When your organization embarks on a rebrand, you sign up to drive and deliver change. To start, there are several branded assets that need to be built and migrated to the new brand. The reality is: leading and managing the current brand doesn’t stop. Rebranding happens alongside of your day job. Which raises the question, “who does the work leading up to launch and beyond?”
As a brand implementation agency, we guide organizations through the rebranding process, helping them plan, build and manage the sequence of work. During our planning process, we focus on three key questions that ultimately guide our clients through resourcing their rebrand.
Once we determine what needs to get done and by when, we work with clients to determine what expertise they have in-house. For example, they might have an internal design team who has the experience to apply the new design system to their suite of collateral, however they don’t have the expertise to design and develop a website or convert signage. If the organization doesn’t have internal expertise in a certain area, we recommend specialized partners who can help them achieve their goals.
In some cases, our clients have a lot of in-house expertise and could successfully execute the rebrand if they had the time –keyword “if”. Often those employees don’t have bandwidth to carry their current workload AND execute a rebrand. This becomes another reason to make introductions to the right groups of specialists. Especially challenging when up against a launch deadline.
Rebrands manifest along a spectrum of simple to complex. This can be influenced by the size of the organization, brand architecture, type of company, the extent of visual change and the number of touchpoints that need to be ready for day 1. The bottom line is that our brand implementation planning lays out exactly what needs to get done so we can account for who will do it and how much it will cost.
It’s our goal to connect the dots of rebranding for our clients, advising on where they are going to take ownership and where it makes more sense for an external partner to step in. Piling a rebrand on top of employees’ day jobs can cause fatigue and lower morale. Identifying where you need help when it comes to getting the work done can be more productive in the long term and encourage employees to embrace the rebrand.
Curious about the value of a brand implementation plan or the time it takes to rebrand? Read the other articles in our series Number 100.
