Getting to the bottom of BRAND CULTURE

BRAND CULTURE is, of course, one of today’s hot topics, and is a subject about which, I’m sure, most people reading this will be aware. But what exactly is brand culture? And why is it so important?

Well, to put it simply, BRAND CULTURE is something that’s created by a fusion of two components: your company’s purpose and its values. Or to look at it another way, its a fusion of your company’s HR, Learning and Development and Communications functions.

So how do you bring those two ingredients together? - how do you integrate your company’s CULTURE and BRAND so it can help your organisation differentiate itself from others.

In the symbiotic relationship between brand and culture, brand is the outward manifestation of a company’s DNA and culture is the inward demonstration. The corporate world has been talking about organisational culture for years, but the emergence of brand as a discussion point in a senior executive space is relatively new for many organisations.

The workplace is a frequently overlooked but critical lever in supporting a BRAND and CULTURE CHANGE. This was validated by a recent survey. The results show that 77% believe that brand is a critical driver for their business; yet only 54% said the workplace plays a critical role in supporting it and only 15% said their facilities reflect their brand “very well.”

Once defined, your company’s purpose articulates why it actually exists. It describes what your business stands for, what makes it distinctive, and how your employees and your customers alike can expect it to behave. And when that purpose is aligned with the values your brand embodies, it can be used to influence how your people think and act, which in turn will influence how your customers perceive and interact with your brand. In other words, it makes your people your most effective marketing tool.

Yet this is just one of the reasons why a clearly thought-through, well co-ordinated amalgamation of your brand and culture can prove so invaluable. A well-defined brand culture also makes it easier for you to attract and retain the best people, it engages with your employees - and that’s really important, not least because employee engagement drives innovation and creativity, as well as enhances customer experiences. In fact Gallup research shows that only 13 percent of employees are highly engaged globally, while 88 percent of millennials say they would stay in their jobs for more than five years if they were satisfied with their company’s sense of purpose.

So it perhaps isn’t hard to see why a carefully considered BRAND CULTURE can prove not just useful to your business, but essential if wants to stay ahead of the field.

If you’ve enjoyed this article and would like to hear some more about our views on BRAND CULTURE and other topics of the day.

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Call Design Force on 01772 643973 or email me simon@designforce.co.uk