Is branding really necessary?

So last week I got a nice surprise over the phone to say that The Listening Tree has been nominated for Brand Consultancy of the Year by the Advertising and Marketing magazine. I was immediately grateful for the nomination and I must say it came at the right moment when I was wondering if branding in Malaysia was necessary. Not the branding aka marketing and communications but branding as a form of culture building to boost morale, loyalty and performance.

Through the years, I have come across many employees who are amazing people but due to a combination of our education system and the Asian culture of respect and conformity, have somehow let themselves become worker bees instead of leaders or even visionaries. In an organisation where 90% of them are worker bees, the journey towards establishing a standout brand is a long one, as the brand is literally being pushed upwards by only a few key people at the top.

The journey is not unlike that of Sisyphus' -