Living and working ‘on brand’
I have a lot of fun with Big Duck’s brand. We painted our office walls bright yellow and bright orange, integrated little duck doodles into our website’s footer, and deliberately adopt a tone in our writing and design that reflects the personality and positioning we’ve set for ourselves. And yes, I have my iPhone set to quack when I get a call.
Sure, our branding is playful by design. We’re a creative and fun business, and we enjoy expressing those aspects of our personality in the content on our Facebook page, in our Tweets, and even in how we dress, occasionally. (I’m quite partial to my yellow clogs).
Living and working ‘on brand’ like that helps keep us all mindful of how we’re communicating. It also helps ensure that every point of contact audiences have with us feels consistent, and reinforces the messages we want to send. But more than that, it’s truly who we are; the brand is an authentic expression of the work we do and the individuals who do it.
Do your staff live and work ‘on brand’ too? Does your office feel just as unique to your organization as your website does? Does your team reflect your organization’s core values in their actions? Are you authentically ‘on brand’ inside and out?
Being ‘on brand’ should be like make-up- something decorative you put on for the outside world- it should be woven into the fabric of your organization internally, too. Sure, not everyone wants to wear yellow clogs or carry a quacking phone. But if they’re not interested in or connected to the brand at all that can have deeper implications for their connection to the work itself.