1st draft of the article published in International Review of Administrative Sciences, 2015, 81(2), 326-345. Executive summary : The public brand is a relative newcomer to the public sphere. It is an expression of public marketing and an outcome of NPM. It is a lever that allows public organisations to get across their identity, assert their legitimacy and provide markers for the evaluation of their actions. Little research has been conducted into what it actually covers. The analytical framework of the social representation and, more specifically, that of the central core theory, makes it possible to identify, on the basis of a sample of twenty public brands, the values it carries, the influence of context on the configuration of the values and, more broadly, the use made of the public brand. Points for practitioners: In a context of growing competition, a legitimacy crisis, fiscal pressures, technological revolutions that change relations with the user-client and staff, the place and operation of public organisations are being turned upside down. The brand is an important but underexploited lever to restore legibility and legitimacy to public organisations, but also to assert its difference, express its skills and mobilise its officials. It is a way of combining traditional values and new practices dictated by performance requirements. Too many public brands are registered without coming into any real use. The establishment of the brand first calls for thought to be given to its anchoring, by defining pillar values that allow practices (that are sometimes misunderstood or poorly accepted) to be converged with the historical values associated with public services. Values are the basis of the discourse, they build the representation and are the key to the identity of public organisations. Furthermore, the field of public action is characterised by several branding levels that need to be considered according to the potential for legitimation presented by each.