This milestone moment for any company should not be underestimated, says Travel Counsellors’ Dave Callan
One of the best ways to have a successful rebrand is to anticipate, prepare, and spot any challenges. Part of this includes planning for your rollout well ahead of time, and while a rebrand is a big undertaking, starting out with a plan provides the best opportunity to build a stronger position in the market. The aim of a rebrand should be to give both old and new customers an experience to better suit their needs. It does not mean forgetting the history that has gone before, but instead connecting the dots between the two, and creating something that is compelling, distinctive and consistent.
Why now? One of the toughest questions to answer is deciding when the right time is to rebrand, and it is truly a delicate balancing act. You may already have an incredible brand from the people, the values and the culture, but need to make it work even harder and do it justice to compete, and if the market is right, nothing seems to capture the consumers interest quite like a rebrand. It’s a time for the whole business to reset, reenergise and refresh, and signifies your ongoing commitment to people, customers, and communities to propel your business forward.
Start by taking the time to do extensive market research – look at what the category benchmarks are, get inspiration outside of the industry to understand what other businesses are doing well and see those brands who have been on a similar trajectory to yours to understand what opportunities you can learn from that. For us, as a people focused business, it was important to get all of our people who touch the brand involved during the stage of market research and our rebrand was informed by insights gleaned from our community of Travel Counsellors, customers and clients. I’d echo that it is imperative for every company going through a rebrand to listen to their people to inform their decisions.
More: Travel Counsellors’ rebrand reflects ‘customer care’ ethos
In fact, our market research has shown that brand perceptions are evolving in the industry – travel is booming and showing no signs of slowing down as customers continue to see travel as an essential part of their lives as they strive to seek memorable experiences in both leisure and corporate markets. Whilst the pandemic significantly disrupted our customers’ ability to travel, what it did do was bring the importance of close relationships, commitment and care shown to customers to the fore, and this desire for personal, trusted travel has firmly cemented its moment in the industry which presented itself as the prime opportunity for us to take advantage of these trends.
After undertaking market intel, start thinking about your assets. But a rebrand is much more than a logo or a new strapline, and the challenge that we often see is many companies giving too much emphasis to this stage of the process. The rebrand must be centred around your values, ethos and every interaction you have with your customers to create deeper, meaningful connections with them. Putting all of these parts together is what makes a brand.
Finally, before you announce the rebrand externally, you must think about how to include your people throughout the journey – indeed, they are one of your biggest assets as your ‘in-house’ brand ambassadors. As a company with over 1,900 Travel Counsellors from across the world, we had to ensure we kept our community up to speed on the re-brand project, advising them how they implement the new collateral and designs within their own businesses to help them scale up in a way that suits them. To do this, you need to use all of the resources and internal platforms available to you, like weekly emails and live Q&A sessions, or even look to create new ways of informing them. For example, we’ve created a new brand hub to help facilitate this process and to equip our business owners with all the assets they need. By creating something like this, people can quickly and easily download full brand guidelines, a media library and a number of colour palettes and templates.
Indeed, a rebrand is a pivotal and milestone moment for any company, and one that must not be underestimated. It’s a journey and an opportunity for companies to bring their authentic mission and story to life to reinforce themselves as the preferred choice for customers for years to come.