As an American in the UK, I can’t help feeling a fascination for the honours system. The handing out of knighthoods and damehoods still makes me think of a select group of gallant types gathering around a giant round table, smashing down flaggons of ale and pledging to defend the honour of the Queen. Sounds childish I know – but I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m not alone. It’s said that successful people put a lot of money and effort into a knighthood. Could it be that they don’t feel complete unless they are living out their schoolboy fantasies about shining armour, horses and damsels in distress?
You can become a ‘dame’ or a ‘sir’ for lots of different reasons. Honours are regularly handed out to sports stars (we can expect a few following the Rio Olympics), entertainment icons and, of course, former politicians. But what about those in marketing? Do we ever get knighted? Is there a place for those who create, build and manage brands around that Arthurian round table in my imagination?
I felt I needed to know my chances of making it to Buckingham Palace one day – so I’ve been doing a little digging into what it’s taken for marketers to kneel before the Queen. Here’s what I’ve come up with – a foolproof, five-point plan for securing your knighthood:
Step 1: Be Epic
It’s incredible but true. Marketing-related knighthoods have been secured just by being really good at your day job – although it helps if your job is on the highly visible, creative side of the industry. The obvious example here is Sir John Hegarty, who became a knight in 2007 after four decades as a genuine advertising luminary. Hegarty’s main qualification was that he’d created advertising that everyone in the country knew and loved – from Levi’s to Audi. And he’d founded one of the most creatively successful British advertising agencies of all time in Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH). It helps that Hegarty has a reputation as a decent and principled man – one of his founding principles at BBH was not working for tobacco companies or political parties (that ruled out the route to the peerage taken by Barons Maurice Saatchi and Tim Bell – two of Margaret Thatcher’s favourite admen).
Step 2: Invest some time in improving your industry
If you’re not dripping in creative awards, then another way to stress your importance to marketing is to take on some high-profile roles within industry bodies. Amanda Mackenzie (Aviva CMO and Executive Board Member) was a former chairman of the Marketing Society when she received an OBE for services to marketing in 2014. Richard Eyre, chairman of the IAB, received a CBE the same year.
Step 3: Help the British economy look good
If the brands you build make a high-profile contribution to creating jobs and making the British economy look innovative and dynamic, then that’s a big tick in the knighthood box. Sir James Dyson, who not only invented bag-free vacuum cleaners but made them synonymous with British design and innovation, is the obvious example here. When Sir Martin Sorrell of WPP was knighted in 2000, he’d served as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Ambassador for British Business, been part of the Council for Excellence in Management and Leadership and was about to take a role on a panel rebranding Britain abroad.
Step 4: Give your brand a sense of purpose
Brand purpose isn’t just a great way of securing competitive advantage for your business; it’s also a pretty useful strategy if you’ve got an eye on the New Year’s Honours List. Amanda Mackenzie didn’t just chair the Marketing Society, she also provided it with a ‘Manifesto for Marketing’ that made a call for sustainable growth to be the central aim of all marketers, and as non-exec director of Mothercare she’s closely involved with a brand that has a real sense of mission. The dame that perhaps best embodied this sense of brand purpose though, was the late Anita Roddick – who combined marketing genius with entrepreneurial mindset and passionate campaigning as founder of The Body Shop.
Step 5: Embody the right brand values yourself
I would argue that the most high-profile of all marketing-related knights is a ‘Sir’ not just because of what he’s done – but because of what he represents. Yes – Sir Richard Branson has added a lot to the British economy, yes – he’s created a lot of jobs, yes – he does a huge amount of campaigning and philanthropic work. More than all of that, though, he’s what the UK really wants to see when it looks in the mirror: enthusiastic, dynamic, entrepreneurial to his bones – and generous, cool and creative with it. Sir Richard has made an active contribution to his own image, of course – but often that’s through making an active contribution in sharing and encouraging those values (not least as a LinkedIn Influencer).
Amid all the recent rows about honours and knighthoods being doled out by politicians as personal favours – it’s worth remembering that this is what it’s really all about, at least in my opinion. Knighthoods and damehoods are one of the ultimate exercises in national branding. They show the world what your country values – and they show the country what it’s capable of. Perhaps that makes the royal family and British establishment the savviest marketers of them all.
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