Have you seen the Comcast TV ad starring Emily, the blind girl who describes how she sees The Wizard of Oz? It was released during the Super Bowl, and you can still see shorter versions of the ad running with four longer versions available on YouTube. The ad brings this girl’s “vision” of Oz to life for us and because she is blind, it’s quite different from the images we’ve seen over the years.
Seeing how a well-known story can be interpreted differently makes me think about the way businesses handle brand messaging. Every organization has a strategy for how they project their brand. Companies spend billions each year creating brand messages designed to resonate with potential buyers and to keep re-engaging current customers. Marketing departments research what their target audience buys, how much it spends, what competitors stress, and how their organization can use brand messaging to beat the competition.
In a similar fashion, employers focus on creating a cohesive link between their brand messaging and the messages that are created and promoted with job candidates and employees.
However, employers cannot control messaging like they did in the past. Much like Emily, customers, employees — and even potential candidates — can take a company’s message and twist and change it through social media. In fact, over time, the message that evolves via social can become the REAL brand. While some companies have struggled through negative online content, many are finding great benefit to what is being shared, and this all strengthens their employee and customer value propositions.
Talent Acquisition Analyst Kyle Lagunas recently shared Brandon Hall Group’s interpretation of Employee Value Proposition in his blog, Employee Value Proposition: Back in Vogue.
As it relates to HCM, Brandon Hall Group is interested in the evolution of the Employee Value Proposition. We’ll be focusing some of our research on this topic in the second quarter and will be sharing our results and analysis in blogs, reports and infographics. We already know from our experience with our clients that this is a topic of growing importance for business leaders. We hope you’ll stay tuned and participate in our upcoming survey. In the meantime, check out the value of our membership by registering for a free trial. You’ll get a peek at the type of studies we conduct and the results we share that will help drive your business decisions.
–Trish McFarlane, VP and Principal Analyst,
Human Resources Practice, Brandon Hall Group
@TrishMcFarlane
