In the ninth blog in our series on realising the potential of your brand, we look at bringing your environment to life. In this series we’re guiding you through the  you through the challenges of optimising your brand for business success. From uncovering your purpose to developing the right positioning, finessing your identity and tone of voice to driving brand awareness in a crowded market, we’re here to offer a helping hand.

Following on from our last blog on Employer branding, we’re focusing on the importance of creating an environment that mirrors your brand.

“British employees will averagely work for 34 hours and 26 minutes a week, totalling 1,795 hours a year”

Every employee is the ‘face’ of your brand and any interaction they have with people, be that customers or suppliers, is their opportunity to bring it to life. It’s important to ensure they are all brand advocates – after all, if they don’t love and respect your brand, how can you expect your customers or consumers to?

As a company, it is likely you know what you stand for, what your values are and the type of culture you want to encourage. But this is no good simply written in an employee handbook or talked about in an induction – your employees need to be immersed in your brand. One of the best ways to do this is by using the assets you already have, like your workspace.

So, what does that mean? Well, it’s much more than putting your logo on the wall and having a poster of your values by the coffee machine. It’s about telling your story and letting your environment represent your personality, vision and values. This could be done in a number of ways – using wall art or graphic installations, the style of furniture, signage, finishes and how you create and treat quiet and communal areas.

One of our clients is a global logistics business, so we renamed and branded each of their meeting rooms a country that they operate in. At Something Big, our meeting rooms are named after famous musicians, echoing our Creative Director’s passion for music. There is no ‘right or wrong’ – it’s simply a reflection of your brand. If your brand’s vision is centred on innovation, a boring and dull office isn’t likely to cut it. If your brand values include collaboration, an environment that prevents easy communication is incongruent.

Getting it right offers a number of business benefits:

Inform:

When done well, your branded space helps your employees understand their role within the company and how they contribute to your mission, therefore helping you achieve your goals.

Emotively connect:

Office branding creates an inclusive environment. Inclusivity helps drive loyalty and wellbeing, which in turn can lead to a happier team. Your team will feel part of your brand’s DNA.

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Some workspaces have dedicated ‘installation areas’ that are used to communicate changes or run specific internal campaigns, allowing employees to easily absorb new information and keep up to date with new business initiatives.

Reinforce your brand:

If you host clients or suppliers, a well-branded office environment can help to strengthen your brand and create an environment they want to visit which can improve your overall working relationship.

Here’s a selection of branded environments we have completed for our clients:

We believe the importance of branded environments will now become more important than ever. COVID-19 has forced companies to open up remote working, making the office environment even more important to encourage collaboration and communication to unite your team.

Whilst it is likely the virus will have changed how businesses operate in the future, it’s unlikely most will operate without a central office and once we get through this time, it will be vital for companies to re-unite the workforce with a renewed corporate purpose. A branded workspace is central to this and can help reinvigorate employees after months of staring at the same four walls at home – it’s an opportunity to remind them why they work for you, re-focus on living brand values and re-connect with their co-workers.

At Something Big, we have helped a number of our clients tell their story by creating and implementing full office refurbishments that align with the company vision, promote new initiatives and create a motivating environment. If you’re starting to think about your working environment and want to discuss options with us ahead of returning to the office, please get in touch and our brand team will be able to support you.