Pathways to rebranding

Sometimes your brand needs rejuvenation. Whether you revitalize your existing brand or rebrand it completely – here is a piece that will guide you and your team through the process of rebranding (revitalizing) your business in the light of new industry demands, possessing a cohesive image and stating that relevant value proposition to the market. It is about grasping the journey of arriving at what your business stands for and communicating that in a charming and impactful manner to the audience

Rebranding or brand revitalization becomes necessary when you want to set a new course for your business. It could be triggered by a variety of reasons: the need to have a fresh image, the challenge of coming across as an entity who has arrived, the need to convey in a cohesive manner what your business stands for and how it can make a difference to the customer, to correct a wrong perception or just simply to make your marketing efforts work better for you. All or any of these could be the reasons to think and act on a rebranding exercise.

However, to create a brand there has to be an elevated level of awareness. Or should I say a purposive intent to discover what your brand is all about. What it stands for, what your customers think it stands for, what your teams think it stands for and more. Knowing this, then it is all about creating a well thought narrative that encapsulates the value proposition, the personality of the brand and communicates it all with a unique brand voice.

The rebranding process is a step-wise process. It involves research, interactions and an intuitive understanding of what works and what doesn’t. By virtue of working with numerous businesses across their business life cycles, geographies and segments over the years we have developed proprietary frameworks that have delivered results. Rebranding is a deliberate process and finally leads to narratives across media – created with a sense of oneness in perception and image.

“Re-branding is a smart intervention. It helps you set the compass for market ascendancy.”

The 6D Framework

Building or rebuilding a brand is a a delicate process. It is a sequential process involving multiple moving parts. A lot of leading brand consulting firms have their own frameworks. We do too. Use any established framework and you will be alright. What we do not recommend, is going by the gut – that’s a sure-shot recipe for failure resulting in poorly performing marketing campaigns for perpetuity. At Perception Essentials we have the 6D framework.

Discover. Define. Detail. Deliberate. Determine. Deepen

1. Discover

The first stage of the engagement process with the client and an essential step in constructing the underlying premises for the brand. Simply put it is a discovery stage. This stage has a proprietary and primary tool – The Brand Audit. Differing from similar definitions/offerings of Brand Audit, the tool is broad based and unique. It studies the brand in detail, while bringing in additional and crucial angles into play. The Brand Audit Stage will have the following outcomes:

• Enterprise understanding
• Aspiration modeling
• Competitive construct
• Dipstick research inputs
• Benchmark mapping
• Insight gathering
• Alignment pointers
• Actions
• Touch point mapping

The Brand Audit from Perception Essentials is an action document. The outcome of which will logically lead to a brand platform. Which in turn, would mean the larger brand purpose and position for your business.

2. Define

This is the stage where the fundamentals and the journey of the brand are defined. The ‘Define’ phase has this structure:

Definition of Point A – where your brand is now. In the operating environment and the minds of stakeholders. Point A definition will also factor in competition and prevailing category trends as a context.

Definition of Point B – the articulation of the aspiration brand, which is a well thought and organization wide agreed upon perception that ought to be created for the enterprise. Alternatively, it could just be the leadership’s’ vision of the brand which can then be systematically overlaid across the target set of various stakeholders.

The Point B definition will articulate the purpose and position of your brand.

“Brand purpose is that lofty, big ideal. The reason and how your business can make a better place within their own contexts.”

An important part of Point B definition are the supporting arguments that help the purpose to be achieved. These arguments may not exist in the present, but they have to be created, tested and validated. More importantly, they have to be owned by the brand custodians. Between Point A and B lie the gap areas / opportunities / challenges / limitations etc. This is an exhaustive listing done jointly with your teams. The purpose of this segment is to plot the action areas, the effort allocation that is needed and work towards creating a comprehensive ‘Brand Movement Plan’. The next step is the articulation of the brand voice and tonality. How does your business talk? Simply put, what is the persona that your business wants to have or even acquire over a period of time in tune with the fresh aspirational brand and the pre-articulated purpose of the enterprise.

The final stage in this phase is the Brand Statement. In many ways the beacon for the journey ahead. The Define component is a consulting piece anchored by Perception Essentials. Summing up, the Define stage will have these outcomes:

• Point A definition
• Point B definition
• Gap analysis
• Brand purpose
• Brand position
• Brand voice
• 100-word / 300-word / 500-word articulation of the brand

3. Detail

The Discover and Define Stages get expanded into details. Activities, job lists, things to do, integration of ideas, oneness across the touch points, drivers of content, content and communication matrices, audio and video responses – all get addressed in this stage.

The Detail stage contends with these elements:

• Brand articulation as a continuing and somewhat firm narrative on the brand. Independent of situations and experiences.
• Content strategies that are dynamic in nature.
• Multiple media options.
• Tactical and strategic imperatives.
• Brand articulation

4. Deliberate

The next stage of our engagement process is literally a deliberation phase where your team and Perception Essentials will work towards alignment on the details – largely content and the related directions. The outcome from this phase include alignment on brand journey, content framework and a mutually agreed upon campaign calendar.

5. Determine

This is where we dip the toes in water. A temperature check. We test the hypotheses on personas, media choices and creative.

A stage of assessment and seeking feedback which gets translated into corrections, modifications and merges into the brand creation cycle. A/B testing is a key element in this stage. Feedback is layered – external sources, leadership, front line personnel, media influencers, social media and more. For internal feedback once the brand is in place, a monthly feedback forum is in order. This however does not rule out the need and relevance of informal feedback loops which can be continuous and related to the brand creation and propagation process.

6. Deepen

This stage is about digging deep after incorporating feedback from the determination phase and mapping the outcomes. Perception Essentials has categorized outcomes as: Perceptual outcomes and Select brand metrics.

Perceptual outcomes cover:

• Brand articulation
• Unified imagery
• Continuity of narrative
• Differentiation
• Comprehension of position and propositions
• Uniform aesthetics
• Brand pointers – Core message and identifiable for example if we believe brand personality

Select brand metrics cover:

• Recall score
• Search volumes
• Impressions
• Engagements
• Clicks
• New leads

Take that wise step, rebrand today

Good brands create memory structures. These aid recall, comprehension, an emotional connect and most importantly ensure there is a lasting bond. Enabling that to happen is a conscious, diligent process which has to be planned and orchestrated to a strategy and execution. Once done better branding takes over. It opens up winning pathways. Get the detailed document for download here.

Author : Raj Mohan Tella. August 22, 2021