XACTLY REBRAND

The Brief

Requestor: Marketing lead program with estaff buy-in and approval

Timeline:  2 Months

Goal:  Make Xactly stand out in the industry by creating a visually powerful brand that would scale into the future

Process

Step 1: Assess what the currently have. Look into and read all the materials they have out in the market. How are they positioning themselves in their industry and against their competitors?

Step 2: Create a mood board with your competitive research. Another with your brand assessment.

Step 3: Find out what the company thinks about itself. Interview the leads of each department as well as the jr. folks in each department (you might be surprised at how different the same questions are answered by a senior-level person and a junior-level person on the same team). Also, don't just interview people in marketing. Interview the sales team. Interview the engineers building the product. And if possible interview customers. Ask sales team members what about their company’s product wins deals for them and what feedback have they gotten from lost deals.

Step 4: After you have assessed what exists and researched your company’s past and present and now have a mood board with a collection of these items it's time to put together a formal recommendation about what you think needs to be done for your company to achieve the goals it has set for this rebrand. These recommendations should help to simplify and build equity in repeatable elements that will generate recognition and increase visual consistency of the company’s brand.

Step 5: Idiate and exploration period. I like to focus on the foundational core brand elements like color palette font logo and photography assets first. After a lengthy process of concepting I like to put together 3 to 5 mood boards to pitch to the owners of the project. 2 “safe” options, 2 that push the boundaries, creatively, and 1 “wild card” option that is really out there (But still fits the brief, of course).

Step 6: Pitch then refine based on feedback, then pitch again.

Step 7: Create a checklist. I don't know about you but I work really well off of a list. It keeps me organized and I know what to prioritize and by when. So based on your assessment, the research that you've done I like to use an Excel spread sheet for everything that needs to be created and any details or links to the previous versions of those things for reference. As I finish each one I mark them off the list and move to the next.

*Side note on this one: just because a piece of collateral for a previous template was the standard before that does not mean that's how it should be done going forward. Make sure that you don't just re-skin these assets. Look into whether or not the asset you are creating works and fulfills the need of the person or persons using that asset.

Step 8: Execute and build a library of these new assets. I suggest creating a microsite if you have the budget. If not, a really organized, locked-down Google Drive folder with everything. Make sure you label/name everything simply and clearly and create a unified nomenclature across the entire company. Example: Datasheet is a datasheet only. It’s not a datasheet to some and also a “one sheet” and “product sheet” etc. Pick one name and get everyone on board with it.

Step 9: Make a splash. Just announce in a company all hands and update your social profile icons. Set aside budget to produce high end swag and send that to customers. Activate the entire company with multiple graphics to share on LinkedIn and other social networks. Make a noise! This is a huge deal and only happens a few times in a company's history. You’re literally making history!