Get more out of your rebrand: Tips for working with agencies
Updating your brand or communications can be a considerable undertaking, so many organizations choose to hire an agency to partner with. A strong collaboration with an outside expert often leads to the best results for confronting significant change. However, once you get to the end of that process, you also need the internal tools to maintain it.
Here are six actions you can take after making key branding decisions and are ready to manage your new brand. Particularly regarding visual identity, how can you make the most of the handoff between you and your branding agency?
1. Give yourself ample time to review your brand guide and integrate your new assets into your internal systems before officially taking over the keys.
Congratulations! You have a brand new, approved logo and visual identity system. While you may feel fatigued at this point, gaining familiarity with the toolkit your agency is handing you before you say goodbye is essential. Do you understand the guidelines? Are there applications you know you’ll need but are unsure how the brand will work in those settings? Now is the time to ask.
2. Line up your in-house and/or external design team and include them in a brand training with your branding partner.
Ensure you plan for which key staff or contractors will utilize your design assets and that they are around for meaningful pass-off conversations. The more they get to try things out, the more likely they will identify details that your branding agency can smooth out.
3. Set up a starter pack of templates in collaboration with your agency and your communications team.
Determine what templates will be most helpful for your organization and its various departments. Do you work with designers who want templates in professional design software? You’ll likely need Google Slides and Docs or various Canva templates for non-designers. Take inventory and set up as many templates for launch as possible. But also plan monthly or quarterly check-ins to see how they work in “real life” and make adjustments as needed.
4. Use your brand launch as an opportunity to start building out materials for your new brand.
However you plan to roll out your new brand, you’ll have the chance to develop new materials using your new assets. These materials could be anything from large-scale projects like launching a big anniversary campaign or a new website to everyday communications like social media posts, office signage, or presentation templates. Harness the energy of your new brand around this transitional moment!
5. Once the dust has settled, incorporate a couple of check-ins with your branding agency into your project scope.
After you’ve had a chance to live in your new brand for a few months, take stock of how it’s all going. Are things looking consistent? How smoothly are you creating materials using the new brand? Take note of challenges you’ve experienced, assets or templates you might be missing, or rules your branding agency could clarify. Your brand designers will likely have valuable insights in addressing these snags [learn more about Big Duck’s brand check-up process here].
6. Keep going!
As we often say, branding is a practice rather than a one-time activity, so enjoy the newness of the thing you helped develop and embrace the challenges of its daily use.
