One crucial factor

“The inside out factor is about nurturing your brand within the hearts and minds of your employees,” says Jeremy Sampson, chair of the Interbrand Sampson Group, who is confident the new consultancy will significantly enhance the group's portfolio of brand services.

“Brand engagement is far more than internal advertising; it's about designing the culture of your organisation in such a way that you inspire employees to understand, believe in and champion your brand. As we move into recessionary times, it is particularly important to focus and energise all staff members to maximise their impact as ambassadors of the entire business,” comments Angela Bruwer, Chief Executive of Interbrand Sampson Inside.

The full potential of any brand can only be realised when brand engagement and brand culture is built from the inside out.

“It directly affects profit because your employees are the interface between your brand and your customers,” adds Bruwer, citing the Harvard Business Review, which attributes over 68% of customer losses to an inappropriate attitude on the part of the person who served them.

With its innovative training programmes, Interbrand Sampson Inside transforms employees into brand champions. “Good brands become great brands when employees believe in them. This way, the experience promised by the brand is the experience delivered. This is becoming such an important issue globally, that increasingly HR departments are being renamed ‘Talent Departments' and working ever more closely alongside their colleagues in Marketing. Companies now have to consider themselves as ‘Employer Brands' as the competition for the best people intensifies,” says Bruwer.

Bruwer will manage and direct Interbrand Sampson Inside's South African operations, as well as its expanding African network.

Bruwer's appointment as Chief Executive of Interbrand Sampson Inside follows an impressive career in marketing and advertising, starting with Leo Burnett where she was an Accounts Director for several blue chip clients.

From here she moved to Hunt Lascaris where she was headhunted by Absa and appointed General Manager: Brand Marketing. Bruwer was responsible for amalgamating four banks into one new Absa brand. Within five years, Absa became the most loved financial services brand in South Africa.

Bruwer was promoted within Absa to General Manager for Group Communication and Public Affairs, during which time Absa repeatedly won the ‘Best Company to Work for'.

Bruwer subsequently launched ‘ABC', her brand and marketing consultancy. Clients included the Standard Bank Group, the City of Joburg, Transaction Capital, the University of Johannesburg and Transformation Africa.

She comes with superlative experience from both the corporate and entrepreneurial worlds of marketing and brand engagement, to actively transform all brands from the inside out.

Interbrand Sampson Inside is the new brand engagement consultancy within the Interbrand Sampson Group.

The 35-year-old Interbrand Sampson Group is excited about the addition of this specialist company to its local and international portfolio.

Interbrand is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Omnicom Group, the global leader in marketing and corporate communications.