February 14, 2024

Have you ever wondered what role your employees play in your brand’s success? We have the answer: A Whole Lot.  Every successful brand starts with motivated and inspired employees. 

No other brand success embodies this philosophy more than Delta Air Lines. On January 12, 2024 Delta reported industry-record annual 2023 profits of $4.5 billion – a profit stated after each of its 90,000 employees receives a split of $1.4 billion earmarked for profit sharing in a check worth approximately one extra month’s worth of salary on Valentine’s Day.  

Delta’s internal branding program has been a key to this success – as defined by ‘Rules of the Road’ – its Brand Handbook.  Going way back to 2007, it was no easy journey for Delta after its merger with Northwest.  By early 2011, cultures were still clashing, customer satisfaction metrics had plummeted, key facilities were tattered, and service fragmented.  At that time, Delta’s then CEO, Richard Anderson, directed the company to revisit the core brand values Delta’s founder, C.E. Woolman, introduced in 1928 during the airline’s infancy.  Today – with billions of dollars invested in new technology improvements, airport and facility rebuilding, and customer service training for all its client-facing staff – the results continue to be stellar – even after the steep recovery required coming out the pandemic.

In 2023, Delta won prestigious awards as a business and place to work.  It has earned recognition from organizations such as:  Glassdoor – as one of the best places to work, Forbes, Skytrax, The Points Guy, Fast Company, Fortune Magazine, Cirium, Wall Street Journal, and Wallethub – for its financial prowess and company~employee relations. 

Can an internal branding program benefit your company?  It’s very important to look at the internal side of the brand before going to market with a brand promise, and there are numerous considerations and steps that should be taken, for example:

• Explore the company culture and health in an Executive Brand Workshop
• Employee market research
• Identification of core values
• Development of key messages
• Brand handbook development
• Internal messaging systems
• Internal guerilla tactics
• Creating an internal Brand Champion Team
• Creating employee Brand Ambassadors who deliver on the brand promise every day – day after day.