Rebranding – staying on track
by Laura Tetzlaff, Marketing Consultant.
I love rebranding companies. The process is an incredible balance of reflection, opportunity, objectivity, creativity, sensibility, and collaboration. So when given the occasion to lead Actors Unlimited Entertainment’s rebrand, I whole-heartedly embraced the challenge with a big smile and lots of energy.
old logo
Rebranding is not just about changing a logo and getting a new tag line. For AUE, it was about defining the company’s essence and communicating its evolution. After 20 years in the entertainment business, their products and services had matured. Their rebrand process needed to be the foundation for a bigger, overall brand strategy.
Here’s a snippet of the early process:
Ask probing questions (trust me, the actual document is pages of questions!) about your company such as:
- what works?
- what doesn’t work?
- what challenges do you face?
- what is your unique value in the marketplace?
- where do you want to be next year? 2 years? 5 years?
Get clients involved
To keep the process “honest”, I met with some of their top clients to get their input on the company’s products and services. Their feedback was enlightening and invaluable. I think having me as the neutral 3rd party consultant kept our conversation open and objective, and I would recommend this if you’re considering rebranding your company.
On track, off track, back on track
I then developed a brand blueprint to stay focused and keep the rebrand messaging consistent. Using the blueprint for direction and inspiration, the next step was a new logo design. We felt we were headed in the right direction. But the visual message just wasn’t communicating the true spirit of AUE. Frustrated, I decided to scrap the current design. I asked our graphic designer to give it a rest for a couple of days so we could step back and start again with a fresh perspective.
At this time, we had just engaged Ballistic Arts as our web designer. They provided us with a thoughtful design interview, and one of the questions was so simple it was genius:
“What emotions do you want your audience to feel when they see your branding?” My answer:
Connected. Alive. Energized. Transformed. Balanced.
new logo
And with those key words, we were back on track! Dark Horse Graphics designed an energetic logo that communicated the sense of connection and energy transformation we were looking for.
Does the new logo convey our intended message? You tell me. What do you feel when you see AUE’s new logo?
….stay tuned for more AUE rebranding experiences from Laura in future posts
Tags: creative development, logo design, marketing, rebranding, small business development, website design
I like the logo…It reminds me of Vegas with the shining stage lights. It adds a polished touch. The old light blue logo was very 80′s.
Hi Roger & Laura;
Great website – easy to navigate; engaging with the options provided; colours and font type are easy to read. Well done! Susan Lewis
The new logo and website are much more dynamic. The graphics in the logo give a hint of the business they are in and together there is an overall increased feeling that AUE creates exciting entertainment.
What a great new website AUE! It’s easy to browse for new ideas and get excited about all the options available.