Brand engagement: how employees make or break brands

"The branding landscape is dominated by the marketers, 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 organizations. But still 80% of spending on brands within organizations is on the physical brand trappings with very little attention given to the cultural and behavioral dimensions. It will have to change. The core hypothesis of this book is that individuals within organizations 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. Neglect this area and risk brand disasters of the Barings scale or creeping brand death, a slow poisoning from within."