Limit your options
How do you whittle down a list of 1,000 options to something that is workable? Despite the glut, there were common themes that seemed to stand out among the many recommendations.
“The brand had to ensure from a differentiation point of view that we were capable of hitting the bull’s-eye, as I always talk about, around flexibility, service and breadth of offering,” Greer says. “You could very quickly cut out those that didn’t hit on those differentiators. They just didn’t jump off the page at you.”
Greer had an idea of the core values at the company. Exemplary service to customers was a key, as was the reach of the company to locations across the nation. He knew these needed to be incorporated into the final product.
“We had a good view strategically on where we were headed and what we wanted to get accomplished,” Greer says. “What we needed to do was create the foundation and understanding about who we are today.”
Greer used Landor to condense the many conversations and research that had taken place into a few workable options.
“They drilled it down to about five options that we then began to socialize internally with our management,” Greer says. “It was a pretty emotional issue for people to let go of what they had been used to and associated with for so many years. … We took a lot of time as that research came in to share with them what the constituents were telling us to help get everybody on the same page.”
While the actual substance to the plan was obviously vital to the company’s future in Greer’s eyes, the selling of it to people required him to present the rebranding in broader terms. In this case, it was the value of bringing each of the nine brands together in the company under one common brand.
“The basic premise w
as
that neither one of us is as strong as all of us,” Greer says. “I have a quote in my office from Henry Ford. ‘Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is a process, but working together is success.’ By getting the organization on that common platform with a common understanding of our identity would allow us to really strive for long-term success.”
The message was that the company would be stronger and more successful in the future if it was an organization flying under one flag, rather than nine different flags.
But just as discussion is critical, you also need to realize when enough has been said and a decision needs to be made.
“When you go through a brand change, there is a tendency to hang on to the past,” Greer says. “The quicker you move through that change, the better off you’re going to be.”
