Your company is planning a brand change and you’re put in charge. What do you do to make sure your personal brand doesn’t take a hit?
That’s a question that came up recently, when I spoke with a gentleman who was in charge of a brand change that went sideways. His bank purchased another bank, which required a brand change at the new branches. Having not led a brand change before, he and his team underestimated the original scope of work. He described having to ask for more money to cover the cost of rebranding items left off the original scope of work, at a much higher cost than the original work. Not only were vendors going to charge more to go back to locations to do the additional signs, but one of the sign vendors “took a few liberties” with the brand guidelines the first time and those signs had to be redone.
This man’s personal brand took a hit inside his company because of all the problems. Had he followed these tips, he would have avoided some embarrassment.
- Build a cross-functional team with relevant stakeholders, including key players, influencers, division heads, and department heads.
- Establish roles, responsibilities, accountability and deadlines.
- Identify external resources to fill gaps you may have, including subject-matter experts.
- Communicate the objectives of the brand change and ask for input upfront from stakeholders.
- Listen carefully to identify real and perceived benefits and obstacles to the rebranding project.
- Create a timeline for the brand change. Make sure to include completing an inventory of all digital and physical branded touchpoints, with photos, during phase 1. This inventory database will be used for budgeting, scheduling, and implementation planning.
- Identify key milestones that, if missed, will delay the brand change. Clearly communicate the repercussions of missing each milestone.
- Identify the risks and failure points in your implementation plan and develop contingency plans.
- Build a strong supply chain, including implementation experts, brand material manufacturers and installers. The success of the project depends on the resources your team uses.
- Establish a communication system to update the team regularly on the project.
- Measure progress daily to catch and address problems right away.
Regardless of whether you are the top executive associated with a high profile acquisition, or a CMO implementing a new brand, your personal brand will be tied to the success or failure of the corporate brand change. So when this gentleman was asked to head up another brand change, he cringed, then called us.
