“It has been an absolute pleasure working with Caffeine. They have efficiently helped our team clarify and strengthen our brands portfolio – Reconciling their methodology and our output requirements – as well as supporting us in getting internal buy-in. They have brought new focus to our brands, bringing them to life in a distinctive and compelling way. They are happy to move fast, but we never see a lack of rigour or energy. I would not hesitate to recommend them.”

GLOBAL MARKETING DIRECTOR, SOMMET EDUCATION

What is a brand promise?

A brand promise is an articulation of what target customers can expect from their experience with your brand.

It reinforces your purpose; it replaces or aligns the numerous disconnected missions, visions, company values and customer charters evident in so many organisations that are often contradictory, confusing and of little practical value in running a business. And it’s the heartline that runs throughout your customer experience.

With a brand promise usually seen as being the Marketing Department’s baby, the challenge is to gain buy-in and commitment across your whole organisation. Without buy-in from the board, HR and other operating functions it becomes little more than an advertising slogan.

How we help

• Insight into employee engagement with the brand – important for brand promise definition as the commitments made will be the principles which guide employee behaviour and ultimately translate into the customer experience on the front line. We use the results of our employee experience survey to inform the drafting of a brand promise which is easy to understand and meaningful to the employee, and something which empowers them to meet and exceed customer expectations in line with your overall brand purpose.

• Executive workshop – a workshop with your senior team to review the data, refine the purpose and agree the way forward

• Draft a ‘strawman’ brand promise – the specific commitments that will underpin the brand promise and inform the experience design.

• Draft the as-is and to-be customer journey and customer experience – for your target customers as input to the customer experience workshop

• Creating value for customers – Identifying the points of the customer journey where customers derive the greatest value and think innovatively about how the brand purpose and customer experience is delivered across multiple channels. This process begins to clarify the specific commitments that will underpin a brand promise which brings differentiated value to customers.