Crofts

THE NEED

Crofts Chartered Accountants has a powerful competitive advantage: an engaged and committed culture. The firm’s leadership has intentionally focused on the importance of soft skills; actively building a culture that is differentiated and attractive to staff, and clients. Knowing that sustaining this competitive advantage could drive business growth, the brief was: ‘Document and Sustain it’. Management recognised that with expansion, the essential character of the culture must be maintained; lived and owned by all staff; and consistently experienced by external stakeholders.

To achieve this, the key elements of the Crofts culture needed to be identified, codified and communicated. Crofts leaders also knew the brand needed to modernise and stand for something; that would resonate with new audiences and align with market expectations. During the culture discovery process, it was clear that the business lacked a clear customer value proposition and positioning. This was impacting business development and growth; including recruitment, as there was no ‘Why Crofts’ story for recruiters to engage with and communicate to potential candidates. The existing brand identity and communications were also dated and conservative, lacking energy or distinction; and needed to be enhanced to match the intent and energy the brand projects.

THE SOLUTION

Working closely with the client, we identified the key attributes of the culture, developing a simple and highly effective framework for employee engagement: context, vision, values, plus employee rights and responsibilities. These were succinctly communicated through the Crofts Culture Book, which is both inspiring and unequivocal about ‘the way we do things around here’. This culture blueprint is key to guiding the behaviours that will drive the business’ ongoing success.

The existing brand identity was refined to better align with the Crofts ethos and deliver on the clear and proactive vision for the business, communicated with relevance and flexibility using a range of audience-specific collateral. Day-to-Day business collateral was also refreshed to create a consistent presentation of the brand, and highlight the Crofts point of difference and value.

The new brand represents the active, shared and entrepreneurial nature of the business, which positively differentiates it from competitors in the sector and sets Crofts up for the next phase of business growth.