Th is paper tests the application oj brand management techniques to h uman resource management (HR). The context is set by defining the'Employer Brand' concept and reviewing currentHR concerns. Pilot qualitative research is reported with top executives oj 27 UK companies,who were asked to reflect on their HR practicesand the relevance oj branding.This exploratory research indicates that marketing can indeed be applied to the employmentsituation. Bringing these Junctionally separa teroles closer together wou ld bring mutual benefitand lead to comparable peiformance measures,eg, trust and commitment. Strong corporate equity with the brand's customers can improve thereturn on HR, while at the same time improvedHR can improve the return on brand equityfrom external customers. Formal, larger scale research would be required to substantiate the reciprocal benifits from a closer alignment oj HRand marketing practices.