Having spent over 20 years working with brands -for the first time ever I find myself contemplating- rather than shape a brand's main focus at customers - what about the idea that the employee - or future employee is more important to the business health than the customers themselves?
Why this question? Why now? After spending the last two years, working in the energy sector, the statistics are rather stark: Over half the workforce in the oil and gas industry will be eligible for retirement in the next ten years, yet, the world's energy needs will triple by 2050.
The war for talent, the 'big crew change', talent shortage - is a widely acknowledged issue in the energy sector. But who is actually going to meet our global energy needs?
Have the brand & marketing teams woken up to how important an issue this is?
Are there brands and marketing activities still pointed towards the customers? Or are they starting to consider putting their people at the heart of their brand strategy and activities?
When you look for evidence of this type of activity, you'll find plenty of innovative and creative recruiting campaigns. But you will find far less evidence of any significant communication campaigns geared towards building a brand and company reputation around the desires and needs of existing and potential talent.
The talent challenge in energy requires global thinking because now, more than ever, it's solution lies in greater mobility of skilled workforce. And the secret to finding the best talent lies beyond one's own national borders.
A truly global workforce.
Consumer brands went global many years ago, shaping brand strategy and execution to take into consideration both local differences and global similarities. The global workforce is changing radically: in the future, we will see a greater blend of different cultures, ethnic backgrounds and generations working together.
How brand cultures are communicated and lived could greatly influence performance. Companies need to set up the same level of sophisticated insight and brand tracking for their people that they have for their customers. They need to understand and monitor the needs and desires of their talent base and they need this across the globe
The challenge of meeting the world's future energy needs is an incredible one and finding excellent people - the ones who will meet the technological, environmental and safety challenges - will be critical for energy companies. Whether this is reflected strongly enough in businesses brand strategy is open for debate.
The recent re-branding of NES Global Talent started with an idea of putting people at the heart of the business: an idea of the ONES - the heroes of the energy sector, the ONES who have the knowledge and expertise needed to meet the rising demands of our planet for energy resources.
Of course, as a consultancy that places people all over the world, people are our business - but shouldn't all energy companies be putting people at the heart of their business? Perhaps now it's time to ask: Is the customer always king?