Today I am Reco - the employees role in corporate branding

It is Friday. I am wearing the Reco brand. I am wearing the blue Reco branded t-shirt. And the same is my colleague. I feel that we kind of belong together, my colleague and I. We are "family", and we are proud to wear our t-shirt. Today we are Reco. Do the employees feel this way every day? or is it just on Fridays? and is it just since a few weeks ago, when we got our t-shirts?

My colleague Albert and I wearing our new Reco t-shirts.

Employees importance in corporate brand building
Employees who are proud of the company they work for and feel like they belong together like a "family", are very important contributors to the corporate identity brand building.

According to Wikipedia, corporate identity consists of 3 factors:

1. Corporate design (logos, uniforms, corporate colors etc.)
2. Corporate communication (advertising, public relations, information, etc.)
3. Corporate behavior (internal values, norms, etc.)

Number 1 and 2 are quite obvious and most companies have clear policies here, but how about number 3? How is the company's corporate behavior? And how does the employees feel about the company's behavior? Are they familiar and comfortable with the company's values and norms? And do they feel ownership and pride when they represent and talk about the company?


Reco and HIPS - Health Initiative Private Sector
In August Reco organized a health fair, as part of their participation in HIPS, the Health Initiative for Private Sector in Uganda. The health fair was held on a Saturday in Kasese, the town in the west of Uganda where Reco's factory is based. The fair was addressing health issues like HIV and malaria prevention. Reco employees and the surrounding community was invited to take HIV tests for free, was offered mosquito nets at a subsidized price as well as getting counseling in regards to HIV and malaria prevention. The turnup of people was overwhelming. Reco even ran out of HIV testing kits.

Advise in regards to HIV prevention.

Malaria information and prevention. Reco employees could buy mosquito nets at a subsidized price.

Showing and promoting the products, also part of corporate identity work.

Reco's management introducing the HIV/Aids work policy.

Reco's HIV/AIDS work place policy.

No event in Africa without singing and dancing!

And last but not least: the food!

Events like these are so important, both for the corporate identity and the corporate culture. They bring together the company employees to a "family" and make them feel proud about their employer. By also involving the community and giving them free services, they are improving the company image.  With this initiative Reco has moved one step further in creating a strong and positive corporate culture, and this will in the long term also affect the corporate brand!

The brand can also "create" the culture!
The same way corporate culture can build the corporate brand, the brand can also build the culture. Creating a new corporate identity in the form of a strong visual identity (logo, colors, branding), clear communication and good values and norms for the employees, can improve the corporate culture. As a designer, this is very interesting for me. How can the Reco re-branding process influence on the corporate culture? Well, that reamins to see!