After watching The Diamond Queen on BBC1 last night, it got me thinking about the Queen (obviously) and particularly about her as a brand. Crudely speaking, if we look at the Monarchy as a business, they have a number of sought-after USPs that they can claim; they are long-established, loved, profitable and well-known, unique and most of all infamous. The Queen herself is at the forefront of this business, appealing to the old and young alike and she is touted as having an uncanny ability to make everyone in a room feel special.
Having been on the throne 60 years, that's not a bad claim! In fact, there aren't many businesses (if any), that have been established that long and emerged almost entirely unscathed!
Many would argue that this is down to an excellent 'pr' team, comprehensive training, an arguably unlimited budget and the time to consider everything she does; but is it? If we look back at her uncle, King Edward, despite being fairly popular, he abdicated before actually being crowned and wasn't exactly the perfect candidate. Elizabeth on the other hand has succeeded in establishing the Royals as an integral part of British life and opinion polls support this, showing that the majority of us feel it's important to keep the Monarchy.
Alongside 'merchandising' herself (stamps, coins, garden parties etc), with things which are hers by privilege, she has also set up a successful franchise system (for example Royal Warrants - see Marketing Week) as have many family members (Prince's Trust, Highgrove products etc). She's also built a positive international reputation and has excellent CSR.
Whilst many of these we cannot even begin to distill for our own brands (we're just not quite that well-placed), there are still a number of things we can learn from this example such as:
- Stick to your core values - Don't keep trying to reinvent the wheel if the wheel is already working. There might be new up-and-coming brands treading on your toes with cheaper, lower quality offerings, but it isn't long before these lose their appeal. Sticking to your heritage, values and offering something extra special should ultimately win out in the end
- Think about how people perceive you - Take the time to consider what you say! You never see the Queen rushing about, running from person to person and offering glib comments; ok so she may have more time allocated to a task, but is it time we all took a long hard look at what's important and prioritised a few tasks we can execute well?
- Have a purpose - Innovation is important and is a key thing for any brand, but make sure what you are doing isn't just for the sake of it. What is the purpose of your actions, how will it help and what do you aim to achieve from it?
It hadn't ever really occurred to me before and yet, I think the Queen might just be the perfect brand! Granted she hasn't actually been established as a brand first and foremost unlike the majority of companies, by my gosh is she doing a good job! Congratulations to her and here's to the next decade...
The Diamond Queen episode is available on iPlayer until Monday 27th Feb.
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