As with all significant business decisions, the decision to rebrand an organisation is not made on a whim. A rebrand represents a considerable financial and time investment, and earning the support of the executive leadership is critical. Frequently, while many executives may support your approach, one or two may be reluctant to invest because they don’t see the potential return on investment a strong brand can offer.
In these situations, senior marketers have the opportunity to drive marketing leadership within the organisation by building a business case that demonstrates the tangible financial benefits a rebrand can deliver.
According to Hinge, a US-based brand marketing firm, in the B2B environment strong brands:
Perhaps the biggest argument to be made in support of the investment in your brand is outlined by the table below. Companies with strong brands enjoy a pricing advantage over their less well-known competitors:
| Industry | Price premium of a strong brand |
| Consulting | 20% |
| Marketing, Advertising, and PR | 33% |
| Architecture, Engineering & Construction | 8% |
| Accounting & Financial Services | 49% |
| Law Firms & Legal Services | 50% |
| Average Price Premium | 32% |
Source: https://www.hingemarketing.com/
Put simply, a strong brand allows a business to command higher fees.
You can gain a deeper understanding of what a strong brand can do for your business by watching our brand video.
The most successful way to demonstrate the criticality of a rebrand is to build a well-researched business case that outlines the tangible, growth-related business benefits a rebrand will deliver. A strong business case will be comprehensive, but from a brand perspective, it is critical that the business case includes:
1) Why are you rebranding?
What is your business challenge? Align the need to rebrand with the organisation’s ability to achieve its broader strategic goals.
In some cases, the need to rebrand will be obvious – for example, in the case of a merger or acquisition. In other cases, the need may be more subtle and may have emerged over time. Learn more about the different drivers for a rebrand here.
2) What are the limitations of your current brand?
Outline the limitations of your current brand by reviewing your brand promise against:
– The organisation’s ability to deliver against the promise
– The competitive environment
– The broader market
– The business’ intended growth trajectory
– Customers (current and future)
– Channels to market (e.g. are changes in technology impacting your brand?)
– Talent attraction and retention.
This phase may require a combination of desk, qualitative and quantitative research. Consulting with the Head of Sales and Head of HR can provide qualitative insights to help support this section of the business case.
3) What benefits will a rebrand deliver?
There is a body of evidence available that quantitatively details the impact a strong brand can have on lead generation, referrals, sales lead times, pricing premiums, and talent attraction and retention.
Combine hard data with a vision for what the future of the organisation could look like with a strong brand. Describing the from-to state can be a useful way to capture this vision.
4) What investment will be required?
Include outsourced costs and the internal resourcing, along with a project timeline. Include information about key milestones, and expected input and decision points where the leadership involvement will be required. Depending on the organisation’s appetite for investment, a contingency could be to break the investment into milestones, and offer the option of approving the investment in phases to spread the perception of risk and cost.
5) What are the risks of not rebranding?
In two years, five years, what does the status quo look like? What will your competitors have achieved over that time? How will the expectations of your customers have evolved? What impact will doing nothing have on your business bottom line?
The process of building a business case is an opportunity to engage with stakeholders across the organisation and build a network of advocates to support a rebranding project. It can also highlight the need for change, and begin building momentum in support of a new direction.
A strong and aligned brand has the ability to deliver significant value to an organisation, and to drive growth by aligning your employees behind a clearly articulated vision for the organisation. Demonstrating a strong business case for your rebrand will build a solid foundation for the project and will ensure support and buy-in across all levels of the organisation.
