I have been much struck by the absence of the recognition of the role of employees in creating and sustaining brands in all of the recent media comment about the rebranding of Abbey National into Abbey. The great and the good in branding have been lining up to share their views and prejudices about the recent rebrandings that have not worked and those with more than an ounce of common sense have concluded that unless there is a parallel or preceeding change in strategy then rebranding is unlikely to succeed. No one has yet commented that both the leadership of organisations and the role played by their people have a crucial role to play in any change of brand strategy. Leaders who live the values of their organisation, who behave in line with them, who say things that reinforce them, can have a significant impact on the perception of the brand. Similarly, the people who work for an organisation, if they are in alignment with the new brand strategy and believe in it, are one of the greatest sources of communication about and reinforcement of the brand. posted by Malc, 1:19 PM  permalink