The Intersection of Brand and Culture:

Leveraging Engaged Employees as

Brand Ambassadors

Presented by: Cindy Mielke, CPIM

IMA Recognition Council President

Strong Brands

• Command a premium price

• Pave the way for product expansion

• Thrive during a down economy

• Withstand turbulence better

• Demand more leverage with partnerships

• Fuel stock price/shareholder value

• Attract the best talent

Your brand is a living business asset that is

a key source of value to your business

Insert video here: https://vimeo.com/89319413

Copy and past this link into your browser:http://youtu.be/0eUeL3n7fDs

Zappos

Impressive credentials

• Achieved $1 billion in revenue in 10 years

• Strong rate of repeat customers and word-of-mouth marketing

• Consistently on Fortune’s “100 Best Places to Work” list

• High customer service ranking

Zappos’ strategic plan

• Customer service is not their #1 priority,

culture is.

J.D. Power

Airline Satisfaction Survey

#1 in 2014 = JetBlue

All careers at JetBlue start with “Cultural

Immersion” training

• Cultural storytelling by executives

• Honest and transparent reveal of strategy

• “Jettitude”

Employee Engagement

Less than ONE THIRD of workers were engaged in 2014

51% of workers were “not engaged”

17.5% were “actively disengaged”

Market Leader | Characteristics

Marsh & McLennan Companies: ViewPoint—Delivering the Brand Promise through Employees

Foresight & Innovation

Brand Investment

Image Management

Measuring & Monitoring

Design

Marketplace Vitality

Organizational Stature

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Customer Experience

Insert Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T2GmGSNvaM

Copy and past this link into your browser:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T2GmGSNvaM

So, Who’s Job is Employee Engagement,

Anyway?

Social Media video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eUeL3n7fDs&feature=youtu.be

Copy and past this link into your browser:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eUeL3n7fDs&feature=youtu.be

Reviews Gain Power

Traffic to top 10 review sites up 158%

92% have more confidence in online info

70% consult reviews before purchasing

51% of consumers use internet before making a purchase

46% feel they can be brutally honest online

34% use social media to air their feelings

26% to express dissatisfaction

23% to share likes

17

82.5% Use Trip Advisor for Every

Trip

83% Read and Post Reviews

77.6% Reviews Reduce Regret

76.5% Adds Fun to Travel

Planning

Feedback Impacts Brand

Brand Link Re-defined

Enthusiastic, engaged

employees have never been

more important!

“(Insurance) agents in the top

quartile for engagement… achieve

over four times the account growth

of agents not in the top quartile.”

- The Forum: Business Results Through

People

20

“Organizations that deliver truly outstanding

customer support will be the winners in the

new economy. Customers expect an

experience that reflects a product or service

marketing promise.”

- Incentive Research Foundation

Recognition Drives Engagement

Aon Hewitt: Recognition is one of the important drivers of

employee engagement

Bernsin & Associates: Organizations that design and deploy

strategic recognition programs realize a 14% higher

employee engagement index score than those without

systematic recognition

And, a 15% improvement in employee engagement can

yield a 2% gain in operating margins.

“Top Need: Alignment Leaders”

“Today, brands extend past the

characteristics of the product into its

deeper DNA. Further, they are

strengthened by consistency. The

strong brand is one that is aligned,

inside and out.”

Steps Toward Improved Culture and

Engagement

Communicate

Collaborate

Join the Conversation

Celebrate

Appreciate/Recognize

Cultivating Brand Ambassadors

Communicate

• Imagine and advance a vision

• Articulate your vision in as few words as possible

• Give employees latitude to deliver brand promise

• Let employees “preview” marketing

• INSPIRE vs. tell

Collaborate

Establish an employee marketing council

Encourage employees to experiment with products

Allow employees to represent you in the community

Capture innovative ideas in a formal program

Promote job shadowing and mentoring

Lift the ban on social marketing

Cultivating Brand Ambassadors

Social Media | Brand

You can’t control the conversation, so join it.

• Nearly everyone is “social” these days

• Not feasible to hand-pick or restrict social representation

• Cultivate a culture worth broadcasting

• Focus more on empowering a positive culture vs. social media

policy

Celebrate

• Leverage progress as a means to perpetuate your brand

• Package momentum in external marketing

• Match real faces with the brand—use employees in marketing

• Establish celebration rituals that are tied to small wins

• Acknowledge failure as a means to make improvements

Cultivating Brand Ambassadors

Cultivating Brand Ambassadors

Appreciate/Recognize

• Capture and reinforce your core values in action

• Establish tangible metrics to gauge success

• Assess employee understanding of your brand promise and reinforce

competence

• Recognize and highlight employees who successfully live the brand

A Final Review

Brand is NOT a logo or a tagline

Brand is exemplified by ENGAGED EMPLOYEES

A robust and vibrant CULTURE is a byproduct of employee engagement

CULTURE fuels brand

Social media feedback impacts brand; join the conversation!

Recognition is an important engagement driver

Communicate/Collaborate/Celebrate/Appreciate

Thank You!

Cindy Mielke, CPIM

IMA Recognition Council President

Phone: 402-960-4026

Twitter: @Cindy_Mielke

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/cmielke

Bibliography

Recognition Council Whitepaper, “The Intersection of Brand and Culture: Leveraging Engaged Employees as Brand Ambassadors”, 2014

Recognition Council Whitepaper, “It’s Personal: The Brand, the Consumer, and Employee Recognition”, 2013

Gallup Survey: http://www.gallup.com/poll/181289/majority-employees-not-engaged-despite-gains-2014.aspx

Gallup Great Workplace Award: http://www.gallup.com/events/178865/gallup-great-workplace-award-current-previous-winners.aspx?utm_source=GALLUP_GREAT_WORKPLACE_AWARD&utm_medium=topic&utm_campaign=tiles

“Top Need: Alignment Leaders” blog by Tim McMahon, Clinical Associate Professor at Creighton University

32

This presentation was produced by the

Recognition Council, a strategic industry group

that educates and promotes the benefits of

recognition and rewards to the worldwide business

community. More information is available at

www.recognitioncouncil.org.