Plaid Tour and W+K London Lobby: Internal Branding

I have been following Brand Flakes For Breakfast, a blog from Plaid, for a little while now, and recently they started their summer tour. I wasn't really sure what they were out to accomplish, but I kept seeing their tour pop up on other blogs. Still they didn't offer much of an explanation of its value.

But after watching a video clip summarizing a day on tour, it made sense to me that these guys truly get it. They get how inspiration can come from anywhere, and how you need to experiance people as they are if you truly want to understand them. Basically, you have to get out of the office.

And I doubt recruiting was their goal, but they have sold me in Plaid being a great place to work.

Another great example of internal branding, is what W+K London has done with their lobby:

"Not many people think that our reception is a reception. They think it's where the till and stroppy assistants are, because most people walking past think we're a shop. A shop selling cheap tat, but a shop nonetheless. We'll, in an effort to add to the confusion, we have just started 'L Gallery'. The little cabinety area in front of Ronny & Holly (on reception) has been transformed. It is now a space to show interesting projects from people in the agency."

It is great to see them sacrafice the glitzy, sleek glamor of an agency lobby so they can help their employees gain some exposure.

P.S. In finding links for this post, I found out I get a free t-shirt for blogging about Plaid. So that might change how you percieve my praise, but really, I'm a blogger and being genuine and authentic is what I live by.