Interesting article about the way organizational culture, business goodwill, branding and the law are interacting. Here is an excerpt:
Whether shaping the branding strategy of a start-up or optimizing the strategy of an established company, the key to maximizing goodwill is in closing the gap between organizational culture and organizational brand. Sometimes we see wonderful brands that resonate with the market, but are undermined by the internal culture as in the case of marketing an image of customer service, but having sales clerks who are untrained or unhelpful. In that case, the challenge is to correct the organizational culture over time to effectively support the brand. Typically this management issue can be resolved through a process of adjusting the focus of existing employees while working to make sure new employees match the needs of the evolving culture.
As consumers, we sometimes see a great company culture anchored to a lousy brand, what I call “the best kept secret” syndrome, such as finding a wonderful product in unattractive packaging. Typically, this marketing issue can be resolved by investing in creative communication services to more accurately share the story of the organization. In both reconciliation processes, there will be an investment of time, money, and emotion. These investments should be made with a strategy to leverage and protect that investment, which is where the intellectual property enters the picture.
Read full article in the Kevin E. Houchin’s Creativity and Law Blog.
I agree you cannot under-estimate the importance of a great product/service in driving employee motivation and engagement. No matter how hard you try on the organisational stuff, I doubt people working at McDonald’s will ever be as engaged as those working at Pret a Manger. Why? Because they cannot be as proud of the product they are selling. The first is mass-manufactured, greasy and unhealthy. The second is freshly hand-made each day by the people selling it, made from good wholesome stuff. More on this in my post on Pret at wheresthesausage.com