Rebranding branding — a case study
In this guest post, the founder, creative director, and #thoughtleader of DRB Brands. talks us through his passion-infused mission to REBRAND BRANDING ITSELF.
The Branding Industry had a problem — it just couldn’t deliver the kind of business results needed to justify its existence and inflated sense of its own importance.
In a flash, we knew what was required. Like absolutely everything else with any kind of problem ever, the Branding Industry needed a rebrand!
The Challenge
Fusty old-school companies think a brand is a way to help lazy, disengaged customers make decisions quickly. They have a half-decent logo and distinctive assets. They stick with it for a long time and customers come to trust and choose their brand.
This leaves many third rate art graduates, graphic designers and arm chair psychologists with the uncomfortable need to get a real job.
Never a group to ignore a challenge like that, we at the Branding Industry put our thinking caps on and deep dived into the warm golden waters of our own imaginations.
The Insight
Senior marketing professionals are vain, approaching their midlife crisis, and see their company’s brand image as an extension of themselves. They want to be seen as working for — even leading — a trendy company that appeals to attractive young women today’s value-seeking millennials.
With that key insight at the forefront (and every other part) of our minds, the Branding Industryteers rolled up our (metaphorical) sleeves and got to (metaphorical) work.
The Idea
Make branding more elusive, more engaging. Engage the deep psychological needs of middle aged men in suits, desperate to reconnect with the hopes and dreams of their youth.
We knew this idea was right, just like all our ideas are. It was time to crank up the lattes and get to more metaphorical work.
The Implementation
Borrowing from the language of hippies and rock stars, we created new beliefs and repeated them ad nauseam. We kept things vague and spiritual — seemingly important and good but defying measurement.
Our graphic designers opened up PhotoShop and came up with things that looked nice. Our psychobabblers wrote out reasons why it was a deep representation of the CMO’s brand values and mission. We followed the latest trends. Our work needed to appeal deeply to the CMO, but not for too long if we wanted loyal repeat customers.
We rented trendy offices and served sweeties at meetings, so that CMOs could feel like students again and would think we knew how to engage millennials.
Before long, we were ready to launch a completely new brand for branding. Here’s the dynamic logo we cooked up:
The <3 signifies love (the heart emoticon used by millennials) as well as the “<” signifying that rebranded branding is “greater than” what has gone before. The font is bold and futuristic while the soft pink colour inspires feelings of love. The NG is bold and underlined to signify energy and implying that — while the new brand for branding is bold and new, it still rests on solid and strong foundations. The italicized AND also shows that branding lets you have more and more!
Results
The Branding Industry’s bold innovative rebrand received positive coverage in Rebranding Today and Inside Rebranding Brands Weekly.
This acts as great PR for us which, unlike rebranding, is an effective way to grow your customer base.
The Branding Industry now attracts many loyal repeat customers. When sales don’t increase following a rebrand the CMO is fired and replaced. Their replacement hates the rebrand, and comes right back to the Branding Industry for another go. It is therefore perhaps the only rebrand ever to achieve tangible business results.
We’re rocking it!
Do you look back over your career in marketing and wonder what happened to the meaningful idealism of your youth? This is a sure sign that your company needs a rebrand! Contact us to give your life a double shot of awesome.
© 2017 DRB Brands.
