Embedding meaning into your internal team
Short Read
Rebranding is generally driven by the need to communicate more effectively to an external audience — yet the internal team is often the first to benefit from the work we do.
Many of the organisations we’ve rebranded had a strong sense of who they were and what they intended to do, but had struggled to create a brand that could articulate this to their audience. Our role at the initial stage of a rebrand project is to distil the thoughts of stakeholders, customers, partners and relevant voices into a resonant brand strategy.
It can start in a number of ways.
There may be the germ of an idea, a phrase that is already being used within the company. Our role is to stress test it, discover if it has merit, and help shape it into a more meaningful strategic foundation. A workforce might talk about themselves as ‘tech trailblazers’, but what specifically does that mean for the brand; what values should its brand be shaped around?
There are instances when there are many different opinions within an organisation — even conflicting viewpoints. In such cases our role is to understand which is appropriate, and develop a brand strategy that cuts through the confusion. Often an organisation might have little idea where to start. They have been too busy doing what it is that they do to have given more than a cursory glance at their brand. In cases such as this, our role is to get the team to pause and reflect on where they could be, how they should act and what they should say about themselves.
In each of these scenarios the internal team isn’t a silent partner, they are a vital participant. We’re looking to develop a brand strategy that everyone can not only unite behind, but take ownership of.
The most successful brands are those that clients don’t simply adopt, they become passionate advocates for.
And the value and power of this shouldn’t be underestimated.
Two years after completing a rebrand for a large organisation, one of the client team asked if a campaign concept we were presenting was aligned to the brand spirit we’d defined. This team member had joined the organisation after the rebrand, but had adopted it completely because his colleagues believed passionately in it.
His question revealed that the brand they’d invested in had been fully embraced by the internal team, and that it was not about to be diluted or undervalued.
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