Rebranding a business is a complex matter that needs very careful planning and preparation. There needs to be a good rational for rebranding as the costs can be considerable. For the team at Superdream, the process starts with telling the brand story.
As part of our rebrand process we look at our clients’ business, sector, customers and obviously, competitors. But the key is to truly understand what success looks like, and to paint a picture of how the business will look at a given point in the future. We call that our brand story.
Once written, the brand story will act as a compass and reference point for the rebranding, as we know what the business will become, we simply have to make the brand look like the business has already achieved this vision.
Every creative client at Superdream has a brand story that guides us when developing campaign ideas and themes. We need to know our clients’ businesses inside out and the brand story helps us to do this. We interview Directors, Managers, staff, suppliers and customers.
The first group of people to be presented with the brand story should always be the staff at that business. Done correctly, it will motivate and excite the team with the possibilities presented by the business strategy. It is well worth developing your own brand story and sharing this internally. Think about the vision and describe how the business looks – size, location, structure, brand network, clients, value and so on. Think about your core values; what sort of business do you want to be? What personality will you have? How do you want to be perceived? Your core values are the very characteristics that define and shape your brand, and make it attractive to our customers and prospects. Next, think about your proposition statement – who you are, what you do, why you are different, who you serve, what they buy and so on.
Once your brand story has been constructed, you will be able to honestly assess whether your brand conveys to the outside world the business you have just described, if it doesn’t, this is your rational for a rebrand, and this is the process we go through numerous times each year for a number of different businesses.
If you look and act like the business you want to be, you’ll probably get there. If you don’t, you definitely won’t.