Written by David Sadowski, the director of brand strategy at Swim.
Recently, in our article, Hmm. Maybe It’s Time To Change Up Our Brand, we shared our thoughts on the reasons businesses rebrand. With our recent changes in branding, you may be wondering why we changed things up. To share a little behind the scenes of our rebrand, here are the reasons Swim decided to go through the process ourselves.
We’d never went through the branding process ourselves
Like all agencies in our field, we spend most of our time working on the brands for all of our clients. That leaves no time for us to work on our own branding material. Sure, we had a logo and have developed a personality organically over time, but it was just time for us to do the ol’ “practice what you preach” thing and put ourselves through our own branding process.
It was time for consistent messages and visuals
Just like reason number one, we also spent little time refining our own message and look. Sometimes there was a lake reference. Sometimes a pool. Most of our marketing efforts were created last minute and without strategy. Our design and advertising changed depending on who was working on the project. Even nuances in our website had their own flare. It was just time to bring it all together to create a more uniform identity.
There was a need for sophistication
Over time, we have experienced a shift in our client base. That required us to make sure our material was consistent. Much of our past identity was cute. We really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, we found that some had a hard time taking us seriously. So, something needed to change. And it did.
We are anticipating growth
Like any other company, we have visions of growth in the near future. This growth will manifest itself both physically and in a digital form. With these growth plans on the horizon we felt it was a good time to make sure we had a brand strategy in place before we spent money on items that would be around for a long time.
Offer an opportunity for our staff to be heard
One of the most enjoyable parts of the branding process is to get an unfiltered look at what the team thinks about our brand. This also allows them to have a voice in the type of agency they want to work for. By going through this process, we made sure the brand was a team effort where everyone felt like they had a say in the way we represented ourselves.
It is our 10-year anniversary
If this were the reason alone, we would not have rebranded. But, since the timing is right, we will mark it down as another reason to rebrand.
Sick of hearing our logo looks like a sperm
The straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back was when one of our talented staff was initially hired, people kept asking why they were going to work at a sperm bank. This raised a red flag about our perception.
Around the same time I was at a social gathering and someone said, “I always thought your logo looked like a, well, you know…”
“A sperm?” I asked.
They agreed with a cringe.
And with that, it was time to change. Now, if the commentary on male produced reproductive cells was our only rationale we probably wouldn’t have rebranded. But with the combination of that and the rest of our list, we felt that 2016 was a good year to focus on our brand.
If you want to find out more about our branding process, get in touch. I would love to discuss more over coffee or a libation of your choice.