"A brand portal an sich is not an objective, it's about how it contributes to your brand value!
Martin Pietersen, Global Brand Director, Atos
The partnership between Comrads and Atos began in 2004, when Atos was still Atos Origin and sported its signature logo with the fish. Atos now runs a diverse portfolio of brands in as many as 73 countries. Thanks to Comrads' solutions, Atos can still communicate consistently in these dynamics. Martin Pietersen, Global Strategy, Brand & Operations Director at Atos, on his experiences.
Pioneers
I joined the company in 2007 as Olympic Marketing Manager Global Marketing at what was then Atos Origin. In 2011 Atos Origin was rebranded to Atos and I was given the opportunity to implement brand management at Atos, a new discipline within our company at that time. Together with Comrads, my team then created a brand portal with different functions. We wanted our employees to be able to create materials themselves in a structured way while ensuring consistency in terms of brand identity.
On fire
At that time, Atos was operating in 52 countries, now there are 73. We have several brands in our portfolio and work with many internal and external parties worldwide: from employees and freelancers to studios and agencies. To guarantee that all your assets are on brand within this dynamic requires a Digital Asset Management system and a Brand Management solution. Only then can we move along relatively easily with all developments, such as various acquisitions, sponsorships, multibranding, further internationalization and changing business, brand and go-to-market (communication) strategies.
Human relationship based on trust
The strength of our cooperation is that we understand each other well. We always manage to have a constructive dialogue, helping each other along. The Comrads team not only understands the sometimes complex way our organization works, they also know how to challenge our ideas. In turn, we are also allowed to express constructive criticism towards Comrads and contribute to developments. Our relationship goes far beyond a contract and a PO number; it is a human relationship based on trust. We know what is on sale internationally in terms of marketing automation software, but we always come back to Comrads. The value for money of their solutions is just strong and they know how to respond very well and flexibly to what we need.
Ecobrand trip
We launched a new version of the brand portal last July. This central hub in our marketing and communications process is now fully aligned with the new principles of Atos's ecobranding visual identity, a key component in support of our corporate strategy and sustainability program. It invites the thousands of users to begin Atos' ecobranding journey and makes available the latest guidelines, logos, icons, images, media, templates and transfer tools. Worldwide, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, people can access the fire portal, for materials, for fire training, as well as to engage with the fire team. This eco-branding process was enormously intensive, and Comrads was very proactive in helping with it.
Part of way of working
I am sometimes asked why we as an IT company have not created such a brand portal internally. Even with all the options available - think Google Cloud and the Microsoft suite - it is complex to bring together all the elements of a brand portal and then also make it accessible, very user-friendly, to thousands of people, internal and external. A brand portal an sich is not an objective, what matters is how the platform contributes to your marketing and communication processes and how it helps add value to your business. It is only successful if it is part of your way of working (people, processes and technology).
Brand consistency extremely important
If you want to build a strong, consistent brand, you can't do without a brand management solution. Our brands are mostly B2B brands, and for that, brand consistency is extremely important. Every touchpoint has to have the right look and feel. If you don't manage that centrally, you're going in the wrong direction in no time. With a brand value of about three billion U.S. dollars, that's not what you want.
Curious?
Want to talk further about what Comrads' smart solutions can do for your organization and how to make their use a success? Feel free to contact us for a free on-site demo. We are happy to think along with you.