Creating an authentic employer brand for a global retailer
Kao needed an employer brand that would reflect their global influence while appealing to all employee types in their Americas Region. Our partnership created a strategy that will help the company communicate consistently across the entire employee lifecycle, from candidate to retiree.
Challenge
As a global company with tremendous size and consumer influence, Kao is a master at marketing the brands they produce. But when it came to articulating and communicating their regional employer brand for their multiple business fields and company roles, they needed help.
While many clients come to us with little employer branding baggage, Kao already had a good idea as to what they stood for. But this led to internal teams creating their own homegrown communications with multiple versions of how to interpret brand and content.
The Corporate Communications Team in the Americas Region reached out to Sanger & Eby (now Hanson) at a key time internally for the organization. Kao wanted to capitalize on an internal culture transformation initiative that was underway and seize the momentum of employee pride generated during the COVID-19 pandemic to consolidate and optimize their employer brand.
Strategy
Our team interviewed key stakeholders and dug through surveys and pulse checks for insights. We reviewed a myriad of documents containing values, competencies, The Kao Way and more. Most information contained heavy corporate influence from the company’s Tokyo headquarters — both a strength and a weakness — since this influence was not consistently communicated.
We leveraged this research to create an employer brand that carefully balanced the company-defined culture and the employee experience in the Americas Region. Our work included new employer value proposition, communication strategy, brand voice and style guide as well as a robust set of templates to execute their communications.
Results
The work we did will help the company communicate consistently and effectively across the entire employee lifecycle — from candidate to retiree — and across the varying roles and responsibilities of their multiple business units and departments. The series of templates will enable the Corporate Communications Team to maintain brand consistency while still providing room for creativity and customization.
“[The team’s] expertise with employee and corporate communications has been a tremendous asset for our company. Their work consistently helps our team build engagement and communications that have a positive impact on our employees’ experiences. ”
— Molly Killen, Kao Corporate Communications Manager, Americas
