Skip to main content
Commsy creative stuff straight to your inbox

Blog

How to overcome a brand identity crisis

< Blog home

How to overcome a brand identity crisis

Who am I? Why am I here? What does it all mean?!!

Brand identity is a powerful thing and it’s about far more than simply having a strong visual presence (a cool logo does not a brand make!).

Your brand identity is your organisation’s DNA.

It’s what you do and how you do it.

If your organisation was a person, it’s how they’d behave, what they’d say and how others would describe them. In short, it’s the essence of your organisation.

Having a strong brand identity is important on many levels, not least of which because it enables you to forge strong connections, both internally and externally. It can help in building trust, authenticity and a robust workplace culture, setting a level of expectation among target audiences and employees alike.

Where problems can arise is when there’s a mismatch or lack of consistency. Expectations may be missed, or an organisation may act and speak in a way that doesn’t quite ‘fit’. The experience of employees may also not match the image presented to the outside world, casting a shadow on who that organisation really is.

While the label ‘identity crisis’ may sound serious – and sometimes, it can be – it’s a good idea to make reviewing brand identity part of the natural lifecycle of any organisation.

How do you know if you’re suffering a brand identity crisis?

One of the easiest ways to find out if you have an identity crisis on your hands is to open a dialogue. If it is a challenge for leaders, managers, employees and customers to define exactly what that identity is, then there’s a problem!

There are many reasons why this might happen. For example, you may be a start-up business that’s just finding its feet and deciding on a roadmap for where you’re headed and how you’re going to get there. Equally, you may be a growing business that’s scaling up and grappling to keep your identity in line with your evolving business model. Or you may even be a large, established organisation that needs to stay nimble and to move with the times while retaining its traditions and heritage.

It may also be down to a loss of focus, or that your communications are stalling, calling for a reboot and a refresh.

So, what can you do about it?

 

Research the market

One sure fire indicator of an identity crisis is a mismatch in expectations and that’s why it’s important to understand the bigger picture. Do your research and make sure you have a clear view of the current landscape. Think about who your customers are and what you’re offering. Have your business goals changed? Have your products and services changed? Who is the target audience? What is the market like right now? Who is the competition?

Talk to the team

Don’t forget to speak to employees too – anonymously if it helps. What do they think about the organisation? What do they think it stands for and what are you all working together to achieve? How would they describe the organisation to a friend or family member? What type of attribute and characteristics would they use to describe it? How does it make them feelto work there?

Define

Now think about your brand identity in light of your research. Is it still relevant and a clear representation of you right here, right now? Can you spot where things may have gone wrong? Define as clearly as you can what your organisation is all about. Who are you? Why do you exist? What do you do? How do you do it? Are your purpose and values understandable and up to date?

Communicate

Next consider all the ways you are communicating your brand identity, from visual representations such as a website and branding, to tone and style of voice, and every touch point of the customer and employee journey (i.e. anytime someone may come into contact with you for any reason). Which areas need improvement or a revamp? And which need a complete rethink? Are your visuals, messaging and voice consistent, both internally and externally?

Be in it together

Think about how you might better embed your brand identity within the culture of the organisation. If you are pushing ahead with a rebrand or any major changes, then communication and engagement will be key. Be transparent and share messaging in a creative, engaging way. Find ways to help managers reinforce and communicate key messages. Also, think about improvements you might make to your workplace’s physical environment. Employees need to be engaged and to understand what the organisation is about and how their role fits within its greater purpose.

For further inspiration on nailing your brand identity, why not take a peek at:

24 inspirational company mission statements

Want to make your employer brand fly? Be more Bill…

Workspace – the final frontier on the quest for a happy crew

 

Amy Archer for Alive! 

 

“The guys at Alive understand the complexities of our business which means we don’t need to explain the detail of every project or design piece – they’re already on it, which keeps things moving and delivers the results we need.”

Emily Stoten — Head of Marketing, Selecta

“I feel like they own and care for the project as much as we do! I would not use anyone else for my creative work and think Alive is ahead of the game.”

Jo Hobbs — Communications Manager

“Thanks for all your help. We are delighted with the campaign, both in terms of the creativity and messaging but also the thought taken over the rollout of the materials. All looks absolutely fabulous!”

Sarah Crowdy — Campaign and Media Officer Communications, South East Water

“We went to ‘Alive’ for ideas on how to run a specific employee program in Europe. Alan and his team were brilliant in coming up with fresh, creative and practical approaches. The team took charge and executed brilliantly. We are pleased with the progress made so far and hope to have the same level of partnership and commitment going forward.”

Sobha Varghese — Tata Consultancy Services

“‘The short animation developed in co-production with clinicians and young people is outstanding! Informative, developmentally appropriate, vitally fun and engaging. We are really grateful for the expertise of the Alive with Ideas team for their innovative approach in building children’s health literacy.'”

Kath Evans — Director of Children’s Nursing at Barts Health

“Our mission was to update the DASA brand visuals to better reflect our innovative and forward-thinking organisation. After receiving numerous pitches from different branding agencies, Alive stood out with their clear passion and understanding of our identity and goals. We thoroughly enjoyed working with the Alive Team who provided expert guidance and injected some much needed creativity into the project; resulting in an accessible and engaging new brand that we are immensely proud of.

Thank you again for all the work you have done with us!”

Lianne Springer — Communications and Engagement Lead - Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA)

“Alive wowed us during the pitch process and they didn’t stop wowing us throughout the whole project. Every person we worked with at Alive were so friendly, knowledgeable and clearly passionate about what they do. They have worked with us to really understand what we do and have created a new brand and website that really stands out from our competitors. Thank you!”

Louise Burnard, Head of Marketing and Communications UK — Be | Shaping the Future

“I think the team have done such a brilliant job, particularly with responding to our requests. It's one of the best mental health videos I've ever seen. Very proud to be associated with your exemplary work. Thank you so much.”

Dr Anna Batho — Clinical Psychologist – Critical Care, UCLH

“We have worked with Alan, Caroline and the wider Alive With Ideas team for many years. In that time, they have provided a dedicated service that is second to none. We appreciate their attention to detail and creative approach to bringing our brand, communications and stories to life. And would recommend them to anyone looking for creative communications support.”

Georgia Beech — Internal Communications Specialist, Ocado Group

“This is brilliant. I wanted to give my heartfelt thanks to all of the team who worked on this. You all understood exactly what we wanted to communicate and why, and then managed to do it in a way that was far better than anything I could have imagined. I’m a bit choked up to be honest!”

Sarah Wright, Head of Communications and Campaigns — NEA

“Each time I work with the team, I am always stunned at the effort and creativity that goes into each detail and am always eager for the end result. The team is extremely accommodating and always provide a fresh approach to our projects that elevates our communications materials!”

Alana Khaytin, Communications Specialist — Braskem America

“What I really appreciate about Alive is that they work with us as partners, and care as much about getting it right for our patients as we do.”

Sara Langston, Patient Engagement & Marketing Manager — italk

“Alive are unique in how much they deeply listen and invest in you and your ideas. I have not come across a company that listens as much as they do to ensure your needs are understood and met (actually - they always exceed my needs and expectations). Everyone I recommend Alive to has an equally brilliant experience. When you work with Alive, you are not only getting some genius creativity brought into your life, you are also hanging out with some of the best examples of human beings I’ve ever known.”

Steph Tranter, Hybrid Exec Coach & Psychologist — StephTranter.com

“Alive helped us create a video of our response to the floods of winter 2019. Our Chief Officer received messages from all round the country praising us for it and was really pleased with both the video and the response to it.”

Alexander Mills, Communications Manager — South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

“Alive were professional, friendly and great to work with. Most importantly they were creative, helping us to bring an extremely important safety campaign to life.”

Jack Grasby — South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

“The (Alive) team were able to creatively pull together and document (in just over 2minutes) everything our service has achieved over the last few months, from thousands of prescriptions deliveries to hundreds of phone calls made to the vulnerable. The final product was so powerful and reflective of what our service has and continues to achieve. It couldn’t have been better received within the service – thanks Alive for once again helping us to communicate our vision!’”

Emma Wright — South Yorkshire & Rescue

“We worked with the team at Alive to create our staff recognition video.
At a time like this, its never been more important to share the amazing work that our staff have done and continue to do on a daily basis under very difficult circumstances. We wanted to shout about this and recognise that when the time came, South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue stepped up to the plate. We didn’t want an ordinary thank you post on social media or a basic email sent out internally, we wanted something special. Enter Alive. ”

Emma Wright — South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

“This looks amazing - brought a smile to my face scrolling through it :-)”

Jack Ford, Head of Marketing — streamGO

“Our company is fun, we have great brands, but most importantly we’re all about our people – and I wanted an agency who would understand that and help us bring it to life through our website and other comms. Straight away I felt that Alive ‘got’ us and provided the creative inspiration exactly where we needed it, as well as the technical expertise to deliver a well-functioning website.”

Keren McCarron, Head of Corporate Affairs & Communications — KP Snacks

“Boom!
Thank you so much. Incredible work done at incredible speed by incredible people.
Outstanding work as ever and what a turnaround. As for the concepts – wow. These are that good it would be an insult to describe them as just good. It’s a joke, quite frankly. This is exactly the Alive effect I was after. Right now I feel like I am living in an Alive With Ideas wonderland. Thank you!”

Jack Grasby, Campaigns Manager — SYFR

“If you are looking to improve creativity and build teamwork, I highly recommend a session like this for your team. No matter where you are in your creativity journey, a workshop like this can give your team a boost of energy and ideas to invigorate their creative thinking.”

Amy Lilja, IC Manager — Hennepin Healthcare

“Alive were there to help when we were working every hour to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. They gave us the creativity, ideas and support we needed to deliver campaigns which empowered our residents in the most difficult time most of us have ever seen, personally and professionally. The team understood what we needed, worked closely with us and delivered fast without any compromise on quality. Working with Alive has been a joy in the darkest of times and I have no doubt will have helped to save lives. Thanks team x”

Julie Odams, Assistant Director of Communications & Customers — Derbyshire County Council

“We got 'Alive' involved to help us shift mindsets across our organisation and they delivered! Using simple, clear and creative ideas the team have delivered us a campaign which has seen a dramatic increase in idea sharing and development. They’ve also played a significant role in creating a culture of shared success. I wouldn’t hesitate to work with again, in fact, we already are!”

Gavin Buckle — B&Q
Alive logo