Project Management

There are three major categories of communication within a Communication Plan - mandatory, informational and marketing. Your project will probably always have mandatory communications and you will want to add information communication as well if the project is large enough. Marketing communication is where the creativity comes in. Most projects have no requirements for this type of communication and it is more appropriate in some than others.

Branding is a more sophisticated form of marketing communication. The purpose of branding a project is to associate an emotion or a feeling with your project. This is exactly what marketing people try to do when they brand a product. For instance, The Coca-Cola Company hopes that you feel good about their products and that you will choose their products from a crowded store shelf because you like the image and emotion associated with it. Maybe it works. If you throw a party and you provide a cooler full of Cokes and Sprites, you probably feel pretty good about the image you are portraying. On the other hand, if you stock a cooler full of 'no-name' or 'Joe’s' cola, you might feel a little embarrassed. If you do, the branding process has had an effect on you.

Branding a project has the same connotation. The purpose of branding a project is to associate a positive image and emotion when a person hears of your project. This is not something most projects need to be concerned about. However, ask yourself some questions regarding the impact your project will have on the organization.

• Does it impact a large number of people or maybe the entire company?
• Will it require a culture change or a change in the way people do their job?
• Will your project make people nervous? For instance, will it result in efficiencies so that less people are required to do the same function?

These are the types of projects that would be candidates for branding.

When people hear of your project, do you want them to think of the benefits your project is bringing or do you want them to think about how much of a failure the project is? Should they think of the company responding to competitive challenges or should they be wondering if the project will cost them their job. All large projects have an image associated with them. Branding helps you proactively build the image you want to portray rather than have one branded on you. Of course, branding takes time, so you also need to have a project with a long time horizon.

There are activities that a project can perform to help with the branding campaign. If possible, you should consider meeting with your marketing department to gather more ideas and get help with how to establish a brand and how to successfully implement it. Examples of activities include:

• Establish a positive project name. For instance, a project called MarketForce, probably gives more of a positive image than one called Marketing Process Improvement Initiative. A similar idea is a catchy acronym. You can build a positive image with an easy to remember acronym as well.
• Establish an image / logo. The project should have an image or logo associated with it. The image must be positive and it should be included on all communication coming from the team.
• Buy trinkets. Put your project name or logo on pins, t-shirts, pencils, Frisbees, etc. Reward people with a token that contains the project logo when they do something good.
• Hold face-to-face meetings. Spend the time to see as many people as possible in person-to-person meetings or small group meetings, especially at the beginning of the project. No one wants to hear all the information about an important project on email. It cheapens the project.
• Other ideas include lunch & learns, a series of simple words to associate with the project logo, gathering testimonials of happy users and ongoing personal communication. Find ways to keep your project and your positive message in front of people.

Of course all of this is contingent on also including a steady stream of informational content as well. A steady stream of information, combined with the positive feeling of the project branding will help the project be successful and should help overcome any negative perceptions about the project.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Weekly Anagram

Let's have some fun! See if you can unravel this anagram. (Anagrams are a word or phrase formed by reordering the letters of another word or phrase, such as satin to stain.)

Final contract settlement including resolution of all outstanding items and payments

CANCEL SCOOT TUTOR: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Last Week's Anagram.

Activities that have to be performed sequentially or within a predetermined time of each other

TAD ICE TIE VISIT: TIED ACTIVITIES

Wideman Glossary Term of the Week - Functional Manager ("FM")

• The person responsible for the business and technical management of a functional group.
• A manager responsible for activities in a specialized department or function (e.g., engineering, manufacturing, marketing).
• The person you report to within your functional organization. Typically, they are the person that does your performance review. Your project manager may also be your functional manager, but they do not have to be. If your project manager is different from your functional manager, then your organization is probably using matrix management.

Labels: Project branding