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6.   Allow plenty of opportunity for people in the business to express their concerns about a rebranding strategy. Discuss the whys, wheres and hows with everyone whose role is affected by the new direction and make time for follow-up programs, to review timelines etc.

7.   Sell your rebranding strategy to all internal stakeholders in a way they need to hear it. Make sure everyone involved in the business is aware of the new brand push, from the lowest rung of staff to the managing director. Communicate it in a way that is suited to your audience, i.e. webcasts, emails, phone calls, word documents, staff meetings, management conferences, state conferences, etc.

8.   Ensure all brand deliverers are enthusiastic and engaged believers. Particularly for service-based businesses, there is a real need to realise the brand is about the people delivering on a brand’s promises. Hence, there is a strong need for high engagement from all the internal stakeholders who communicate the brand, whether deliberately or unintentionally i.e. staff, franchisees, etc.

9.   Use various forms of communication to communicate to external stakeholders. The rebranding strategy needs to be filtered throughout all the avenues the business uses to send messages externally. Consider revamping areas such as the call centre contact method, print/radio/TV/online media coverage (advertising and editorial), consumer website and referral marketing materials.

10.  Keep it going. Staying true to the desired brand is an ongoing effort. Constantly reassess your business activities and plans to ensure you are continuing to reinforce the business’s personality… that movie in your stakeholders’ minds when they think of your brand.

-    Kristy Sheppard is senior corporate affairs manager for Mortgage Choice (www.mortgagechoice.com.au), Australia’s leading mortgage and home loan broker.

Case study: Mortgage Choice

Australian mortgage broker Mortgage Choice recently replaced its longterm Only One Choice tagline with the new simple choice tagline to give consumers a compelling reason to become, and remain, a customer, and to differentiate the brand from its competitiors in a crowded marketplace. Simple choice indicates that the company proivdes choice without confusion.

This saw its consumer website and all its radio, television and print advertising and public relations materials (on a corporate level and for its franchisees on a local level) go through a major renovation. As a company with a high profile and almost 450 franchises nationwide, the campaign required a huge effort.

First, an extensive review of the company’s key branding elements was undertaken in a bid to assess market positioning and brand health. In a very crowded advertising marketplace it was important for Mortgage Choice to create a new space for itself among many brands and many new products. In a crowded lender market, with new product offerings and features being promoted on an almost daily basis, frequent interest rate rises, and a number of brokers also being lenders, consumers were understandably confused.

So the company introduced the new tagline then bought and heavily promoted a phone word (13 MORTGAGE) for its national customer service centre, to further demonstrate how simple dealing with it could be.

“The campaign was designed to illustrate that Mortgage Choice can bring clarity to the mortgage selection process. It also addresses the confusion in the market of the distinction between lender and broker, and sets us apart from our competitors, some of whom span both sectors,” said Mortgage Choice head of marketing Lynne Wyatt.

The company kept key brand elements in the new campaign (the Mortgage Choice logo, use of the teal colour, brand mascot Choosey the Beagle and distinctive audio jingle) but now with simple choice tagline. It commenced the rebranding campaign with three new 30-second TV executions featuring different customers in different situations who ‘sniff out’ a solution to their search with help from Choosey. The TV campaign forms part of a comprehensive mix of branding activities that span print, radio and outdoor as well as retail collateral support, all of which continue to rolled out. All public relations activities are conducted with the revamped branding position in mind.

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