TNO
culture
expression
strategy
Dec 2021
Story: TNO
How do you give one resonant voice to more than 3,500 specialists working on the world’s toughest challenges? Together with TNO, we aligned diverse strengths across nine locations into one powerful story and brand foundation that connects internally and signals proactive, positive change.
TNO
How do you give one voice to more than 3,500 specialists spread across nine locations, each quietly convinced that their field is the most important one? That was the brief with TNO: unite exceptional, wildly varied expertise under one story that holds internally and signals, externally, that this is a proactive engine for positive change rather than a polite research institute that just happens to employ a lot of very smart people.
The trick was doing this without flattening the differences. 3,500 specialists don't want a brand that averages them; they want a brand that makes their specific contribution legible to the rest.
Listening to the experts, not to the org chart
We ran the project during a stretch when physical connection was in short supply, which forced a more disciplined way of working. Hybrid sessions across the organisation, so the input came from the actual experts rather than the usual handful of communication volunteers.
Using 23plusone we tested which of the 24 fundamental human drivers were already shared across the disciplines. Mastery, obviously. Curiosity, obviously. And a quieter one that turned out to unify the nine locations more than anything on the values poster: usefulness. Not prestige, not citations, but whether the work eventually lands somewhere useful. Which, once you name it out loud, is very recognisably TNO.
One of the team members we worked with put it neatly: "BR-ND People's approach helped us translate complex science into a human story we can all relate to."
A brand book that behaves like an anchor, not a rulebook
Out of that came a brand book that works as an anchor for the whole organisation: corporate strategy linked to a renewed visual expression, and a shared language the nine locations can actually use when they talk to each other, to partners, and to the outside world. Not a guideline to obey, a tool to lean on.
TNO's specialists now carry the shared mission with more confidence, and they do it in their own voice. One cohesive force for good, without making anyone pretend their speciality is the same as the one down the corridor.
Uniting thousands of specialists under one story, without flattening any of them?
If your organisation is brilliant in many directions at once and struggles to sound like one thing on the outside, there's a way to build a shared story that holds the differences instead of erasing them. Let's talk about it.
Reach out to Kim or Alexander if you're looking for something similar