We absolutely love the exciting, emotional moments that come from helping independent small businesses remember why they decided to build something all their own in the first place, whether that means looking back on just a few years or nearly forty.
Heritage Solutions, formerly Heritage Press, is one of those businesses with a long history, who came to us for a brand overhaul. Their services, like many progressive printers across the country, had evolved to the point where only calling them a printing press would not only be a disservice, but a brand disconnect. So after some truth seeking and Braid Methoding (we’re making methoding a word, okay) Kathleen and I helped them arrive at a new logo, a revitalized brand story, and a new name – now just short and sweet, Heritage.
Heritage really rolled this out right. Before they even considered sharing the new look and feel with their customers they gathered their employees for an all-staff early morning breakfast, complete with balloons, enough pastries to choke a printing press, and a ton of anticipation. See, they would be the first people (and rightly so) to see their own place of work, challenges and change – brought to life. We couldn’t wait for them to see how their own role in the rebranding story was not only appreciated but whole-heartedly celebrated.
The Heritage leadership took the podium to explain why they embarked on this brand evolution. I got up there and shared our inspiration, and how much of the brand insights came from straight from employees Kathleen and I visited with in the weeks leading up to the event. Then we played the brand video.
Cheers, oohs, aahs, perhaps a little tears? It happens. When a brand video is shared for the first time, it’s really all the pieces coming together in full color, and that’s about as emotionally-charged an employee roll out gets. But with Heritage, there was a moment that even trumped the video.
Once the speeches were done, the pastries scarfed down, and the bundled t-shirts given out, a great loud honking started. The blinds across four plate glass windows raised up, and there outside, glinting in the early morning sun was the huge white Heritage delivery truck with the giant logo across its side, with the new employee motto, “We Roll On.” Goosebumps.
Okay, in retrospect that may sound melodramatic for, well, a vehicle wrap. But who can’t use a little drama, a lot of applause and that feeling that comes with knowing you perfectly paired the here-and-now of a place with its what-is-to-be – all before nine o’clock in the morning? What can I say? That’s just how we roll, too.
Sometimes your longest relationships can turn into not only rewarding (and profitable) projects but also meaningful reinventions along the way. See how Kathleen advises other creative professionals to work with printers, like Heritage, on her Freelance Matters series.
And read more about the how-to’s of orchestrating an “inner circle” rebrand prelaunch, whether you have fifty employees or you’re a one-man band, in our Braid newsletter: How A Rebrand Should Roll.
