It's difficult for any established company to consider a rebrand whether this is part of bigger marketing strategy or simply to fall in with modern trends and audiences. The actual cost of the process not to mention the implementation and rollout is enough to make you bolt for the door. But a rebrand gives a brand the chance to reevaluate the brands positioning, purpose and message and possibly change the way people think about it altogether. Approached in the right way, an overhaul of a brand can result in a better-aligned marketing and communications strategy, greater customer engagement or just a fresher more contemporary identity.

If you've never had to do a brand refresh (and there aren't many who have to) it can be a daunting task. It can sometimes feel like a leap of faith if your strategy doesn't meet the expectations of your challenges. The process can take months and possibly years and will be fraught with obstacles and curveballs. Undertaking a brand review requires some strategic thinking and there are some simple often overlooked aspects that you can consider that will put you on the best footing for the climb ahead.

Ready?

1.

Question if the right questions are being asked

Let me tell you a little bit about the power of 'why?'. It's been proven over the years that the incessant use of the question 'why' will unearth the most deeply buried truths. The best way I can explain this is imagine you're in a conversation with a curious toddler. A toddler has a way of getting an adult to simply even the most complicated matters of the universe by not letting you off the hook with a long-winded explanation. It's exhausting, but an effective way of boiling things down. Try asking yourself 'why?' five times to every question and you'll soon discover its ability to cut through to the underlying problems that need solutions. If you're not convinced then let me tell you that this same technique is used today during an interrogation situation.

Asking yourself 'why?' will help you identify if the right questions are being asked. Albert Einstein ( a clever guy) claimed that if he had only an hour to solve a problem, then he would spend fifty-five of those minutes on the problem and just five on the solution. You can't argue with that (or Einstein).

2.

Make it everyones business

When you're building your rebrand strategy it's important to include everyone who is involved in the business. No this ordinarily is something that I'm not an advocate of as I find that no one really has an opinion until you ask for one and then because they feel obliged to give an opinion it's not always going to be a nugget of advice. But if your brand affects and reaches the far corners of your organisation, then including everyone at everyone touch point will make all feel included. Ask how much they want to be involved in the brand review and make it known that their experience and insight within the company would be a valuable contribution. And for everyone's sake, don't use marketing jargon to talk to those who aren't exposed to this language on a day to day basis. Even referring to using the word 'brand' can also create confusion with what a brand is, what a logo is, what a corporate identity is. Simply refer to your 'brand' as your 'company style'. 

3.

Keep it open

When you're writing a brief then be conscious of leaving scope for interjection and feedback on your brand strategy. If your brief feels too final and locked down, then it will feel more prescriptive than a jumping-off point. Don't do too much fine-tuning until you're confident that you have all comments regarding the branding onboard. The main area where this has often gone all too wrong all too late is not including key personal and stakeholders. Try to include everyone as early as possible in the brand strategy. They may decided that they don't want to be involved. I've had projects go through a rebrand and the first time the stakeholders sat up and paid attention was when the website visibly changed overnight. 

4.

Hone your brand strategy

Once you have everyone's comments and feedback, it's time to hone in and fine-tune. You're aiming for a concise and immediate document that outlines the questions and the solutions to those questions. When you're done, share it with members of the company for their acknowledgement. What you need to do is have the strategy agreed and signed off. Once that's done you can then bring a brand agency into the conversation.

5.

Get an experienced, insightful, outside perspective

I know this advice may come across a little weighted, but I highly recommend that you capitalise on the experience and insight of a brand agency. All the opinions, evaluations and insights you've gathered so far have come from the inside out and so now is an opportunity to get a perspective from a strategic standpoint on your brand. When a client apporaches us with a branding project we never assume to know their business better than they do. Our strategy is based entirely on listening. We get to know your business first. Wit that said, you will be shooting yourself in the foot if you don't approach the relationship with trust and an open mind. If your strategic breif is too prescriptive, then the role of the brand agency will be more reactive, more 'feedback' than 'feed forwards'. Don't ask for a bridge, merely state that you want to cross the river.

6.

Clarity brings focus and efficiency

As part of your brand strategy, your brand agency will help you determine what deliverables are necessary in both the short and long term. It's important these brand deliverables are established early on so that they can be considered in the scope of your budget and timescales. And on the subject of timescales and clarity, ensure that every meeting you have with your brand agency has an agenda. It's a little obvious to poit out, but one that rebrand ball gets rolling you'll be forgiven for things snowballing out of control. One of those things could become meeting and admin costs. So get clear on the brand strategy and scope of deliverables. Plan in milestone meetings to keep on top of progress and to facilitate progress.

7.

Chip away the bits of marble that don’t look like David

Michelangelo, perhaps history’s greatest sculptor, understood this concept of refinement, to chip away diligently and purposefully at something as lifeless as a block of stone to reveal something of true beauty. That's your next exercise. Learn to test your strategy. Put it in practice and then take a step back. Refine it a little and test again. Shower, rinse, repeat. This will quickly identify what in your brand strategy is working and what needs a rethink. If you have a healthy relationship with your brand agency built on trust and transparency, then this refinement stage will be a fruitful and effortless process, in fact it should feel like a process at all. A problem shared is a problem halved. With both minds rooted in insight and expertise, then your relationship should be an absolute win. 

8.

Serve it to the family

When you're done testing and refining your brand review, it's time to show your hard-earned efforts to everyone within your organisation. Again, if you're presenting to the masses, with different exposures to marketing, try to make it as engaging and visually self-explanatory as possible. Bring it to life. Keep it as uncluttered and jargon-free as possible, focussing on the broad strokes, not the fine details. Consider comparing old with new. So for example, if part of your rebrand involved new photography, then compare your old stock images with the newly commissions photographs. The more your rebrand strategy is understood the better chance it has in being welcomed, embraced and more importantly approved. 

If you are primarily presenting to stakeholders, then I would advise that you tune your presentation to their frequencies. Stakeholders are a particular animal. They're not as visually literate and so something like a mood-board will fly under their radar or go over their heads. You will need to present the hard data that highlights the problems, the figures that influence the decisions and charts that justify the solutions.

9.

Rollout

After you've presented your brand strategy and received your standing ovation, it's time roll it out. It's not always going to be the case that you can dramatically throw back the curtain on your rebrand. There will be a recommended or logical approach to implementing the brand and touchpoints where the brand will need to noticeably change. And don't be afraid to ask for help. If you have any doubt that your team will struggle to implement the rebrand within the timeframes, then bring in additional resources. This can be in the form of a launch manager who is well versed in identifying what's required to reach each milestone ahead of your big brand reveal. They'll help identify pathways and assign managers to keep track and check-in at every stage so everyone knows where everyone is at, at all times. Event and program managers can be a godsend.

10.

Give them the tools

You rebrand will fall on its face if those who are implementing don't have access to the right tools at the right time. You'll need to work with your brand agency to establish some guidelines around the implementation of your brand and create a brand asset library of associated artworks and files. Consistency in the implementation of your brand is absolutely essential. Colour, message, tone of voice must match across every communication channel and platform right down to our email signature.

Your staff are your greatest brand advocates, so ensure that they're confident in communicating your brand narrative. Conducting a brand workshop is a great way to get your staff involved, onboard and up to speed with the new brand. Workshops provide the perfect environment to discuss the new branding, identify any implementation issues, frustrations and an opportunity to smooth them over. You'll find that your rebrand will affect your internal communications equally if not more than your external communications. In fact, your internal communications brand may have a completely different tone of vice and message – it is, after all, a completely different audience, so it's important to allocate the necessary time and attention to get this right.

That's it (in a 10 steps nutshell sort of way). 

Having held the hands of many a client during many a rebrand, what's outlined above are the general milestones, pathways and pitfalls. It's never going to be the same experience for everyone, but I've never had a client look back with regret. If you're about to embark on a rebrand, then I wish you the very best of luck. I can assure you it will be a transformative experience.