Opinion 41
Creating brand culture in a digital age
Collaborate content and marketing manager , Ollie Biddle discusses the importance of culture for digital-led companies
What springs to mind when you see these names ?
Creating memorable experiences Culture is defined as ‘ the ideas , customs and social behaviour of a group of people in society ’. It can be represented through actions or experiences . In today ’ s competitive market , it is no secret that your brand identity must be incredibly strong , but furthermore , you need to ask yourself – are people reacting with my brand the way that I tell them they will ?
At Collaborate Global our tagline is simple – creating alive . We create moments of pure enjoyment and genuine experiences for brands . So , when we got the opportunity to be one of the first to activate at an indoor event , we knew that , more than anything , everyone who interacted with us on the day had to have a genuine and memorable experience .
For Collaborate this went down the interesting road of creating a VR experience in which we completely removed the senses of the user and had them complete our ‘ exfearience ’ - an interactive , VR experience using real-life props . This simple act invited new people into the culture of Collaborate quickly and efficiently . They were met with a friendly face of the business and experienced real emotion . We had a professional photographer on the scene to capture that moment of joy for guests to savour . In just one , five-minute encounter , every person who was brave enough to try it left with a complete understanding of the Collaborate culture . Guests went away with photos of them smiling and enjoying themselves , not with wasted information explaining what type of vinyl we used to create the logo .
Building brand culture Culture marketing is an incredible thing to explore with a creative agency partner . It is the reason why Gymshark has consistently done expos as its main source of physical marketing since it went to BodyPower Expo in 2012 . In a nutshell , physical brand activations create a window into the brand culture that allows for people to be brought along on that journey .
Whether you are the creative director for Innocent Smoothies or the lead internal comms event manager for Airbus , your culture is important . It is what influences those who interact closely with your brand . When any human being makes a decision to invest time , status or money into your brand , they are going on a journey with you . Understanding and being a part of that company culture allows them to have both trust and genuine interest about that journey .
Find a creative partner you trust , keep driving home that message , excel at the logical part of your business and allow that partner to build the window into the incredible company you are working on .
If in doubt , speak to the team at Collaborate Global . It ’ s what we do .
Elon Musk ( Tesla ) Ben Francis ( Gymshark ) Alan Barratt ( Grenade ) James Watt ( Brewdog )
These gargantuan brands have been built with a window into their world . Whenever I pick up a can of Punk IPA , I can imagine James hand-packaging it himself , or I can see every batch of Grenade bars getting a taste-test from Alan before they go out . Let ’ s dive further into the world of brand culture .