Looking inward: How internal branding and communications affect cultural change

Design Management Journal, Summer 2003 by Faust, Bill, Bethge, Beverly

The information technology managers responsible for the desktop standardization program were already beginning to communicate with those employees who would be affected. The process would occur over a six-month period that included logistics planning, training, change-out, and troubleshooting. However, the IT managers had not yet learned about the corporate branding initiative. Without realizing it, they were using vocabulary that was inconsistent with any tenets of the new brand strategy, which was focused on approachability and simple communications. Words and phrases like deployment teams, conversion windows, feedback loops, and compliance made the program sound more like a military operation than something that was going to help employees communicate more efficiently across the company.

Bank One seized the moment and brought together managers from marketing-who owned the branding program-and IT. After a review of both programs, it was determined that the IT initiative would take on the visual image and tone of voice of Bank One's emerging brand strategy and that furthermore, this would serve as a demonstration project prior to launch. It was also determined that the IT project could benefit from a unifying theme-one that conveyed a positive attitude about the change, without seeming trite. After a brainstorming session, the metaphor of a road trip was adopted as the theme, and the program was renamed Route One (figure 6). All communications materials took on a look and feel that was derived from Bank One's new brand toolkit but that also reinforced the highways and byways theme. Schedules became route maps; memos became postcards from the road, and training materials became Ride Guides and Starter Kits (figure 7). The campaign included posters, internal mailings, and a trouble-shooting guide that was designed to look like a car owner's manual.

From the printed materials to the Route One shirts worn by the banks' technicians, every detail was crafted to reflect the theme, without being overdone or gratuitous. Over approximately a six-month period, more than 30,000 computers and related equipment were converted-without the major cultural backlash that could have resulted from the company's mandatory change.

Training

Another area of opportunity in which to link branding with internal communications is training. While this area too has been intensely studied and well documented, it is an ideal communications channel within large organizations to leverage brand values and brand identity-for several reasons. First, training is typically interpreted as a positive thing. The goal is for people to enhance their skills and knowledge and somehow better themselves and their position in the company. Second, training generally occurs in smaller groups, where communications are more intimate and controllable. And third, studies show that when training content is conveyed through engaging and interactive learning tools, it is retained longer and in more depth than when more conventional means, such as lectures, are used. Injecting corporate branding principles in training tools and techniques will not only reinforce the brand values but is also likely to make the training more effective and meaningful.