Rebranding strategy - we are the experts
A rebranding strategy from experts in change
No other rebranding companies specialize in applying a rebranding strategy for their clients, as does Stealing Share. The reason is in our name. Contact us here to find out how.
If you are sick of the pontificating of rebrand strategy experts, join the crowd. We are a different kind of rebranding company. Our competitors say we went rogue, and that’s fine with us. It’s also true.
Look around at your business word. How different is it than ten years ago? Everything has changed except the rebranding strategy the Interbrands of the world continues to practice. Rebrand strategy development went stasle.
Is a new identity, new logo, and refreshed color palette good enough for you to invest money in a rebrand strategy development project? We don’t think it is.
As a rebranding company, band launches and new brands are a small part of what we do at Stealing Share. Rebranding is our foundation. And we are damn good at it. A rebrand strategy from Stealing Share shakes the foundations of your category.
Recognizing your brand’s change, your competitors will fear you.
So why did you Google us? You must be considering a rebrand strategy project.
Because markets are becoming more and more competitive every day and changing the ground rules daily, the need to rebrand or update an existing brand is more common. As a result, a different kind of rebranding strategy is essential. We have a different kind of rebranding process.
This rebranding agency is not just about rebrand strategy development.
It is impossible to be solely a rebranding company. Today, rebranding companies must apply many of the tools utilized in a brand launch when rebranding and redefining an existing brand.
Your market has changed so dramatically that we view every rebrand strategy project as a brand launch.
The skillset needed to create a new brand, and the components of a rebranding strategy are similar. However, you must concentrate on the rebrand by looking clearly into the prospect’s eyes and the current customer.
This is important. Today a brand must be more than an identity. It must be persuasive and viral.
However, rebranding is even more rigorous than launching a new brand in the market. Why? Because everything you do must retain existing customers and keep the values that work for you.
Also, unless the goal is brand repair (for example, a brand withstood unflattering PR or a product failure of some sort), you must find a way to hold onto the equities of the existing brand.
This is more difficult than it may appear because the company’s own bias often clouds the view in deciding what is essential and what’s left on the cutting room floor.
Embracing a new vital rebranding strategy can be challenging because of your existing bias. You become attached to quirks in your brand that the prospect might not care about.
This isn’t a cut on you. It’s just a fact that it is near impossible to be dispassionate about things we hold as important.
This is why you need us. We are blunt and to the point. Always. However, we do not require you to believe us. But you must believe the prospect’s point of view. This is where research comes in.
Rebranding strategy requires market research
Research is a necessity in developing a new rebranding strategy. Many other rebranding companies don’t ask you to do primary research. Worse still, maybe they think focus groups are Research? Not Stealing Share.
Resultant Research is our in-house research group. And its participation in rebranding is imperative and cannot be overstated.
Remember earlier we said a new rebrand strategy and project is more complicated than a brand launch?
You find the questions that need answering in a successful rebranding strategy project in a fertile mix of current customers and prospects.
The research we conduct is always a projectable mix of qualitative and quantitative market research.
Too often, other rebranding companies use only Research that speaks to your current customers. It is a mistake.
Talking only to your current customer base is deceiving at best. Flat-out wrong at worst.
Current customers already have a relationship with your brand. While we need to understand the risks of brand change, we should logically be more interested in prospects when starting a rebranding strategy project.
Stealing Share’s views on this are different. Because we believe the only reason to jump into developing a rebrand strategy or a rebranding strategy is to grow your market share.
We may even challenge your desire to rebrand and tell you the ROI is too great.
Will any other rebranding company try to talk you out of hiring them? We don’t think so.
We are not for everyone. Believe it or not, many companies prefer to play it safe and not rock the boat too much. Hopefully, these foolish brands are your competitors.
If stealing market share, doesn’t it make sense that you? Fine. Call someone else.
But, if you know that understanding the needs, wants, and beliefs of those that currently have no relationship to your brand are necessary, we should talk.
Rebranding companies need rules to follow in a rebranding project. Here are ours.
Five rules for a successful rebranding strategy or rebrand strategy project.
So, we ask ourselves;
1. What does the current brand mean right now? Does it create awareness among possible customers? Is it persuasive in terms of creating preference over competitors?
2. What do current customers attribute to the existing brand? What are the risks in loyalty if a change occurs in the way they receive the brand?
How strong is their affinity to the brand, and what is at stake in a rebrand strategy project? What is the elasticity in meaning if altering the current brand?
3. What opportunity exists in equity markers? Rebranding companies need to be able to measure that opportunity and compare it to a return on investment.
Think about the internal costs with something as benign as a color palette change. A rebranding strategy should leave as little to chance as possible. Again, brand research ensures fewer missteps in a rebrand project.
4.
Where are the rebrand strategy opportunities? Once again, legitimate rebranding companies must understand the entire competitive landscape.
At Stealing Share, our strategists carefully analyze the whole competitive category. We look to understand the brand promises of the competitors. We look at the color palettes and opportunities to differentiate the rebrand.
Creatively, we look at the meta-messages inherent in color choice. Ideally, you want to choose a distinctive color in the category, but you must make sure the color meets the emotional needs of the target audience.
When we rebranded COVERYS (pronounced Coh-ver-iss), red was an available color. The category of professional liability insurance was blue primarily.
Except for ProAssurance, which was green (and we had rebranded ProAssurance 10 years earlier).
COVERYS called us because even after a decade, we had a reputation of stirring up the category. And reshuffling market share in favor of our clients.
5. How can you incorporate the switching triggers uncovered in a new logo design? What is a powerful brand theme? And bring that theme and into a rebrand strategy project? Stealing Share asks more from your logo, a simple and beautiful design.
We demand that it express the brand’s value. And that the theme speaks clearly to your persuasive advantage in any rebranding strategy. It must reflect the highest emotional intensity in the category.
Examples of highly successful rebranding strategy projects
Look at this example of a rebranding. (click here to see other examples of the best branding work) Stealing Share rebranded ProAssurance some years ago.
They are among the largest players in the U.S. medical malpractice insurance category, although not the market leader.
We identified the highest emotional intensity in the category at the time (fairness) as well as the number one switching trigger —”I would switch carriers if I knew I would be treated fairly.”
ProAssurance Rebrand Strategy Project
The primary color for ProAssurance was predominantly blue (like the competitors), with messaging speaking of strong litigant defense and financial stability. In both cases, every competitor claimed (and owned) the same values.
Yet, no one spoke the emotional needs that prompted switching. No one sought to capture the switching customer’s (physicians and medical practices) voice.
No matter the outcome of a lawsuit —increased fees due to a lawsuit or a drop from coverage after a lawsuit — the physicians universally voiced, “but that’s not fair.”
The old ProAssurance logo (on the left) was all about the corporation
Logo Lockup a rebrand strategy change
Notice that the ProAssurance theme (which is in a logo lockup with the wordmark) is spoken from the perspective of the ProAssurance. It says, “Treated Fairly,” implying that the customers of ProAssurance feel that way.
It’s less powerful written from ProAssurance perspective If said, “We Treat You Fairly.”
The prospect always comes first. And in any Stealing Share rebrand strategy project, the prospect is first.
Rebranding companies and brands need to remember that value is outside-in, not inside-out. It must be from the perspective of the customer.
We design the logo mark itself from the perspective of the prospect. Note that the green plane is curling up to reveal a new beginning. Thus, even the logomark represents a change from the status quo.
COVERYS rebranding strategy project
In the world of medical liability insurance, the world is changing. Fewer independent physicians and more group practices.
More physicians are employed directly through hospital groups. Research reveals that malpractice insurance for administrators and hospital directors was simply ONE of the hassles in their businesses.
They believed they were in the business of healthcare and anything else was a distraction.
So, we rebranded COVERYS for greater simplicity and complications. So, who was the administrator who engaged COVERYS for liability insurance? “They are “not distracted.”
SABIAN rebrand strategy project
SABIAN is one of the worlds’ great cymbal manufacturers. Still hand-hammering the finest instruments for drummers.
We rebranded SABIAN in the likeness of the drummer. The rebranding strategy reflected the customer. Someone who proudly did their own thing and liked being “a little off.”
The new SABIAN rebrand strategy is about the drummer. And the rebrand theme is “unbound”. We altered the mark itself to look like an illustration of sound and not of a physical cymbal.
The wordmark went from a dated font to an artist’s signature. Demonstrating another value Sabian shares with the drummer — they are both artists.
A final word about rebrand strategy
Not all rebranding companies are the same. Not all are equal. If you consider the need to develop a new rebranding strategy and compile a list of rebranding companies, Stealing Share belongs on that list. We are the rebrand strategy expert.
We promise you a different opinion with a rebranding that moves the preference needle and demonstrates a change persuasive enough to steal share.
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