The growth equation: bringing brand and culture together

In today’s rapidly evolving landscape, progressive organizations are realising that brand and culture must be deeply connected to drive performance, engagement, and growth.

At our recent roundtable ‘The Growth Equation’, leaders from HR, marketing, and communications gathered to explore how closer collaboration can help unify the employee experience, and align internal behaviors with external brand promises in an ongoing partnership, not just in a crisis, to future-proof organizational culture.

The challenge: disconnects that derail culture

Despite well-defined brand strategies, organizations often struggle with internal misalignment:

• HQ and back-office teams feel overlooked in brand narratives geared toward client-facing roles.
• Internal communications are fragmented, contributing to confusion and disengagement.
• Brand, EVP, values, and culture initiatives are often siloed, diluting impact and coherence.
• Employees struggle to relate their day-to-day experience to a brand that promises innovation, agility, or purpose.

HR and Marketing: better together

A recurring theme was the opportunity for HR and marketing to become co-owners of the employee experience. By blending HR’s behavioural insight with marketing’s storytelling and clarity, organizations can shape messages that resonate and empower employees to live the brand from the inside out.

Solutions in action

Organizations are taking tangible steps to connect brand and culture through more cohesive cross-functional approaches:

Co-creation of strategic narratives: HR and marketing are increasingly working together from the outset to develop brand messaging and employer value propositions (EVPs). This ensures alignment across internal and external audiences and minimises confusion caused by competing messages.

Early involvement of HR in brand repositioning: Rather than handing over a new narrative post-launch, marketing teams are inviting HR into the strategy room early to identify potential internal friction points and co-design rollouts that resonate across functions and regions.

Driving internal alignment through simplification: Some organizations are streamlining their internal operations – such as reducing unnecessary meetings, changing communication practices, and removing administrative bottlenecks – to free up employee time and make it easier to deliver on the brand promise.

Clarifying internal roles in relation to brand: Teams are starting to define how every role – whether client-facing or back-office – contributes to the overarching brand. This is even being embedded at the hiring stage, through revised job descriptions and onboarding.

Embedding brand in the employee lifecycle: From onboarding to progression, learning, and performance conversations, organizations are integrating brand values as a consistent thread that reinforces expected behaviors and cultural aspirations.

Treating employees as brand audiences: Marketing principles – such as audience segmentation, clear messaging, and storytelling – are being applied to internal communications to improve engagement, clarity, and consistency.

In summary

1. One brand, one story – different audiences, but a shared truth.
2. Co-create EVP and brand narratives to avoid downstream misalignment.
3. Simplify internal experiences to enable brand behaviors.
4. Set urgency without sacrificing consistency – be timely but stay true.
5. Measure impact, not just activity – track what truly changes.

By making employee experience a shared responsibility, organizations can transform internal culture into a source of distinction, agility, and performance.