ABOUT

Going with Flo

Internal communications are often the forgotten piece in the branding puzzle. For Atticus, however, and for forward-thinking clients like Wandle, the south London housing association, they are fundamental. What's the point in inspiring the outside world when you can't even engage your own people?

Our branding work at Wandle and specifically our development of the Wandle Wave as the embodiment of the organisation's brand vision, presented a great opportunity to take the idea a step further.

The wave was a success but we felt we also needed a brand personality, a distinctive voice, a conduit for sharing ideas, encouraging participation and promoting fast, efficient communication between staff, residents and partners such as building contractors.

Who was that voice? What would we call it? To help us, and in the spirit of collaboration that underpins all our work with Wandle, we enlisted the help of the Wandle team by conducting a naming exercise in the style of a game show, 'Name That Brand'.

The idea of a character named Flo soon emerged. Flo embodies all Wandle values. Flo is fun, sociable, helpful, enthusiastic, a reassuring presence that now appears in all internal communications – a guide to the intranet, a welcoming host at social events, a friendly face for new Wandle recruits and a constant reminder of the new Wandle approach to forging stronger community bonds.