The good news reminds us of our previous Transform success where we were similarly fortunate, being shortlisted for three categories and subsequently winning one gold and two silvers for our work on the Parasol rebrand.

This time around the categories in question are ‘best corporate rebrand following a merger/acquisition’ and ‘best rebrand in the property sector’, and with global branding agencies such as Interbrand and Landor appearing on the shortlists, we’re pretty chuffed!

The Merseyway rebrand involved a complete overhaul of its brand identity, with the aim of rejuvenating its image and connection with local Stopfordians.  Since the launch of the rebrand in late 2010, Merseyway’s 2011 footfall figures saw an increase of 950,000 shoppers, focus groups demonstrated a much-improved public perception and major retailers such as Primark and Costa Coffee opened new stores at Merseyway.

The ceremony itself is being held on March 21^st in London, and looks to be a fantastic evening that will definitely keep us in high spirits no matter the outcome!

President of the company, Marka Hansen has denied claims that the whole thing was a set up to increase the brands online presence. But the response of a perfectly crafted, “our customers always come first” and attempts to quickly amend the situation with a series of strategic measures, only added to suspicions that the logos failure was intentional.

At a time when a social media presence is essential for any forward thinking brand, Gap’s overwhelming rush of over five thousand followers on Twitter and the bombardment of comments on Facebook may initially be seen as a success. But having an online following is not just about sky high numbers. Success might be measured in the quality of discussions, positive feedback or returning readers. Gap’s marketing team would surely know this and the surge of negative comments, whilst it did create a buzz, probably wasn’t the vibrant young input they had hoped for.

Suggestions that this was a brilliantly staged piece of PR should be taken lightly.

Perhaps for some any publicity is good publicity. But in the case of Gap, a well established, classic and supposedly reliable brand, this is just not the case. Believing that Gap intentionally launched a bad design assumes they had the foresight to predict a bad reaction and the confidence that a positive recovery could be made from it.  More likely it was a case of poor interpretation of what the label stands for and what their customers want. One thing that has been proved is that the internet is a chaotic place, where opinions and arguments of consumers can grow in power to actually influence big brands.

Ironically the design itself has potential to reach a cult status, with the creation of a “make your own Gap logo” website selling t-shirts in its name. But perhaps we can take this at face value and have fun with it, before conspiracy theorists are convinced that this is also all part of Gap’s elaborate plan.

The rebrand was initially commissioned to reflect the firm’s evolution and new focus over the coming years. Established over 10 years ago, the company works with clients, including firms of solicitors and organisations in legal disputes. Essentially helping them to increase efficiency, productivity and results through improved training and performance management of internal resources.

In the best corporate rebrand to reflect changed mission/values/positioning, we are being judged against Citroen and Aviva (Norwich Union).  Parasol’s verbal identity will be pitted against the Action for Children charity in the best use of copy/tone of voice category and finally global firms Grant Thornton and Rothschild provide the competition in the best rebrand in financial services sector. All of these companies have more offices than we have chairs but nevermind and never underestimate the underdog.

The Shortlist

The other designers & brand consultancies who have entered work read like a who’s who of the best on the planet. Interbrand, Landor, Pentagram, Siegel Gale and the like. All London and all with a global presence. We’re humble enough to admit we’re honoured to be rubbing shoulders with these hugely respected firms. In fact, from what we can tell, aside from flying the flag for the region we are pretty much flying it for everyone outside the M25 agency wise. The Co-operative Group will be there representing 0161 clientside but then again their rebrand typically went south to Pentagram.

So it’s David & Goliath and our first real effort in terms of entering client work for awards. And great awards at that, with outstanding criteria of measuring the effectiveness of branding as well as strategic input, process and creative execution.

In London, their backyard so to speak, against the creme de la creme. So expect some merriment, even if we walk away empty handed.

Effective rebrands harness existing brand equity taking audiences through an evolutionary journey which should keep the brand relevant and not irreparably disconnect the old audience from the new positioning. Often, except for the scenario where it is necessary to communicate wholesale changes (for example, a merger) a mere update or refresh is all that is required.

2. But don’t try and recreate history

Businesses evolve, personnel change and markets move on. There’s simply no point in clinging onto a history that, successful or otherwise, won’t repeat itself.

Ensure the thinking behind the new brand strategy is fresh but more importantly ensure it is absolutely relevant. In a nutshell, re-evaluate everything and don’t assume that anything that was true back then is true now.

3. Instruct the right consultancy

Your brand is typically the most valuable asset of your organisation. Treat it’s importance with care and ensure that appropriate professional advice is obtained from an external firm of consultants. This is not something you can do yourselves.

Assess only the relevant credentials of a proposed shortlist of contractors but don’t be too impressed with irrelevant ‘creative’ work. If they are leading their presentation with some stunning advertising campaigns then the likelihood is that they don’t have the branding experience you require. Scrutinise the thinking behind any relevant examples by asking for detailed case studies and try to see beyond your own perception of the design outputs. Ask about positive outcomes and the effectiveness of previous projects. These are the key indicators you should be assessing as well as the more obvious ‘how can I work with these people?’, as a good fit is also crucial to successful project delivery.

4. Plan everything

Though clearly you need to provide input, ideally your consultancy will fine-tune a creative brief and detail a project delivery plan for you. A basic framework will typically include information on the current situation, markets and stakeholders as well as the essentials of objectives, budget, available resources, timescales and approval process. Further detail could also be agreed on suitable metrics that will assess the effectiveness of the rebrand.

Without a plan, the only inevitable outcome is that focus is lost, timescales slip and costs escalate.

5. And research it too

No matter what size your organisation is, it’s not enough for a Chief Executive or a senior marketing representative to pen a brief and expect to encompass every perception and significant insight into one document.

Speak to customers, ask for feedback off suppliers, interview employees at all levels and consider opinions of all relevant stakeholders. Combine these findings with some desk-based research activities based around current visual and verbal communications and then benchmark positioning against competitors.

This research is best left to independent consultants for expertise, impartiality and to encourage more honest views, especially from employees.

6. Ensure there is a suitable committee

One individual can’t run the show alone but at the same time there’s no need for the heads of every single department to be involved in every nitty-gritty decision of the process. Things will get nowhere fast on this basis. Their views should be considered during the interview process as part of the briefing stage but when the creative work kicks off in earnest it really needs to be a smaller efficient group. Ideally it needs to involve someone from the very top of the organisation (Chief Executive or equivalent, the senior marketing representative and potentially somebody from another influential department, possibly HR). On the assumption that capable consultants have been hired it is equally important that the main point of contact is sufficiently experienced and senior enough to project manage things clientside.

7. Intimately know your customer journey

Be informed. Understand and immerse yourself in the external experience of dealing with your organisation. Look out for obstacles that hinder the consistent brand experience…if you struggle to navigate round your own website, or are frustrated at the lack of response when putting in a phone enquiry, then you can safely assume so will your audience. These findings should be included within the creative brief.

8. Take the brand beyond the business card

A rebrand is not a fancy new logo and some expensive looking stationery. From the top of the organisation down to the grassroots, the transformation must be lived and breathed. It’s a common mistake to focus entirely on those ‘brand products’ that communicate in a visual sense the new positioning. But what about the environments from which you operate and what about the way in which your employees behave – do these other manifestations present a coherent image? If not, your audience will become confused and ultimately foster a mistrust of the ‘new’ organisation.

9. Be believable

The repositioned brand must be credible in the context of the current brand experience and external perceptions. There’s certainly no point in attempting to be something you clearly cannot live up to and it’s crucial that the new experience matches the brand promise. Test your employees first. Actually living the brand day in day out, if they don’t believe in the ‘new story’ then others won’t.

10. Think beyond launch

Once the new branding has been approved and launched internally and externally, the real work begins. Implementation is an ongoing process that should involve evaluation and sometimes adaptation. Again, it needs to be managed, though often this can be done internally, sometimes due to other commitments, this brand guardianship can be sub-contracted to external consultants. The primary purpose is to ensure that the brand doesn’t suffer from dilution and indeed strengthens over time.

It could well be that employees haven’t engaged with the new brand and even with the most effectively managed internal launch and communications programme, it may take some time to convince some factions of the reshaped future direction.

Recently, it was great to hear some good news about one of last year’s branding projects. Barnard Atkins, one of the leading VAT and custom duty consultants in the UK, had rebranded as The VAT People using us to design a new brand identity, website and a full suite of communication materials. Less than a year on and they are now discussing a creative recruitment campaign with us in order to bring enough staff into the business to cope with an “unexpected growth in business”.

www.thevatpeople.co.uk