In Part One of Brand and Culture we covered the foundational ideals of what brand culture looks like when successfully applied. In Part Two we talk about how you take those ideals and turn them into the ‘doing’ action within a business. Not just a Vision, Values or Mission statement, but actions within a business to drive its success.
The question for every business is “How do create a culture that lives by the values of the business?” If you can instill the ‘doing’ into the nature of how you conduct business, it begins to add a huge amount of brand value.
Grant speaks of an experience with a brand within his network that took all the pros and cons within the business and turn them into an artwork at the reception of the business. It became a talking point to clients and reinforced the behaviours that the business wanted to strive for and away from. Making this behaviour apparent behind the scenes and on the front line.
It may seem a little confronting to highlight the negatives so publicly, but what it did for the business is create a culture of continual improvement. They can see where the business can continue to improve, which stays front of mind when generating possible solutions intern integrating the team into the continual development of the business.
Often the misalignment between brand and culture comes from the brand values don’t align throughout the process, for example a brand will say they ‘Stand for Quality’ but people who buy the product experience faults with the product or the purchase experience is difficult, which does not represent a ‘quality’ experience of a customer. What this ends up doing is creates a fracture in the team, as they will look at the misalignment between the leadership, team, and the customer experience.
So, the important thing to do when intertwining your Brand and Culture is to look at how you take the Vision, Values and Mission from great ideals to a way of being for your brand. Remember they are more then just words, they are a way of aligning all levels of the business, through to the customers. Thus creating an movement like sports teams and their supporters.
