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How to rebrand an entire company in 13 simple(ish) steps

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14 September 2016

How to rebrand an entire company in 13 simple(ish) steps

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We just did it, and it was easy. Kind of. Seriously, we’d do it all again tomorrow (sleep? Who needs that?)

In case you missed it – and if we did our jobs, you shouldn’t have – we very recently revealed a whole new brand, including a new name. It was a huge change that involved months of work behind the scenes.

Rebranding is an inevitability for any business. The scale of the rebrand might change – some companies will simply update a typeface, while others, like us, will adopt a whole new look – but even small changes can involve a lot more work than you might think. With that in mind, here’s the rebranding wisdom we’ve gained over the past few months.

The Neo stamp of approval

We think the rebrand’s made its mark…

STEP 1: Define your objectives

There was a strong sense internally that the company name and visual identity were out of synch with what we actually do in 2016. We wanted to look like the forward thinking market leaders we are – but we also wanted to embrace our company’s history, which stretches back to the 1930s. Melding the two was a challenge, to say the least, but it was crucial to getting the new branding right.

Another must was a great URL – a name change was dependent upon locking in the right domain name for our website. It wasn’t until we secured one that we officially began the rebranding process.

STEP 2: Lock in your logo

The new visual identity can set the tone for much of the work that follows. The back and forth over our new logo right back at the start of the process drove our Creative Director right to the the edge, but it was worth it – we’ve got a brand that’s fresh, flexible enough to work across different platforms and collateral, and clearly positions us as a forward-thinking company. Once we had the logo, it gave us serious motivation to power through the next few months.

STEP 3: Build a multi-disciplinary team

A rebrand is much more than just a new logo – it will affect all staff across every department in different ways. Aside from the obvious things like stationery, signs, email signatures and corporate attire, there was also a huge list things that needed to change internally, even if our clients would never see them.

Bringing in people from across the organisation, with different areas of expertise and alternative perspectives, gave us a clear idea of the scope of those changes very early on. Having every department represented on our rebrand committee meant that no update, no matter how small, was overlooked. The committee included representatives from our accounts, customer service, production, IT and creative departments, as well as senior managers. Often surprising insights came from unexpected places.

STEP 4: Meet early, meet often

The rebrand committee met every Monday, starting on May 2. Our first meeting revolved around the date of the rebrand – at that stage we were aiming for July 1 to coincide with the end of financial year. Luckily sanity prevailed and the date was pushed back to September 5. Looking back now at the last four months, it’s clear there’s no way we could have pulled of a successful launch in just under eight weeks!

Those weekly meetings sometimes went for two hours and sometimes for 30 minutes, but they happened every week, even when some members couldn’t make it. It meant that every element of the rebrand was being followed up consistently, with the weekly action items so that the team knew exactly what to work on week by week.

Casually hanging out in the factory with the new logo.

Neo Chairman Paul Daley and CEO Seth Watts with the new logo.

 
STEP 5: Schedule everything

We brainstormed an enormous list of absolutely everything that needed to be done and then worked out exactly when each item needed to happen. The result was an enormous shared Google spreadsheet 150 rows long that set a deadline for each task to be completed. It didn’t include our launch party, which got a spreadsheet of its own. Every task, no matter how small, was included.

STEP 6: Create a story

A significant challenge for us was explaining the reasons behind the change – both to our clients and to staff. In the printing industry, rebrands are frequently seen as a bad sign, so clearly communicating the positive reasons for the change to staff at all levels was absolutely crucial (more on that below).

For our external communications, we clearly defined the reasons behind the change and repeated those on every channel. The key was to keep the messaging simple. Once our clients understood why we were making such a significant change, they were totally on board and excited to see the new logo – which we kept under wraps until a few days before our official launch on September 5. It was important for everyone to understand the rebrand was an exciting change designed to move the company forward.

STEP 7: Include internal stakeholders

Factor in your staff and treat them just as carefully as you would your external stakeholders – if they are not involved and excited, that unease will filter through to your clients. As we mentioned above, many of our staff have come from other printers where rebrands have often signaled serious financial issues for the business. We brought everyone into the fold early on, explaining the thinking behind the change and making it clear the business was operating from a position of strength.

As soon as everyone saw the positive signs – excitement, no change of management, new shirts and business cards – they were on board. Since we did all our own printing in house, staff were also excited to see the new material and it traveled through the factory. We capped it off with a staff lunch, complete with food trucks, gifts and a sneak peek at our new website, that ensured everyone went into the changeover feeling good about where the company was heading.

STEP 8: Create a voice

Every brand needs a voice. What tone do you use to speak your clients? We wanted our brand voice to be distinctly different from other printing and marketing companies and opted for brash and confident, without being arrogant. It was tough to get the tone right, but once we nailed it down it was carried right across all our communications from our website to our new brand book.

Brainstorming new ideas.

When rebranding, expect the unexpected.

 

STEP 9: Grit your teeth and ask for feedback

One of the challenges of having a committee of people involved is that we got feedback on everything, every step of the way. It wasn’t always easy to hear – believe us, after 15 people have given your their conflicting opinions on the new business card design, you’ll need a stiff drink – but at the end of the day it meant potential issues were flagged early and everyone felt involved in the process.

STEP 10: Spread the word

Over the six weeks leading up to the rebrand there was not a single touchpoint where customers weren’t made aware of what was happening. The message was repeated across every channel, including email signatures, our online ordering system, flyers that went out with all deliveries, on the out-of-hours voicemail message, and more. It may have been overkill for some clients who deal with us daily, but there was minimal confusion when the brand officially changed over.

STEP 11: Segment your communications

We had several audiences who need to be updated about our rebrand, and we needed to communicate with all of them in different ways. Our clients were split into two broad groups – real estate and commercial. Our staff were another segment, as discussed above. Suppliers also need to be informed of the changes. Our communications strategy was tailored to each group to ensure the details were clear and that they understood how the change would affect them specifically.

STEP 12: Bring in the experts

While we were lucky to have staff in-house with expertise across a range of areas, there were still some things we couldn’t do alone. The major one was our website – we wanted something truly mind blowing and knew we couldn’t pull it off ourselves. We outsourced that task to a team of expert web designers and developers and the result is pretty spectacular.

STEP 13: Prepare for the unexpected

In many cases, the big projects went off without a hitch – it was the small things that took time. The debate over the colours on our new staff uniforms was exhausting, to say the least. Our project timelines built in plenty of slack, so when some things took longer than expected we were able to accommodate the delay without slowing up our entire process. But when rebranding you can guarantee that something, somewhere, will go wrong – it’s just a matter of when.

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