Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel

Recently, I spoke with John Quelch about marketing, branding, social media and his new book. In the following interview, you will get to know his personal brand, as well as gain insight into how one of the leading universities is using blogs and some examples of corporate branding.

John Quelch is the Lincoln Filene Professor of Business Administration and Senior Associate Dean of Harvard Business School.  John is the author, co-author or editor of twenty books, including his latest book entitled “Greater Good: How Good Marketing Makes for Better Democracy.” He was one of ten marketing experts profiled in the 2007 book, Conversations with Marketing Masters, authored by Laura Mazur and Louella Miles. He is also a well-known blogger for Harvard Business Publishing. A professor at Harvard Business School since 1979, he is known worldwide for his research on global marketing, global branding and marketing communications. John is a non-executive director of WPP Group plc, the world’s second largest marketing services company, and of Pepsi Bottling Group. He served previously as a director of Reebok International.

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John, when did Harvard Business School decide to have a blogroll? Why do you think blogging is so important and how have you and Harvard taken a leadership roll by participating?

John: Harvard Business School Publishing launched the blog roll last year. There’s a mix of a dozen bloggers, some faculty, some not. I find the discipline of regular posting keeps my thinking current. The comments are often perceptive but, equally important, the volume of discussion around any one blog is a good indicator of manager interest. So I’m using blog feedback to prioritize the articles I write for Harvard Business Review etc.

As an author, co-author or editor of twenty books, which book has meant the most to you and why? What inspired you to write, “Greater Good: How Good Marketing Makes for Better Democracy” and what do you want people to get out of it?

John: After twenty-five years teaching marketing text books, I thought I should try to break out of that sandbox with a book that speaks positively about marketing’s substantial contributions to society and the economy. Marketing takes a lot of criticism, some of it fair, most of it ill-informed. But that’s marketing’s fault. Marketing should at least be able to do a better job of marketing itself. That’s why Kathy Jocz and I wrote Greater Good. In it, we contend, we hope provocatively, that marketing is in practice more democratic than democracy.

You were born in London and were educated at one of the most, if not the most, prestigious college on the planet, Oxford University. What similarities and differences have you viewed between Harvard University and Oxford and what ideas have you brought with you from London?

John: The best thing about Oxford and Cambridge is the tutorial system used in undergraduate education. This requires the student to write a couple of essays a week and to read them aloud at tutorials with a professor and perhaps one or two other students present. It is hopelessly inefficient from an economic standpoint but enormously powerful as a learning process. It trains students in oral and written communication and requires them to defend their viewpoints under cross-examination.

From Reebok to Pepsi to the Port Authority of Massachusetts, what marketing and branding ideas have succeeded and failed?

John: A brand is a promise and brands that stay true to their promises succeed. Reebok began as a sneaker company focused on aerobics shoes for women, at a time when Nike was focused entirely on performance shoes for male athletes. Pepsi’s early advertising versus Coca-Cola was based on price rather than differential positioning: Pepsi promised “twice as much for a nickel too.” As a government agency, Massport must be careful not to overspend on marketing; we prefer to let our products and services speak for themselves and rely on our website, word-of-mouth and some public relations to gradually build citizens’ appreciation of the brand.

How has social media made your life easier, more productive and helped you connect with people from the past and present? What are your predictions for the future of the web?

John: Of course, I am tied to my Blackberry but I do not use the social sites much because I am already over-networked! It’s terrific to see the web emerge as a force for creativity in our society. I don’t just mean the user-generated content which is prompting companies to realize the value of co-creating brand meaning with their customers. I mean the inspirational value to young people who look at what Brin and Page have done at Google and what Zuckerberg has done at Facebook and think “wow, I could do something like that!”