At Brand Vista, we’re lucky enough to help brilliant brands across a huge range of sectors define how they’re going to shine in their market… but, as we’re defining their plans for real distinction, nearly all of them have the same question: when it’s time to make this ambition a reality, how might we get the wider organisation on board?

Whilst every organisation has it’s own practical, cultural and political challenges, there are some critical actions that can help almost every brand leader ensure a strong internal launch – one of the key steps in making the move from brand vision to brand reality:

1. Don’t just tell, involve

When defining your brand vision, it’s so important to work together with the organisation, involving as many colleagues as possible – from the boardroom to the frontline. Aside from the fact that those in customer-facing roles often understand them best, the more that the organisation has been involved in the process of creating the vision, the more it’ll feel a sense of ownership, and the more likely that vision is to really stick.  

2. Lead from the top

Leadership demonstrating their belief in the brand is a powerful means of bringing it to life, which means you need to ensure senior buy-in from the beginning. Just as we plan to involve the wider workforce in vision creation, we also involve leaders from across the organisation – feeding in their ambitions and priorities to ensure an outcome that meets their needs. This involvement means you’ll be in a much stronger position to ask leaders to help you launch the new vision and distil what it means for their teams, all of which adds a valuable level of tangibility.

3. Set out where you are now, and where you want to be

When thinking about how to communicate your brand vision internally, rather than simply launching the vision en masse, we recommend scheduling a planning session where you define key stakeholder groups, where they are now in relation to the vision, and where you’d like them to be in a given period (typically 1-3 years). This will help you effectively plan the actions you’ll need to take to move each group forward. Whilst a company-wide launch might still be powerful, this will help you follow up with a tailored message and techniques meeting the needs of each audience.

4. Align your customer experience

When you launch your brand vision, your internal teams will be keen to understand what this practically means for the organisation – what will this brand actually change about what we do, and how we do it? One of the most powerful ways of demonstrating this is to have set out a clear strategy for how the brand is going to come to life in your customer experience – how are you going to deliver your category basics differently to your competition, and where are the Brand Amplifier moments when your brand will really sing? The more you can show, practically, what your new brand means, the easier it will be for your teams to identify with your objectives… and get on board.

5. Keep the beat going

Whilst a motivating launch is a great start, you need to ensure a consistent and steady stream of communications and activity to drive this change forward and make sure it sticks. What sort of brand-aligned activities might draw people together, deeper engaging them in the brand over time? Who are the key influencers in your organisation that can support your message and keep the conversation going? Considering how you might continually reinforce your brand message internally over the coming months, and years, will help create and maintain the energy that your new brand deserves.

6. Celebrate successes

As colleagues start to see your new brand coming to life, their belief will build – so the more that you can do to celebrate wins, the more you can inspire further brand-alignment. From sharing customer feedback or content when a brand-led change in the experience has really made a difference, to celebrating colleagues who are really living your brand values, taking time to appreciate these brand wins as an organisation can help create a real sense of momentum.

With the right planning and commitment, you can create an internal brand launch that galvanises your teams, sets your organisation up for success… and is also a lot of fun! We’ve helped hundreds of organisations to take their brand from vision to reality – get in touch to find out how we could support you.