Living the Brand

Abstract

The evolution of brand management leads to an understanding of brands as dynamic, co-created entities that express purpose and identity. With this emerging understanding, the role of employees in building and delivering a brand is increasingly recognised and exploited. Through internal branding efforts, companies can aim to improve the alignment of their employees with their brand, by making sure employees (1) understand the brand, (2) identify with the brand and (3) commit to the brand to eventually be able to (4) behave in line with the brand. This thesis aims to examine and improve the internal brand alignment at creative tech company WeTransfer, to eventually make for more fulfilled and connected employees, who can better deliver the brand promise to make for content and loyal customers.

To understand the context, a study consisting of corporate ethnography, qualitative interviews and existing data analysis was conducted. The findings from the research illustrate that the rapid growth of WeTransfer has a considerable impact on its internal brand and culture. On the one hand, there is a need for guidance of employees, to make sure their understanding of the brand does not fragment further. On the other hand, it is found that the freedom and autonomy of employees should be preserved. Thus, the challenge is to find a balance in guiding employees to contribute to the brand, while retaining their freedom.

To address this challenge, a strategy is developed based on concepts from literature, to (1) make the WeTransfer brand clear by concretising it internally and (2) make the brand live by facilitating an internal conversation. To illustrate how this strategy can be executed, a two-component design is proposed. Firstly, a WeTransfer manifesto is co-created with employees, aiming to translate the abstract brand values and purpose into concrete behaviour on the work floor. Secondly, the Living the brand program is developed to activate the manifesto and initiate discussion on the matter. The program is led by a team of brand ambassadors and engages all employees in several activities to learn about and reflect on the manifesto.

In this time of rapid growth, the design proposal has the potential to make explicit what aspects define WeTransfer and should be held on to. It helps the company strengthen those aspects and get all employees pulling in the same direction. Executing the advised strategy - making the brand clear and making it live - has the potential to contribute to the authenticity of WeTransfer’s brand. Employees will be more strongly connected to the brand and be able to deliver the brand promise. That not only makes employees remain at their jobs but also improves customer satisfaction and loyalty.