Next weekend is going to be fun. Move aside all naysayers and cynics, it’s time to celebrate the extraordinary life of our Queen and her equally extraordinary, if somewhat beleaguered, brand. I am, of course, talking about our sovereign, Elizabeth II, and the Royal Family. Next weekend, the Union Jacks will be flying, (they’ve even sold out of Union Jack ‘mother and daughter’ dresses in Asda) and we’ll be enjoying some extra Jubilee time off (hooray)!
I like the fact that, regardless of your opinion about the Queen and the royal family, you still get to benefit from the year of Jubilee! I also find it interesting that celebrating the year of Jubilee is an age old practice. It was instigated by God in the Bible, every fifty years, to give the Jewish people a year dedicated to rest, restoration of property, and to freeing people from debts, servitude, and slavery. After the year of Jubilee you could start off the next year with a clean slate. It meant forgiveness and letting people off if they had wronged you, or even being forgiven yourself. Either way, it was really positive!
In sight of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and the accompanying holiday, I watched Liverpool fans booing Prince William at Wembley. It seemed really negative and unfair as Prince William has not brought any shame on the family name, on the contrary, he works hard to connect with people across the country and to help them. Why did the Liverpool fans think that it was fair game to boo him? And how have people become so cynical about the Royal Family? I understand that with the Liverpool fans it’s anger about the loved ones who lost their lives at Hillsborough and the lack of action on the part of the establishment. That would make anyone cynical.
Then I got to thinking about the royal family, their brand and their brand messaging. Maybe people’s cynicism comes from a lack of alignment with their brand. We have such high expectations of the Royal Family that when its members don’t behave like we would expect royals to behave the whole brand is devalued and people stop believing in it.
As a brand marketing agency, we often help organisations to identify their Mission, Vision and Values and then put purpose at the very heart of everything that they do. I asked myself whether our Royal Family have a Mission, Vision and Values, googled it and I couldn’t find any for the family itself, although many of the organisations of whom they are patrons do have them.
Google did say, however, that our Sovereign acts as a focus for national identity, unity and pride; gives a sense of stability and continuity; officially recognises success and excellence; and supports the ideal of voluntary service. That reads like a mission statement to me. It’s why they exist. I think that most people would agree that the Queen has been exemplary in acting it out, even if some members of subsequent generations have not always been quite so successful.
As a brand marketeer I imagine how the family’s mission was articulated often in the family, communicated in both word and deed. Subsequently, many of the members of the royal family have joined the Queen and support her in her work.
So there’s a mission, but what about vision and values? Vision is the end game, what a brand is aiming at and values will hold you on course to achieve your vision.
Do the Royal Family have a vision and values?
As the Queen is a Christian, Her vision would be to serve God through Her work, ultimately. There is also a clue here in the branding, (the Union Jack), which stands for unity and references the cross of Christ. Christian values would have been what held our Queen and the Royal Family on course.
In a tribute to the British royal family in 1948, Winston Churchill once said, “There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of all society, are created, strengthened and maintained.”
I guess problems come when families don’t agree on what their principles are in the first place. Maybe that’s why the Royal Family has experienced scandal and rifts with family members who didn’t share the same vision as the Queen or hold the same values in order to attain it.
It’s the same with a brand. A brand’s values will hold an organisation on course to achieve their vision, to the extent that all stakeholders share them and operate according to them.
I’m not judging here, I think the Queen is wonderfully tenacious and resilient and no family is perfect. I’m just making the point that shared values influence key decisions, resulting in unity and fulfilled purpose.
So, if you would like any help to identify and articulate your brand’s mission, vision and values in a Purpose Playbook (workshop) we’d love to help you. n.b.If you are reading this and you happen to represent the Royal Family, please note that our Purpose Playbook for the Queen and family is free.
HEARTSET:
Businesses who make a difference are the ones that have learned to lead with the heart, Darrell’s HearSet course teaches you how: