You Are the Brand

TD Bank: Beyond Colors, Letters, and Logos

Very often, creating and bolstering your brand comes down to making and keeping a promise. In the case of TD Bank, Fred Graziano, head of retail banking atTD Bank, told me that success is built on “how we execute against our brand promise, which is: America’s Most Convenient Bank.” Interestingly, to keep this promise , TD Bank managers didn’t stop at the decision to exceed customer expectations by opening and closing their doors ten minutes earlier and later than posted hours and then sitting back feeling confident in a promise kept.They knew that the success of being a convenient bank would ultimately be tied to accessible and convenient customer service, and that’s where the branding work begins and ends at TD Bank. It’s Not the Colors, Logo, or Slogans Like many corporations today, TD Bank is a product of mergers, consolidations, and the blending of brands.TD stands for TorontoDominion , which acquired Banknorth to become TD Banknorth, which then ultimately merged with Commerce Bank, which was recognized in the NewYork, Philadelphia,Washington, and Florida regions with a big, red, capital “C.” TD’s colors are green, and so clearly a change had to be made in Commerce Bank’s logo, not just from a “C” to a “TD,” but also from red to green. But according to Graziano, a successful brand is about so much more than colors, logos, and slogans that the change didn’t matter to customers. According to Graziano: “The model, the culture, and our people are how we executed against that brand promise. I tell our people that we define the brand.You can change the name; it doesn’t matter. We could have kept the Commerce name without affecting the slogan, but if we took 60 TD Bank Beyond Colors, Letters, and Logos Adubato_(Brand)_final 4/11/11 11:28 AM Page 60 away seven-day banking, the penny arcade, the live 24/7 call center , our customer-centric model, then we would not be able to execute against our brand promise. For us, internally, that made the difference.” Employees Are the Brand So there it is. Ultimately, regardless of whether it is a bank, an insurance company, a flower shop, a baseball team, or a musical band, it is the people involved on the team who have the greatest impact on how a product or service is perceived in the marketplace. The fact is, when you walk into a TD “store” (it is not called a branch, but rather a store), immediately you are greeted with a very friendly hello. Employees are encouraged to smile, be helpful and proactive in the way they engage you. If you look lost, they will ask questions to help figure out what exactly you need and then direct you where you need to go. When Graziano talks about the convenience of seven-day banking , or the penny arcade, or the live 24/7 call-in center, he’s really talking about the convenience of quality customer service. As this book has hopefully demonstrated, no brand can succeed without exceptional customer service. My good friend and colleague Jack Mitchell, the CEO of the Connecticut clothing store Mitchell Richards, has written a great book called Hug Your Customers, in which he explores the importance of letting customers and key stakeholders know how much you care. Jack argues that you can’t figuratively “hug” them enough by going above and beyond their expectations. The fact is, the more effectively you hug your customers , the more you solidify your brand not just in the mind but also in the heart. Hugging creates brand loyalty, which fuels word of mouth, which makes your marketing and advertising campaign that much more effective because your brand message is reinforced by objective third parties . . . customers. So, in many ways, even in a challenging situation where a bank or any organization changes its logo, colors, and name, it can’t solely rely on the effective integration of those changes to create a new brand; it must look to the culture of its workplace—the people TD BANK 61 Adubato_(Brand)_final 4/11/11 11:28 AM Page 61 who must be motivated to always be at their best, no matter what the organization is called. Of course, names matter a lot in the branding process, but it’s not the entire game. TD Bank knows this and...