Harmony in the corporate identity of Hartekamp Groep

When Hartekamp Groep internally launched their Brand Portal under the name Communication Shop, the communication team noticed that the platform was embraced by the support teams. The resulting fragmentation of the corporate identity was significantly reduced, but more importantly, employees throughout the organisation were provided with a professional and user-friendly platform to create their materials.

About Hartekamp Groep

Under the motto “Striving for the best every day,” nearly 2000 employees have dedicated themselves wholeheartedly for 70 years to people with intellectual disabilities.

With over 40 locations and 120 self-organising teams, this organisation offers various forms of housing, work, education, and support in the Kennemerland region in the Netherlands.

One care provider, multiple corporate identities

“We noticed that several teams were developing their own corporate identity, which is obviously not desirable,” says Remco van der Kruis, communications officer at the Hartekamp Group.

Interactive PDFs were offered as an option for employees across departments to create their own materials. However, these PDFs were not user-friendly, resulting in low usage. Word templates also did not solve the problem. “You’re familiar with the frustration: you insert a photo into the Word document, and the text jumps all over the place.”

Limited access to visual materials

The communications team had also created an image bank in a folder structure, but it was accessible only to team members. This led to time-consuming ad hoc tasks and processes for sharing images with teams in need of visual materials.

Uncomfortable conversations with colleagues

One of the most challenging issues faced by the communications team members was the discussions with colleagues. “As a self-organising organisation, each care team has a designated person responsible for communications tasks,” says Eveline Jansen, communications officer.

“It’s often not due to a lack of willingness. These colleagues primarily have a background in care. They contribute as best they can to communication, where we provide advice. Some dedicated colleagues would, for example, spend more than 2 hours making a flyer in their free time. It was unpleasant to have to say that the material did not comply with the corporate identity or the level of quality we aim for.”

Seeking a pleasant workflow

The desire and need to present a more consistent, professional image externally and to improve internal processes led Hartekamp Groep to seek a solution. They were looking for a platform to document their corporate identity guidelines, share visual materials, and ensure the correct application of the corporate identity.

That’s how Hartekamp Groep ended up with Spotler Brand ID in late 2021. The corporate identity guidelines are now clearly presented in their Brand Book, visual materials are accessible to all users through the ID Media Bank, and content is created in a user-friendly manner using ID Templates.

“Our regular meetings with our Solutions Consultant Niels and Customer Success Manager Gerben are always positive, and they provide valuable input on possible solutions,” Eveline and Remco mention.

Creating materials with ease

Remco: “Most colleagues I speak to now effortlessly create flyers, posters, and other materials. They simply look very neat. The layout is correct, the images come from the Mediabank or the locations use their own media, and the corporate identity is properly applied.” “Of course, we don’t see everything, but we encounter fewer self-made posters and flyers with strange logos or colours. We can say that the overall quality of the materials has improved. Our colleagues recognise the value of this,” Eveline explains.

And perhaps the most gratifying personal benefit of their Brand Portal, according to Eveline: “Colleagues sometimes saw us as troublesome, but now we have far fewer discussions with them. That’s really nice.” It also saves our team time because we spend less time improving other people’s materials and on creating visuals for social media posts for job vacancies,” adds Remco.

Result

The communications team at Hartekamp Groep not only receives fewer requests for corporate identity advice, but they also see teams producing high-quality flyers, newsletters, and posters that both the communications team and other colleagues can be proud of.