European brand environments
We have created brand environments in many of Europe's cities
This map shows our trail as we have moved from city to city and here's a few golden nuggets we have discovered along the way.
Think ‘Glocal’
Does the German office have to be the same as the French? What happens when Italians want to do it their own way? The fusion between local culture and global brand strategies is the secret to great global brand environments – ‘glocal’.
We believe if you just cookie cut the same corporate interior design across all your environments you won’t be an effective business.
Our most satisfying moments have been when a CEO see’s their brand implemented across multiple locations and enjoys the local personality threaded through the global approach.
Think glocal and be creative.
Office sweet office
People work best when they feel most connected. A new wave of successful global brands (YouTube, Skype) are defining new ways to work. They are embracing new working cultures to release more vitality and knowledge sharing into their teams – how is this done?
Listen to employees, how do their environments work best? Develop strategies to tailor the 3 or 4 different ways an environment is used across different countries. How many clients visit, how many staff are passing through from other locations?
Don’t be afraid to have strategies that make environments personal and bespoke within the overall global approach. We have seen the greatest success when teams believe their environment reflects their needs.
Roadmap for local wrangles
If you are managing a brand environment portfolio across the globe then you will know that regulations are different. For example German local authority guidelines are different to those in India.
That’s why it’s important to have a brand environment roadmap. When you are working from a blue print it’s easier to tweak and adjust. Don’t get sucked into thinking one size fits.
Make sure you develop a flexible roadmap or guide for your brand environments approach so things don’t go off piste.
The nimble worker
As technology gets smaller and faster we all find ourselves working in more flexible ways. Emerging working patterns need to be considered in the brand environment.
Often brand environments are designed front to back, receptions, meeting rooms, back office. This can make it difficult to 'touch base' quickly. Technology is a great way to overcome barriers, you could connect teams across different locations through portals that are permanently open so knowledge is shared person to person.
Create a space that is flexible and nimble, not built around past ways of working, but instead enables people connect and touch in quickly with less barriers.
Generational (me & you!)
People all over Europe are living longer, so they are working longer. How do you create a brand environment for 20-30 year olds and 50-60 years olds?
Here’s the challenge, a village is made up of all ages, youth with vitality live next to the experienced with wisdom and knowledge. If our brand environments alienate different generations, we are all the poorer.
Encourage and support all generations, creating environments that enable dialogue and partnership. In the future the business that considers all generations at work will have greater success.
So that's it for now, more learnings from more adventures to come soon no doubt.
Have a look at some of our work
