Employer brand

Ambler, TFJ and Barrow, S (1996) Employer brand. Working Paper. London Business School Centre for Marketing Working Paper.

Abstract

This paper assesses the possible application of brand management techniques to human resource management (HR). We set the context by reviewing current HR concerns and define the "Employer Brand" concept. We report pilot qualitative research with top executives of 27 UK companies, who were asked to reflect on their HR practices. This exploratory research supports the idea that brand thinking can indeed be applied to the employment situation. Bringing these usually separated roles closer together would bring mutual benefit and lead to comparable performance measures, e.g. trust and commitment. There are indications that strong corporate equity with the brand's customers can improve the return on HR, while at the same time improved HR can improve the return on brand equity from external customers. Formal, larger scale research would be required to establish the parameters of these relationships.