Employees impact brand identity

When we think of branding, most of us probably associate the concept with the logo, colors, and impressions of our favorite companies. However, how many of us think of the impact of a brand on a company’s employees? Imagine the following scenario:

You are the U.S. CEO of a $12 billion professional membership firm in a meeting with a prospective client. The question of risk management compliance comes up so you quickly pull out a copy of a company approved Risk Angle article from the company Web site and hand it over. To your surprise, the prospective client also pulls out a similarly branded point-of-view document created by a local member firm that contradicts the recommendations of your article.

Situations like this emphasize the importance of brand and brand identity within an organization for all employees.

I recently had the opportunity to attend a brand workshop for a small company where the presenter shared a version of the above story. The purpose of the workshop was to review the company’s brand and visual identity system. The goal was to prevent a situation where the employees were independently creating marketing materials or content.

To demonstrate the importance of brand on an organization, the workshop presenter used Coca Cola as an example of good branding. According to Interbrand, a firm specializing in creating and managing brand value, Coke was the world’s most valuable brand in 2011, estimated at nearly $72 million. This designation didn’t happen overnight. It was a journey – from a carbonated drink to an experience shared worldwide.

Moving to the internal organization, it too, followed a journey. Although the company is decades old, it took until 2003 to establish one ‘master’ brand. The organization now has a consistent vision, brand position, and brand personality. Now member organizations not only look the same but also act the same across geographies and services. And yet, challenges remain with regard to communicating brand the strategy. A quiz of attendees on the brand personality revealed no one in attendance knew the answer. The most popular option chosen was the organization’s 2015-strategy tag line. Others chose the company vision statement.

The brand personality opens the door to the visual identity. It defines all communications in a practical manner. When Coke’s brand is assessed at $72 million, it is due to the strategic use of their logo, colors, typeface, imagery, graphics and tone of voice. The participants in the workshop left with a better understanding of why brand is more than marketing’s job.