Know-How Exchange : Branding

What is the goal of the rebranding initiative?

If the goal is a fresh look, then the focus is on the corporate identity and all visual elements (sometimes called the aesthetics) -- products, properties (buildings, signage, vehicles, showrooms, etc.), presentations (packaging, boxes, logos, uniforms,etc.), and publications (collateral, biz cards, stationery, forms, brochures, Web site, etc.)

But if you want to gain improvements in work production, if management wants employees to embrace the new brand and display a change of attitude and work ethic, then the rebranding effort must extend beyond aesthetics to affect the corporate culture.

This rebranding effort, then, is more than cosmetic. It is to change the way the organization does business, and the new identity is a sign to the world (and employees) that things have and are changing.

But this means that things really must change!

In addition to process, procedure, and perhaps infrastructure changes, in addition to mission and values adjustments, it involves a cultural repositioning. For this to be effective, it must start from the top. The CEO must be the leader of this change -- believe in it and display it.

I've never seen successful company-wide cultural changes start anywhere but at the top. Sure, you can see improvements in a department that has a strong leader who can rally his/her troops. That's good. But as a department is part of a bigger picture, the results are sometimes limited by the inefficiencies or disinterest of other groups.

For actual case studies, I can recommend Jean-Noel Kapferer's book, Strategic Brand Management. Chapter 10 is on "Handling Name Changes and Brand Transfers" and includes a section on managing resistance to change.

So again, a rebranding is typically a sign that something has changed. The question is what has changed, and for whom? When the changes are real and exhibited at the top, then the chances are higher that employees will believe the changes is real, that things are improving, and work production should be impacted.

Think about the classic "Hawthorne Effect" study, Frank.

Brightening the lights increased factory productivity. Dimming the lights increased factory productivity, too.

Quick interpretation: If employees felt like Management was paying any attention to them, their productivity seemed to be affected.

But how would that relate to re-branding? Branding is normally treated as an EXTERNAL effort, not INTERNAL. If you can find a way to involve employees in the process, maybe you'll see the Hawthorne Effect at play.