Successfully Navigating a Stormy Rebrand
Keeping your brand current and authentic is critical—but the process isn’t always easy.
REBRANDING SUCCESS STARTS WITH A CLEAR BRAND VISION
A clear vision provides a guiding principle that can motivate and drive decisions that are aligned with your strategies and objectives. It’s important to get an understanding of how well folks throughout the organization understand and share that brand vision and, if not, what stands in the way. Obstacles might include poor communication, or issues like inconsistent leadership or lack of buy-in. A thorough discovery process can uncover such obstacles.
MAXIMIZE RESOURCES IN THE REBRANDING PROCESS
You can be a good steward of limited organizational assets—staff, funds, time, facility, access to data—and still execute a successful rebrand.
With experience leading several rebrands, Ilana Ostrin, Head of Global Communications for the Plasma Protein Therapeutics Association (PPTA) advises “You’ll need to make strategic choices about how to allocate limited resources to achieve your goals effectively.”
How do you manage limited resources? Strategies might include:
- Strategic planning and prioritizing
- Careful budgeting and monitoring expenses
- Measuring resource use and identifying areas for improvement
- Enhancing efficiency through collaboration and use of technology
- Outsourcing specific tasks to supplement internal resources
OVERCOMING REBRANDING OBSTACLES AND FEEDBACK
You’ll get a lot of input, including unsolicited feedback and comments from vocal minorities that could skew your messaging. Actively listening and analyzing data from formal structures like surveys and focus groups can provide a more accurately balanced perspective that represents all stakeholder groups. If you face constituents with conflicting priorities, or have multiple sub-brands and/or affiliates, make sure to connect and communicate with all audiences.
Ideally, the brand architecture will address all their identities. However, it’s not realistic to expect that your solution will please everyone. Consistent communication and use of the new brand can support acceptance, and brand standards adherence processes help everyone be part of a successful implementation.
DON’T RUN AGROUND
Overthinking can stop a rebranding initiative in its tracks. If your organization seems to be caught in “analysis paralysis,” whether over budget or other concerns, remind leaders of the financial and human capital investments to date, as well as the negative impact that not moving forward can have on revenue, culture and credibility.
On the other hand, excitement about the rebranding could raise the risk that someone shares information to unintended audiences.
“Whenever I worked on a rebranding, we not only asked for confidentiality, but let people know that breaching it could diminish the impact of the brand launch,” says Ostrin. “We invested a lot of time, money and effort into the rebranding, and stressed that internal or external leaks could negatively affect us and everything we had put into it.”
KEY TAKEAWAY
Rebranding a business or nonprofit is a valuable exercise for growth and sustainability. Done well, a strategic rebranding process can help you obtain a clearer view of your organization’s real strengths, understand how your stakeholders see you and, ultimately, tell the world who you are and why they should care.
