A brand needs support and reinforcement from its own people first and foremost and committing to creating an environment that makes their people happy and engaged is the way to do it
Companies that leverage their brands to achieve phenomenal growth and market stature take their brands beyond marketing. Image: Shutterstock
“Everything has to flow out of the identity: image, behaviour, product innovation—and not least, the internal culture”
-Adam Morgan
Marketers are taught to bring to life the brand’s benefit. To focus on ‘what a brand does’, not ‘how a brand is made’. But consumers live busy lives and product-based differentiation is an advantage that flattens very quickly.
The internal workings of a business—its culture, customs, activities, the working environment, people and even the tools it uses to create its products can have a large influence on brand identity and how it’s perceived by consumers. Therefore if channelled in the right way it can be used as a powerful form of marketing that leads to the creation of an honest brand. Moreover, nurturing external brand communications by reflecting internal workings pulls consumers in through a sense of honesty and authenticity. A manager at Pepsi is credited with having coined the term “Invertising”. It refers to onboarding employees to the brand mission. It is a competitive advantage to build and strengthen programs that make sure employees are aware of the brand promise and live it.
But beyond just building exposure and excitement inside, brands need to be fully operationalised with employees. By operationalise, I mean that employees should understand clearly that what they do impacts the brand. Invertising is a large concept to build immersive brand engagement, alignment, and integration.