Cars used to suck.

For the first thirty years of their existence cars were not very useful. They were built one at a time by hand, primarily by artisans. They didn’t go very fast. If something broke, replacement parts needed to be custom-made. The roads belonged to horses, so their narrow wheels made for extremely uncomfortable rides where breakdowns were common. And there were no gas stations, so you had to figure out your own supply of fuel.

Cars began their life as toys for the wealthy, mostly to show other people how wealthy they were. They had minimal function beyond being novel and exciting. No one relied on it as a serious mode of transportation.

It wasn’t until the Model T that cars got useful.

How?

By designing cars as standardized products on an assembly line where every car was the same, Ford could produce more cars faster and cheaper. The cars became more reliable and easily fixable. They became faster than horses offering more storage.

But to make that happen, it required a change in approach. First, it focused on what was critical to the car’s success. They eliminated fussy stylization and handcrafted elements, giving way to the famous line about how you can have a Model T in any color you want so long as it’s black. Standardization or process and deliverable brough the Model T to a far wider audience, creating its own ecosystem of gas stations, mechanics and parts suppliers to support them.

The impact was phenomenal. The Model T changed the game because it stopped being a novelty only the wealthy could afford and became a true tool that created value for millions.

Employer branding is approaching a similar Model T moment.

Thirty years after its conception, employer branding is still an investment made by the biggest and most profitable companies. Brands are effectively hand-built by teams of artisans, leading to high price tags that don’t have clear connections to ROI or value to the company. Companies invest in employer branding to “keep up” with their competition, but very often have no defined goal or stated purpose that it can achieve.

Don’t get me wrong, done well, a strong employer brand creates value in many ways. But compared to the rigor or discipline of consumer marketing, what many companies call employer branding is mostly pleasantly positive platitudes without measure or impact. Worst of all, even if they had built and activated a strong employer brand, recruiters aren’t being properly prepared to take advantage of it, sapping it of value.

Welcome to employer branding’s Model T moment.

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