In the so-called ‘weightless economy’, brands have become the critical source of competitive advantage for many organizations and are the cornerstone of their business strategies. The power of branding has always been evident to global players in the private sector, but is also becoming recognised by many organizations in the public and voluntary sectors, including universities, charities, healthcare organizations and government departments.

The emphasis on developing and sustaining a strong brand reputation stems from the success that companies have had in using particularly corporate brands to create customer loyalty for core products and services as well as new, diversified lines of business. For example, Supermarkets such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s now sell financial services, and the Virgin brand incorporates products and services ranging from soft drinks to train travel.

A report conducted by Professors Graeme Martin and Phil Beaumont on behalf of the CIPD investigates whether, and how, the growing importance of brand affects the way that people are managed and developed for organizational performance. The report explores the relationship between branding and people management. In doing so, it goes beyond the conventional literature on the employer of choice and employer branding concepts to help HR specialists develop a better understanding of how the can contribute to one of the key business discourses and areas of decision-making in managing brand reputations.

The two authors review a range of management literature, pulling together ideas and messages from difference areas of study, including strategic management, marketing, communications, HR and the emerging corporate reputation literature. They also draw on two case studies researched for the CIPD – Agilent Technologies and the Abbey National Group – to illustrate some of the benefits that organizations can gain from considering the employment proposition as an integral part of their branding strategies.

• Agilent Technologies, a spin-off from Hewlett Packard, has been a leading proponent of the employment brand, and has made well-publicised attempts to maintain its strong brand in very difficult trading conditions.

• Abbey, as it is now called, is currently developing a consistent and measurable employment proposition across the group of companies. It has been very noticeable in taking an evidence-based approach, including commissioning academic work on the relationship between branding and psychological contacts among financial advisers.

Martin and Beaumont conclude their report by showing how HR strategies are intimately linked to customer and employee perceptions of brand reputations. These strategies include the extent to which an organizations lives out the rhetoric of ‘people being their most important assets’, whether they have an active employer of choice policy, and how effectively they communicate the brand identity to its employees. The report stresses that the relationship between HR and the corporate brand is mediated by employee perceptions of the brand proposition and their match with reality, and by the brand reputation – the past and present ability of organizations to deliver promised outcomes. They also stress the importance of brand teams incorporating the expertise of knowledgeable HR specialists in the design and roll-out of corporate brands. Finally they argue that HR specialists will have to learn to talk the language of branding if they wish to earn a seat at the top table. HR has made significant developments in enhancing its status by adopting the nostrums of human capital and the psychological contract literature in delivering important outcomes. However, they are likely to earn even greater respect if they can engage with the powerful strategic discourse of branding by aligning their people with the brand.

You can purchase a full copy of this report from www.cipd.co.uk