Rebranding Resources Center for Busy Marketers and Business Leaders

Brand Research and Strategy

Without a clearly defined brand strategy and fully articulated brand platform as a compass point (see the Brand Development section), marketing becomes fragmented, ineffective and lackluster, and companies find themselves repeatedly grappling with the same old questions: Who are we? What is our value? How do we effectively communicate it to our customers?

The following resources will help you answer these questions and more:

• Knowledge Is Revenue: How to Conduct Killer Customer and Competitor Research
• Getting it Right in Branding: Brand Strategy vs. Execution
• The Brand Strategy Playbook
• The High-Value Impact of Leading with Brand Strategy

Brand Development

Your brand is not a logo or a tagline. Your brand is a perception that exists in the minds of your audiences. Branding is a process of controlling how your company is perceived.

Your brand platform is the blueprint for your brand. It defines all the elements required to execute a strong brand strategy and directly informs all business and marketing strategies, internal and external communications, corporate culture, customer experience and more.

• Beyond the Box: The Intriguing Challenges of Branding Service Companies
• Do You Understand the Anatomy of Your Brand?
• Anatomy of a Brand [infographic]
• The Forgotten Audience: Crafting Your Brand to Attract and Keep Talent
• The Bigger Truth About Purpose-Led Brands (Why “Why” Is Not What You Think It Is)
• Brand Purpose Is the New Brand Promise
• A More Valuable Way to Think About Value Proposition
• Brand Personality: The Best-Kept Secret of Top Brands

Visit our Marketing Resources Center for insights and tools for real-world results

Brand Experience, Activation and Management

Your brand strategy and platform are not going to create impact and deliver results unless they are effectively and flawlessly translated into every aspect of your business and marketing.

Brand activation (execution) includes everything from verbal and visual identity and experience design to content and all forms of internal and external marketing communications.

• A Brand Management Master Class
• Branding Evolved: The New Brand Management Manifesto
• The Central Role of Visual Design in Branding
• Branded Customer Experience: Attract, Engage and Win
• Marketing’s New Role: The Master of Experience
• Why Is Everyone at Starbucks So Nice?

See the following case studies for examples of how meaningful brand platforms can be translated into living, actionable brands through compelling design and marketing communications.

• Helping an Ambitious Brand Realize Its Purpose
• Helping an Architecture Brand Reach Further
• Changing Brand Perception of a Multidisciplinary Engineering Firm
• Increasing Relevancy and Perceived Value of a Landscape Architecture Firm
• Redefining the Value Proposition for a Technology Company

more case studies

Rebranding Is a Process, Not a Deliverable

Successfully navigating your company through a rebrand can be a career high point. It’s also a monumental challenge.

What’s more, so much energy goes into brand development that many companies find themselves out of steam when it’s finally time to officially launch, and anything beyond that point gets set aside as “something to think about later.”

Even those with enthusiasm to spare are often at a loss when it comes to designing a winning rollout strategy and a long-term plan for embedding the new brand in the organization. Unfortunately, this is a huge mistake that can put your entire brand investment at risk.

• The Rebranding Challenge: What’s an In-House Marketer to Do?
• Launch! How to Execute a Breakthrough Brand Rollout
• Living Your Brand: Thinking Beyond Brand Launch
• Rules of Brand Etiquette: Moving Relationships Forward Faster
• Brand Builders: 5 Practices for Keeping Your Brand Strong