14


Q1 • 2024


FEATURE


its revamped website, you can now “serve your way” and “be part of the Army’s well-rounded force while pursuing your unique career and life goals,” accentuating flexibility and the “what’s in it for you” selling proposition. And of course, businesses turn to


rebranding when they need to increase revenue and believe that the audience’s perception of the brand is the reason sales have stalled. For a rebranding to succeed, however, it’s not enough to simply “believe” that brand perception is the reason. There must be data to back up that belief.


tio to tion is to back


Research Begets Strategy “It’s imperative before you do anything that management and marketing agree as to why they need a new corporate identity,” van den Bergh notes. This is why research—intensive and extensive, internal and external—is the foundation of a successful rebrand. “One of the initial steps is to understand what your brand stands for and what is the end result your customer will experience,” Heininger says. Too often, what a company thinks


in ng


its brand represents and what its target market thinks the brand represents are two distinct things. In fact, sometimes even the C-suite and the rest of the staff have differing perceptions. Alternatively, the organization and the audience might have the same perception of the brand—but it’s not one that appeals to the audience or fills a gap in the marketplace.


landscape and competitors, conducting audience segmentation, undertaking customer resear s c


Only after analyzing the market pet


nta io se


others think it stands fo and wh should stand for going forwar


t o wh sh


It’s imperative before you do anything that management and marketing agree as to why they need a new corporate identity.


Once an organization begins strategizing, howeve beyond the fac


product benefits but also the emotional e


it comes to the new positioning and messaging, “it’s not just the facts and thee f but


egizing, however, i it must look the face value of the data.W th


tmust look


the new positioning ’s ns not just the bu also


so


connection,” Heininger says. “That allows you to redefine your customer promise, make it more relatable and relevant for customers going forward.”


For instance, during the research stage of the YMCA’s 2010 rebranding, Siegel+Gale found that roughly two- thirds of people surveyed felt the quality of life in their community had declined during perce


The YMCA took this to indicate that it needed to makit nee xten


e clear its offerings


extended far beyond swimming and gymn


(ac


“since let’let’s d offerin descr


gymnastics. Subsequently, it not only unveieiled a new logo and shortened name (according to its marketing materials, “since everyone already calls us ‘the Y,’ s do the same”) but also reframed its offerings. “We are simplifying how we describe the programs we offer so that it


O e an or anization begins egi


alue of the data. When ntation, u


employees can a business gain a clear, data-based picture of what it stands for, what others think it stands for, and what it should stand for going forward.


earch, and surverveying can a business gain


ea ch, and surv n a sed picture of what it stand nd


is immediately apparent that everything we do is designed to nurture the potential of children and teens, improve health and well-being, and support our neighbors and the larger community,” the Y stated in a press release. Today on the Y’s website, children’s classes and camps fall under “youth development,” in which they “help young people to grow into healthy, thriving adults.” In addition to providing fitness classes, “the Y also collaborates with c


fi with


living within rliving w rebrand res searches and


re nd


sure to app a


pp


th ommunity leaders to bring healthy each of all people.” The


rebrand resulted in a sixfold leap in web searches and a significant increase in donations, am ith ith it


donations, among other benefits. With its rebranding, the Y made to


sure to retain the elements its audience appreciated—it didn’t cancel swimming and gymnastics, after all. “You need to work from the strong brand equities you have,” Heininger notes. “Let go of the weaker elements. Work from the core and determine how to make it work for the future without alienating all the customer loyalty you had previously.” While the Y always represented


during the previous year, and only 51 per ent were optimistic it would improve. The Y


accessible programs to benefit the community, the research indicated how the organization could hone its mission and, just as importantly, better communicate that purpose. Research guided the strategy behind the rebrand, which in turn informed the brand positioning and messaging, all the way down to the elements of the visual redesign, which van den Bergh calls “the icing on the cake—simply translating the strategy.” Or, as Cieslak puts it, “Design is hard to miss, which is what makes it a strategic tool. But it’s just a signal; the story is something different.”


Cultural Shifts It’s not enough for the CEO and the president of marketing to sign off on the strategy. “It should be very clear from the management perspective and the employee perspective that everyone is


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