Rebranding is sometimes a dreadful word and might be scary because people fear change so much and would rather things just stay the same as they were used to.

This wasn’t the case with Properly. The rebranding of AH Real Estate to Properly happened because of a change of ownership and the decision was mutual that everything should change. Once you decide to change the company name, you should realize that the letterheads, email signatures, business cards, website, social media banners and any kind of branding need to change as well. So you just might as well change the whole look and feel and start from scratch.

How did we do it?

First you have to wait for the legalities to be concluded. Once all the paperwork is done, you can start with the branding.. The biggest mistake that people make is that they are sometimes too eager to start without proper branding,strategy and briefing sessions with their employees. This is very important because they are the people that live, eat and sleep the brand.

All the AH real estate agents were called into a brief meeting to explain the rebrand and why it is necessary. They now understood and knew that things would change. It is always good toremember that every person goes through stages of acceptance. They are in shock, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, testing and acceptance. When top management are at Testing they cant accept the employees to be on the same level when they are still in the shock phase.

As soon as the AH Real Estate, or now Properly employees were ready for the testing phase the communication and marketing team got together to brainstorm the new look and feel and what the changes should include. It is important to know that you have to have the client in the back of your mind the whole time. Sometimes businesses only think about themselves, which is wrong. The team came up with several designs and color schemes until we decided on the best for the brand. The whole whole team got together again. This time we did the whole branding session together.

We discussed and brainstormed the following:

Objectives

The team should know what it is that they want to achieve. How they will do it and when.

Mission and vision

The team should be clear on the mission and vision of the company and the new brand. What are the core values within the team?

Target market

It is important to know who your target audience is. What are their wants and needs and what do they fear?

Competition

A brand can only be as good and better as the competition. The team should differentiate what makes them different from the competition.

Tone of voice

Any brand has a tone of voice and it should be decided around a table. What is it that we say and how do we say it in our messages?

Tagline

Out of the brainstorming sessions where they decided on values and characteristics, a tagline should be formulated.

Messages

All the messages can now be formed with the correct words and tone of voice. This includes your visuals, video etc.

Type of brand

Any kind of brand can be placed in a type of brand, whether it is educational, inspirational, funny or informative. The team should decide on the type.

Goals

Clear goals can be set for the team and the brand to be reached over a period of time. As soon as we have this in a proper document together with the corporate identity, it is possible for the marketing team to compile marketing messages and a proper campaign to generate leads.This process might take some time, but with a clear vision and strategy it can take place much quicker.

Contact Fio if you have any need in rebranding, branding, design or strategy. We are more than willing to walk this journey with you.