The Corporate Brand as a Strategic Asset
International property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle has had to think smart about how it manages and uses its corporate brand as a strategic asset.
Having grown to more than 45,000 people in 1,000 locations across 70 countries, the company recognised the need for a strong global brand to draw the business together. This meant unifying the corporate identity, creating a simple brand architecture and clarifying a set of core values.
Challenge
Jones Lang LaSalle's challenge was to balance central marketing and brand initiatives with local needs. Furthermore, in a widely dispersed company, it is hard to bring marketing people together and to make them feel part of a valued community.
“We’re trying to connect a lot of local operations together to find the common things they share,” says Brant Long, global brand director.
Solution
Central to the brand's success has been the creation of a brand and digital asset management system. This has become Jones Lang LaSalle's interactive 'brand world', an online home for the brand and its community of empowered managers. Fully designed with the company’s own branding and imagery, its users experience total brand immersion.
The system, known as the Brand Hub and powered by Brandworkz brand and digital asset management technology, empowers local marketers while maintaining global consistency. Marketers connect with colleagues in other markets, find collateral, see how campaigns are being used elsewhere and share their own work.
Results
The result has been cohesion and clarity: marketing initiatives are more focused and well executed.
Most importantly, the Brand Hub draws people in and gives them ownership of marketing materials and initiatives rather than imposing restrictive rules from head office. Long says, “People can see they are part of something bigger, yet they won’t lose their autonomy. The brand management system also gives our marketers the tools to support and drive sales. Local teams, after all, know best what works in their home markets.”
“In a people-based service business like Jones Lang LaSalle your brand is your reputation,” says Long. By empowering your people as brand stewards – to be both ambassadors and asset managers – your brand can have the flexibility and confidence to grow with the business over the long term.
ROI
Jones Lang LaSalle has seen significant improvements in efficiency and quality as well as a cultural shift. The firm is embracing globalisation and digitisation to differentiate itself from the competition. “Our ROI isn’t one big number, but a lot of little numbers that are going to add up,” says Brant Long. For example, centralised purchasing of stock imagery reduces duplication and increases spending efficiency across the regions.
Brandworkz modules used:
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