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INTERNAL MARKETING:
SELLING THE BRAND TO YOUR EMPLOYEES
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BY Brian R. Hook
Changing a corporate identity is tough enough. Getting the word out to the marketplace is no easy task by itself. But the process could prove even harder without the support of employees.
Eric Gutberlet knew the potential risks when he started as the new
director of marketing and public relations at one of St. Louis’ largest accounting
firms in November of 2004. But in under
a year’s time, he helped transform what
was then known as Rubin, Brown, Gornstein & Co. or RBG & Co., into RubinBrown. “EVERYTHING pretty much changed,” Gutberlet says.
 (Left to right): Director of Marketing and Public Relations Eric Gutberlet and Managing Partner John Herber Jr. |
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In addition to the name change, RubinBrown changed its colors to blue and brown from red and gray. Plus, the firm’s new logo is now without a box and includes a new mark.
The process was already in its initial phase when Gutberlet started. He says the firm’s leadership wanted to know if the name RBG & Co. would hold up as the firm grows, not only in St. Louis, but also into other cities. “The answer that we got back was no,” Gutberlet says.
Employees, who are referred to as team members at RubinBrown, were involved in the process from the beginning, Gutberlet says. A select group participated in the initial review. “We went through the process of trying to identify who we thought we were and what we thought people thought of us and then who we wanted to be from a brand standpoint,” Gutberlet says.
The marketing team, under the direction
of Gutberlet and John Herber Jr.,
managing partner at RubinBrown, included several St. Louis marketing firms. The
Pollock Group helped with focus groups. Rose Design Inc. provided graphics. The Hodes Group helped with the company’s Web site and Millennium Communications Inc.
provided media relations.
After the review, the marketing team went back to the select group of employees. Gutberlet says the team discussed the findings gathered from outside the firm. He says the team also wanted to give employees another opportunity to voice any concerns about the change.
Finally it was time for the switch. Gutberlet says the employees were the first to learn of the change on July 19th. “We have a policy of trying to make sure that our team members are the first to know,” he says. The employees gathered offsite for a presentation by the marketing team. “We gave them a very logical look at how we came to where we are now,” Gutberlet says.
After the presentation, employees were given folders containing new business cards, stationary and talking points for clients, friends and referrals. The employees were also given merchandise items like coffee mugs and shirts with the new logo. The event culminated with a cocktail reception to allow employees to mingle with the leadership team of the firm.
During the presentation, all of the old signage back at headquarter was being taken down. From the sign out front to individual nameplates, everything was changed. “All that was completed while they were away at the meeting, so the next morning when they came into the office it had all of our new corporate identification throughout the office space,” he says.
“Some of the folks who have been here for a number of years had a hard time trying to get used to changing their vocabulary from RBG & Co., to RubinBrown,” Gutberlet says. So the firm turned it into a game, of sorts. Team members were given $1 fines each time they said RBG. If RBG was mentioned during a presentation, the fee was $5. In all, RubinBrown raised $500. Gutberlet says that all of the money raised went to the firm’s charitable foundation.
“Everybody needed to buy-in,” Gutberlet says. “We took it from our board to our
partners to our management team to our team members and then to our clients and referral sources.”
Ed Mantels-Seeker, principal and creative director at Mantel-Seeker Creative in
St. Louis, says a company brand has personal value to everyone in a company, not just
the owners. “Staff members have to buy-in and support any changes to help those changes succeed.”
Mantels-Seeker teamed up with Don Zachritz, principal at Zachritz Marketing Communications in St. Louis, to help Kirberg Roofing switch its brand identity to Kirberg Company earlier this year. The switch on July 27th was the first name change for the
St. Louis-based provider of commercial and residential roofing since its founding in 1920.
| A screen capture shows Kirberg’s new brand online. |
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“We identified a need to review the brand identity’s effectiveness, and Kirberg management approved a study,” Zachritz says. “This program grew out of that research.”
“We wanted an updated, comprehensive strategy for all marketing, to better communicate our company’s strengths and capabilities to all of our target markets, and to support our growth,” says Eric Kirberg, vice president at Kirberg. “Our new dynamic-diamond
brand-mark symbolizes the company’s tradition of quality craftsmanship and future-minded progress.”
Kirberg says the new “K” in the logo is centered in precise, expanding architectural patterns of multiple diamond shapes. He says the emblem suggests high quality and shows both the steep and flat roofs the company installs. Some of Kirberg’s past projects include roofs at Union Station,
St. Louis City Hall and Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, among many others.
“We maintained secrecy throughout the process, limiting the number of key
management personnel who knew the objective. This allowed us to protect the
proprietary value of our research and design, and carefully consider our creative options,” Kirberg says.
“Once the brand strategy and design
program ideas were perfected, we introduced them to the staff in a concerted
campaign: live presentation, e-mails, office banners, branded apparel, and a comprehensive overview booklet explaining the need and the benefits of the revised brand image for all employees. This was done simultaneously in each of our four offices.”
Kirberg says that change is always
difficult. “It’s human nature to resist it. But
we succeeded in having everyone on our team embrace the new ideas quickly, because we made it clear how the new
brand strategy, direction and image would
be implemented, and very importantly, how
it would benefit each employee over the
long-term,” Kirberg says. |
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