EPISODE 72

Derek Welcome to Brands Made Meaningful conversations with the team at Sussner about how purposeful branding inspires unity, identity, and powerful change for growth-minded organizations.

Tucker Derek, today we’re going to talk about differentiation. We’re going to talk about what’s unique about all the clubs we work with. But what I really want to talk about is identity because what comes up a lot when we talk to our clients through the process of building out their brand and figuring out what’s right for them is how we create an identity that resonates with our current and prospective members.

Derek What does a club identify as? What defines it? Some clubs might identify what we would argue isn’t what makes them special and isn’t what makes them unique.

Tucker When we work with clients who at some point down the line, and I don’t know if this came out of a client interview or we’re working with a club and a GM said this is what it is, but the quote is, and I use this all the time internally, but don’t be an ice cream flavor. Be the ice cream shop. And how that relates to club branding is exactly what we’re talking about. Don’t be just about one thing. Your identity is more than your amenities or your amenity that you deem to be the most important. It’s all those things. And so we’ll dive into that in today’s conversation.

Derek One of the obvious or the most common examples of this that we run into is often the designer of the golf course at a club. And the club identifies with a famous name, a name brand designer, a turn-of-the-century architect, etc. And they use that designer or that architect from 100 years ago often. They use that architect’s identity as the symbol for their entire club, for their culture, and for their people. And you can absolutely argue, look at golf course ratings and which golf course is better or worse based on whoever’s qualified opinion that is. But to think that your whole culture and your people and the spirit of what your club and what your membership is all about is only described by or defined by something like your golf course, I think you’re leaving yourself quite a bit short as you think about your brand identity.

Tucker So this goes back to most clubs think of themselves as a single flavor of ice cream, going back to that analogy. Most of them think, Hey, we offer golf, we’re all about golf, all we care about is golf. So that’s great. But how do you stand out? How do you tell that different story? How are you uniquely yourself? Because if you’re saying, Well, we have a Donald Ross course, well, so do hundreds of other clubs across the country. So what makes you special? It’s more than just that course. There’s more that’s there. If it’s just about playing a great course, people could play it anywhere. So there’s this idea of how do we communicate all of the different things across the club? How do we not risk being one-dimensional? I think that when you get into this one flavor type brand and say, We’re all about golf clubs, we’re all about playing golf, living golf, that’s all it is. And I know we’re using golf. It could be tennis. It could be anything else that makes it hard for you to focus on the areas around that amenity that really bolster it. Because we all know that a club is more than just its main amenity. There’s all of these other things like what is the clubhouse, what’s the experience, what’s the social, what’s the dining, what’s all of that around it that can support that one amenity well?

Derek Your club is more than the sum of its parts. It’s more than any one part. It’s more than the tangibles even. You think of tangibles like your course, your racket, your pool, your offerings, your gym, etc. Then you have intangible things and we’ll get into those. But I think the intangibles are the differentiator. So let’s jump in. Let’s keep going with your ice cream metaphor.

Tucker So I go back to this ice cream shop. I think it helps a lot to think about yourself as an ice cream shop to say we can improve different areas. If we’re just one ice cream flavor, then it’s like we have to make this golf course the best golf course in the entire world. That might not be feasible for some people to keep redoing their course and keep modifying and modernizing it and keep that moving. But think about how we offer a slew of different things and how we can improve across the board and the experience in the way that we deliver things and the way that we present things. All of that is possible when we start thinking outside the box of, we just sell chocolate. That’s the only thing that we have here. We have to have the best chocolate in the world, and if we don’t, then we’re just nothing. This goes back to our days working with professional teams in sports and to say you’re more than just the output on the field. You’re more than just what that team brings to the win and loss column. That goes right back to private clubs and saying you’re more than just the way someone experiences the third hole on your course. That is not the end-all, be-all of your identity.

Derek Now there are courses, there are golf clubs, private clubs, that are golf clubs. They are pure golf clubs. We have plenty of those right here in our area of the country that don’t have pools and tennis, maybe even have limited dining, because the heart and soul of that club is a golf-centered community. But I would still make the case that their identity is more and includes more than just the golf course. They can compete on more. They can differentiate on more. And you know what? In some cases, to your analogy, if all we do is golf and that’s all we are about and that’s literally the mission on our wall, like I know of one club in particular that it is, then, in that case, that might be the exception to today’s conversation where they can lean in and should lean into that and say, Then let’s go be the best. And whatever that looks like from an operations standpoint and a finance standpoint and however that best is defined, let’s go make the best chocolate ice cream that anybody has ever had. And that’s all we’re going to focus on, maybe even to the detriment or the expense of some of our other considerations. I don’t think that that’s the type of club that we’re talking about today, though.

Tucker I don’t think so. And when you get down to the feasibility of the financials that go into that, having the best golf course in the world is quite the competitive landscape to go after. And to even say we’re going to have the best golf course or courses in the city, it’s a race. I mean, you just constantly repeat, repeat, repeat going after rebuilding and doing that. That can get really tiresome for memberships who don’t love to be expensed at that expense. But there is this level when we go through this. The example that I would use if anyone is saying, What do you mean? There is a club we work down in Florida with called Lemon Bay. It’s a perfect example of what we’re talking about. They are a golf club through and through. That is what they believe. That is what they love. It’s in their soul. That’s what they care about. But their identity is way more than golf. It’s way, way, way more than that. It’s about nature. It’s about community. It’s about bringing people together. It’s about warmth. It’s about seasonality. That is a way bigger story than saying, We play golf a couple of times a week. That has to have some kind of level of depth to it that people need to start thinking across the board as to what we offer aside from just one thing here.

Derek For Lemon Bay specifically, one of the things that we saw from an impact standpoint that came out of that initiative as they went through and refreshed their brand, and as they took a minute to step back, they reviewed their mission. They made sure to understand what was important to the members. They got clarity on that so that the refresh brand and brand identity and messaging are now telling that story about where they’re going. One of the huge impacts that we’ve seen come out of that is the strength of the community that they’ve continued to foster and nurture. Yes, they love golf. They eat, breathe, and sleep golf. But what we learned was, even though that is the case, what’s really, really most important to them is their community and the culture that they’re building there.

Tucker And that stands out to me as we work with multiple clubs and walk through that, culture is a huge part of this. So when we talk about your club is more than one amenity. It’s also not just only the amenities. I mean, we’re working with a different club down in Florida right now that has dozens of amenities. They come back and they have a whole slew of amenities. And the first conversation we had to have with them was to say, That’s great. We need to understand those amenities. Absolutely. That’s a part of this. But another part of that culture is the emotion and the values that you bring to that. And it’s also where you’re going. To think about where the club is going, how do we establish that so that our identity communicates to current and new members where we’re going, what we’re all about, so that they can participate in it, and they have transparency around it because we’re not just like every other club. And I would say that’s for every other club. So every club is not like every other club because they might offer the same things, but they definitely aren’t the same club.

Derek Golden Valley Country Club is another really good example of a club and a membership that went from using their A.W. Tillinghast Golf Course architect as a primary part of the identity of what that club was all about to transforming into the Club at Golden Valley, which is now about experience and lifestyle and life well played. They are so confident in how wonderful their golf course is that they just spent millions of dollars renovating and restoring it. They are so confident in the quality of their golf course that the golf course no longer needs to be the lead in the story. Now it’s a supporting cast. The lead in the story is the culture and the membership there, but by the way, we also happen to have a world-class golf club.

Tucker And that brand, if you go to our website and walk through that brand identity, that brand is all about approachability. The best part about that is that the approachability actually stems from the golf culture there and the inspiration our team took to build out the primary assets of the identity were components of the golf course. There are features on the golf course that we said communicate approachability extremely well. Let’s take that and build out something that looks like something bigger than just golf. So what you won’t see is crisscross golf clubs on their logo. You won’t see those types of, Hey, Boyton, we are golf because they don’t need to necessarily communicate that. You know it when you walk in there. You say, wow, these people absolutely care about this because it’s all over their culture. And when we move forward with them, it’s to say every single time we work with an identity, your identity isn’t just to focus on, hey, here’s what we offer. That is not necessarily the case. It helps us do two main things. One is it’s going to build a super strong community internally for us. And two, it’s going to help us differentiate on what’s our competitive edge. Why are we different than anyone else around here? Even though some might say, I have a great course and I can come over here and go, Well, I have a great course too. So then should we just have the exact same identity so that everyone knows that we have great golf courses, or are we different in some kind of way? And that’s what we’re getting at.

Derek That’s exactly what we’re doing with this club that we’re working with currently in Florida that sits in an area that’s packed with very similar like-minded or similar amenity-provided communities and clubs. I think for them we looked at about a dozen other competitors. If I was considering moving there and I was looking for a club and a community, we looked at the dozen others that that person would very well likely consider. They’re all kind of the same on paper. Some of them have two golf courses, and some of them have one. They all have a fitness center, they all have a spa, they all have a great clubhouse. They all have wonderful restaurants. Several of them have similar home values. So how do you choose one over the other? If the amenities are the same and the price point is the same, then what is that differentiating factor that helps you identify as a potential member who says, That’s a place that I can see myself being? I want to belong there because of X.

Tucker It’s funny. Most of the clubs we work with have probably done some management consulting or they’ve brought in people like the McMahon Group or PGA or someone that has some report on there. It is the on-paper report where you look at it and you go, Okay, that’s interesting. We always dive into those first just because it’s a good understanding of where someone else thinks they’re at before we take all of our deep dives. But when you look at that situation right there, on paper they do feel extremely the same. And then you and I had the opportunity to tour 3 or 4 of these communities down there that were all competitors or close to each other. All have basically the same offering on paper and feel like they’re going to be the same community. Every single one was completely different than the other one. And that’s where you can’t just brand based on what’s on paper because of the intangibles like you were talking about, those intrinsic values that you just can’t define unless you put it in an emotional setting. Most management consultant reports, as people know, aren’t emotional settings to present information. So it’s hard. And we work with a lot of very, very successful people in the club space. And it’s hard for people who come from outside the club space, maybe they’re in finance or maybe they’re in some kind of less emotional space, to understand that we can’t just lean into the things that you really like about it because those are the same that everyone else likes. We need to figure out what makes this place different, what makes it tick. And when you walk in, what’s that atmosphere where someone goes, Wow, this is a totally different place than down the street.

Derek And the difference in this particular club compared to the other clubs in the area that we had an opportunity to visit was for me the experience came out in the lifestyle. We didn’t have the opportunity to spend a lot of time with the memberships at the other clubs, but in walking through and touring and experiencing kind of the buzz or the vibe or the lack of in some cases, it was the lifestyle that came through. And it’s a lifestyle that’s built on a set of values that each of these particular clubs has deemed as important to them. That sounds easy to say, We’ll differentiate our lifestyle. Telling that story, communicating what your lifestyle is and how that is unique and different and special, what that looks like, how that messages, that’s a little bit more complex. However, when done right, that will be the effective way that I believe we will help this particular community really elevate their status amongst these other 12 communities that we’ve been analyzing.

Tucker So wrapping up, I think what people should take away from this conversation is that you want to be the ice cream shop. I know that some people don’t like ice cream, so take that analogy with a grain of salt. But there’s this idea of if we can communicate with our identity, that our brand is dynamic and deep, there’s a lot of culture here. There’s something different about this place that you just can’t put on paper sometimes. That’s our end goal, to say there’s more than just the liabilities and the assets that are on the balance sheet. There’s more than that within our identity.

Derek It’s creating this place. It’s finding the value in this place that then builds that identity. We’re going to beat this analogy to death, but thinking about all the flavors and how these flavors come together to create engagement, to create attraction, and excitement that are important components to the culture and the community that elevate the culture and elevate the community versus just the pieces and the parts. Now, you just keep talking about vanilla and chocolate. I’d like to talk about strawberry. I’d even like to talk about the difference between Haagen-Dazs, Ben and Jerry’s, or just going to Dairy Queen and getting a blizzard. But I think we’ll lose our listeners if we keep going that route.

Tucker Absolutely. There is an amazing ice cream shop near my house that has banana ice cream. I won’t dive into it, but it’s amazing. So where I would go to wrap up and solidify this point is the best general managers we talk to get it. They understand that their club is bigger than just the asset out there. The asset that they have is the culture, is the experience. They totally get that. When you talk to them, they don’t go, Hi, welcome to my club and here’s the course and we offer the pool and we offer tennis and we offer this. Thank you very much. They say, Welcome to the club. Here’s what we’re all about. And this is what really makes us different. That’s what a great brand is. If you can summarize what you’re all about and why you’re different and why it’s important and why people should care, that’s just a homerun to me. And so getting to that point is what I think a lot of people need to start thinking about.

Derek The amenities will draw them in. The golf course and the golf course’s architect absolutely are factors in drawing them in. But the culture is what will close them and what will convince them that belonging there will be meaningful and special to them.

Tucker It keeps coming back.

Derek Great conversation. I enjoyed it.

Tucker Till next time.

Derek See you again next week. Sussner is a branding firm specializing in helping companies make a meaningful mark, guiding marketing leaders who are working to make their brand communicate better, stand out, and engage audiences to grow their business. For more on Sussner, visit Sussner.com.