The Delicate Art of Rebranding: Retaining Equity While Creating a Fresh Face

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The delicate art of rebranding: Retaining equity while creating a fresh face

Received (in revised form): 4th January, 2012

KRISTIN LUCK As President of Decipher, a market research services firm, Kristin Luck serves as the brand’s evangelist. Kristin has a diverse background that includes general marketing, branding and business expertise, with in-depth knowledge in the field of marketing research. She is a tireless innovator within her industry, and has been an instrumental force in significant advancements in market research methods and new technologies for research. Kristin is a regular speaker at industry conferences and writes for several industry publications on emerging research methods and marketing strategy. She is a 2010 recipient of the American Marketing Association’s 4 Under 40 Award and was recently named in Oregon’s 40 Under 40.

Abstract What can a company do when its brand is recognisable within target publics, but it doesn’t really represent the company anymore? Rebranding is a delicate balance of retaining valuable brand equity and awareness, while also grasping on any aspects of the business that are missed with a current brand. By conducting a skilful rebrand, companies can avoid becoming stale and stagnant and let the true values and aspirations shine through.This article examines an in-depth case study of the author’s company rebrand, weighing in on research, branding, web development and public relations’ roles in the process.The author shares on-the-ground experiences to help deconstruct and analyse how companies can hit, or miss, that re-brand balance.This pragmatic and informative article will help any company, in any industry, find a starting point for any type of rebranding process.The author provides practical tools for readers to take back to the workplace as they think about what their brand is truly representing to their audiences, and exactly how to hit the middle of the target with their own rebrand.

Keywords corporate rebranding, company branding, brand development, brand equity, rebranding case study, branding research, branding and public relations

INTRODUCTION golden arches of McDonalds.While it may sometimes be difficult to measure as a tan- ‘Always design a thing by considering it in gible asset with an assigned value, it is typ- its next largest context – a chair in a room, ically easy intuitively to assess a brand as a room in a house, a house in an environ- strong or weak, relevant or lost, authentic ment, an environment in a city plan.’ or contrived. Figuratively,the brand marks Frank Lloyd Wright1 the marriage between the company and the customer. It is the holding place for

Kristin Luck, Anyone who is a consumer understands trust and expectation built over many Decipher, 115 SW Ash, Suite 323, Portland, OR 97204, the vitality of brands — sometimes with- touch points, interactions and transactions. USA out even realising it. Daily, people blow Within a brand are equities, sometimes Tel: ϩ1 310 713 6622 their noses on Kleenex, cover wounds a few, sometimes dozens, that the brand Fax: ϩ1 323 395 0280 E-mail: [email protected] with BandAids and ‘are lovin’ it’ at the has built over time. Taglines, colours,

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implied messages, are all within this equity ● resonant with the target’s values and set. These components of a brand are needs; repeated, owned in communications, and ● pointed/clear; represent the distillation of, focus of and ● focused on providing meaningful differ- choice from perhaps hundreds of options entiation; for communicating value. Imagine that the ● flexible to retain existing brand equity. brand and all of these equities are on a vector with a trajectory, for better or worse.The brand is not a singular or iso- lated effort in one dimension. Everything REBRANDING FOR RELEVANCE: a company, person or organisation does A CASE STUDY must work together to tell the story of the The author’s company, a market research brand. Deciding when to affect that vector services firm, recently went through a with a rebranding investment carries risk rebranding exercise that provides an inter- with both upside and downside possibili- esting case study for examination. Despite ties. By examining these risks briefly, and their experience working on messaging outlining steps for establishing goals of the and rebranding initiatives for hundreds of rebranding, this paper will illustrate how firms, the company’s most challenging to pursue a rebranding initiative. rebranding project turned out to be its The reasons for rebranding are often own. The situation involved a growing the following: market research firm with a young, smart and innovative spirit.The name and look ● competitive landscape dictating further of the existing brand was recognisable differentiation; within target markets and the team did ● strategic shift in value proposition (new not want to affect the level of awareness offering); negatively. However, the brand tended to ● relevance waning or becoming out- position the firm as a commodity offer- dated. ing.This positioning was made obvious by the company’s tagline (or lack thereof) The first two points capture an upside ‘[The author’s company] Online Survey opportunity and the last mitigates declin- Programming and Reporting’. It quite ing sales, or the risk thereof, without simply answered the question,‘What does action. In either event, the company will the company do?’ Like other market be investing money to maximise an research services firms, the author’s com- opportunity that promises a return. pany offers online market research survey Outlining objectives for a successful programming and reporting.When exam- rebranding prior to the investment will ining the brand, the team knew there was help to focus and minimise tangential more to communicate about the com- explorations. While a company might pany’s services, but no one had yet discov- identify specific brand assets to modify, ered how to say it. without exception, the rebranding effort The company was interested in retain- should be: ing some of its established equities as men- tioned above. The team working on the ● strategic; brand liked being perceived as creative and ● authentic to the company’s culture and innovative,as pioneers in a quantitative-data- values; driven industry that otherwise appears a

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little stale and predictable. Beyond that, company cannot rely only on innovation there were few liabilities, if any,to address. in tools or technology. It is unownable The objective for the rebrand was more territory.The innovation opportunity for about capturing an offering that more the author’s company involved pushing precisely carves-out, as the company’s beyond the technology and providing own, a unique place in the competitive innovation in thinking — not only by cre- landscape. ating new ways to conduct research but also by providing clients with different ways to approach problems, different ways Starting at the beginning: Brand to ask questions and new ideas that gen- research erate new solutions, as well as generating Being researchers, the author’s company unexpected solutions or opportunities understood the value of customer and best practices. research for uncovering an insight. The The research uncovered positive feel- process began by contracting and working ings about the author’s company, along with an outside advertising agency, called with several red flags. As a result of the TBD, to conduct qualitative research with research, the team realised that just raising a sample of the customer base to capture brand awareness wasn’t enough — they authentic experiences, perceptions and had to change how people think about the opportunity. Research goals centred on company.The view needed to move from developing a strategy that would drive current perceptions about the company brand behaviour by creating clarity,estab- being ‘trusted’, ‘easy’ and ‘dependable’ to lish emotional resonance, unleash the future thinking that would make it a cru- potential of the brand and ensure the cial partner because of its insight, innova- future vitality of the company.The team tion and inspiration.The emotional focus realised upfront that clients (and prospec- of the brand had to change. This new tive clients) have a greater voice in defin- thinking opens the door for what the ing the values of the brand.The company brand can do and represent. Namely, the also acknowledged that industry mindsets company champions insight, facilitates had evolved and that its clients were no innovation and inspires. Ideally, the com- longer looking for vendors to solve their pany will take on a very different role in problems, but rather partners who could relation to clients than it has previously help them think differently. and an opportunity will be created to The research plan centred on in-depth own a bigger territory. The outcome of telephone interviews with research decision the research pointed to specific opportu- makers at advertising agencies, research nities for the author’s company to capture firms and brands, and included a mix of by creating a product portfolio that spans experiences. Both existing and prospective multiple needs. However, these opportu- clients proved to be respondents with both nities were not yet creatively articulated positive and negative perceptions of the in a way that would be interesting and company and also those with a mix of meaningful to the customer. familiarity and experience with it. Through this process, the company dis- covered that there is great danger in being The next step: The briefing phase perceived as a ‘tools’ or technology com- In addition to refocusing their brand posi- pany.There is an underlying belief that a tioning, the author’s company worked

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with its advertising agency to revisit brand ● need: New methodologies; values and messaging to ensure that the ● Research is an opportunity to think company was holistically communicating differently. the brand promise both internally and externally. Shifting perceptions of the brand, as indi- While the scope of this paper does not cated above, were clearly illustrated in the cover managing a creative firm, it is document shown in Table 1. important to consider the briefing phase. The creative brief can provide a solid The creative brief should be shared basis and set of guidelines, which can be between the agency and the company’s referenced throughout the branding marketing team.The purpose of the brief process. It can also be shared as a starting is to guide and inspire the creative team to point for other team members working deliver strategic work.Without agreement on the rebrand, such as public relations. prior to the creative exercise, too much subjectivity can enter the review process. It is vital to work closely with outside Don’t forget: Public relations pushes agencies at the very beginning of the the message branding process in order to arrive at a Integrating an effective public relations brief that is mutually exclusive, but collec- and social media strategy are important tively exhaustive in scope, for the rebrand- ways to bolster the brand presence to a ing project. The brief gives insight into large audience, including media, industry obtaining a precise, single idea that marks influencers and the general public. In the the essence or ethos of the brand. It does public relations arena, as in the creative not have to be a tagline, or a creative branding process as a whole, it is impor- expression, but it must be memorable and tant to remember these wise words, often actionable. attributed to Wordsworth: In this case study, the brief included core architecture for the brand, such as an ‘life is divided into three terms — that analysis of the target audience, which which was, which is, and which will be. Let appeared as follows: us learn from the past to profit by the present, and from the present to live better in ● psychographics of the target: Explorers; the future.’ ● focus: Authentic experience in the research; While the author of these timeless words ● mindset: Research uncovers new ideas; was probably aiming his thoughts toward

Table 1 Shifting perceptions of brand over time

Brand Today Brand Evolution

Role Vendor Partner Position Survey programming ϩ reporting Illuminating opportunity for the researcher Take-away Reliable research tools and IMPACT through insight, innovation, programming provider inspiration Values Trusted, easy, dependable Passion, agility, intelligence, integrity Personality and traits Loyal, emerging, supportive, small, Respected, nimble, vivid, smart, similar, easy to use powerful, champion, campaign

THE DELICATE ART OF REBRANDING

pure romanticism, they also ring true for ● increasing positive sentiment about the the modern art of rebranding. author’s company brand; When conducting an outreach pro- ● building meaningful relationships that gram around a repurposed brand, public could lead to future partnerships; relations professionals should: ● increasing traffic to [the author’s company] Inc.com (where many of the ● remember the messages of the past; rebranding elements were prominently ● reshape messages to fit the goals of and artfully displayed). today; ● ensure that all messages set the stage for In order to ensure that a unified front was the future direction of the company. being presented to target audiences, the public relations team involved in the In today’s public relations world, commu- rebranding process worked closely with nicators are not trying to accomplish that the creative agency. Social media were which has not been attempted many times able to reinforce the company’s desire to before — both in art and industry — they be perceived as contemporary, young and are just using different tools. edgy, while also building on the brand And at no time in history has this been equity statements of partnership and more true than today. Many who started curiosity. Results since the rebrand have out in public relations decades ago had seen a ten-fold increase in social media very few avenues of communication avail- fans and followers, plus a firm recognition able. A written press release, mailed or by peers as an active voice in the online faxed to a list of influential journalists, world of the market research industry. coupled with a few strategic follow-up Being involved daily in the social media calls — and then crossed fingers and a fer- conversation brings the company and its vent prayer that a story would run. Now, newly defined brand a heightened level of they are juggling social media, online wire awareness among targets. services, e-mails, blogs and more — using Beyond social media, public relations multiple ‘languages’and formats to get the efforts also centred around presenting the word out not only to the media, but to company’s innovations within the market the general public. research industry through securing speak- Using all these communications chan- ing engagements at top industry confer- nels was important for bolstering the ences and editorial placements in respected rebranding process for the author’s com- industry journals. Securing awards for both pany. Public relations provided exposure the company and its leaders also assisted in to key audiences using topics of interest drawing attention to positive aspects of the and news items to reinforce the overarch- company.These more traditional strategies ing revised brand strategy. Social media reinforced the company’s image as a efforts integrated language and tone that respected partner, and provided the venue aligned with the authenticity that the in which to answer truly those questions rebrand sought to create. Objectives for ‘What does the company do?’ and ‘Why do social media efforts, beginning with giants they do it’ — core parts of the original Facebook and Twitter, included: brand and the rebranding strategy. As an added value, these opportunities were pro- ● improving brand presence across social moted through new media channels, media channels; exposing the company to a larger audience.

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Using traditional and new public rela- unique proprietary software. The new tions strategies to support the rebranding brand strategy pulled the company out of process is vital. In this field, there is now the commodity offering of ‘What they do’ an opportunity and an ability to truly into a more ownable space of ‘Why they shape the messages that are pushed out to do it’. This led to new brand equities to the media, target audiences and even the build, which included the core concepts of general public. Combining third-party partnership and curiosity.Partnership links messages, such as those found in editorial to an unstated customer need for proactive coverage, with paid marketing assists in expertise on research projects. Curiosity is shifting perceptions of the brand. a shared value that was latent in the com- Establishing and maintaining lines of pany’s prior brand efforts, but already communication, understanding and authentic to the company. By directly acceptance can be accomplished through addressing these brand values, the com- effective public relations strategies. pany crafted an offering that is not focused For the author’s company rebrand, on the deliverable, but a higher order out- public relations was able to tell the pieces of come that its customers benefit from — the story that reinforce the branding mes- illuminating opportunity. sage, while downplaying those pieces that It is important to note, that a brand do not. During outreach efforts, the brand- strategy should transcend marketing — it ing strategy was reviewed and supported should be authentic to the company.And, with today’s tools of communication. if the brand strategy stretches the com- When looking to integrate public rela- pany or organisation’s existing culture, real tions into a rebranding strategy, it is action must be made to reach for the new important to ask the following questions articulation of the brand promise. While and proceed appropriately: not a cultural overhaul, the new brand strategy required a specific service orien- ● Who is the target audience and what are the tation within the staff — especially those best ways to reach them? Build the rela- with customer touch.This was recognised tionships that are needed to communi- this and an internal marketing piece was cate via the most pertinent vehicles created to help communicate the shift to related to the target audiences. employees. ● What communications tools are currently Since the rebranding effort, the com- available? Simply press releases, or will pany has grown by 46 per cent and suc- the outreach also integrate a new cessfully launched a professional research media/social media electronic strategy? software suite called Beacon that allows Does the company have the resources users to create and manage their own to execute fully a social media strategy? research projects. The company’s recent ● What is the paid marketing side of the busi- digital campaign doubled traffic to its ness doing? How can the message com- website. New business results from this plement and reinforce the strategy? recent campaign are still being measured, but one result is already clear: rebranding is worth the effort when it is done strate- CONCLUSIONS gically, thoughtfully and with the right Working with its creative firm, the author’s outreach plan in place. company uncovered an opportunity to In conclusion, a rebrand may not launch capture fully the value of its services and a company immediately into legendary

THE DELICATE ART OF REBRANDING

brand space, rubbing shoulders with highly b. Provide common ground for all recognisable consumer giants such as communicators. Coca-Cola or Microsoft. However, con- c. Evaluate the brief. ducting a well-researched, well-organised (i) Does it capture the brand rebrand can gain traction with target audi- strategy? ences by providing an authentic, vibrant (ii) Is there commodity language look into a company’s core values. in the brief? Coupling the creative side of the rebrand (4) Start with concepts and filter out with traditional outreach and communica- those that fail: tions, plus a strong web presence, can assist a. On strategy? greatly in spreading the refreshed brand (i) differentiating; message. By implementing some of the (ii) memorable. practical tools outlined here,company mar- b. Evocative/inspires emotion? keting executives can start to create a plan c. Authentic? Can it be backed up for putting a fresh face in front of their own with truth? key audiences and sending a clear message d. Does it link to what is sacred and that reflects ‘why we do what we do’. move away from what’s dying? e. Is it extendable? Reference (5) Execute: (1) In Fitzhenry, R. I. (1993) ‘The Harper Book of a. Work with outside agencies/ Quotations’, Harper Collins, New York,NY,p. 43. communicators to push out messages. b. Communicate internally with APPENDIX customer touching internal staff. Action steps to consider for the c. Announce changes to customers. rebranding process d. Utilise public relations to shift brand perceptions. (1) Gather insights through research (lon- (i) The more you are stretching gitudinal studies point to brand the brand meaning, the more equity demise and qualitative studies important this is. determine what is right, what is not): (ii) Protect authenticity. a. What is sacred? (6) Measure: b. What is flexible? a. Monitor appropriate benchmarks c. What needs to go away? to gauge impact: (2) Before rebranding, make sure the (i) sales; brand strategy is spot on (see goals for (ii) site traffic; rebranding in introductory section (iii) overall growth; above). (iv) employee satisfaction; (3) The creative brief: (v) other — company-specific. a. Do the thinking upfront and then b. Give enough time to gather distil to the most important points. actionable data.