Uniting employees around a shared brand

Uniting employees around a brand means creating a shared direction that people recognise and can communicate confidently. That is difficult when teams hold different views of the business or have strong ties to particular locations. A new identity alone cannot resolve those differences. Start by interviewing employees and examining what lies behind their perceptions, rather than assuming everyone understands the business in the same way. Involve people early, identify what they value and make those findings part of the identity. Then support the introduction with clear explanations and consistent design across the materials and spaces employees use.

For First Names Group, this meant connecting a new shared identity with both individual employees and local heritage. Following a management buyout, the trust and corporate services business needed a unifying vision across global offices and siloed teams. Interviews with employees and stakeholders identified its people, and the confidence and trust they instilled, as central to the business. The new visual language featured every employee's first name, while photography of its locations reflected local pride and community connections. A coordinated launch introduced the brand to employees at the same time through a film starring colleagues, screened in local cinemas. Business cards, launch packs and offices carried the identity into everyday use. The approach gave the shared brand concrete links to its people and places, rather than relying on a statement of unity.