fea ture
What Your HR Department
Can Learn From FedEx:
The Power of a Strong Brand.
I
t is 9:30a.m. You have a major pre-
sentation to give to the board of
directors at 11:00 a.m. You need
documents from your colleagues in
your West Coast office.
You leave your desk and walk out
to the lobby. There on the counter,
right where you expected to find it, is
your package. Not just any package —
it is your purple and orange FedEx
package. The documents you need
arrived as promised. FedEx provided
you with more than just coast-to-coast
package delivery service. They also
provided you with a sense of security
that only “absolutely, positively
overnight” can deliver.
FedEx is a great brand. Great brands
provide a source of identification and
an assurance of quality. They simplify
decision-making and crisply communi-
cate the value they create for their cus-
tomers. And great brands make and
keep their promises. These characteris-
tics differentiate great brands and
cement their leadership credentials.
How does this apply to an HR
department? Well, answer this pop quiz.
1. What is your department known
for in the mind of your customers, i.e.,
employees and management?
2. What would your customers
describe as the value you deliver?
18 DECEMBER 2002/JANUARY 2003 • IHRIM.link • www.ihrim.org
3. What promises do you make to
your customers?
4. How consistently do you keep
those promises and fulfill them 100
percent?
5. What does your department do
that could be considered “best-in-
class?”
6. How is the experience your cus-
tomers receive from your department
differentiated from experiences deliv-
ered by other departments they have
worked with? How is it better and
worse?
7. What do your customers want the
most from your department?
8. How effectively does your depart-
ment compete internally for manage-
ment attention, for employee participa-
tion and for budget allocations?
These are tough questions. Few
department executives have ever con-
sidered asking them in this way. Fewer
can provide succinct answers. These are
the type of questions that great brands
answer with confidence. Your ability to
do likewise can unlock many of the
same benefits enjoyed by great brands.
It is time for you and your depart-
ment to enjoy the benefits that FedEx
enjoys. It is time for you to brand your
HR department.
BY JOE BENSON AND BRET KINSELLA
WHAT IS A DEPARTMENT BRAND?
Every company, every person and
every organization has a brand. Brands
are born when there are customers to
serve, skills to be practiced and value
to be created. Your department is
known for something. That is a fact.
What it is known for is the brand —
like it or not.
Your brand, like all brands, lives in
the mind of your “customers” — the
employees, and the executive manage-
ment team in this instance. Your cus-
tomers may have positive or negative
associations of your brand. For example,
your department may be known as effi-
cient and responsive to employee needs.
Or it may be known for poor communi-
cation or consuming employee time
with needless paperwork.
The customer perception of your
department brand has consequences.
Like real estate, brands develop equity.
Brand equity is created when the brand
is thoughtfully built, carefully man-
aged, and positive associations are
cemented. Brand equity is diluted or
depreciated when the brand is misman-
aged, misunderstood or neglected.
What happens if your brand associ-
ations are negative? Management
ignores you. Employees avoid you.
Your ability to have a positive impact

on your organization becomes an
insurmountable task.
THE KEY COMPONENTS OF A
DEPARTMENT BRAND
To understand branding better in the
context of an HR department, you should
consider four discrete components:
➤ Your department’s primary target
customer,
➤ Your department’s distinctive set
of core competencies,
➤ The benefits your department
delivers to your primary target cus-
tomer, and
➤ The key characteristics, adjectives
or personality traits that distinguish
your department and its manner of
doing business.
➤ Primary Target Customer —
Who Do You Serve?
The employee is the primary target
customer for the HR department. The
gender, age, education, income and role
may define your target customer.
However, of equal or greater impor-
tance are the common needs and
shared buying behaviors that define the
employees you serve. Great brands are
great because they are designed to com-
municate effectively to a specific target
customer and fulfill a distinct need.
However, your task is complicated
by a secondary customer, senior man-
agement, who pays the bills. FedEx
must consider the needs and expecta-
tions of both the sender of overnight
packages and the receiver. You must
consider the needs of the users as well
as the executives who determine the
resources your department can leverage
to offer services.
“I segment (my customers),” says Russ
Campanello of the consulting firm
NerveWire. “I have paying customers
and retail customers. My paying cus-
tomers are the management of the com-
pany. They are allocating investment dol-
lars across the board. My retail customers
are the rank and file employee base.”
➤ Core Competencies — Can You
Make and Keep Your Promises?
This concept applies to more than
just the enterprise or company as a
whole. Your department’s core compe-
tencies imply what you are good at
delivering. They also imply where your
customers are most likely to receive
benefits. And, of equal importance,
your core competencies ensure your
ability to keep the promises you make.
Core competencies are premium skills
that you deliver to fulfill specific cus-
tomer needs.
➤ Benefits — Why Do People Value
Your Existence?
The third component is the benefits
that an employee receives when he uses
the products or services offered by the
brand. For example, HR departments
provide employees with the informa-
tion necessary to make informed finan-
cial and healthcare decisions. This sup-
port may provide peace of mind as well
as opportunities for cost avoidance or
financial gain. Benefits may be qualita-
tive or quantitative, but must be readily
identifiable and valued by primary
target customers.
➤ Personality Traits — What Is
Distinctive About How You Do Things?
The fourth component is a set of per-
sonality traits. Brands are like people.
Just as every successful person
expresses their brand through their per-
sonality, every successful brand has a
personality. Personality traits are adjec-
tives that describe what is distinctive
about how you or your department per-
forms. They describe the unique experi-
ence that your customers gain from their
interaction with you. Moreover, person-
ality traits encourage the primary target
customer to invest in, and build a rela-
tionship with, the brand. What is your
department known as? Efficient? Detail-
oriented? Invasive? Cumbersome?
Responsive? Knowledgeable?
“I would like us to be branded as
having the basics in place and being
able to flexibly deploy and respond to
the needs of the business. So when
there is a need, we are there. If I am
looking for a brand, it is about rele-
vance, connectivity and response,” says
Robert MacLean, senior vice president
of human resources, Boston Scientific.
BENEFITS OF OWNING AND BUILDING
A DEPARTMENT BRAND
It may seem unconventional to
transform your department into a
scaled version of FedEx or in the retail
word, Nordstrom, but it can have
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tremendous benefits in your ability to
compete for attention, budget and rele-
vance within the organization. Some
interrelated benefits to building,
owning and fulfilling a strong and
favorable department brand include:
➤ Professional recognition — your
customers recognize the value you pro-
vide.
➤ Organizational relevance — the
ability to better compete for internal
resources.
➤ Organizational impact — the
ability to contribute to the company’s
success.
➤ Professional Recognition —
Employee Mind Share and Department
Yield
When your customers know you are
providing value, a lot of good things
begin to happen. First, your team gets
credit for its hard work. Second, your
team has tangible feedback about how
they are performing and can zero in on
what to accentuate and what to elimi-
nate, making it far more efficient.
Third, your team develops solidarity
and pride. This situation leads to
greater productivity, higher morale,
more impact and lower turnover. And,
most important, it solidifies your rela-
tionship with your primary target cus-
tomer. You become indispensable.
Strong brands are trusted authori-
ties. They provide an assurance of
quality. They simplify buying deci-
sions. This is especially true when the
decision is complex and information is
imperfect. For example, trying to deter-
mine what would be the right “mix” of
financial products in an employee’s
401(k) plan or how best to save for a
child’s college tuition with a 529 Plan.
Customers that bring positive associa-
tions of your department’s competence
in situations such as these are more
likely to trust your judgment, be active
participants, give honest feedback and
applaud your contribution.
➤ Organizational Relevance —
Management Mind Share and
Resource Allocation
Similarly, a strong brand can
enhance your department’s relevance
to the organization. Greater relevance
leads to greater ability to compete for
internal resources such as budget allo-
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cations and management attention.
Both are critical success factors for any
HR department seeking to meet its
objectives on a daily or annual basis.
Just as brands position products and
services in the marketplace, a depart-
ment brand can help position your role
and influence within the company.
➤ Organizational Impact — Shaping
Your Company’s Future
Finally, a strong department brand
can support corporate-wide strategic
objectives ensuring that the company is
competitive in the external market-
place. When your customers know you
are providing value; when you have
management involvement in key initia-
tives; when you have adequate bud-
getary resources to execute programs
that make employees more productive
and the company more competitive,
you can have maximum impact beyond
simply providing services. This is the
difference between strategic and
bureaucratic roles.
Ed Hurley-Wales, human resources
VP at HR software developer Workscape,
put it this way, “It is about becoming a
more strategic organization and
changing the way HR is viewed. How do
you balance day-to-day processes and
also be leveraged at the board level — to
have a place at the table.”
“It is about becoming a strategically-
focused organization whose core objec-
tives run parallel to corporate objec-
tives. When you do it right, the man-
agement team views HR as a highly
valued contributor to the company’s
success. If you miss your mark, you’re
stuck with the archaic HR role of an
expensive and inefficient processor of
‘administrivia.’ By striking the correct
balance between customer-focused,
day-to-day administration, and best-
practice strategic planning, the critical
value of HR will become embedded in
the minds of your workforce, from the
junior new hire, all the way up to the
CEO and board. The difference
between the old role of HR and the
new vision is as distinct as the differ-
ence between fireflies and flashlights.”
AN HR DEPARTMENT BRAND IS SIMILAR
TO SERVICE BRANDS
An HR department brand is similar
to service brands such as FedEx, Home
20 DECEMBER 2002/JANUARY 2003 • IHRIM.link • www.ihrim.org
Depot, Dell, or your local dry cleaner,
for that matter. Services are intangible
activities performed for a specific cus-
tomer or customers. Services brands
can do two things. They can take
goods — tangible products developed
by other companies — and envelop
them with expertise and activities. Or
they can provide layers of services that
fulfill a particular customer need such
as cleaning and pressing clothes or
delivering a package across the
country overnight.
➤ Wrapping other Companies’
Products with Valued Services
Nordstrom’s buys apparel and acces-
sories from Gucci, Hugo Boss and
Donna Karan, etc. It then provides
advice regarding current styles and
appropriate attire and “dress” for each
individual customer. Finally, it will
tailor the garments for a precise fit and
make them available in a way that
meets a customer’s needs.
Similarly, HR departments select
mutual funds from premier financial
institutions such as Fidelity, Charles
Schwab and Vanguard to populate
their 401(k) offerings. Then, they pro-
vide access to the knowledge and tech-
nical resources that enable each indi-
vidual employee to make informed
financial decisions.
➤ Filling a Need with a Pure Service
FedEx buys planes, hires pilots,
builds and staffs warehouses so that
customers can send documents any-
where in the country overnight. The
company then buys trucks and hires
drivers so that customers can access
the service without ever leaving their
offices. Finally, it provides online order
tracking from hand-off to a FedEx
driver to a confirmed receipt signature.
Similarly, HR departments train
employees in key skills required to per-
form their jobs. And, they enable
employees to grow and manage their
careers with mentoring and career-
growth assignments.
Both HR department brands and ser-
vice brands provide benefits to their
target customers. These include a cus-
tomized and considered set of products
from which to make informed choices,
a responsible and responsive organiza-
tion and a trusted advisor.
However, services have two impor-
tant differences from product brands.
First, products are built and then
delivered to a customer. Services are
performed or built in the presence of
the customer. Second, products are
tangible; whereas services are intan-
gible. Customers cannot pick up, hold
or see the vast majority of what you do
for them.
As a result, your customer’s percep-
tion of value is shaped as much by the
performance of the service as it is by
the end result. This requires that you
focus as much attention on ensuring
that service processes are executed effi-
ciently, comprehensively and consis-
tently, as you do in selecting the end
products to be delivered. And, it means
that your brand image will not be
shaped by the design and functionality
of the end product, but rather by the
experience your customers have when
working with you.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR CREATING
A DEPARTMENT BRAND
As with traditional branding, there
are some guiding principles that will
help you think through how your
brand can become more like FedEx and
less like a generic, undifferentiated ser-
vice. We suggest you keep these seven
rules in mind when building your
department brand.
➤ Principle #1: Your Brand Lives
in the Mind of Your Primary Target
Customer
Every department has a brand. Like
it or not, you can nurture, dilute or
destroy it. Think of it as your reputa-
tion. Your reputation or brand is the
space you own in the mind of your pri-
mary target customer. A brand gets into
your customer’s mind by associating
itself with ideas that already exist. It is
best for your brand if those associations
are positive.
Nike seeks to associate itself with
the word “performance.” Disney seeks
to associate itself with the word
“family.” Terminex seeks to associate
itself with the phrase, “No bugs. No
Hassles.” These are all positive associa-
tions that align the company brand
with the positive associations and
value in the mind of the target cus-
tomer. If you want to build a brand that

is strong, favorable and unique, iden-
tify a set of positive associations and
tie your brand to them.
• What do you want to be known for
by your customers?
• Why would your primary target
customers value that reputation?
• What do you need to do in order
for your customers to embrace that rep-
utation?
➤ Principle #2: Make and Keep
Promises
Brands make and keep promises.
Your brand should make a promise that
is meaningful and relevant to your cus-
tomers. If you promise to provide
online transactions for all ESPP issues
and provide telephone support for the
most complicated life events such as a
disability, then do that — and a little
bit more. Any shortfall in fulfilling a
promise will undermine your reputa-
tion and irritate your customers.
You can decide to make a luxury-
service promise similar to Nordstrom
or you can make a “no hassles” pledge
similar to Terminex. Whatever services
you provide, it must be clear to your
primary target customer what you will
do. This ensures that you set expecta-
tions properly. But that is not enough.
You must also do what you promise to
do so that expectations are met or
exceeded. Remember what Mark Twain
said about making and fulfilling com-
mitments, “You will surprise some
people and amaze the rest.”
• What promises do you make to
your primary target customers?
• How well do you fulfill those
promises?
• What promises should you make?
➤ Principle #3: The Power of
Sacrifice
If you do fewer things, you can do
them much better. Whereas, in prin-
ciple #2 you determine what you will
do, in principle #3 you will focus on
what you will do by being explicit
about what you will not do.
Since you cannot be all things to all
people, you have to decide what you are
going to do best and outsource or de-
emphasize the least important services.
It is best to be known for excellence in
one thing as opposed to being known
for mediocrity in a number of things.
Have you ever felt like you were
doing so many things that you didn’t
have appropriate time or resources to
do any of them well? This is a common
and an expected evolution. Why?
Everyone has good ideas about new
things to do or offer. No one ever wants
to give anything up. So you accumulate
responsibilities, but never shed any.
How does this apply to branding?
What does FedEx do? It ships packages.
That’s it. Since it does only one thing,
FedEx can focus all of its attention on
doing it better than anyone else — and
it does. Dell does not sell cars through
its call centers and Web site. It sells
computers and accessories better than
anyone in its industry.
You can capture the same benefits by
focusing on one or two things you do
best. Whether it is reducing hassles so
employees can focus on productivity or
providing top-notch benefits service,
you can be known for excellence and
not bureaucracy. Granted, you will not
likely shed all of your other responsibil-
ities. However, you can reallocate your
efforts to meet basic obligations on some
services and differentiate or “wow” your
customers based on excellence in the
few services most valued by them.
In practice, this may result in out-
sourcing payroll and benefits so that
you can focus on training that will
improve company-wide productivity.
The difference between these functions
could result in transforming your brand
from “paper pushing” to the company’s
“productivity engine.”
• What services do you provide?
• How is your level of effort and
resource allocation spread across those
services?
• What should you not do or de-
emphasize?
➤ Principle #4: The Power of How
Most people think that what you do
is differentiating. Wrong. What you do
is easily copied. Moreover, what you
do may not be done well at all.
Remember, HR departments are service
organizations and services are pro-
duced in the customer’s presence. This
means that the quality of the experi-
ence delivered by the service process
often has much greater impact on the
customer’s perception of value than the
quality of the end product.
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fea ture
What do visitors to Disney World
remember most vividly? The four
minute amusement rides or the way
they are transported into other worlds
at the parks, the character breakfasts
and the numerous themed resorts. Or,
do they remember most clearly how
clean and well manicured the grounds
are maintained.
How you deliver your services is
often more important and has a far
greater impact on the customer’s per-
ceived value than what you actually
deliver. Focus on improving “how” you
perform services, align the performance
with customer benefits and deliver
with consistency. That is the founda-
tion of a great service or HR depart-
ment brand. Remember, process and
experience have a bigger impact than
offerings.
• What three adjectives describe how
your department delivers services?
• How do those adjectives support or
undermine your targeted brand reputa-
tion?
• Name the three adjectives that best
describes how your department delivers
services. And, what do you need to do
to achieve your delivery goals?
➤ Principle #5: Focus on What
Makes Your Brand Different
When people seek to improve
output, they most often identify weak-
nesses and try to fix them. By all
means, if you are bleeding profusely
and are about to die, mend the wound.
However, most organizations would do
well to focus on their strengths first. By
solidifying strengths, many bad habits
that contribute to weaknesses will
diminish in importance.
Great brands are about being per-
ceived as the best at something.
Expertise in the context of an HR
department is the same as category
leadership in brand lexicon. Home
Depot — the leader in do-it-yourself
home improvement. FedEx — the
leader in overnight package delivery.
Dell — the leader in online customized
computer sales. The Wall Street Journal
— the leader in daily business financial
news. Figure out what you intend to do
and develop the capabilities to do it
with excellence. Then fix any glaring
weaknesses that are still around and
undermining your brand.
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 fea ture
• What does your HR department do
best?
• What are the three most important
skills that your department has today
that enable it to make and keep the tar-
geted brand promise?
• How can you leverage and improve
those skills to further enhance the
value you provide to your customers?
➤ Principle #6: Know Your
Customers
If there is a principle that is first
among equals, this is it. Your brand is
meaningless if it does not positively res-
onate with your target customers. Your
brand will not positively resonate with
your target customers if you are not
organized to deliver something that your
target customers value and value highly.
It makes sense to decide what you
want to do first, but you must, must,
must then validate and align it with the
needs and values of your primary target
customer. Whether you have a captive
or non-captive market, your brand
equity depends on the perception that
you deliver value. Knowing your cus-
tomers will help ensure that you have
the ability to emphasize and deliver
something important.
• What key needs of your customer
can you fulfill?
• What are the common behaviors of
your customers that you can align your
service around?
• How do your customers evaluate
and recognize the value you deliver?
➤ Principle #7: Express Your Brand
Expressing your brand is not about
commercials during the Super Bowl.
Yes, you want to convey a consistent
and compelling message to your target
customers, but the verbally communi-
cated message is only part of the battle.
The harder part is actually living up to
your brand promise every day, every
minute.
In services, the old adage is true.
Actions speak louder than words. It is
important to have the right words so
that your differentiation and the value
you provide is easily communicated
and understood. But it is critical that
you actually walk the walk. If you
make a promise, make certain that you
deliver it consistently. Come up short
in any way at any time and your brand
22 DECEMBER 2002/JANUARY 2003 • IHRIM.link • www.ihrim.org
equity is diminished. It can make the
difference between being known for
“providing great service” versus being
known for “providing great service
sometimes.” Excellence and positive
brand identity is imbedded in the first
statement, but fleeting in the second.
You express your brand in several
ways. First, you express it in the way
you deliver your service. Fast, efficient,
thorough or slow and unresponsive are
all potential outcomes. Second, you
express your brand through visible
cues and outward symbols such as
attire, organizational structure and
office environment. Third, you express
your brand by telling your customers
who you are, what your mission is and
what makes you different.
• How does your process execution
reinforce or undermine your brand?
• What visible cues or symbols do
you offer customers about your brand?
• What can you do to properly and
consistently communicate your differ-
entiation and set expectations with
your customers?
PROMISES, PROMISES...PERCEPTION AND
REALITY
This is a good time to reflect on a key
point and a common misunderstanding.
Branding is not a scheme employed to
pull a fast one on your customers. It is
not a “perception is reality” concept.
Branding is a “reality shapes percep-
tion” proposition. As a result, great
advertising will not create a great brand.
Great brands emerge as a result of
“promises made and promises kept.”
When considering how you can
build and sustain a powerful brand, you
must ensure that you can consistently
deliver tangible value and fulfill the
promises you make to your customers.
If reality is positive, you can shape a
positive perception. If reality is negative
or inconsistent or irrelevant, you cannot
shape a positive perception. Period.
Leaders build great brands. They
assume stewardship. Brand stewards
understand the power of owning a
place in the mind of the customer —
and the potency of a promise. They
seek and embrace differentiation.
Strong brands offer their owners an
edge in the marketplace.
The same principles that are
employed to build and sustain great
brands can be leveraged by HR depart-
ments to enhance your impact, rele-
vance and reputation. Your brand can
also serve as a foundation for your
department strategy that aligns your ser-
vices with the goals and aspirations of
your company. Moreover, a strong brand
can enable you to be proactive about
your role in the company. As Russ
Campanello of Nervewire remarked
recently, “Unless the value is embedded
in the brand (of your department), you
constantly defend your existence.”
About the Authors
Joseph Benson
(benson.consulting@
rcn.com) is a brand
strategist with over 25
years of experience
building and strength-
ening brands for corpora-
tions, departments and
individuals. As vice president of
strategy at Sapient Corporation, he spe-
cialized in brand strategy, business
strategy and customer behavior. Clients
include JPMorganChase, Staples, The
American Cancer Society and The
Disney Channel. He has an MFA from
The American Film Institute and was
nominated for an Academy Award.
Bret Kinsella co-
founded and leads
Sapient’s Supply Chain
group where he employs
department branding
principles. Kinsella’s past
clients include Fortune
500 and start-up compa-
nies in the United States, Europe and
Latin America. Prior to joining Sapient,
he worked in Accenture’s strategy prac-
tice and ran e-business and product
marketing for software maker
Formation Systems. His first career was
in politics where he focused on
strategic communications, and legisla-
tive and campaign management at the
federal and state level. He earned an
MBA from UCLA and a bachelor’s in
Economics from the University of
Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
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