How do you feel about your company’s brand identity? Have you ever wondered about the message your company brand (really) conveys? Have you thought about your brand identity’s impact on your talent attraction and retention?
When you are sitting with your marketing team to design and develop your company’s brand identity, it is no less critical than crafting a business strategy. Like many companies, you have exerted a considerable amount of effort in various talent attraction and retention strategies. But did you include brand identity as part of the important elements in your strategies? While other talent strategies are critical, crafting your company’s brand identity should not be underestimated as it has a substantial effect on your talent attraction and retention.
A brand creates an image in the mind or feeling in whoever lays eyes on it. Your company brand identity – whether it is the company logo, websites, social media pages, letter head and client deliverables, or even the most fundamental aspect: your office interior design – should be consistent in its image and reputation. Taking an example close to our heart, Evant & Co has selected orange and green to signify our energy and innovation in our service offerings, and our dedication to provide a conducive learning environment to our people. These two colours do not only appear on our logo, they are seen on our office walls, folders, printed materials, our proposal decks and report deliverables.
A brand appeals to the employee, and the younger generation today is no different. Being more brand conscious, they are more concerned by the value of the brand, and how it is perceived. Consistent communication of your brand through direct and indirect methods send a clear message to your audience and leave a lasting impression on their minds and hearts. This strengthens their affinity to the brand thereby enhancing their engagement levels. Researchers have discovered the significance of strong branding and the benefits include lower turnover rate and greater employee productivity. Also, when an individual feels a strong attachment to a brand, they naturally become your brand ambassadors. Says Steve Manning, managing director at Igor, “If you’ve got a brand, you’re selling a lifestyle and you can sell anything you want.” This implies how powerful the impact your brand identity has on your audience, particularly your talent.
While it is an established fact that branding goes beyond just the logo, the creation of a visual identity has been the focus of almost all branding initiatives since the mid-20th century. Some iconic brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and IBM have stood the test of time to remain among the most recognisable brands today. A good choice of colours paired with outstanding design shapes how your talent feels about your brand from their first experience with it. When creating your company brand identity, it is worthwhile to spend some time in understanding the way people interpret colours and clearly define what kind of emotions you want to trigger in your audience1,2,3. More importantly, how do you want your talent to perceive your brand?
A logo design firm, the Logo Company, has clearly illustrated the association between colours and emotions evoked, and have referenced logos from famous brands worldwide. [see infographics below]
In fact, it is not rocket science to understand the kind of emotions evoked by certain colours. Hence, here is a suggested step-by-step guide:
- Use this colour wheel to guide your colour palette when you are (re)designing a powerful and impactful brand identity to capture interest and commitment from your talent. Think about what emotions do you wish to first evoke when your talent thinks of your brand or sees your logo.
- Refer to the general marketing guidelines on logo design to create one that is more representative of your brand to instil strong brand identity in your talent.
- Ensure brand consistency across different company initiatives.
Good luck and we look forward to seeing you in the end of the rainbow.
