The climb was more than Tom had bargained for. One foot in front of the other. Again, again, again. Onward. Upward.

The infamous Chilkoot Pass seemed to tower unassailable, far above his head. Yet limbs screaming, he plodded on, and on, eventually cresting the peak, and moving down to stake his claim: Tom had joined the gold rush.

By 1897, Thomas Flack had found gold, and returned with his fortune to the young city of Vancouver on Canada’s pristine west coast. There, he set about to build a landmark building at the centre of the city.

The William Blackmore-designed masterpiece would open in 1898, serving as home to retailers, barristers, insurance agents and others. Its location and style made it a treasured part of Vancouver’s heritage.

Yet like the neighbourhood to its east, The Flack Block fell into disrepair. For much of the past 100 years, the building has gone unnoticed….

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So reads the headline in a recent article in The Economist about Nigeria’s government’s attempte to ‘rebrand’ their nation. Their subhead, ‘The government of a great nation tries a short cut to salvation,’ seems to sum up the author’s perspective: “Got a problem…? Don’t fix it! Rebrand it!”

Unfortunately for Nigeria, this would seem to be the misguided strategy.

It’s hard from this distance to criticize the intentions of Dora Akunyili, the new minister of information, and the person responsible for the new ‘Nigeria: Good People, Great Nation’ campaign. But it is revealing, I think, that the previous attempt at a rebrand (‘Nigeria, Heart of Africa’) failed.

In both cases, the foremost criticism in-country has been that “Nigerians say their government should tackle the country’s fundamental problems—power shortages, crime and corruption—before worrying about its image.” Of course, nothing is so connected to ‘image’ as the authentic facts of any brand. In Nigeria’s case, the facts include rankings of Lagos as the worst place in the world for expatriates to live. Surely if the aim of the information minister is to build Nigeria’s esteem overseas, the $1M spent from government coffers for the new campaign could have been put to better use reducing crime, repairing roads, and improving sanitation.

A simple Google search reveals an endless list of references to Nigeria’s rebranding efforts. But the lesson i this short Economist piece is a simple one: Branding only works when builds an image based on credible insights. Successful strategies leverage strengths on which the brand can build. In Nigeria’s case, the people may well be good, but a legacy of corruption endures sufficiently that the claim isn’t credible overseas. And while Nigeria is achieving more than many of its African neighbours, and certainly aspires to become a ‘Great Nation,’ it has a long way to go.

An effective strategy would consider factor international perceptions and awareness into the development of a strategic roadmap for the brand. ‘Good people, Great nation’ is an aspirational position; clearly Nigeria can’t jump to that with an advertising campaign. But it could be a ten-year (or 20-year) goal. Ms. Akunuili’s job as a leader is to define the steps from here to there, and to work with her government colleagues to take those steps.

It may be that infrastructure is the first place to spend; certainly communicating success stories about infrastructure development and enhancement would be a more credible approach than leap-frogging to ‘Great nation.’

Of all possible branding projects, surely rebranding a country is the most challenging. But the fundamentals remain the same: Authenticity must come first.

I had an abysmal retail experience yesterday.

I visited a local bike shop with my two kids, primarily to pick up a small spare part, but also to browse the bikes with a view to buying a new one for my wife. I’m a valuable customer there: I’ve bought two bikes already, and I have plans to buy two more this year.

As I looked at the adult road bikes, my son was sitting 20 feet away on a kids bike. He’s eight, so this wasn’t an unusual thing. The owner of the store approached him, and informed him somewhat gruffly that the bike was too small for him. My son responded, “I know.” Clearly assuming that my son was some sort of know-it-all punk, he responded with a bark: “You know?! Well get off it then before you break it!”

My son was shocked. At eight years of age, it’s traumatic when an adult you don’t know barks at you. Two hours later, he was still upset.

I had words with the merchant: “I recognize you need to look after your merchandise, but that’s no way to talk to a child. I’ll be taking my business elsewhere.”

What a shame it is that more merchants today don’t understand how easy it is to excel in retail. Perhaps their ignorance (or arrogance) is the very reason it’s easy to beat them at their own game.

There are three rules that I learned during my retail career that everyone should know before stepping on to the retail floor….

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There is a long list of brands to whom markets and consumers look for guidance, leadership and even inspiration. Of them all, Disney surely must be near the top of anyone’s list.

Arguably the most creative of all organizations, and certainly one of the most successful, Disney is a brand that sets the pace in so many different ways—from product development, to marketing, to legendary customer experiences.

As the market increasingly demands sustainable behaviour—in both the social and environmental spheres—one would expect Disney to be a leading adopter of what Octopus calls the Sustainability Imperative (check this recent post for comments on our perspective).

Stephen Abbott, Octopus’s Vancouver Managing Partner, sent this dispatch from Disneyland yesterday:

Disney… could really influence common behaviour in a wide reach of society by adopting some solid green ideas and driving them through the machine that is the Magic Kingdom.

So far, all I have seen is the very predictable:

• Bottle recycling beside garbage cans
• Plastic baskets instead of disposible plates
• Reusable shopping bags

The amount of waste is horrible.

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Andy grew up in the mid-19th century in Dunfermline, the centre of the Scottish linen industry—an industry dominated by a few very wealthy employers, and a great many very poor weavers.

The craft of weaving was a dying trade: The industrial revolution and its steam-powered looms had Andy, his father and his uncle raging against the tyranny of economic inequality. Hundreds of weavers were made redundant, and Andy would later talk of his shame as he watched his father beg for work. “Then and there came the resolve that I would cure that when I got to be a man,” promised young Andy. He could never stand to see people robbed of their dignity, unable to look after their families.

Desperate times called for radical solutions. Within months, with a borrowed 20 pounds, Andy and his family set sail for America, eventually settling in Pittsburgh, where Andy’s father went to work in a cotton factory.

Andy himself began his career with the Keystone Bridge Company, but soon founded his own business. He worked very hard, and earned a good living, but he was soon feeling the stress and strain of the entrepreneur’s life: While he remained committed to defending the rights of laborers, he was also forced to defend his business. Epic periods of strife—battles between the unions and his company—would haunt Andy for the rest of his years.

In 1900, when Andy turned 65, a new competitor to Andy’s thriving steel-making business was ready to enter the market. Andy was confident he could stave off the new upstart, but he was ready to retire. So he chose instead to sell his company to his new nemesis. “Congratulations,” said JP Morgan’s letter to Andrew Carnegie. “You are now the richest man in the world.”

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As organizations hunker down, and adjust their operations to weather the recession, their cost-cutting is affecting various aspects of their operations. It’s important to look at whether short term gains are worth the price down the road.

Marketing, for example, is often one of the first departments to see cuts as business activity slows. However, in a context of reduced spending by all your competitors, recessionary times are ideal to gain market share. Organizations that continue to invest in marketing during a recession are those that lead the bull markets that follow.

One area that’s seeing new attention during this recession, though, is sustainability: Is green still top of mind as the market bleeds red ink? It should be.

While the ‘greening of the economy’ may slow, it won’t halt. Businesses’ efficiency with resources is an essential pillar of sustainability strategies. As with the marketing spend, organizations that invest today will reap rewards as the market rebounds tomorrow. Cutting waste and investing in efficiency are measurably smart investments; analysis of the full life-cycle of a product can reveal opportunities for drastic cost savings, while also increasing products’ sustainability; and giving time and attention to communicating sustainability measures (authentically, of course; no greenwashing) can curry favour with customers, and build their loyalty at precisely the time customers are scarce.

So what should you be doing inside your organization, to drive advantage during a recession?

1. Put a team together to identify and analyze environmental issues that impact your organization, its suppliers and its customers. Then assess those factors against the context of your business strategy and plan, to identify action areas that can deliver a positive impact on your organization.
2. Watch for and pay attention to trends that will impact the business sector. They might be political, such as the trend away from (utterly) free markets in the US, or toward conservatism in Canada; they might be consumer trends, such as the focus on durable, premium purchases, and away from frivolous, low-durability choices as each dollar becomes more valuable for everyone.
3. And be wise about investing in the opportunities these analyses identify: Hard times always turn good. If you’re ahead of your competition when times start to brighten again, you’ll build market share and grow your business.