6
The b
Rebranding, big and small Thinking your brand might need an update? Here are two examples of successful brand updates within the A/E industry.
By LIISA ANDREASSEN Correspondent N o business today can afford to rest on its lau- rels. Your business might be keeping up with eco- nomic and market changes, but is your brand keeping pace? Here’s a quick peek at two companies who re- cently decided it was time for a change. One went all out, while the other was a bit more subtle. FIRM REBRANDING. Chad Clinehens, executive vice presi- dent and COO of Zweig Group, talks about a recent rebranding that McAdams Company (Durham, NC), a 110-person comprehensive design firm, underwent. Clinehens’ role as consultant involved wearing many different hats. McAdams’ leadership had several reasons for deciding to rebrand. The firm was emerging from the recession armed with a strategic plan that called for ambitious growth and expansions into new markets. The previ- ous branding elements, such as the website, were dat- ed and needed updating. McAdams’ leadership also wanted to project a more modern and refined image in order to achieve their goals. As the firm’s lone marketing consultant, Clinehens was responsible for designing the campaign and then executing it. “I did everything from design the highest level mes- saging and strategies all the way down to designing
the brochures, developing the videos, and writing the text for the website,” he says. Additionally, he served as a strategic consultant for other areas of the business that were in need of atten- tion as the firm grew dramatically. There were several challenges that included every- thing from expanding the firm’s audience from pre- dominantly within the land development market to one that included a diverse group of people from both the private and public sectors. “Those can be challenging to work on at the same time,” Clinehens says. “We worked hard to extend the core McAdams brand, which was tremendously strong in land development, into the government services sectors.” WHAT’S IN A NAME? Larry Lott, president and COO of Harrison French & Associates Ltd. (Bentonville, AR), a 170-person architecture and engineering firm, says that the company recently worked on rebranding its name and logo. “It was part of our new business strategy plan to con- tinue to expand our professional services and to rede- fine our purpose as a company,” he says. Part of the new purpose statement – “Creative Solu- tions, Meaningful Places” – was to help reinforce the cultural and service growth of the company.
IS IT TIME FOR YOUR BUSINESS TO REBRAND? The team at Mach One Communications (Elora, ON), a marketing solutions firm, says it could be time to rebrand if: company’s. After years of being in business, some company owners receive a letter from their competition saying that either their brand image or catchphrase is too close to their competitor’s. Rather than pay the legal fees to fight back, it might be wise to take this time to regroup and rebrand. You’ve expanded beyond your Your brand name or logo is too close to a trademarked
original scope. If you used to do “this” but now you do “this and that,” it might be time to rebrand. Remember, your customers will only know that you do “this” unless you find a way of making them see that you also do “that.” People have no idea who you are or what you do. Have you ever had someone ask you what you do? Have you found yourself fumbling to get the right words out? Does your description take longer than 10 seconds? If so, it might be time to rebrand. A product or service you sell is
taking over your business. If this is the case, it’s definitely time to rebrand so that your clients are clear on who you are and what you sell. You’ve moved or expanded beyond your geographical name. If you have a business with a geographical location in the title – like Dallas Builders – but you plan to add offices in Austin and Houston, it’s time to come up with a branding initiative that doesn’t place the emphasis on location. You share your name with an unsavory character. In 2005, there was an unfortunate sports drink called Tsunami that had to change its name
THE ZWEIG LETTER OCTO
See PRIMORIS, page 4
Made with FlippingBook Annual report