Rebranding CFSS
Phase 1: Market & Brand Research
Role: Brand Manager, Rebranding Lead
Tools: Google Forms, Photoshop/Illustrator, Google Sheets, Google Analytics, SEMRush
Overview: As the brand manager, I designed and led the effort to rebrand Child & Family Support Services, a behavioral health company. Rebranding a company requires a significant initial effort to understand the company, the brand, the competitors, and the competitive landscape. The first step? Research.
Part One: Interviews
Using Google Forms and phone interviews, my team and I met with more than fifty employees across the organizational chart to better understand employee perceptions about the brand and company goals. These perceptions drive how our employees present the company brand to clients, partners, and competitors. Using quantitative and qualitative data analyses, I showed company leaders the specific language and words employees use to describe their work for the organization.
"What is our mission?"
"Who are our most important stakeholders?"
"How do you want the company to be perceived by our clients?"
"What is our competitive advantage?"
"What are barriers to the success of our family services?"
"How do you want our organization to be perceived by our industry?"
Part Two: Competitive Branding Audit
Competitive branding analysis was another crucial element of brand and market research. This company offers unique services to families and individuals, so discovering its key competitors represented an exciting challenge. Once identified, my team and I analyzed several crucial brand elements for each company, including:
Logo, typography, and touchpoint design and placement
Website performance and design for desktop and mobile devices
Social media usage, presence, and performance
Printed and digital assets
By analyzing the industry's key organizations, we could analyze trends in design, typography, and color usage.
Competitor's color usage in logo and brand design.
Part Three: Internal Marketing Audit
CFSS started as a small organization twenty years ago and, since its inception, had never given significant thought to its brand, brand management, and internal brand communications. As the company scaled its operations, it developed new logos and generated internal brand confusion.
My team and I audited the firm's marketing materials, including:
Business cards, postcards, and small public displays
Brochures, program reports, and envelopes
Environmental applications, including building, room, and window signage
Internal and electronic communications, including badges, forms, and email signatures
Conclusions
A marketing and brand audit builds a foundation of qualitative and quantitative information about the company, its market, its competitors, and its perceptions in the community. Some of this audit's key conclusions included
Passionate employees: confirmed in its GlassDoor reviews, this company finds and fosters a passion for its work in its employees and the families they serve.
Shared vision: company culture shares a unique idea for the future, built on a foundation of a strengths-based, community-focused approach to behavioral healthcare
Opportunities for improvement: there were several brand identity characteristics with room to focus, refine, and improve.
Need for brand guidelines: the firm never felt the need to develop brand guidelines and generate marketing plans. Evidenced by significant brand confusion among employees, marketing materials, and environmental designs, the company needed a new brand and clear brand guidelines.
Rebranding Overview
The process my team and I used was an adaptation of personal and professional experience and guidelines established by Alina Wheeler in Designing Brand Identity.