Keep It Real: The Brand Book as a Gain for Companies

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„Our weekly meet-up is usually the first meeting for all Mashies after the weekend. The last week is summed up and we share our learnings, whether it’s computer hacks, time management tricks or the slightly different journalism approach. We also like to thank the team and, of course, individual Mashies. The birthday cake, support for writing a press release or taking care of a journalist pitch – every Mashie gets their personal and honest acknowledgement.”

We Love to Tell New Stories – Welcome to the Mashup Communications Team

This quote comes from Tommy and underpins one of our key values of respect and loyalty. We highlight those values on our website, have them as posters in our office and name them in our brand book to ensure that all employees, applicants and customers get to know us right away. They are not just insignificant buzzwords for us, but really ideals that we strive to live by and benchmark ourselves against. There were projects we quit upon request of our consultants because it turned out afterwards that the client did not agree at all with our moral values.

And when I get to the point where I become frustrated or get exasperated with work, I have a look at the poster in my room that says, “We believe in a happy ending with every new story.”

Important Part of Employer Branding

If a company wants to build up a unique and authentic employer brand, one should first of all pass on an impersonal image brochure. Especially if the desired representation of the employer differs massively from reality, the employees won’t relate to it. What are the company’s values? Which visions and goals are aimed at? How should cooperation at the workplace be structured? Knowledge of the values and goals strengthens the employees’ identification with the brand and their sense of belonging to the company.

Our brand book is our internal compass and should make it easier for new colleagues to enter our agency life. In addition to values, vision and mentoring role, it also includes practical tips on time and conflict management, inspiring creativity techniques, preventive measures for office health and microwave recipes for lunch breaks. In addition, there is an obeisance and time schedule to also use the book as a work tool. It was also important to us that not only we as executive directors were responsible for the conception and implementation, but that everyone in the team contributed something to it.

With 24 Work Hacks to a Unique Brand for Employees and Customers

Andersherum There are companies that live an inspiring corporate culture, but do not know how to convey it to their employees or business partners. A brand book therefore is an authentic alternative and storytelling tool for internal and external communication. A good example of how one’s own corporate culture is consciously shared with outsiders is sipgate. With their work “24 Work Hacks”, the Düsseldorf-based company has written a book which they describe as a unique mixture of coffee table and business book.

In it, they use their experiences and insights from six years of lean and agile organizational development and present their solutions visually powerfully and from a personal point of view. Approaches such as Open Friday or Peer Recruiting and Peer Feedback certainly attract many new employees who want to work in the same way. On the other hand, sipgate also uses the book to inspire other companies and achieve awareness of the topic and its pioneering role.

Transparent Look Behind-the-Scenes Thanks to a Digital Playbook

A further example of the fact that an agency manifesto does not only have to be available as a hardcover is shown by an agency from the American town of Nashville. As a provider of branding processes and campaigns, Proof knows the importance of employer branding. Their values and working methods are therefore presented in detail on their website in their digital playbook. This playbook serves as a manual for new clients when it comes to contact support or collaboration in general. But it also provides an insight into the working atmosphere in-house and what benefits employees can expect when working with the brand.

This how-to guide for instance tells new clients that the team always works on Tuesday and Thursday individually, far away from the office and without any distractions. Or that the agency celebrates the so-called “Summer Fridays” between May and September. All employees have half a day off on these days. This transparent presentation has the advantage that potential employees can inform themselves about their future job without obligation and most likely feel magically attracted. Plus, prospective clients get to know the agency’s working methods.

In summary, it can be said that a brand book – if correctly implemented – is a great benefit for the company. It helps all those involved to live the desired values together, to realize visions and goals. It also gives the company an authentic face both internally and externally.