CASE STUDY
One Brand, One Voice at WM
An Internal Communication Brand Strategy
WM, a leading provider of comprehensive waste management services, recognized the need to unify its internal messaging from a brand perspective to strengthen employee engagement and alignment. With a workforce spanning diverse roles and locations, the organization faced challenges in delivering consistent, cohesive communications. Messages delivered through newsletters, executive updates, presentations, digital signage, and other channels often lacked a unified voice and visual identity, leading to confusion and weakening the connection to WM’s brand and mission.
The internal communications rebrand strategy aimed to create a seamless and recognizable communication experience that reflected WM’s values and strategic priorities. By aligning messaging and visuals across all internal channels, the initiative sought to ensure that employees at every level felt connected to the organization’s identity, understood their role within its success, and engaged with the company’s vision for the future.
Objectives
Unify Messaging: Establish a consistent tone, style, and visual identity for all internal communications channels.
Enhance Brand Connection: Ensure employees feel connected to WM’s mission, values, and strategic priorities.
Increase Engagement: Drive higher levels of employee understanding and involvement in company initiatives.
Streamline Delivery: Simplify internal communication processes to improve clarity and reduce fragmentation.
Implementation
Discovery
The rebrand initiative began with an assessment phase, aimed at understanding the state of WM’s internal communications. This included conducting a detailed audit of all existing communication channels and materials to identify inconsistencies in visual identity. By analyzing newsletters, executive templates, presentations, and digital signage, gaps and redundancies were uncovered that diluted the overall impact of internal communications. This audit served as the foundation for the rebrand strategy.
Brand Alignment and Design
To ensure consistency and strengthen the connection between internal and external communications, the brand team was engaged. A refreshed design system was developed to standardize internal materials, including templates for newsletters, presentations, and digital signage for communication professionals across the corporate office and area markets. These templates adhered to the company’s brand guidelines, featuring clean layouts, cohesive color schemes, and clear typography, making them both professional and user-friendly. This design overhaul reinforced WM’s commitment to delivering high-quality, engaging communications to its workforce.
Branded Templates
One component of the internal communications rebrand involved restructuring WM’s bi-monthly newsletter, NewsBrief. Previously, the newsletter included every story and update since the last issue, resulting in lengthy editions that were overwhelming and lacking aesthetically. Recognizing the need for a more streamlined and reader-friendly approach, NewsBrief was reimagined to focus on the top 6-8 priority stories for each issue.
To further enhance readability, full-length stories were replaced with teasers with links directing readers to the full articles housed on the company’s intranet news page. This section of the newsletter was called "News Nuggets." This shift not only made the newsletter more digestible but also encouraged employees to explore additional content on the intranet increasing engagement with the platform.
The Results
Increased Consistency: Internal communications across all channels adopted a unified brand identity, creating a more professional and cohesive experience for employees.
Enhanced Efficiency: The central repository of templates and guidelines reduced time spent on creating materials.
Improved Engagement: Metrics showed a 20% increase in open rates for NewsBrief.
Stronger Alignment: Employees reported greater clarity and alignment with WM’s goals and initiatives.
Internal Communications Brand Assets
Insights
The brand strategy transformed WM’s internal communications, turning a fragmented approach into a unified system that resonated with employees and internal stakeholders. The new internal communications brand strategy allowed area communication professionals to communicate in a unified voice. We not only improved engagement but also reinforced WM's commitment to delivering communication excellence.