The rollout: elements of a successful implementation strategy

There’s nothing like a rebrand effort to make you appreciate the extent of your branded assets.

Planning for the rollout of a new identity demands an accurate inventory and accounting of each and every instance of your company name, logo and colors across your portfolio. Your team must think beyond the obvious digital and physical marketing collateral — signage, fleet, badges, uniforms and more, depending on your industry.

You must compile that list across workgroups, like IT, real-estate, HR and legal; asset categories, such as, branded environments, supply chain and manufacturing; and locations both home and abroad. And that’s just the start of your implementation effort.

Define the scope, timeframe, resources and risks

A successful rebrand rollout strategy integrates financial, logistical, functional and organizational realities into the vision — realities that include time and resource constraints, as well as probable roadblocks along the way. A successful strategy must also anticipate important aspects inherent in a global economy including language translation, entity filings, and import/export laws.

Broadly speaking, your strategy will answer the questions, “How big, how long and how much?” while identifying opportunities to maximize impact and reduce costs. A sharply focused rebrand implementation strategy should go even further, and establish:

• Clear goals based on an accurate assessment of your brand assets
• Alignment with executives on the time and cost constraints
• Various scenarios and implementation options that will inevitably result from those constraints
• Risks and rewards associated with each of the scenarios
• All the resources available for the project
• Detailed plans for achieving each of the objectives outlined in the strategy
• The priorities for the rollout of new assets (by market, asset category, business unit, etc.)

Once the strategy has been developed and approved, a thorough planning framework can be created to include a transition plan for each branded asset category (when, how, quality level), along with plans for resource allocation, communications and risk mitigation.

Work with people who have done many rebrands

If you’re curious about how to start developing your rebrand strategy, please contact me. We can talk about what it takes to successfully usher a new brand into the world.