A ‘Brand’ New Outlook

22 August 2017 by CSG

Over the last year, we’ve spent a lot of time thinking about CSG, what it means, what it stands for and what it is that sets us apart from our competitors.

Technically, you could call it a re-branding exercise but you might forgive us for being a little hesitant to use that phrase in public because the very term ‘rebranding’ has, ironically, something of a brand problem of its own.

There have been rather too many examples of companies being too keen to press the ‘re-brand’ button, without really seeming to understand why it was needed – or why change isn’t always better. Particularly horrific examples include the British Airways ‘ethnic’ tailfin liveries, which caused huge controversy in 1997 when they were announced – a decision that was promptly reversed just four years later. Equally cringe-worthy was the débacle that was the decision to re-name the Royal Mail ‘Consignia’ in 2001. It was only a year later that the new name was ‘consigned’ to history.

Why the history lesson? Principally to assure you that our exercise is nothing like those (in)famous branding mis-fires. We’re certainly not considering changing our name to some meaningless term or messing with our visual branding to the point where we become unrecognisable.

Our intention was to establish the things we’re strongest at and put them at the forefront of our identity – which is just an exercise in common sense, when you think about it. Land Rover never seem to miss a chance to tell you how good their vehicles are off-road and why shouldn’t they – it’s their very reason for being! We’re very aware that all our customers have a choice of waste partner and only by presenting ourselves in the best way possible can we hope to become – or remain – your first choice.

With all that in mind, we spent many hours discussing the most fundamental aspects of CSG, with a view to agreeing our absolute core values that are demonstrably part of our make-up. Here’s what we agreed on:

Customer Service
We pride ourselves in our commitment to our customers old and new. Maintaining a high quality service and working to provide solutions that are both sustainable and productive. We aim to offer a value for money service and are always willing to go the extra mile to develop customer relations and remain engaged with our customers’ needs.

People
Our people are what enable us to offer our high quality services. We help build people and teams to work together, take pride in their work and offer opportunities where we can help promote the best in each and every employee. In turn, we can pride ourselves on delivering a first class service; knowing we have aimed to achieve our very best.

Innovation
As our industry grows we are facing more challenges; looking at new ways to help protect the environment and ultimately ourselves. This in turn offers us opportunities to push the boundaries and grow. Finding new processes, investing in research and development and increasing our technological infrastructure relays a pioneering and competitive service.

Heritage
Building the very best from our valued past, to develop a continued successful future. Over 80 years of growth and development has allowed CSG to become one the UK’s largest privately-owned waste management companies and we will continue to use our past and deep rooted heritage to drive our progression.

Together, we refer to these values as our four ‘pillars’, as they uphold everything we do and all that we seek to achieve. Having identified them, the next challenge is to prove that this is more than mere “marketing fluff” and that we consistently represent each of these pillars in all that we do.

With that in mind, we’ll be blogging in greater depth about Customer Service, People, Innovation and Heritage in the coming months. You’ll also recognise their influence in our new website and our new video, both due for launch later this year. As any cattle-brander already knows, the exercise only works properly when you have a lot of irons in the fire.