“GE Works” — Communicating Brand Value & Impact
“We are realizing that times have changed, and we want to reflect that we are operating in a new, changing environment,” said Gary Sheffer, Vice President of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs at The General Electric Company. Gary presented at the National Summit on Strategic Communciations in April 2012.
“Today, it’s more about rolling up our sleeves, focusing on the serious, complicated times that we live in, and that’s why we have shifted our focus – our brand theme – to ‘GE Works,’ which we think is a great way to talk about the impact of The General Electric Company.”
[See Gary’s presentation to the 2012 National Summit on Strategic Communications here: GE Works by Gary Sheffer – 2012 Strategic Summit]
“We were a top ten-rated brand before 2000, and we drove our brand value all the way up to Number 4 in 2008, when GE was valued at about $50 billion. Then the downturn occurred, and we took a hit. We are still valued quite well, as a fifth-most-valuable brand, at $43 billion, so there’s still a lot of value here.”
Where are we focused?
“Technology, customer value, global growth. GE works by developing advanced technologies and services that make the things we build work better, delivering unique value and productivity to customers and communities around the world.”
How does GE work?
- Developing global leaders who navigate the complexity of our times with clarity, courage and integrity
- Partnering to solve tough challenges for customers and society
- Delivering innovative products, software and services
- Growing beyond the core, in developing markets and in specialty finance
- Using our scale, process excellence, effective capital allocation and risk management wisely to deliver organic growth, superior returns and cash over the long term
“If you take away one thing from what I say, our goal here is to shift our focus from GE’s tendency to make product the hero. We have great products, we should be proud of them, but our shift here is making our ‘impact’ the hero. It’s why GE works. It’s our impact on the world, and that’s what we want to declare loudly and proudly,” Gary added.
“We are constantly learning and driving best practices. We invest to train our people and develop leaders. We learn from customers, competitors, peers and each other. We want people who listen more than they talk. We want leaders who build teams.”
“Because we know we can get better. We are never afraid. Competition is in our blood!”
“GE is a ‘We Company.’”