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...when it comes to internal brand engagement in a time of recession.

As we entered the recession last year, we all had to take stock.

From my clients’ point of view, it was about rethinking their suddenly slashed budgets. Priorities had shifted, and it was "back to basics" for nearly everyone in marketing and branding, with little appetite for anything seen as an extra.

From my own point of view, I had to think about how internal brand engagement could continue to be useful to my clients in a very different context. The benefits of internal engagement are certainly tangible when you see how it can impact the customer’s experience, but it does take time and effort to see that return on investment. And many of my clients no longer had the luxury of time.

We needed to get pragmatic—and quickly.

What matters most? Implementation, implementation, implementation.

The best advice I can now offer is, quite simply, to put your implementation plans on steroids.

It’s obvious that new or repositioned brands must be implemented—a necessary evil for budget holders. So use any internal "deployment" activities that would need to happen anyway, and make them work twice as hard for you.

Here’s how:

• Hijack. Use every internal communication, launch event, or "identity guidelines training workshop" as an opportunity for people to learn not just about the new logo or ad campaign, but also about how they can deliver on the brand promise above and beyond identity guidelines and visual implementation.
• Influence people. Start a debate about what would be on-brand and off-brand for your business, and let people try it (the brand) on for size themselves. Use tangible examples drawn from the experience you give to customers—which could include sponsorship, customer service, products, retail, web experience, merchandising, PR, and more—and let people play.
• Prioritize. Now is not the time for psychobabble about involvement and inclusiveness. Accept that not everyone in the business needs the same degree of engagement, and put your time and effort where it matters. Obviously your marketing teams are key. But be sure to think about who, beyond marketing, has the most power to impact the brand experience and talk to them first. Is it research and development, new product development, call center managers, or even IT, legal, and finance?
• Win friends. Find (or create) one or two things that will tell your story in the most powerful way, capture people’s imagination, and create buzz (because there won’t be budget to put 25,000 employees through an "engagement process"). We call them internal "power applications." This could be something physical in the work environment that represents the values of the brand itself, like Google’s outdoor volleyball court for employees. (Google says that just as it puts users first when it comes to online services, it also puts employees first when it comes to daily life in its offices.)
  
  Or it might be about overtly connecting the brand to a business initiative in progress that shows people just how serious you are about delivering on the brand promise. Dell’s IdeaStorm website tells a powerful story about its commitment to customer-driven innovation.

These are just a few pragmatic, focused ways to get engagement started. It may not get you all the way to brand nirvana, but it will certainly get you going in the right direction.