Branding Inside-Out

There has been much said and published about branding and its importance for growing your bottom line. And due to the economic meltdown, the message is slowly seeping into the consciousness of many corporations in Southeast Asia who now, more than ever, have been force to remove themselves from their comfort zone. Many have jumped on the branding bandwagon with great vigour, forming internal brand teams or appointing brand ambassadors and commissioning rebranding programmes.

Unfortunately, despite the hype and the lip service CEOs give to branding, more often than not, branding – or rebranding – is nothing more than a box that has been ticked off a to-do list, a KPI that has been met in order to signal at best a superficial change within the organisation. This is branding outside-in.

Brand your organisation from the inside out and fly!

Can this approach really make for a leadership brand?

It’s unlikely. The enthusiasm invariably runs out of steam by the time the last signboard has been replaced or the 560th employee has undergone Brand Training. Pretty soon, branding is relegated back to the marketing department, whence it came, or to the corporate programme graveyard along with so many other well-intentioned initiatives. Then it’s business as usual – with the only changes being in the logo and the interior colour scheme.

Against this backdrop, it is heartening to see corporations who understand that brand success relies heavily on an inside-out rather than outside-in approach, coupled with a belief that drives a brand-centric way of operating; long after the ink on the new logo has dried.