Iron Ridge Creative

You experience organizational identities and brands every day. By bringing your favorite Yeti cup to work, you may identify with a corresponding group of Yeti supporters. Those who listen to Bruce Springsteen may subscribe to his brand of American authenticity in the face of adversity. Even then, the communication strategies involved in formulating these brands remain elusive. How does an organization come up with a wildly successful organizational identity and brand? Let’s use Nike’s long-running “Just Do It” campaign as an example:

First, let’s examine the sheer ambiguity of the slogan itself. The three words “just,” “do,” and “it” have no real connection to the organization. Now, however, we cannot hear those three words without thinking of Nike. How did they do it? According to Yohn (2014), Nike “made the fateful choice to not be a running shoe brand, and instead it entered a broader, more resonant class of inspiring people to become who they hope to be” (p. 49). By taking a chance on the broader “Just Do It” initiative, Nike gave themselves the opportunity to make an impact on athletes and non-athletes alike. While the original campaign ran from 1988 to 1998, Nike recently released a new campaign called “Dream Crazy” which features a call-back to the “Just Do It” slogan (Nike, 2018). The official slogans may have varied over the years, but Nike’s brand consistency with “Just Do It” is commendable.

(Weathersbee, 2019, pp. 5-6)

Through Nike’s example, organizational identity and branding becomes clearer. In today’s organizational climate, branding success is measured in emotions, experiences, and followers. Furthermore, success can be found in broader platforms outside of an organization’s normal purview. Like “Just Do It,” which focuses mainly on athletic resilience, this slogan can be extended far beyond athletics and into our daily decision-making processes.

Without any further adieu, let us begin with six ways you can effectively communicate organizational identity and brand!

1. Emotion is everything.

At the core of any communication strategy is an emotional experience that needs to be shared. In order to communicate that experience, you need to understand your potential customer’s aspirations, fears, what motivates them, and what makes them tick (Wheatley, 2014). You need to know these emotions when you attempt to make any sort of human connection with them.

Think of organizational identity like a friendship. “When people form an emotional attachment to a brand,” Sanders (2012) argues, “the strength of that bond is not dissimilar to an attachment to another person” (para. 14). Thus, the bond between consumer and organization requires a bit of emotional knowledge and a willingness for both sides to express themselves, which leads me to my next point…

2. Be authentic, and acknowledge organizational imperfections.

Organizations aren’t perfect. They make mistakes, just like you and I do. If they were perfect, they certainly wouldn’t be made up of humans. As such, you should aspire to be authentic and admit you’ve made a mistake if it ever happens. Sweep things under the rug, and consumers will likely still notice. If you make a mess or mishandle a crisis, communicate candidly about it as best as you can.

Like humans, organizations lose their relevance when they stray from reality. Let’s put aside whatever implications this has for alternate realities and acknowledge that authenticity does in fact makes us relevant. As Blotter (2013) puts it, “it’s not brand marketing we’re sharing, it’s brand relevance and meaning” (para. 23). We stay relevant and create meaning by being open and honest. If you put up a façade or gloss over a crisis, you’ll be up the creek without a paddle.

3. Seek to make things better for not only your customers, but also the world.

J. K. Rowling puts it quite nicely, doesn’t she? 100 points for Gryffindor.

Like their more recent “Just Do It” campaign, Nike aspires to make things better for athletes and non-athletes alike. By telling us to “just do it,” they encourage us to take risks, embrace failure, and never stop improving ourselves. Nike “made the fateful choice to not be a running shoe brand,” Yohn (2014) claims, “and instead it entered a broader, more resonant class of inspiring people to become who they hope to be” (p. 49). This pursuit for better calls us to compare our actual and ideal situations, which often involves—you guessed it—change…

4. Embrace change through consistency.

Change is hard, but it doesn’t always have to be! As long as the change is in good faith, there’s still hope. Even still, “the line between growing with consistency and losing brand consistency is a thin one,” Jones (2012) declares, “and one defined by a keen understanding of what the brand represents in the mind of the consumer” (p. 23). Find a way to align the change with your current brand experience and negotiate the new meaning with your consumers. If you make a change that doesn’t align with your consumer-driven meaning, however, trouble will surely be afoot.

When Harley-Davidson unveiled their all-electric motorcycle, the 2020 LiveWire, they simultaneously began marketing how the new bike will have its own distinct electric sound (Harley-Davidson, 2019). Like the V-Twin, gasoline-powered motorcycles, the sound of the new LiveWire will forever be linked to Harley-Davidson’s brand. Electrification might be a big ask for die-hard Harley-Davidson fans, but their decision to promote this change based on the brand’s defining characteristics was undoubtedly a good move.

5. Foster honest, ongoing dialogue with your customers.

This one may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s easy to let consumer dialogue fall through the cracks, especially when things are good. You can do this through social media, e-mail, or over the phone, but a cold-call style just won’t cut it. Show your customers that you value their feedback by starting the conversation with a personal touch and always try to respond. Offer a solution or provide action items if necessary. Don’t let them feel like they are shouting at a brick wall.

Through this dialogue, your organization can participate wholeheartedly in what Hollenbeck and Zinkhan (2010) refer to as discursive storytelling, or “the generation of knowledge by sharing meaningful stories based on personal experiences” (p. 336). This airing of experiences, no matter how negative or positive, reinforces the value of everyone’s input in the overall refinement of a product. Show your customers how much you care about them and their feedback; don’t let it go unsaid.

6. Think of your organization and customers as a family.

It might not be a perfectly functional family, but your organization deserves nothing less than a sense of belonging. Theoretically speaking, this pursuit for community is indicative of our tendency to classify ourselves and others into various social categories (Ashforth & Mael, 1989). Our need for human connection can be satisfied by the organizations—or families—with which we choose to associate. Aspire to be the family that customers want to be apart of.

Just remember that brand experience relies heavily on the emotions of your customers. As “emotional creatures,” Yohn (2014) reminds us, “we make our purchase decisions based on how products promise to make us feel” (p. 48). Without the feeling of family, your customers won’t feel valued. Bring them in for a figurative group hug. Come on… you know you want to!

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