A Well Rounded Brand Roll Out
March 15, 2012 Tara

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.

Heritage Rebrand Rollout A

Heritage B

Heritage C

Heritage D

Heritage Truck

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.

Internal Team Branding, Videos
How A Rebrand Should Roll
March 15, 2012 Tara Street

How A Rebrand Should Roll

Let’s say you’re about to take a leap into the future – a project launch, a new collaboration, a complete brand overhaul. You might be a small independent, yet established business who outgrew your logo along with your first office-space years ago.  Or, like many of our microbusiness and artistpreneur (one-person-show) clients, you’ve finally grownup enough in your confidence, expertise and offering that your website your college roommate’s cousin designed for you just isn’t hacking it anymore.

Regardless of your small business style, or size, it’s a great day when you can finally close the gap between the brand you’ve always wanted and the one you’re finally about to get. So it stands to reason, that if you’ve spend the time, effort and money to take your brand to the next level, you want to share it with anyone who will look or listen. The more attention the better, especially when it comes to all your dream customers-to-be out there.

We don’t disagree. But before you share your rebrand with the world, you better stop, drop and roll it out to the people who matter most.  A brand update, facelift, or just plain reboot means a change (even if a good one), to an existing brand (even if a bad one), that your employees and customers have gotten used to. Which is why when it comes to a rebrand, you should roll it out to your inner circle before it ever rolls out the door.

Start With Your Inner Circle

So the idea of a roll out isn’t rocket science.  Obviously there are some pretty great reasons to give the people closest to a brand a sneak peek.  To get buy in.  To help them better communicate the brand themselves. To get their shirt sizes so you can give them a new logo tee.  And, well, to just get everyone rallied around something you spent a good amount of energy creating. 

But we think the most important reason is this – to make sure your biggest fans and your biggest critics (who can sometimes be the same people, people) feel “in on it.” These are usually either your employees, or your customers, but can also be longtime working partners and vendors, and even friends and family who have supported you along the way. They know the truth of your brand firsthand (even if they don’t call it that). They know the good and the bad and the ugly, the thick and the thin, the richer the poorer and all that jazz. So you want to make sure they don’t feel disconnected or alienated by something as seemingly harmless as a rebrand.  You want these people to feel included, like they are an irreplaceable part of how you got there. Because they are.

So here’s a swell idea. Throw a party. Now this can mean different things depending on your size or style.  But the intent is the same – to create a moment around your new brand.  Create a moment to reflect on where you’ve been and then show where you are going, to say “isn’t this cool!”  For a small business this roll out should start with your employees.  For the microbusiness it starts with your friends, family, vendor partners and most of all your current customers.  But however you define your inner circle, and whatever the scale of this celebration – the key ingredient is appreciation.  

 

Rebranding is a reason to celebrate and appreciate

 

For The Small Business: Employee Appreciation Roll Out

 An all-staff breakfast is one way to make sure everyone can attend before the work day begins (but happy hours can work if you have a smaller group). Give the team a heads up, and send out the calendar appointment a couple weeks ahead of time.  Build some excitement and anticipation around the brand reveal, let them know the “why” of the gathering but don’t give anything away. Keep everything under wraps as long as you possibly can. Now, hopefully some of your employees have had some involvement in the brand development on some level leading up to this point, but we mean keep the final look and feel secret until the end. Remember, your goal is to show appreciation and to create a moment.

Roll Out Checklist

Festivity: Food, music and decorations. Themed along with your new brand is nice, too.

Speech: Short and sweet, but delivered by the leader of your small business.

Visuals: Creative documentation along with a short presentation can include a few slides or even posters on easles showing how you arrived at the new brand. This is a great way to give everyone a sense of the journey. Think inclusive, so if you have any quotes or pictures that bring the employees into that process, definitely highlight those.

Magic Moment: Unveiling the new logo, name, tagline or overall look and feel can be a really cool moment. If you have the budget or means to create a brand video (just 1 to 2 minutes) this can really bring it all to life in a way that is hard to match.  Then you’ll always have it, to use it on your website or in future new business presentations after the roll out.

Logo Gift: It may seem like a small thing, but if you can give at least one small gift to each employee that captures the spirit of the new brand, a tshirt, a framed piece of desk art, a tote bag, along with a note (especially a personal note) conveying your appreciation for them as the biggest part of your brand – it can really help make the new look and feel more tangible.

For The Microbusiness: Client Appreciation Roll Out

If you are just a couple people or just one person running the show, you can take many of the ideas listed above and just adapt them to a happy hour, an open house.  Or you can take it on the road and plan a week where you visit with each of your clients, sharing the new brand. A gift is nice, a bit of that “behind-the-curtain” explanation of how and why you got here is great.  Don’t forget to stress how they helped you get here and don’t create an upsell feeling about it.  Keep it casual and fun.  If many of your clients are from different parts of the country or world, create a nice mail piece and follow up with an email and/or phone call combo.  If you spent the money or time to have a brand video created, by all means, share it.  

 

 

You can push out a beautiful brand, but someone’s gotta catch it.

We recently had a branding client, who after spending weeks developing a rebranded look and feel for their logo suite, sales collaterals and website with us, hadn’t yet gotten around to launching it with their team.  In part, because we hadn’t pushed it, and in part because they got busy, like people and businesses tend to do.

Feeling a little frustrated with the lack of an employee launch, this client told us she felt like we had all spent this time and effort giving birth to this really beautiful baby together, and then everyone let it fall on the floor.  Ouch!  Since then we’ve started planning a belated internal launch together, following the same suggestions listed above.  

But that description will stick with me for a long time I think.  So don’t let your rebrand just roll every which way before you unroll it to the people that matter most.  And don’t let this beautiful little brand you created fall on it’s head on the floor.  Create that moment, give the people in your “inner circle” a chance to be part of it, let them hold it – and then roll that baby out the door. 

Internal Team Branding
Brand Training Cultivates Smarter Employees
September 01, 2011 Tara Street

We've all heard the phrase "singing to the choir." It implies that preaching to the converted is overkill. But looking at brand giants Starbucks Coffee and Disney, and how they "sing it" to their own staff, certainly implies that brand training as part of employee screening, orientation, ongoing education, and recognition – is a tune most organizations could benefit from getting in time with.

Obviously Starbucks and Disney have raised a high bar when it comes to brand experience. Most of us have been on the consumer side of both.  And many of us have even heard a few not-so-magical stories about the machine behind them, as well. But regardless of the ups and downs in eye of public perception, there's no denying that both inspire fierce brand loyalists in their customers as well as employees.

We'd like to get a small picture from an employee's point of view, of what it's like to be indoctrinated into a brand – that is so undeniably big. 

Brand Training 1

Along with a smile that's always come naturally, Keri has worn a trademark-green barista apron in the world's most famous coffee shop, and larger-than-life costumes in the happiest place on earth.  But Keri's first experience with employee brand training was at nineteen, when she was hired at Starbucks Coffee. The company's reputation as a great employer, with health benefits and stock options, meant there was always stiff competition for a spot. Plus, back then there were only two stores in her midwestern metro area.

So when Keri got the job she felt practically "elite." But she quickly learned after three weeks of training (not exactly quick, but certainly thorough) that skills were only half the picture. Beyond pouring the perfect shot of espresso, she should to be able to educate the customers about it, too.  So while the product was high-end, the customer interaction should feel more encouraging than elitist.

Advising Goes Deeper Than A Smile

Through ongoing training and peer recognition programs, Keri was taught to be a "friendly advisor." She could help a suburban mom confidently order an Americano or put a construction worker at ease ordering his first Frappucino – lines often got longer for the frozen treats than the coffee, which Keri didn't mind, because she could chat with waiting patrons from behind her blender station.

Personality was a natural reason Keri got the gig in the first place. But cultivating an expert who could explain their product in a non-intimidating way, was how the organization ensured that Keri and thousands like her could deliver on the two aspects of its brand combined – the human connections as well as the actual coffee.

Brand Training 2

Next, pixie-sized Keri set her sights on a more theatrical role. Apparently no matter how petite, a smile can be conveyed from head-to-toe if just mimed big enough, and Keri found she was a perfect fit for the character department at magic-central – Walt Disney World.

Whether assuming the persona (and the heavy costume) of a beyond-famous mouse or a classic honey-loving bear, she'd interact with hundreds of park guests every day – all with an emotional expectation of her character before they even got the first hug. Talk about living up to a brand!

Teamwork + Autonomy: Turns Brand Into Action

While Keri had to master every nuance of her character, down to their autograph – a guest interaction could be completely colored by the one they had just before it. Every cast member's performance built on another's, whether that was a honey-bear's hug, or a street sweeper's wave. But beyond teamwork, individual choice was how Keri was empowered by Walt Disney World to really put their brand into action.

"Guest Experience" was a mantra cast members repeated with focus and consistency during all aspects of their training. With roles and expectations so clearly defined, freedom was given to employees to interpret and deliver that experience on a case-by-case basis.  So if Keri saw a child drop a ice cream cone on the sidewalk, she could make the choice to get him a new one for free – with ease, as part of the natural brand experience, and without waiting to ask permission from a higher-up.

How an organization recruits, hires, trains and recognizes its employees should reinforce its brand principles – to equip its people with the ability to translate that brand into action.

Braind Training 3

Beyond Just "Whistling While You Work"

Keri has since moved back home to the midwest, where she works in event coordination. But her training has stuck with her. She strives to act as an advisor and trust herself to make decisions that help better deliver on her customer's expectations.  And of course, she still does it all with that easy smile.

She was also smiling when we asked her to humor us with this exercise, one that you might try yourself – or with a few of your employees – to see how prepared the individuals of your organization are to "carry on" its brand.

Recreating Your Brand Experience "Survivor-Style"

If you had to recreate your organization’s brand, by yourself on a desert island, and could only take a few items with you to recreate the brand experience, what would they be? And, what one skill would be the most valuable to you? Here were Keri’s answers for Starbucks and Disney as examples.

Survivor

French Press
Your Organization's "Desert Island"
1. What objects would you take with you to recreate the brand experience? Object A, B and C.
2. What one extra special ingredient would you add to the mix? Could be music, a smell, or something environmental or even abstract.
3. What one skill would be the most critical to the brand's "survival?"

Next time you're planning for an all-staff meeting or conducting organization-wide training on a new product or process, think about if it might also be an opportunity to reinforce your brand. Try the desert island questions. Or at least serve some strong coffee and get some conversation going. How the individuals on your team translate your brand into action might surprise you.

Internal Team Branding