1 THE PRISONER AND
THE PENGUIN

In 1987, Terry Waite, the then Archbishop of Canterbury’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, was kidnapped. It made headline news around the world and was the beginning of what was to be a four-year period of captivity for the man from Cheshire, UK.

Slowly but surely, Terry Waite started to win the respect of his guards. Due to the language barriers, however, conversations were limited.

So, when after many months one of the guards offered to try and get Terry Waite a book, he had to think carefully about what to ask for. Would the guard understand what he wanted if he requested a particular book, and what was the likelihood of finding that specific book anyway?

Finally, after much thought, he decided what he would ask for: he asked the guard for any book which had a picture of a particular bird on the spine. To ensure the guard knew what he meant, he drew him a picture of the black and white bird he was referring to: a penguin.

Asked later to explain his thinking, Terry Waite said that he felt anything published by Penguin would be a good book and worth reading.

And the moral is that a recognizable brand icon is a powerful communication equity. What communication equities does your brand own?