A roadmap to brand-driven success: the 5 stages of brand activation

Brand-driven companies are successful companies. The Disneys, BMWs and Red Bulls of the world use their brands, not just in marketing but throughout the organization, to bind strategy to execution, stay customer-focused and boost the effectiveness of everything they do.

These companies often have either a long and storied brand history or a charismatic leader that imbue their corporate culture with brand.

Good for them.

But what about the rest us of?  Is there a way for the foot soldiers of the corporate world to grab some brand magic?

Yes. It’s called “brand activation*”.  Or as we refer to it informally, “putting the brand to work”. Brand activation is a process – a practical sequence of actions companies can take to build their brand into the body and soul of the organization. Any company of any size in any industry, B2C or B2B, can put its brand to work in this way.

Because it reaches every part of the business and every stage of strategy and practice, the brand activation process can be a lot to swallow in one gulp. That’s why we’ve broken it down into 5 easy pieces:

1. Brand Exploration: defining the brand and discovering what makes it great
2. Brand Creation: formalizing the brand so that all can see and understand
3. Brand Coaching: operationalizing the brand – building the brand into the business
4. Brand Connection: communicating the brand and building the brand’s relationships with customers
5. Brand Auditing: assessing the brands value and using feedback to make the brand better

Each stage of brand activation has its own roadmap of specific actions, KPIs and assigned responsibilities. Organizations can tackle the 5 stages of brand activation in sequence. Or some may have already addressed some stages and will want to focus efforts accordingly.