Corporate Employees Clueless About Branding, Concludes tompeterscompany!

Business Editors and High Tech Writers

tompeterscompany! discovered that companies and their employees don't "get it" when it comes to integrating corporate branding efforts within the company, according to their poll of 700+ business professionals from around the country.

Companies unintentionally keep employees clueless about branding and its significance internally by not relating their external branding efforts back to their employees or customers and by not connecting their employees to branding initiatives, decisions, and results.

Says Tom Peters, "When we say brand, we normally refer to the marketing program, the logo or a dozen things associated therewith. That's not complete and misses the point. It's brand inside that really matters."

In the eye-opening poll on branding inside conducted by tompeterscompany!, participants admitted:

More than 50 percent of employees don't know what a brand means
More than 75 percent of employees don't support their company's
 branding initiatives
More than 90 percent of employees don't understand how to effectively
 represent their company's brand.

Says tompeterscompany! Senior Vice President Bruce Sherman, "The results are profound but not really surprising to us. We've seen company after company spending millions of dollars on outside branding efforts such as advertising and brand strategies, but allocating zero dollars to educate their workforces on how their own work relates to organizational success. Companies lose a golden opportunity to distinguish themselves in the marketplace, to deepen relationships with customers, and to leverage their people."

According to poll results, companies DO distribute glossy marketing and branding materials to their workforce. This is a lost opportunity, however, as the links between the materials, the brand, employee work, and the customer are never made.

Julie Anixter, Managing Director of R&D, who conducted the survey said, "Employee understanding, commitment, and capability have a significant, quantifiable impact on customer experience, which in turn has a major impact on brand equity and shareholder value."

Branding inside is a hot topic in the business world--a new strategy organizations can use to grow, to blend disparate cultures that clash in merger aftermaths, and to create exceptional customer experiences.

tompeterscompany! conducted the poll in a live web seminar hosted by Placeware this year. They are a leading educational consulting company founded and chaired by management guru, Tom Peters. For more information, explore http://www.tompeters.com/implementation.