Brand Engagement service brands

In Brand Engagement (2008), management consultant Ian Buckingham profiles unsuccessful attempts to relocate call center services to India, a practice that resulted in soaring numbers of customer complaints and extensive damage to corporate brands, not to mention India’s national brand. The author suggests that these kinds of problems could have been avoided if the employees had been engaged in activities that fulfilled their higher order needs and if they had worked for organizations that shared their values. According to Buckingham, the way to achieve this is through brand engagement—ensuring the alignment of organizational policies, people and activities with brand values and gearing them toward meeting customer needs. A lack of clarity about values, behaviors, strengths and expertise within an organization, he says, results in significant problems.