Changing a brand to better reflect the company it is today can be challenging. There is a fear when companies rebrand or change names that it could somehow change the ethos and principles of the business, especially if the business is trying to grow into new areas and attract investment. But, in this hyper-competitive world, a little bit of change can be a good thing.

Our client, CEO of Selenity, Neil Everatt said recently on rebranding his business: “After 28 years, we made the decision to step away from ‘Software Europe’ and rebrand to ‘Selenity’. It wasn’t an easy decision to make, but it was the right one.”

There are many reasons for a company to rebrand, but one reason could be simply that the original name and concept is now outdated. For some companies, the original brand identity has been in place for years, maybe even decades. It’s worked well, but it’s no longer a fresh enough image for today’s audience and what the company stands for.

Neil said: “Our company started trading as ‘Software Europe’ in 1989. When we first started out, we were a software reseller. Now though, we have our own portfolio of cloud technologies to support finance and HR departments and, whilst we do technically sell software, it’s all hosted in the cloud and we operate a Software as a Service (SaaS) model. Our own desire to change came from the need to update our brand to better reflect the organisation we are today.”

A PR strategy to support for success

Whilst a company may handle the actual rebranding process themselves, PR companies can help in this massive undertaking. The first thing is to assess and understand the objectives of the rebrand. In the case of Selenity, these were:

• To generate awareness of the updated brand
• To communicate the brand’s key values of innovation and excellent customer service
• To communicate a real shift in the growth ambition of the organisation

Following this understanding, there are various activities a PR agency can undertake to ensure maximum impact and visibility of the rebrand:

• Press release – an initial media alert highlighting to publications the change
• Social media – ideally, an announcement should have been alluded to in the build up to rebrand day. After this date, ensure all branding and handles are changed to reflect the rebrand and make sure the rebrand information is easily seen
• Thought leadership – the wider story of the rebrand news, explaining in further detail the reasoning behind it, and what to expect in the future

We’ve worked with Selenity for four years and we know how important the rebrand was to everyone in the company. We wanted to make sure that we helped tell their story. We arranged a series of media and analyst meetings to discuss the reasons for the rebrand, secured some great coverage and, followed up the meetings by writing an opinion piece on behalf of Neil offering advice on why business should consider rebrand – namely to boost business growth.

Branding is everything

In such a competitive market place, branding is everything; it’s what can make or break a company. It could have the best technology, the best services, and the best products in the industry, but if it can’t tell its customers in a way that makes them listen, then it will struggle to beat even the most average of competitors.

It’s our job as a PR agency to ensure that a rebranding process is runs as effectively as possible – and with the right planning and organisational processes in place, it can be a relatively smooth experience