Case Study: Building Brand Ambassadors
The Challenge
In 2004, a major online services company undertook a significant effort to reposition their brand. Their internal Brand Strategy Team collaborated with senior executives and external market research firms to identify a new brand position. The company developed a visual identity for the brand, messaging guidelines, etc. Once the brand and associated strategy were developed, human resources leaders knew it was time to turn attention toward the internal changes required for the new brand position to work. Realizing they needed external help for a successful transition, they turned to T3 and asked, "Now what?"
To help the client achieve the internal impact they needed, we identified three goals for our work together:
- Share the brand vision and create buy-in and excitement across the organization;
- Establish a uniform sense of pride, identity, and loyalty in what the company should represent to consumers; and
- Build consistent understanding within each business unit of the importance of the brand in everyday decision-making and the ramifications lack of adoption could have.
Our Process
Knowing that building sponsorship at the highest levels in the organization was imperative to the program's success, T3 initiated the development of a cross-functional Brand Council by pulling together key players from senior levels across each business unit in the company. Each Council member understood that membership came with the responsibility of brand advocacy. We worked with the Council to design and customize materials that focused on issues specific to each business unit. By doing this, we were able to help the client find the key to success: establishing a system to break down the vast amount of information and changes generated by the new brand. We then collaborated with the Brand Strategy Team and the external marketing agency to design a training program for each business unit using the materials we had created. These Brand Bootcamps covered the research, messaging, positioning, architecture, and visual representation of the brand in a way that was both meaningful and inspirational.
Each Brand Council member was responsible for working with the senior executive in their business unit to ensure he or she would introduce the Brand Bootcamp and provide the necessary results-driven focus for brand application, thereby making the pivotal connection between the brand concepts and bottom-line performance. The Council member then stayed for the entire session, actively participating and then encouraging ongoing partnership with the Brand Strategy Team. T3 ensured that every member of the Brand Strategy Team was involved in taking a front-and-center role in the Brand Bootcamp by sharing background, stories, data, and guiding exercises. As a result, employees were able to question and discuss the concepts with those best established to provide ongoing guidance and support.
The Results
As a result of T3's work with the Brand Strategy Team:
- Executives across the company were both engaged in and aligned with the company's brand strategy.
- 2,000 participants were trained in the application and advocacy for the brand.
- Brand training customization for each unit allowed for immediate adoption by all employees.
- Each unit had a key point of contact in the Brand Council member to address ongoing questions or issues in brand application once training was complete.
- The company's Brand Strategy Team garnered further credibility and built cross-departmental relationships that continue to advance the brand's internal success. The Brand Council continues to meet and work with the Brand Strategy Team to this day.
