An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Find your own voice. It’s hard to not be swayed by other brands and what they are doing that works. I can point to Wendy’s as an example — its social media is phenomenal right now — but that definitely won’t work for everyone! For us, we use our imagery as a tool to express ourselves. We’ve been really leaning into new ways to photograph our product, pulling in location, models, time of day to tell a new story. It’s where we’re most comfortable and authentic — when we are showing beauty.
As part of our series about how to create a trusted, believable, and beloved brand, I had the pleasure to interview Steve Delfino.
Steve Delfino, vice president of corporate marketing and product management at Teknion — a leading international designer and manufacturer of office systems and furniture products — has years of experience under his belt as it relates to the formula for workplace happiness. Delfino is responsible for keeping a constant pulse on the business environment and ensuring that Teknion’s product portfolio proactively responds to changing needs in the workplace. He oversees the introduction of new products and enhancements to existing lines, including pricing and marketing.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I wish I could tell you it was a master plan I had! Like a lot of people, I just followed opportunities and interests, and I couldn’t be happier with where it has led me.
I have always loved design, and that’s what drew me into this industry. The levels of complexity — working with architects, designers, c-suite executives, and brokers; it’s a daily challenge and totally invigorating. My education is in psychology and marketing, so being able to dig into understanding a company’s work style, its business vision, and helping to visually articulate its culture is amazingly fulfilling.
Can you share a story about the funniest marketing mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Let’s just say I’ve learned to rely on advice from legal people when naming products, and to check Urban Dictionary as well as Webster’s before making any final decisions. Honestly, though, I love mistakes. If I go a week without feeling like I messed something up, I don’t think I’m doing my job right. We need to take chances and risks if we want to feel challenged — both personally and as a company.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Well, I’m totally biased, but I think our culture and people make us incredibly special. It starts with David (Felberg, Teknion’s CEO) who is one of the kindest men I’ve ever met. This is a family business, and you can feel that throughout the organization — we take it personally, and we care very deeply about our products and impact.
Something I think we overlook a lot is that Teknion was one of the first companies to really question our impact on the environment. I was personally a little late to the game, and to be totally frank, the first value I saw was it being “good for business and sales”. My thinking was small and short sighted there. Today, we don’t have a product meeting or start a program without a design for the environment (DFE) discussion. It’s never forced, or needs to be a line item on an agenda: it has completely permeated our culture. We are always working to balance the cost implications, the impact to shape and material, and maintaining the priority of beauty and function above all else.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
We have a new, really exciting product that’s all about collaboration and reconfiguration. It’s inspired by the challenges of the past two years, and how our behaviors have evolved drastically, including our increased expectations of our environments. We are always looking at how we can make peoples’ working lives better. Those solutions were around fixed spaces and panel heights, and storage, etc. Now we’ve entered this new world where work is no longer a place — it’s an activity and it can happen anywhere and anytime. So how do you support that behavior change from a product side? These are the things that get me excited every day.
Ok let’s now jump to the core part of our interview. In a nutshell, how would you define the difference between brand marketing (branding) and product marketing (advertising)? Can you explain?
Brand is about you. Your values, your culture, your people.
Product is your solution to your clients’ problems.
I always think about it like this — a conversation starts with your brand (why do we want to keep talking, what’s connecting us, where are you going in the future and does it align with where I want to go?) and then you talk about your product as it relates to the things you’ve learned in the conversation about brand.
Can you explain to our readers why it is important to invest resources and energy into building a brand, in addition to the general marketing and advertising efforts?
It used to be that we led with products first. The brand itself didn’t used to be deeply important to clients. As we think more about the choices we make and the companies that we work with, branding has taken over in importance — this “softer side” of business has become the conversation leader. (ie. Do our values align, and are you someone I want to do business with.)
Overall questions that any client wants answers to before they partner with you:
Who are you?
What do you care about?
How can you solve my problem?
The first two questions can only be answered by a clear and authentic brand.
Can you share 5 strategies that a company should be doing to build a trusted and believable brand? Please tell us a story or example for each.
1. Understand customer behavior — it’s easy to get in the habit of staying in your bubble, and then you begin to design and market for a smaller and smaller audience. My most valuable lessons have been learned in the field, talking to architects and designers about their challenges — not through formal focus groups, but open questions. “What problems are you having trouble solving?” “Where is time and money wasted throughout the process?”
This seems so basic, but it’s too easy to get away from.
2. Focus on a unique value proposition — we have to remember it’s not who we think we are, it’s who our clients think we are. And
3. Keep following up — ask past clients about where we succeeded, look for patterns in their answers, and then you’ll find what’s truly valuable in the eyes that matter: the clients.
4. For Teknion specifically, we sell to design, and because of that everything we do reinforces design. We need to speak to what our clients like, and reflect their values and priorities in each step we take.
5. Find your own voice. It’s hard to not be swayed by other brands and what they are doing that works. I can point to Wendy’s as an example — its social media is phenomenal right now — but that definitely won’t work for everyone! For us, we use our imagery as a tool to express ourselves. We’ve been really leaning into new ways to photograph our product, pulling in location, models, time of day to tell a new story. It’s where we’re most comfortable and authentic — when we are showing beauty.
In your opinion, what is an example of a company that has done a fantastic job building a believable and beloved brand. What specifically impresses you? What can one do to replicate that?
Adidas. The company has never wavered from who it is — never chasing people or trends. It doesn’t overmarket. I mean, Adidas has basically had the same strong logo since the 1950’s. Can you imagine doing something so well the first time, AND having it past the test of time and still work? Amazing.
They know exactly who they are and who their clients are. I look to Adidas a lot when I’m trying to remember how important it is to stay true to your company, and not try to wedge yourself in somewhere you don’t belong. You’re not going to see Adidas trying to sign athletes out of high school because there’s no feeling of any opportunistic marketing from them.
The “celebrity” I most associate with Adidas is Run DMC (maybe just me? I’m a huge fan, my kids are cringing right now…) — but that really shows how ahead of the game they were; seeing that intersection of fashion, sports, and music decades before anyone else did.
Anyway, I could go on about this for ages. I wear a size 10 and I like the court classics. Just in case Adidas is reading.
In advertising, one generally measures success by the number of sales. How does one measure the success of a brand building campaign? Is it similar, is it different?
First measure of success is how the internal people feel about it. Before you go to market, you’ve got to make sure the visuals and language are gaining traction with employees — do they feel inspired? Are they more excited than they were yesterday? Are they proud to be a part of this company? If you can resonate with your folks, you know you’re telling the right story.
If there’s interaction and engagement with brands on social media — even negative! — you know you’re sparking thought and conversation. We want to be part of that community, not just a post and run.
And last I’d say loyalty, do people begin to value the brand more than the product. Is it an Adidas or is it a sneaker?
What role does social media play in your branding efforts?
Social media is selling when you are not in the room. It’s a way to capture people’s imaginations when they’re not looking for you. Through social media, if you’re doing it well, you’re creating a relationship. It can be very personal — you’re part of someone’s every day. I hate to admit this, but I start my day looking at TikTok. It’s my routine, and it’s a privilege to be able to be part of someone’s routine. We take that seriously.
What advice would you give to other marketers or business leaders to thrive and avoid burnout?
Measure different things. Not the number of meetings you take. How about the number of steps you take? Recognize that a conversation at the coffee machine is equally valuable as one that’s been scheduled for a few months. I think we need to understand there’s a huge difference between a packed calendar and a productive day.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I think a real focus on mental wellbeing would bring us some good. The importance of genuine human connections — the value of this has really been shown as we’ve lost our easy access to it recently.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“The world doesn’t need another boring blue suit. Be you.”
I was given that advice by someone I won’t mention because she’ll hold it over me forever, and my career took off.
Be authentic in all things, even if you feel like you’re going to make a mistake. When I stopped trying to be what others expected and I listened to my own voice, and valued my own questions, I felt much more connected to the work.
We are blessed that very prominent leaders in business and entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world with whom you would like to have a lunch or breakfast with? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
Barack Obama. I felt connected to him since his 2004 DNC speech that offered such hope for unity. His calm, cool leadership through incredibly stressful events is a lesson to us all. I’ll give you my cell number if you can ask him to text me so we can hang out.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
LinkedIn is where I like to share my thoughts about the industry and what we’re doing at Teknion. I’m not giving you my Instagram — no one needs that much hockey, cocktails, dinners and kid content.
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
Steve Delfino Of Teknion: Five Things You Need To Build A Trusted And Beloved Brand was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
