Enterprise IG to help Middle East clients build brands from the inside-out

• Low 'Employee engagement' effects profitability
• Enterprise IG aims to increase client employees 'Emotional Commitment' and 'Intellectual Understanding'

"In the UAE, where workers come from all over the world with different backgrounds, education and ways of working - buying into a brand can be the only thing that binds employees to the organizational goals and promise," says Enterprise IG's CEO of Brand Engagement, Peter Bell, visiting Dubai this month.

Enterprise IG, which has clients as varied as Emaar and Masterfoods, is looking into ways to ensure employees across the Middle East believe and act upon the essence and ethics of their companies' brands, making them more effective and 'champions' in the workplace.

"Studies show that companies with strong brands and engaged employees consistently outperform their competitors in terms of shareholder returns."

"The challenge lies in getting employees to intellectually and emotionally connect with the brand, by developing a deep understanding of what a brand stands for, along with emotional commitment, which work together to create 'brand engagement and behaviour change'".

But, Bell says, this often falls down due to various factors including ineffective methods of communication between companies and their employees and a lack of leadership commitment.

"Companies should aspire to getting employees to 'live' the brand, a state where day to day operational implications of the brand message are embedded into the sinews of the organization through which a great brand experience is delivered to customers. This can be done in various ways including sustained communications that motivate through tangible evidence that people are doing things right."

Bell continues that recognising and celebrating success delivers a compelling message about what the company is really trying to do. Ongoing measurement of employee engagement, that is actually acted upon, re-emphasizes a company's commitment to keeping employees emotionally and intellectually connected to the brand.

Enterprise IG specializes in equipping organizations of every size with the right tools to analyse and deduce the status of their employees and take the necessary steps to create a cohesive work force that brings the right brand image to market.

"An organization will never achieve 100% engagement, however the risk is what has been experienced in the US, where disengaged employees cost the economy $300 billion a year in lost productivity. Building brand champions is an on-going process, but, with the correct emphasis can be exceptionally beneficial in helping achieve bottom line targets.