CORPORATE REBRANDING: IT'S MORE THAN CHANGING A LOGO
When the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) decided to overhaul its brand and visual identity, the executive team asked an important question: How difficult and emotional will this transformation be?
“Like wading into fire,” relates Portia Mount, Senior Vice President of Global Marketing for CCL, “Indeed, as thorough as our process was, when we revealed the [new] logo, we had some people say, ‘This is the best thing we've ever seen—this is amazing!’ and we had others who said, ‘We hate it.’ ”
That was in March. Since then, pockets of trepidation have given way to affirmation and rejuvenation at the venerable leadership-development organization, as the branding initiative evolved into a rallying point for internal change and began to resonate with clients. “Identities are like public art,” states Mount, in a recent conversation about the B2B rebranding effort. “It takes people a little bit of time to get used to it, to understand what it means and to grow into it.”
CCL is a research and client-services organization providing leadership training for individuals, teams, organizations and society at large. It has 3,000 associates around the world, of which roughly 600 are full-time. A sense of personal responsibility for delivering on the new brand promise has taken hold, Mount explains, transforming associates at all levels and across functions into brand ambassadors. “If they don't believe it, we know our clients won't experience it. That was a really important part of the process of coming to this new brand identity.”
So how did CCL successfully embed the change, overcoming challenges and emotions associated with revamping a brand established over four decades ago and steeped in a “quasi-academic” culture?
First came the task of identifying attributes to redefine the brand. CCL had over the years developed a broad portfolio of experience globally, yet was known mostly for training individual corporate leaders. In reality, CCL was driving results not only for better businesses, but a better world — the common denominator being what Mount calls “sustainable impact” delivered on behalf of clients. Frequently overlooked was CCL’s societal impact — working with non-governmental organizations and accelerating leadership development in conflict zones and developing countries.
Achieving sustainable impact through proven, cutting-edge research and training, tailored to a variety of disciplines and types of engagement, became something of a “clarion call” for the organization as it embarked on its rebranding mission, according to Mount. Initially, most team members associated the concept of brand merely with the logo – not a promise of distinction or the reputation they want to earn in the marketplace. So before introducing any visual rebranding, CCL undertook a carefully planned “socialization of the new identity” internally, at the business-unit and team level, via town halls, task forces and small group meetings. Voice of the Brand workshops set the tone for how to communicate values and attributes associated with the new identity.
So when it came time to change the Face of the Brand — CCL’s original, 40-year-old logo — the case for doing so was already internalized. Which is not to say it was easy: Many board members and long-time staffers shared a strong attachment to the original brand “look.” At international offices comprised mostly of newer team members, the prospect of a new visual identity received a warmer welcome.
Emphasizing the importance of consistency in messaging, Face of the Brand workshops demonstrated how the identity would translate across a range of communication tools, from email signatures and letterhead to PowerPoint templates. The purpose, says Mount, is not to come off as “brand police” but rather “to present a certain image to the market. We're trying to earn a reputation, and when we framed it that way we got so much more compliance.”
The key drivers of success? Securing up-front buy-in to the brand promise and making it into a rallying point for team-building and the exchange of information, so that employees feel personally invested in “living the brand” and fulfilling its mission and values was key. Achieving continuity and consistency in the rollout of the new identity across the entire organization, not just in terms of sales and marketing initiatives was just as important. Too often there is a lack of ongoing communication at all levels, as executives sometimes don’t engage in the outreach equivalent of a full-court press.
Let’s face it: Rebranding can be a fraught, and the healthiest organizations are comprised of people who care. So you have to connect with hearts and minds from the outset, and recognize the powerful impact organizational culture has on implementing change. As Peter Drucker famously said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
CCL’s leader, John Ryan, understood this. As the lead advocate for change as an imperative to remain relevant in a global marketplace, he undoubtedly took the brunt of the emails and phone calls from concerned board members and long-term employees. He was, nevertheless, resolute in supporting Mount, the process she orchestrated, and her partnership with our team and The Brand Consultancy.
And the process, in her view, is as important as the outcome. “We're seeing the organization, if you will, mature around the brand identity. To me, that says that we did our homework in building the case for change way up front — helping people understand the reputation we were trying to earn, and then ultimately use the tools to be able to really present a polished, professional and consistent organization around and the world. That's really exciting.”
SUCCESSFUL BRANDS GO WITH THE FLOW OF CHANGE
Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher, would have felt at home at the conference on Corporate Brand Reputation held in New York on June 9 and 10.
He was famous for his insistence on ever-present change in the universe. "No man ever steps in the same river twice,” was his memorable observation, which became synthesized into the philosophical bon mot – panta rhei, or “everything flows.”
Indeed, the common thread of the two-day event organized by the Conference Board was how companies of all sizes and across all industries are grappling and adapting with the increasingly dynamic requirements of the new liquid environment in which they need to perform to drive business performance.
Liquid is the word: to be effective in today’s world brands need to be like water – they need to flow as forces of innovation and business transformation and adapt swiftly to device preferences and satisfy the thirst of hyper-fragmented global audiences with relevant content, unique value and design.
So, how are companies adapting to the new environment?
First, they are adapting internally, challenging and changing the old organizational models.
Maggie Fox, SAP’s Global VP of Marketing, went to the heart of what is the new normal in one word: change. Sales organizations embedded into marketing (and vice versa); marketing controlling IT spending and becoming a hybrid in the process with in-depth expertise in business, technology, engineering and IT; omni channel brand experiences requiring new and unprecedented levels of interdepartmental integration; high-quality content flowing constantly through the omnichannel world becoming the currency of brand power; and of course, data – the empowering force that is transforming hardware into software.
Second, in a communications environment where high-quality content is the new brand currency, marketing and communications departments are evolving into brand newsrooms, often headed by an emerging new executive role: the Brand Editor In Chief.
The evolution, facilitated by the always-on, hyper connected society, is demanding a conversational, informal approach in order to spontaneously engage people and build sustainable brand interest.
Gone are the days of the marketing calendar: brands are now part of the organic content cycle, they are creatively inserted into trending conversations with timely precision, thoughtfulness and, yes, a bit of fun. This is a significant shift compared to the regimented and highly controlled corporate approaches of just a few years ago to communicate their value to the marketplace and engage with their customers.
Third, how do you measure brand power in this fluid world? The jury is still out on this topic, but as of right now, there seems to be a belief that measuring intent to buy is a very valuable and precise dimension through which one can assess the impact of investments in omnichannel brand experiences. One of the biggest challenges remains turning social media data into business and operational intelligence due to the successful integration of structured and unstructured data.
And last, it is a fundamental truth that companies will be able to change only if their people are engaged with energy, clarity and a sense of personal commitment. However, it appears they face an uphill battle here: according to a global survey disclosed by Mark Fernandes, Chief Leadership Officer at Luck Companies, a surprising 70% of the global workforce is disengaged.
“What people value most deeply will move them powerfully in their work and life,” said Mark.
It’s true. When personal values align with company values, lives are more satisfactory lived and work output increases exponentially because the organization becomes an expression of people’s unique talents, ideals and beliefs. Powerful brands will always coincide with powerful cultures.
So, everything flows: for brands to remain viable and competitive in the new world, companies need to go with the flow or be swept away against the currents of change.