[Activation & Culture]
Activating brand inside out
Client
UiPath
Category
Activation & Culture
Scope
Enterprise Software
Year
2023
The challenge
Building a brand system is one thing. Getting thousands of people across functions, geographies, and levels of seniority to actually use it, consistently, confidently, and with genuine ownership, is something else entirely.
The opportunity
Without shared understanding, brand stays in the marketing team. Adoption becomes uneven. The experience fragments again, not because the system doesn't exist, but because people either don't know about it, don't trust it, or don't see themselves in it.
There was a subtler challenge too: in a company scaling as fast as UiPath, brand can feel like a marketing concern rather than everyone's concern. Skepticism from product, engineering, and sales teams was real. Turning that skepticism into stewardship required more than a training rollout. It required a reframe.
What I led
I helped spark the internal shift from logo to lived experience:
- 1.
Company-wide brand training: Co-created and launched UiPath's first company-wide brand training for approximately 4,000 global employees, agency partners, and vendors. Combined an engaging video, interactive assessments, and practical reference materials, directing participants to the Brand Center as a living gateway.
- 2.
Internal comms and culture alignment: Partnered with Employer Brand and Culture teams to connect internal storytelling and rituals with brand purpose. Advised on the new Employee Value Proposition and contributed guidance on brand themes for UiPath's NYC headquarters environment.
- 3.
Internal brand ambassador strategy: Designed the initial framework for a scalable, voluntary internal ambassador program, including advanced training, accolades, enablement kits, incentivizing experiences, and sustained executive sponsorship.
- 4.
Brand as product truth: Used pushback from skeptical stakeholders as an opening. Reframed brand not as what marketing claims, but as what people actually experience, starting with the product itself. Consulted with Product Design, Engineering, and HR leaders.
Results
- Company-wide brand training launched across ~4,000 employees, partners, agencies, and vendors globally
- Increased confidence and consistency in how teams across functions and regions represented the brand
- Stronger connection established between brand, culture, product, and advocacy initiatives
- Early development of internal ambassador and customer advocacy models
- Expanded organizational definition of brand, from external marketing output to internal culture and product truth
Reflection
People don't adopt systems they don't believe in. And they don't believe in things they didn't help shape. Co-creation wasn't a workshop tactic. It was the adoption strategy.
Companion case study
UiPath: Building brand foundations that set the stage to scale at speed
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