As a project manager at Go East, I wear a lot of hats. I say that figuratively, which is a good thing since I hate actually wearing a hat and wearing several hats at once is just plain weird.

Does that sound silly? Of course it is. One of the things I love about Go East is that we can be silly once in awhile. We are encouraged to have fun and keep in touch with the playful part of our brains. Creativity is not limited to art directors and designers; it’s asked of every employee. And as a freelance musician and a person who enjoys the arts, I embrace opportunities to stretch beyond the duties of a traditional project manager.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am an avid coffee drinker. There is a mug at the end of my right hand so often, it’s almost like an appendage. It’s literally part of who I am. (ed. Enough with the literal vs. figurative thing — too much.)

Being able to indulge in my over-caffeinated lifestyle at work may be a small thing, but it makes me feel comfortable knowing I can bring that part of my personality to the workplace.

To me, “living the brand” means that I can be myself while staying true to the brand personality of Go East. Some words that come to mind are these: passionate, focused, driven, intelligent, curious, connected. And hats. Lots of silly hats.

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As a company that helps clients build their brands, we, too, must continue to build our own brand. At Go East, we realized we could either let the process take care of itself, or we could guide and direct its growth. The latter certainly takes more effort, but we’ve found that spotlighting individual employees who live our brand makes it more relevant to those around them. Go East recognizes employees who are loyal to our brand in a number of ways. Two of them are by established programs: Brand Moment and Brand Leader Awards.

At each monthly staff meeting, we give one or more Brand Moment Awards. The winners of these awards are chosen based on nominations given by their peers. The award recognizes an individual who embodies our values and personality traits in a single act, someone who demonstrates the Go East brand in the eyes of our stakeholders. We recognize the winner with a unique award and $50 in cash, as well as peer recognition, which, in itself, goes a long way.

Brand Leader Awards are presented by the Leadership Team. Each quarter we determine who in our organization consistently lives the brand and who we’d like others to emulate. Again, peer recognition has tremendous value. A cool award and $200 cash is given with pride.

As an owner, there is nothing more important than having employees embrace a brand and clearly understand their roles in building it. When employees understand who we are as a company and where we’re going, it makes describing and selling our services an easy and enjoyable venture. Continuous direction and acknowledgement help ensure that our brand comes to life every day.

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Whether you are interviewing for a job, meeting with a client or, in my case as the business office assistant for Go East, greeting visitors, first impressions can make or break the deal.

Being the first point of contact for visitors and clients, I am also the first impression of the company.

I often wonder, “What does it take to be on the front lines at Go East?”

When I was first offered this job I thought, “What was it about me that stood out? Was it my previous work experience or my personality?” I like to think it was a little bit of both. I know what it’s like to be on the other side of the reception desk. I’ve had both good and bad experiences.

Living the Go East brand takes a person who is passionate about quality customer service. I know how important it is to greet every caller and visitor with a friendly word and smile. It also takes a resourceful person. When a call comes in for someone who is busy I track that person down. If the person requested is not here, I find an appropriate alternative — someone who will be able to assist with meeting the caller’s needs.

That’s why when I walk into a place of business, the first thing I notice is how the receptionist treats me. When I experience good or excellent customer service, I remember it.

I keep these things in mind when I am at the front desk at Go East. I always try to make eye contact, look presentable and be friendly.

Like I’ve always said, “First impressions are key!”

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Lost, sick, confused and in a foreign land: Iconography can be so important when you need to find information.

The work Go East did on the United Family Medicine identity/mark was an excellent example of personal experience aiding a designer’s creativity. Living in Norway for three months, working and wandering, helped me understand that good design can lead you to the help you need. When the language is foreign and the surroundings are unfamiliar, you rely on recognizable images to find what you need. I knew some of the language, but icons and marks helped the most.

As a team, we approached the United Family Medicine brand mark from quite a few directions (see the top of the blog), which ultimately helped our clients on their journey to a new identity. In our concepts, we strove to use universally recognized images since UFM is a community clinic located in Saint Paul and serves a culturally and economically diverse community. 

To reinforce UFMs values, we wanted to see one person caring/teaching another. UFM also wanted to reference the new clinic’s location, which is near the Mississippi. To reinforce name recall we wanted to keep a “U” shape.

We researched sans-serif fonts for a welcoming feel, but chose to marry the icon with a serif font to give the clinic a strong professional stature.

In the end, the mark with the two figures forging a river made it to the final three and, with multiple refinements, was chosen. The new mark has been well recieved but, as a designer, the real reward would be to know that someone found the help they needed in a time of stress and uncertainty.

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Living the brand is an ongoing aspect of full brand management. To live the brand is to strengthen it and to make brand management a part of your culture. How do we at Go East recommend you manage and live your brand?

Assess and align areas that are inconsistent with the brand. Look at all the places where your brand touches people externally: memos, email sign-offs, outgoing voice mail messages and information communicated through your social media strategy. Examine processes and procedures and change those that are inconsistent with your brand position. Identify areas where decisions impacting the brand can be improved.

To intensify brand management throughout the organization, establish principles and guidelines for when, where and how to apply the brand. Create accountability for decisions that affect consumers’ perceptions of the brand. Remind your staff about brand principles and ways to reinforce and build the brand so everyone feels responsible and engaged in brand-building activities. For example, everyone at Go East recently created their own statements about how they live the brand. We all wore the statements, like nametags, throughout the day and talked with others about our part in living the brand.

To monitor the results of your efforts, conduct audits of consumer perceptions. It’s the only way to truly know if you are having the impact you are trying to achieve. Are the attributes that your customers identify the ones you want? Share the findings with staff members so they can celebrate the success of their efforts or hone in on areas that need improvement. Constantly refine your indicators of success and measure again.

To make living the brand fun and rewarding, we at Go East recognize employees who are doing an outstanding job of living the brand. We share examples and celebrate successes. We acknowledge “brand moments” formally by thanking individuals for contributions to building the brand.

It is through all of these efforts that, eventually, managing your brand becomes less work and more a way of life.

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When you hear the term “brand building,” what audience comes to mind first? More than likely, you thought of your core audience – your customers. They are, after all, on the receiving end of your company’s brand story. We go to great lengths to build trust and loyalty with this audience. But don’t forget about what’s on the inside — your company’s employees. This internal audience should not be overlooked when it comes to building your brand because they are the ones doing the “building.”

Building your brand from the inside out is only possible if your internal team is given the tools it needs to live the brand. Your team needs to have a complete understanding of your brand’s mission and vision, its promise to your customers and its personality and values. When your internal team fully understands your brand’s essence, it will be empowered to exemplify your brand with your external audiences, whether it be answering the phone, creating a product, selling a service or solving a problem. If your employees have a clear understanding of what it means to live the brand, every activity they engage in concerning your brand will more likely align with your overall brand strategy.

One of our clients, Thinsulate™ Insulation from 3M, recently repositioned its brand with an updated brand platform and fresh identity system. The changes were significant, but the decision makers understood the importance of addressing their internal audience first — a global network of employees. Go East helped them engage their internal audience by creating a variety of materials to communicate the changes. We created a small business card-sized “brand card” to communicate the Thinsulate Insulation story, as well as the essence of the brand platform. The card’s convenient size means that team members can easily carry it with them for quick reference. In addition, we created posters that were placed around the offices to reinforce the new identity and brand messages. We also produced a brand brochure and brand video. While these items initially launched internally, the brochure and video were designed to be shared with external audiences after the launch. Finally, when the reinvigorated brand was presented internally, energy drinks with a custom Thinsulate Insulation branded label were distributed to energize employees as they set about spreading the new brand message and identity.

The materials that were launched to Thinsulate Insulation employees were specifically designed to equip the team with the information and inspiration they needed to successfully build the brand and, more importantly, to live the brand. Today, they’re building their brand from the inside out. Are you?

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You can’t make someone live your brand.

In fact, you can rarely make anyone do anything that will grow your brand. Because brand is so intangible, it’s not something that can be legislated or mandated. Embodying the brand — living it — has got to spontaneously arise out of each member of an organization.

This is a lot to ask.

At Go East, we have a clear brand platform. It has evolved over the years, but the foundation has remained the same. Everyone knows it. It’s written on the walls in brushed metal letters. We have brand cards for reference. It’s part of our review process. Yet, how can we know how people interpret the brand platform? Words are one thing; expression is another.

One of my favorite ways to get a sense of brand is to spontaneously, organically create a brand snapshot by asking people to do something unexpected and new that demonstrates what they really think. Recently, I riffed off of Swiss Miss‘ Conversation Starter Tags for Creative Mornings by asking everyone at Go East to wear a tag about our brand. Once the initial hesitancy passed, something interesting happened. The name tags became honest, instant messaging about our brand and how each of us lives it, because a name tag is an introduction to an individual and an individual makes a brand. Inside jokes abounded, for sure, but even more so, I could see the pride and ownership of the brand and each person’s contribution to it. Simple by design and much cheaper than a brand audit or employee survey, this snapshot gave us a clear picture of the life of the brand today.

Hello, my name is Go East and I’m on brand.

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In a recent survey, 75 percent of U.S. employees indicated that they do not think their company’s mission statement reflects the way the company does business.

What’s the disconnect? Why do companies “talk the talk” but not “walk the walk”? Perhaps they don’t understand the value of internal brand building. Maybe they’ve never even heard of internal brand building. Consider this a mini primer:

What is internal brand building? It’s actually quite simple. Brand building is the same whether it’s external or internal: It’s generating awareness, excitement and goodwill about your brand. Internally, though, it should be taken a step further: Employees should not only know the brand and be excited about it — they should also live the brand. Consider this: How can you say your company’s brand personality is “friendly” when your employees are afraid of their boss? That scary boss isn’t “living the brand.”

Why is internal brand building important? Given the above example, what do you think your employees are saying about your company when they’re out in the real world? How do you think your customers perceive you if your employees show fear — whether consciously or unconsciously? If you and your employees are not living the brand — you are actively eroding all external brand-building efforts.

Whose role is it to build the brand internally? In a word: everyone’s. But someone has to lead. That leadership should come from the top down. And it shouldn’t be a one-time campaign. This means nurturing an everyday, ongoing culture that needs to be developed, refined, flexible and true to your brand.

Living the brand is not hard. Consider these three tips when you’re outlining your marketing efforts:

• Budgets should be allocated to internal brand building
• There should be buy-in at the top
• At Go East, we make internal brand building recommendations to our clients when appropriate — and all agencies should

My final thought: Internal brand building is valuable because the payoff is happy employees who are more dedicated to the company and passionate advocates for the brand. That’s something every company needs!

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