Brand Government

Increasingly, though, branding is more than just consumer marketing. It's also a mechanism for companies to lure top talent and inspire employees to outperform rivals.

Look at most major company employment Web sites, and you'll find all the techniques of brand marketing. IBM has its slogan-filled "reasons to work for IBM," among them: "IBM makes a difference, and so can you." Microsoft asks the potential hire, "How far will you go?" and then to "imagine having the resources to influence tomorrow's reality today, and having fun while you do it."

It's hard to think of a government agency-with the exception of the military services-that has such a recognizable brand. But that is changing. Agencies are adopting their own catchy slogans. At the Internal Revenue Service, for example, it's "A sharp eye and a sharper mind. It all adds up." At the General Services Administration, "you can do that here."

Agencies may not be able to spend millions on advertising as major companies do. But there are other ways to get the word out. Slogans and flashy marketing materials help. But more important, says the Partnership for Public Service's Marcia Marsh, is the substance behind the materials, targeting the right audience through focused recruitment at university campuses and professional associations, and advertising in trade and professional publications. The bottom line, she says, is agency managers must be able to answer the question: "Why should I work here?"

Ed Flynn, a former Office of Personnel Management official now with human resources consulting firm Hewitt Associates in Falls Church, Va., adds that the brand should be something more than a recruitment strategy. It should convey to applicants what they will find on the job. It should describe what, for example, the performance management and career development opportunities are. The brand, he says, is "the promise that you make to prospective employees . . . that what you say is what actually exists."