Here's Part 2 of my discussion of Identity Management issues for professional service firms.
Building an undifferentiated identity around a celebrity spokesman. A few days ago, Larry Bodine's blog featured a post about accounting firm J.H. Cohn tapping Yankee manager Joe Torre to be its celebrity spokesman. This move certainly will bring the firm some short-term attention, and likely will stimulate copycat moves from its competitors.
But it begs a larger question: what about the selection of a celebrity spokesman will really help a firm to favorably differentiate against competitors? With all due respect to J.H. Cohn, and I admit I have had no contact with anyone in this firm, isn't this marketplace move really just a stand-in for a potent differentiation strategy? Certainly, Joe Torre's persona appears unimpeachable, and, one could argue that a professional service firm does indeed enjoy increased visibility by aligning with a celebrity brand character. Accenture has done this very effectively for years with Tiger Woods.
Nevertheless, I'd rather see PSFs create brand characters from within their own ranks, a move that executive search firm Egon Zehnder International used very effectively by promulgating the very unique and robust intellectual capital of its founder, Egon Zehnder himself. Marketers of a certain age will remember some fantastic brand characters of the past -- Victor Kiam for Remington's electric shavers, Peter Lynch for Fidelity Investments, and the founder of Wendy's, Dave Thomas. Effective brand characters exist today -- Virgin's Richard Branson, Southwest's Herb Kelleher and of course the inimitable Warren Buffett. But each of these folks is not only a "celebrity spokesman;" they literally help shape the unique identity of their companies.
My question: Will the celebrity spokesman phenomenon expand in the professional services marketing arena? And if it does, what does that portend for firms' quest to develop a favorable differentiation platform?
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