... the promise makers the people who commission the neon lights and the funky adverts.  In our consumer society brands have become an obsession.  But an often forgotten fact is that the people who make or break brands are the employees, the promise guardians.    Traditionally employee and customer communication has been very similar (“we show them the adverts!”).

There’s very strong evidence to suggest that staff (who are also educated consumers) are starting to reject PR and spin-style communication within organisations.  But still 80% of spending on brands within organisations is on the physical brand trappings with very little attention given to the cultural and behavioural dimensions.  It will have to change.  

The core hypothesis of my new book, Brand Engagement - How Employees Make or Break Brands is that individuals within organisations who are committed to winning the brand war should focus most of their time on ensuring that their people are authentically engaged with the brand. That doesn't mean spinning to them, aligning them or flooding them with PR.  Neglect autehtic engagement and risk brand disasters of the Enron scale or creeping brand death, a slow poisoning from within (think BBC/ITV telephone scandals).

I'm very interested in the perspectives of the Creative Match community.

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