We’ve introduced hundreds of companies to branding agencies, and we know all about the excitement, optimism and transformation a rebrand can bring. But on the other side of that excitement lies an equally important piece of work: the roll-out.
Rebrands are exciting; or at least they should be. They’re a pivotal moment in a brand’s journey: a chance to reflect on what’s gone before and what the big ambitions are, and then express that in a strategy and identity that sets you up for the future.
But there’s a part of a rebrand that’s spoken about a lot less: the roll-out.
It can be a fraught time. How will the public react to your new positioning or identity? Will you alienate existing consumers? And, more prosaically, will you be able to implement and run your new brand exactly the way your agency envisions it?
“It’s very normal to get excited about the big reveal and the transformational change of a rebrand,” says Cat How, co-founder of creative agency How&How. “Far less appealing is the unsexy bit about brand guardianship; explaining it to everyone in your business, and ensuring every single person knows how to use it. But in my opinion, if all the latter works, then that’s the definition of a successful brand.”
“Turning all the stones up, before you even start, is absolutely crucial... get the right people involved early on, so conversations are easier further down the line.”
James Greenfield, Co-founder, Koto
THE END STARTS AT THE BEGINNING
Overseeing a successful brand rollout means thinking about the reveal before you’ve begun the creative work.
“Turning all the stones up, before you even start, is absolutely crucial,” says James Greenfield, co-founder of branding agency Koto. “There’s the technical aspect, for example if you have a digital product, how will you get the rebrand into it? And there’s stakeholder involvement: get the right people involved early on, so conversations are easier further down the line.
“Otherwise,” he continues, “it’s like trying to do a humanitarian effort where all you’re thinking about is the outcome, and not how you’ll achieve it. And there’s so many possible outcomes. You might get blowback from a community, or stakeholders, or customers, or get accused of copying someone. You might find that your digital product isn’t as well-built as it should be, and implementing the rebrand is really hard.”
Having these discussions early on works as a focusing mechanism, says Greenfield, bringing the internal team together so everyone’s onboard with the rebrand.
MAKE A BRAND THAT YOU CAN USE
Rebrands in agencies’ portfolios can look very different to reality, and that disparity is often down to mismatched expectations. Your agency might be assuming you’re comfortable with those three typefaces, and that bank of animations, and the 50-page tone of voice document they’ve provided. But things can be quite different once the rebrand is put to work in the world.
“Is the brand going to be able to work with complex motion or 3D assets? Or will they be like, ‘These are great, but we don’t really know what to do with them.’”
Cat How, Co-founder, How&How
“There’s a responsibility on both sides to know what the internal capability of the client is like,” says How. “Is the brand going to be able to work with complex motion or 3D assets? Or will they be like, ‘These are great, but we don’t really know what to do with them.’ That needs to be flagged early on.
“A company needs to be able to say, ‘Look, what you’ve done is lovely, but realistically we don’t have the capabilities to actually use this. We don’t have the internal design support to make the most of it.’ Ultimately, though, it’s our responsibility to make sure we get them sharing these insights with us in the first place.”
That doesn’t mean scaling back on ambition or beauty or boldness; but it does mean telling an agency if what they’re building feels too complicated. As Greenfield says: “It should be bulletproof enough that the client can execute it.”
TELL YOUR PEOPLE FIRST
Naturally, a major part of a brand roll-out is the big reveal to the world. But before you tell that story to consumers, and clients and the press, don’t forget your own people.
“You’ve got to get everybody on the bus; you can’t have stragglers. Get them on the bus and they’ll feel like they’re part of something.“
James Greenfield, Co-founder, Koto
“We have a very open, transparent way of working at How&How, sharing key rebrand presentations on Slack channels with the whole internal team and giving everyone a whoop and a high-five.”
“One of the things I always advocate for is to have an internal launch before you externally launch,” agrees Greenfield. “You don’t want your team seeing it for the first time, at the same time as your customers, because they will feel excluded. At Koto, we always say you’ve got to get everybody on the bus; you can’t have stragglers. Get them on the bus and they’ll feel like they’re part of something.
“The flip side is that as soon as you share with someone, they’re going to have opinions on it – make sure they understand what their role is. Are they just a viewer? Are they someone with the ability to talk about this in a meaningful way?”
DON’T RELEASE IT PIECEMEAL
Often, it’s tempting to start teasing out tiny parts of an agency’s work, maybe the new logo goes on LinkedIn, even though the website isn’t finished, or the Instagram page is using the new colour palette but the packaging hasn’t been updated yet. “A successful rebrand is making sure that all comms are done at the same time, on the same day,” says How.
Releasing a brand piecemeal in this way runs the risk of undermining the narrative. Launching the entire rebrand all at once, with the full story behind it, makes a much bigger splash, and also means people (and press) are more likely to understand what a company is trying to do.
“Have a really clear comms package,” says Greenfield. “Get your PR and story linked up together, and everyone aligned on: ‘this is why we’re doing this, this is what it means, this is the outcome’. I was at a train station recently, and there was a lot of media for a new rebrand – but the website was still in the old brand. What’s the point of buying media if your number one asset is not aligned?”
EXTEND THE HANDOVER
The brand-agency relationship doesn’t have to come to a screeching halt once the rebrand is out in the world – and increasingly, we’re seeing companies agree extended partnerships with their creative team. For example, How says that her agency often runs three- to six-month retainers to help with the “settling in” of a new brand, and to support clients with anything unexpected that comes up.
Fintech brand Fluz - who AUFI helped introduce to branding agencies - also agreed an extended period of ‘guardianship’ with Koto to help them through the implementation of the brand. Fluz founder Maurice Harary told us: “The style guide is great, but part of the cost of doing branding is that guardianship, and a handover to make sure the execution is flawless.”
“For the right organisation, it makes total sense,” says Greenfield. “But it depends on who’s commissioning the work. In some cases it’s designers commissioning designers, in others it’s someone with more of a brand director title, or marketing, or product.
“It’s a key thing that should be considered: what are the commissioners’ core competencies, and how do they manage that process on the way out?”
We’ve been matchmaking brands with marketing, digital and branding agencies for more than a decade. If you have a brief you’re working on, and need help finding the right agency for the job, get in touch.
Images from top: Fluz rebrand by Koto, Hometree rebrand by How&How.
