 I am certainly no brand expert, but I buy a lot of brands. As such, I have an opinion. ;-)
In my view, "brand-centric leadership" describes the degree of brand influence in the C-suite concisely. There are only 9 instances of this term in Google, so this is not a widely-published term. Oddly enough, it is also trademarked.
It's my observation that you can easily spot companies who lack a brand-centric leadership. Here is one example.
A few years ago I was advising Vail Resorts concerning their their newly acquired ground transportation company, Colorado Mountain Express. The marketing people (at CME) needed to establish a strong presence in Twitter for their brand (now a sub-brand of Vail Resorts), known throughout Colorado and the US by skiers as simply “CME". The tag line of the company for almost 10 years was "Ride CME" and their primary website was RideCME.com. CME captured about 78% of the ground transportation market share by the time they were acquired by Vail Resorts in 2009.
I suggested @RideCME as the Twitter handle. However, the CMO and CEO decided on @CME_van. I told them @CME_van was a silly idea and unlikely to be well received or widely adopted. The presence of an underscore in the brand was really a bad decision because it's fundamentally difficult to type on a keyboard, especially mobile keyboards, the primary communication domain of travelers. The executives said the word "van" needed to be in the handle and off they went with their new Twitter strategy.
Separately, I registered @RideCME and clamped an automated Vail News feed on to it. Today, @RideCME has three times the followers as @CME_van and to this socially knowledgeable audience I needn't explain why. I happily signed over the @RideCME account to Vail Resorts once they realized how much more powerful a brand-consistent approach to social media can be. Why they haven’t killed the @CME_van account and consolidated under their primary brand is baffling but also additional validation the organization lacks brand-centric leadership.
Is CME managed by brand-centric leaders?
I'm guessing, no. Executive management’s inability to understand simple brand concepts is a reflection of a company's that lack brand-centric leadership. Furthermore. I will offer what I consider to be a precise definition of brand-centric leadership.
Brand-centric leaders ...
- ... are aware of the scope of the company's brand assets.
- ... understand how its customer segments map into the company's brand and sub-brands.
- ... factor in brand issues in every decision involving customer touch points.
- ... use business development channels to accentuate brand awareness.
- ... integrate brand value and brand equity growth into their strategic plans.
- ... establish clear guidelines concerning brand-centricity across the organization.
Social media is simply one additional touch-point for your brand. It should reflect and leverage your brand equity in concert with your strategic plans.
Just sayin' ... | 
