brand culture

In a previous post, I introduced the nine brand types that all brands fall into.  I explained that in my years of experience working on a broad range of brands, I found that, although no two brands share the exact same brand identity, there are really only nine general brand types. This post is about the relationship between these brand types and the organizational values that support them.

Early results from the Brand-Culture Fusion Assessment show that the workplace culture at many organizations isn’t aligned with their desired brand identities.  In other words, many companies aspire to be perceived a certain way, but the way they operate doesn’t support that aspiration.

Leaders of great organizations have tremendous clarity about the brand identity they aspire to embody and about how to cultivate an organizational culture that enables them to achieve it.

Two recent research papers suggest that companies need to address social welfare as a matter of business practice, not just good works or marketing strategy.

BCG’s Total Societal Impact details the ways companies are being pushed to take responsibility for issues that affect their stakeholders, but aren’t a direct outcome of their product or service offerings. Environment, health, gender and political freedom are some of the key areas in which buyers want to see action from sellers, in ways that go beyond philanthropy or marketing tie-ins.

BrandZ just published its annual brand valuation report weeks after Forbes released its best brand list.  The dramatic differences between the lists caused some head scratching among businesspeople.  When Interbrand‘s report comes out later this year and inevitably reports more different numbers, confusion is likely to grow.  Unf

The future of business is personal. We are embarking on “The Age of You”, in which “Mecosystems” (ecosystems that revolve around and cater to you) and “responsive experiences” (customer experiences that adapt to your needs and preferences) will prevail.

Great brands don’t follow – they lead. That’s why they tend to ignore existing trends and advance their own cultural movements instead.

Want to know if you’re building your brand the way great brands do? Take this 10-question brand assessment.