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When your business grows and expands from its original design, customers new or old can become confused by the change and unsure of the direction you’re heading in.
Your company may need to redefine itself to reduce complexity, and the best way to do that is through a rebrand.
In this episode, we are joined by our two special guests, Kim Tarlo from Mint and Josh Alvernia from Clue.
Kim is the Executive Creative Director and Partner at Mint, an independent creative agency that builds brands to make a positive impact on culture and the future.
She works with brands to take on the different business challenges that they face depending on their lifecycle. Kim also works with big companies who are trying to evolve to a new audience or launch new campaigns and products.
Josh is the CEO and Co-Founder of Clue, a leading data and media partner for search, social, and programmatic advertising.
At Clue, Josh helps marketers interpret and transform their data into growth.
His team of strategists, traders, developers, data analysts, and engineers help right-size data and advertising technology to solve unique challenges and unlock businesses’ boundless potential online.
Overcoming challenges of a rebrand and finding inspiration through process and execution to deliver a clear message and service.
Rebranding a company can help it thrive and become timeless to keep up with audiences of today and the future.
The Anatomy of a Rebrand: Humanizing a Tech Brand
We’ll be discussing the inspiration, process, and execution that goes into the rebranding of a business.
What’s on the agenda?
- Introducing Kim Tarlo of Mint and Josh Alvernia of Clue.
- The business perspective on rebranding.
- The agency perspective on rebranding.
- What goes into a rebranding project?
- The common pitfalls or challenges when rebranding and ways to avoid them.
- How to measure if the rebrand was a success.
Introducing Kim Tarlo of Mint Agency and Josh Alvernia of Clue Digital
Meet Kim Tarlo. She is the Executive Director and Partner at the Mint Agency based in Toronto.
Mint Agency works with brands that take on different business challenges such as rebranding.
They work with different clients who are trying to evolve to a new audience or launch new campaigns or products.
Meet Josh Alvernia from Clue Digital. Clue Digital is a data and media partner across search, social and programmatic advertising.
The goal of Clue Digital is to help marketers interpret and transform their data into business growth, especially through expertly managed media campaigns.
The mission of Clue Digital is to right-size data and advertising techniques so that they can solve unique challenges.
The Business Perspective on Rebranding
The internal perspective of the business can change when it starts growing.
The changes occur when companies shift their products or services while growing.
The primary reason to rebrand a business is to change the target audience and change the marketing strategy.
Rebranding can be strategically a good idea when as a business you are crystal clear about the changes that you want to make.
The Agency’s Perspective on Rebranding
The first step of any rebrand, especially with a company where you have key stakeholders, is getting to know the vision for the business, where it is meant to go and aiming to go, where it’s been and where the customers are today.
It is important to understand what’s going on with the business and all the roadblocks they are facing.
It is also really crucial to get close with key stakeholders for a rebrand and be aligned on the goals and what the big idea is set to be for the business.
What Goes Into a Rebranding Project?
To rebrand a business is to take it in a new direction. It’s about going to the core of what you stand for, consolidating your aims and vision and then modifying your image to reflect these changes.
Here’s what goes into a rebranding project:
- Start with the business reason
- Research your firm and your target clients
- Use positioning and messaging to capture your brand strategy
- Build your brand identity
- Build your website and online presence
- Brand Building plan
The Common Pitfalls or Challenges When Rebranding and Ways to Avoid Them.
Changing the visual nature and perception of your brand is not without its problems.
Here are a few common challenges and ways to avoid them
Failing to Retain Current Brand Equity:
Rebranding your business is new and exciting. It can refresh your current customer base and attract new customers to your business. But, you must undergo the rebranding with careful thought toward retaining the current brand equity that you have
Failing to Understand if (or why) a Rebrand is Necessary
Outline the specific aspects of your branding that you wish to improve upon, and list the aspects of your current branding that are going well and should remain relatively unchanged. This will help you to identify the goals of the rebranding project as a whole while retaining current brand equity.
Lack of Consistency Across Branding Channels
Your rebranding effort should be complete and obvious across all channels. Too many companies set out to rebrand themselves and are unable to roll out the new branding across all advertising channels.
A Lack of Focus on Objectives
When rebranding a company, you must focus on the objectives of the entire project. What are the goals of the project? What aspects of your brand would you like to improve upon? Without clear goals, it is hard to evaluate your efforts and determine if you were successful.
How to Measure if the Rebrand Was a Success.
You know where you want your revised brand strategy to take your organization. But to prove your rebrand achieves your desired outcomes, you need to know where you stand now to have something to measure against.
- Brand Value
Your brand isn’t just an idea or a construct. It’s an asset that has tangible, calculable value. That’s why more companies are engaging with brand valuation experts to help them quantify exactly how much their brand is worth.
When rebranding, it’s illuminative for any company to know exactly how much their legacy brand is worth and then assess the value of the brand over time.
- Brand Impact
The brand impact can include a number of metrics such as brand awareness, understanding, affinity, and preference. To measure how your rebrand affects all elements of brand impact, you’ll need to conduct market research before your rebrand, during your rebrand, and on a regular basis after your rebrand.
- Sales Performance
As a marketer, you are always tracking leads, conversions, and sales revenue. And while it’s not always easy to correlate changes to these metrics to one thing or input, they are directionally important numbers to watch during a rebrand.
- Digital Metrics
There are myriad metrics that can help you track your brand’s impact in the digital space, which you are already likely tracking. Keep a close eye on:
- Website traffic (number of visits, time spent on site)
- Google ranking
- Number of website form submissions
- Number of downloads (e.g., gated assets)
- Paid media clicks and conversions
- Number of social followers, likes, comments, and mentions
That’s a Wrap!
We would like to thank Kim Tarlo of Mint Agency and Josh Alvernia of Clue Digital.
Kim Tarlo is the Executive Creative Director and Partner at Mint, an independent creative agency that builds brands to make a positive impact on culture and the future.
She works with brands to take on the different business challenges that they face depending on their lifecycle. Kim also works with big companies who are trying to evolve to a new audience or launch new campaigns and products.
Josh Alvernia is the CEO and Co-Founder of Clue, a leading data and media partner for search, social, and programmatic advertising.
At Clue, Josh helps marketers interpret and transform their data into growth.
His team of strategists, traders, developers, data analysts, and engineers help right-size data and advertising technology to solve unique challenges and unlock businesses’ boundless potential online.
