Brand is often misunderstood as the domain of the marketing team - a logo, a campaign, a set of colours. But great organisations know brand is far more than the superficial. It's the sum of everything the company says and does.
A brand is not what you publish. It's what you practice. The Prospa re-brand exemplified this ethos as every part of the organisation was involved in the process of branding and the launch day was not just about the new logo (which of course was a beautiful design that everyone loved) but how the brand flowed through every part of the organisation.
1. Brand lives in behaviour, not just design
A strong brand guides the conversations your service and sales representatives have every day. It shapes the experience principles your product teams use when designing new features. It's especially visible in how your organisation handles customer service and complaints.
One of the most satisfying parts of my time at Prospa was watching how vigorously the Complaints team protected customers, and how sensitively the Collections team supported late payers. Those behaviours weren't accidental - they were brand in action. They built trust, credibility, and loyalty just as effectively as any advertising campaign.
2. Align your internal and external promises
If you want your brand to be believed in market, it must be believed internally first. That means building an Employee Value Proposition (EVP) that mirrors your brand proposition. Employees should feel the same promise your customers do.
And please - one set of values. Just one.
I've seen organisations with corporate values, leadership values, brand values, team values… a values buffet. It creates confusion and dilutes meaning. When everyone rallies around a single set of values, those values naturally flow into your customer facing brand. And customers can feel the consistency.
3. Customer experience is the ultimate brand test
If your brand is customer centric, treat customers like gold. If your brand is about empowerment, empower them. If your brand is about simplicity, remove friction relentlessly.
A brand unravels quickly when the promise and the experience don't match.
Track what your customers think - not just through NPS or CSAT, but through:
- Complaint themes
- Customer verbatims
- Social sentiment
- Product usage patterns
- Moments of friction
- Moments of delight.
These are the real indicators of brand health.
4. Embed through rituals, not memos
Brand becomes culture when it shows up in:
- Onboarding
- Leadership behaviours
- Team ceremonies
- Decision making frameworks
- Performance conversations
- Recognition moments.
When people start saying, 'That's not very us', you know the brand has taken root.
Embedding brand is not a communications exercise - it's a behavioural one. And when done well, it becomes the organisation's most powerful operating system.