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Branding a place is one of the hardest things to get right in terms of communication.  Everyone remembers when you don't get it right and end up making grandiose claims that can't be substantiated.

But every now and then a city or a region will capture the vibe of a place and translate it into a set of materials that everyone can recognise as authentic.

Having captured the essence it's then about identifying the potential audience for the message and creating the right words, pictures, sounds and images for that audience. 

For example, while working in Hackney a partnership approach with the Olympic Park Legacy Company resulted in some highly successful reputation management work to convince major media organisations to invest in the borough following the 2012 Games.  Managing the reputation of the borough is a cornerstone of the inward investment strategy and the branding had to appeal to mainstream media industries as well as small creative media companies.

The creative work was carried out by Hackney Council's in-house communications team led by Carl Welham with support from local film makers.

Click here to see whether the resulting 3 minute video does the job of enforcing the message that Hackney is the Creative Heart of London. 

People don't relate to faceless bureaucracies, they relate to other people.

The analogy of climbing a mountain is pertinent to the importance of having a personal brand.  You want to get to the top of the mountain but aren't sure how to get there.  Would be rather follow a leader standing a few steps in front of you who confidently knows where they are going and keeps speaking words of encouragement or would you rather follow a written set of instructions issued by a faceless bureaucrat who has never been near the mountain?

Developing a personal brand both internally and externally is an essential aspect of senior management and political leadership.

Staff, partners and the media need a personality that they can relate to and someone that they can trust when they speak.

Personal brands can be managed but in a way that ensures that the personality that is communicated is totally authentic and powerfully communicates the key corporate messages in a way that brings people along.

No one expects perfection and some of the most powerful personal brands arise through times of crisis and when mistakes have been made.  An acknowledgement of mistakes early in a crisis by a leader brave enough to take responsibility for sorting things out can be a key component in building trust and credibility.

Finally remember that all of the research suggests that the absence of a consciously crafted personal brand will leave a vacuum that people will fill with their own version of who you are.  CWC believes that it is better to be in control of your personal brand.

There are two main elements to branding organisations.

The first is the creation of what the physical collateral of the organisation looks like.  It actually doesn't matter what the organisation's logo is and no public money whatsoever should be spent redesigning an existing logo.  Some organisations use a traditional emblem, others for something that's been designed to reflect the ethos of the organisation at the time. 

Don't meddle with whatever is there and if you need something created from scratch just make sure it passes the 'across the street test.'  If you can see the logo on the side of a van from across the street then it's fine.  If it's a bit messy clean it up but if it's recognisable then that's all you need for your logo.

The really important thing is that the logo is applied rigidly and consistently on all of your publications, letters, buildings, vehicles, uniforms, physically managed spaces.  Most crucially, if any contractors are delivering services for you it is your logo and not theirs that the public sees.

The second aspect of branding is the creation of a single ethos that pervades all your dealings with your residents, clients and customers and is the tone of voice you use in all of your communications.  This is by far the most important aspect of branding and will be the thing that determines what people think about you.  It is also the hardest thing to create and the easiest thing to destroy.  This is the aspect of your brand that you should monitor regularly since it is the most important

CWC can help you to develop your organisational brand and ensure that it is applied consistently across your organisation.