuracy.
So we come back to that word – speed. But to quote Benjamin Franklin, “Tomorrow every fault is to be amended; but tomorrow never comes.”
Employment brand development and marketing is not the same as consumer marketing where a customer will grudgingly allow for a patch to be introduced at a later date to fix the bug, or will return a pair of shoes once before moving to a new designer brand.
The dog needs surgery to become healthy, or it will simply chase both its tails and become twice as dizzy.
You want to know more about employment brand positioning ? Follow Darren Evans' column on HRjob.ca. Darren Evans is National Brand & Creative Consultant at TMP Worldwide.
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