Why?
Because a powerful positioning that differentiates and motivates,plus a high performance culture, is rocket fuel for business growth.
Most businesses believe that brand belongs to marketing and performance belongs to HR. We completely and utterly refute that belief.
A brand is usually created and owned within a marketing team and it’s considered to be about colours, logos and maybe a vision, mission and values. And often that ownership will remain in marketing and that brand positioning will be fundamental to all communication.
Some businesses do this really well, but others struggle as they have a brand that either isn’t built around the truth (more like a fairy tale) or is too vague and something that most people in the space can claim.
Often what they all lack is clarity, simplicity and consistency.
And even those that are clear, simple, built around the truth and ownable, often aren’t embedded fully into the business. So all that lovely marketing and communication falls at the first hurdle when you come into actual contact with a human being representing that brand and they completely fail to deliver on it.
This is where we start to consider the HR bit and their role in being brand owners.
Because marketing alone will never be able to fully engage the team behind the brand. They will struggle to ensure they are all clear on what they are striving to achieve and get them completely aligned behind a common set of values. And with social media what it is, none of us can afford to have those brand messages not delivered on, because we’ll get exposed. People used to say that a happy customer tells one person but an unhappy customer tells ten. Nowadays, make that hundreds and thousands.
But many businesses still see brand as something that belongs to marketing. Bonkers, isn’t it?
Not forgetting performance
And finally, to really make our case, even those businesses with a perfectly ownable, compelling positioning, rolled out beautifully across a team aligned behind powerful values, performance is usually something still owned by HR. Performance is either confused with results (the numbers) or is something that is discussed for an hour every six months (if you’re lucky!) in a performance review.
“As strategic brand consultants ourselves, Emma is the only person in London who I would trust to work with us on our positioning and our individual development. She has led us on a seismic journey but made it feel simple and obvious. Six months on and we are actually now too busy. We owe her so much.”
Adam Morgan
Founder, Eatbigfish
``Before I met Emma I was convinced that if people wanted to buy stuff they would do so by going up the high street and visiting a shop! Glow completely transformed our marketing and put us on the map digitally``
Marcus Wareing
Chef
``Emma and the Glow team have completely transformed our business. It started as a rebrand but they have done so much more. They got right under the skin of our business and helped us revamp not just our branding but our entire approach to the market!”
Tamara Littleton
CEO, The Social Element
“Working with Glow completely transformed our business. We have new language and behaviours which even a year on, you can still hear buzzing round the corridors. Our business performance has rocketed and we’re winning so much new business now we have clarity on what sets us apart. I would recommend Glow London to any business that believes it needs competitive advantage”
Sue O’Brien
CEO Norman Broadbent
“Working with Glow gave us direction, clarity and a clear lens from which to build our entire business. The brand bible we developed was world class. Every time Emma walked in the room I found myself clapping!”
Patrick Alo
Global Head of Brand, Virgin Management