Authored by: By Ahmad Itani, Founder and CEO of Cicero & Bernay

Internal comms is the brand you build when no one’s watching 

For years, internal communication was treated as an afterthought. It was mostly routine updates, the odd quarterly newsletter, and a ‘look-how-well-we’re-doing’ note from the boss when profits looked good. That era has gone. In an age when everything finds daylight, there’s no such thing as inside talk anymore. The way an organisation speaks to its own team now shapes how it is heard everywhere else.

The wall between internal and external came down the moment culture went online. Screenshots can travel faster than a press release. A team meeting recorded for later viewing might reach audiences it was never meant to. And people have learned to pick up on what’s genuine and what’s rehearsed. I’ve seen managers spend hours crafting the perfect announcement, only for one dry remark on Slack to tell the real story.

Employees now carry the brand, whether they mean to or not. Their conversations tell the world if a brand stands for what it claims. When talk feels honest, it builds confidence that spreads naturally. If it feels forced or guarded, it’s obvious because you can’t PR your way out of a bad environment. Culture leaks, and it always tells the truth.

In this new environment, credibility has become the real currency for communication.  Audiences notice when words and behaviour don’t line up. Promises about social responsibility or sustainability don’t mean much if everyday actions suggest otherwise.  The next chapter of branding will rely on evidence: how a company acts when it isn’t trying to impress anyone.

That same test applies within every workplace. Transparency can’t exist without genuine involvement, but the old playbook for engagement has run its course.  Opening a newsletter isn’t connection. Clicking ‘like’ on the CEO’s post isn’t either. People want to know why decisions are made and how their voices fit in. When they get that clarity, you don’t need reminders to share the message. They do it because they believe it. 

The companies that’ll make it through are the ones that let their behaviour do the talking. Campaigns draw attention for a moment, but consistency earns it for good. You can see character in how leaders speak when there’s pressure and how they show up when no one’s watching. Those small habits build the voice of a brand more than any tagline ever could.

Culture is the signal that never turns off. Everyone inside is transmitting it all the time, in meetings, in chats, in the spaces between. The wisest organisations are the ones that realise this isn’t something to manage. It’s something to live.