Over our twenty-five year history, JH&A Advertising has successfully completed hundreds of rebranding exercises. Corporate rebranding is an important subject that should not be taken lightly. It affects the entire organization and should be considered carefully and strategically.

So how do you know if it’s time to update, refresh or completely rebrand?  Here are five very important criteria to consider:

Has your company substantially changed its products, services or markets?
Over the past few years, many of our clients have changed their businesses to reflect expansions or contractions. Some of our clients have sold-off or consolidated their product or service offerings, and thus, have narrowed and re-defined their organization. Others have expanded exponentially.  Their position in the marketplace, their customer base and the competitive environment have changed enough to necessitate a re-think of the corporate brand.

Have you lost control of your current brand identity?
Better yet, do you have a current brand identity?  It’s not uncommon to see clients who have a variety of disjointed messaging and visuals used throughout the organization. When there are “too many cooks in the kitchen” producing ads, presentations, webpages, tradeshow graphics and even invoices and business papers, the brand can become lost.  A centralized point-of-contact (internal or external brand police) or a well-written, useable “Corporate Identity Standard” may be the answer.

How much equity does your brand currently have in the various markets you serve?
Changing the front-facing image and messaging of your company may negatively affect the perception of your current customers.  Great care should be given to plan the execution of a rebranding project.  In some instances, a slight “facelift” may not be a huge issue.  In other, more involved scenarios, there may be some transition time in between, and in some cases, a “pull the trigger” strategy may be necessary.  In these cases, the old brand is completely and immediately replaced with the new one.  No matter which process is used, be sure to let the rest of the company know what’s going on as this will affect the entire organization.

What’s the backfire potential of rebranding?  
Customers grow accustomed to working with the same “old friend”.  There’s a certain comfort level that develops over time.  There is much to be said for stability and longevity. However, even the big boys like 3M, IBM and even Coca-Cola have had corporate and product rebranding successes and failures.

Do you have the budget and internal bandwidth to commit to this endeavor?
Rebranding on any level requires a commitment of budget and personnel.  It obviously must involve the highest level decision makers in the company for the strategic vision.  Resources also need to be made available to handle the tactical execution.  At JH&A, we’ve coined the phrase “The Bob Factor” to illustrate the common phenomena that occurs when a client designates (or volunteers) someone in the organization to take on the various aspects of the rebranding exercise.  ”Bob” thinks that’s a great idea and tons of exciting fun….for 3 weeks.  Then, “Bob” loses interest, gets busy with other pressing matters and/or gets reassigned.  Make sure to allocate the appropriate personnel (choosing someone with expertise and available time) to manage this most important function.

When executed properly, branding is more than a logo and a graphic standard.  Brand identity captures the essence of your organization.  Discovering and positioning your brand involves a specific, highly integrated set of activities.  On the most basic level, everyone is his or her own brand – it’s who you are and what your friends, acquaintances and co-workers think of you.  Words like “friendly’ or “happy-go-lucky” might be used for someone you like at work. However, just because someone says they’re “happy and easy-going” does not make it so, especially when you see the opposite from 8 to 5 every day.  Just as with this personal experience, organizations can only get away with “faking it” for so long.  Somehow, somewhere, the truth about what type of company you are will come out.

Since branding encompasses the company in a macro sense, if each department in your organization doesn’t subscribe to the brand identity, customers and potential customers will quickly realize it.  Just as working with schizophrenic people is no fun, neither is working with a schizophrenic organization. If your company brand has been built on friendliness and an obsession for customer service, and your front office staff is less than cordial and impossible to work with, then there’s obviously going to be a huge disconnect.  By the same token, if you try to position your company as the “cool kid”, the innovation leader in your industry, and your accounting department is still working on an abacus, customers will know.  Let your brand reflect who you really are as an organization and what you do best. Don’t try to convince yourself or your potential clients that you’re something other than what you are. To sum it up, Ford sells many more pick-up trucks than Ferrari sells luxury sports cars.

Be true to your organization!

Patrick Cline
Vice President and Managing Partner
JH&A Advertising