Hardly a week goes by without shocking reminders how important it is for companies to align internal and external audiences with brand, values and organizational strategies.

Think Penn State and the NCAA, Bank of America, Herman Cain, your local (you name it).

Internally, studies indicate only one in five employees understands how their work contributes to the overall strategic direction. This lack of clarity is exacerbated by a daily bombardment of information, which interrupts focus and impedes innovation. Companies that neglect to connect with employees, customers, investors and the public stifle growth and risk backlash and irrelevance.

As brand ambassadors, everyone involved with an organization must fully believe their support is relevant to the mission. This extends from the investors, board of directors and employees to the customers and vendors. In order to achieve buy-in, to energize and motivate, organizations must communicate openly and honestly about their corporate strategy. The four most effective ways to do this are through storytelling, using vivid pictures, engaging in discussions and by walking their talk.

Strategy in Storytelling
A brand’s strength derives from authentic colorful stories. At its core, emotive branding is concerned with storytelling that forms a bond with people. Your supporters must not only be invested in what is currently happening with the company but also what occurred in the past and what transpires next. Apple’s phenomenal success, for example, was intertwined with each victory achieved by Steve Jobs. Disney has its magic. Virgin Airlines has Richard Branson. When I worked at the biotech company Cephalon, we had Frank Baldino.

I love the way my friend Gary Baker of Baker Brand Communications describes storytelling as the essence of a brand. Successful branding relies on portraying authentic attributes that accurately reflect an organization’s fundamental strategies. The elements of a good story − analogies and metaphors – encourage people to invest in your company, work for you and buy your products.

Strategy in Pictures
I am a visual thinker. Before I engage, I envision an activity, outcome or relationship. I prefer to be pulled by a vision rather than be pushed by a plan. Making an emotive connection in the multimedia world in which we live requires vivid images that play upon the senses. People should feel your brand. They should see in their mind’s eye how their life will improve by doing business with you. Visual intimacy, emotive images and immediacy are why YouTube receives more than two billion hits each day.

Strategy in Discussion
We must also engage with whoever wants to talk with us, wherever they are, anytime they choose. This is especially important in the social media age, where anything is said regardless of accuracy. The inescapable fact in today’s world is employees, customers, investors and the public talk about your brand and strategy whether or not you join the conversation.

Strategy in Action
Finally, success also depends on a company staying true to its words through its actions. The media are full of examples of executives, celebrities, and politicians saying one thing and doing another. Inappropriate actions – and inaction when decisive action is needed – come at a steep price to brands and reputations. When trust is broken, it is somewhere between difficult and impossible to recover. You do have to talk the talk and walk the walk.

But for every Apple, Disney and Virgin Atlantic, there are dozens of other organizations that find storytelling, the use of inspiring and authentic imagery, personal engagement and “walking the talk” an awkward process, at best. Those often-used words “transparency” and “authenticity” require gut-churning change for many, but both are essential to executing strategies and building solid brands and reputations.

Organizations that ignore the imperative to change how they communicate are going to like irrelevancy even less.

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About this contributor:

Robert Grupp
Grupp Global Partners LLC
www.gruppglobal.com

Robert Grupp is a guest contributor for our blog. He is a talented corporate communications executive and public relations professional who understands how to channel the energy created by an organization’s brand identity. He has more than 25 years experience in science-driven businesses and trade associations operating in the US, Europe and Asia. We partnered with Bob to articulate and design a corporate brand for Cephalon, when Bob was Vice President of Corporate Affairs. Bob is a leader who sees both challenges and opportunities and applies strategies and tactics to maneuver through an often-complicated environment to find solutions and a path forward.

Currently best practices circle around concepts of consumer and employee engagement.
Yet, with the over saturation of products and information we encounter daily, engaging the consumer and employee has become exponentially more challenging. Experiential design offers a new opportunity to immerse, engage, and educate your multiple audiences.

Recently Jessica Melnick, an account planner and strategist at Baker, wrote a compelling insight on using a corporate museum to tell your story. Jessica describes how a physical space offers an interactive, highly-engaging, non-traditional way to have audiences understand the core essence of a company, its corporate character, achievements and the values that drive it. By story telling on walls, through kiosks, with objects and videos you can uniquely bundle the past, present and future of an organization and its industry. Every visitor — whether customer, business partner, current or perspective employee — who invests in a 15-minute tour will walk away with a different level of comprehension and sense of your company and brand. In years gone by, corporate museums were used to simply document a company’s history. Today, they can contribute to charting its business success.

Read Jessica’s article “The corporate museum — your living story”

In early November I will be speaking at the Senior Corporate Communications Management Conference, with this years theme being Strategies and Solutions for a Changing Business Landscape. I’ll be discussing a concept that lies at the heart of the Baker philosophy; Make it real.

Recent global turmoil in the social, economic and political landscape has made people more suspicious, skeptical and critical of what they see and hear from companies and institutions. Compounding the situation is the din of corporate messages and media competing for the attention of audiences who mistrust anything that appears complicated, scripted or “spun.” The net effect poses a challenge for any organization wanting to reach and influence these increasingly jaded audiences.

Now more than ever, companies must communicate with simplicity, transparency and humility to be seen as believable and credible. Their stories must be memorable, genuine and from the heart to engage and resonate with today’s audiences.

During the presentation, I am going to demonstrate how to make your company’s story real and relatable to your audiences. And in doing so, discover how to create meaningful, enduring connections that can move the hearts and minds of people who matter to you most.

Nike’s new adrenalin-charged World Cup TV commercial is a masterful example of storytelling. Called “Write The Future” and directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, (Amores Perros, Babel, 21 Grams) it’s a skillful realization encompassing the global passion for arguably the world’s favorite sport. Backed by a thumping prog track by Focus, the lavishly detailed 3 minute film — how could we call it a mere “advert”? — is as much a tribute to some of the best in the profession as it is to the devotion of the fans.

Containing some surprise cameoes from Kobe Bryant, Roger Federer, Homer Simpson and Gael Garcia Bernal aswell as footballers Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney, Fabio Cannavaro and Landon Donovan to name but a few, the intense jump cuts manage to capture the unpredictability of the game and, incorporating a nod or two to our electronic connectivity, several flashforwards to a possible but not unrealistic future. Skillfully weaving several storylines including a Rooney-obssessed nation, a jaunty Spanish musical homage and a Ronaldo statue/stadium, it’s one impressive journey.

In a statement which is as relevant to everyday life as it is to football, Ronaldo says, “One touch of the ball can be an opportunity to leave your mark on the game and write your own future, or equally a moment missed, that creates a legacy for your opponent with their fans.”

Davide Grasso, vice president of global football marketing at Nike, summed it up by adding: “This epic campaign really captures the scale, emotion and impact that one single moment in a football game can have on a player, fan or nation.”

Which ever way you look at it, the ad’s a winner! See for yourself.