When Your Brand Looks Better Than It Feels: Fixing the Gap Between Culture and Messaging

A lot of companies invest heavily in branding—updating their websites, refining their visual identity, and crafting clever messaging. But here’s the hard truth: If your internal culture doesn’t match the brand you’re projecting, people will feel it. And they’ll lose trust—internally and externally.

This misalignment often shows up in fast-growing companies, M&A transitions, and even well-intentioned culture initiatives that don’t go deep enough.

As a cultural anthropologist, I’ve spent over 20 years studying how values, behaviors, and power dynamics shape workplace culture. And one thing I’ve seen over and over is that real culture change doesn’t come from a rebrand or even a new set of values on the wall. It comes from understanding the invisible systems at work inside your organization including how decisions really get made, who gets recognized (and who doesn’t), and the stories people tell themselves about your company.

In other words: You don’t fix culture. You cultivate it.

At Culture Grove, we help companies align their internal culture with their external brand through:

• Research-Based Insights - surveys, stakeholder interviews, and participant observation

• Values Refinement & Activation - embedding your values in decision making

• Talent Brand Messaging - aligning how you talk about work with how it feels

• Leadership Engagement - because culture starts at the top

• Visual/Verbal Identity Support - so your brand feels as authentic inside as it looks outside

If your company is growing quickly, going through change, or feeling stuck in performative culture work, now is the time to realign. A healthy culture isn't just a feel-good initiative—it's a strategic imperative.

👇 Want to learn more?

Check out our new one-pager that outlines how we help teams cultivate culture and align brand from the inside out: https://www.culturegrove.com/RealCultureAuthenticBrand