Rebrand, Rename, Celebrate: 5 Tips For Your Launch

You’ve come a long way since you first realized your organization needed a rebrand.

At first, you thought strategically about your brand and values.

Then you embarked on changing your name to something that reflects them.

You involved your colleagues, stakeholders, and board members appropriately.

Heck, you even invited some of them to your brainstorming sessions.

You narrowed down to a few names that felt right and finally selected the best one.

It was scary.

At first you just tolerated your new name, then you freaked out and hated it, then you couldn’t imagine your organization being called anything else.

You even designed a new logo and tagline to complement your new name.

And finally, you had it: a brand, a new name, and a new visual identity to signal to the world why your organization is worth their attention. 

So now what?  Do you send an email?  Throw a party?

Here are 5 tips on how to introduce your new name from The Enrollment Management Association’s recent launch of theirs:

1) Make A Plan

Don’t let your name announcement be haphazard. Create a timeline for when you will tell which people and how. Here’s a tool you can use to map out your communications plan. The Enrollment Management Association scheduled one day to celebrate their rebrand and new name. They decorated their space and held brand training sessions that included every member of their organization.

2) Don’t Announce, Celebrate your Rebrand!

Everyone loves a party! The Enrollment Management Association launched their new name with champagne, videos, branded gift bags, and lots of balloons. Your entire team should understand how truly the intense renaming process is, and they should also enjoy reveling in the results of your hard work!

3) Flip a Switch

Launching your rebrand will be most exciting if there’s a dramatic moment when you officially launch it.You can still tip off your most important stakeholders early. But for everyone else you’ll have more impact if you launch all at once with a big splash ensuring your new website, business cards, and signage are all ready to go.

4) Mix It Up

The Enrollment Management Association included every member of their organization in their new name announcement – from finance to IT to their remote employees. When their new messaging was rolled out internally they paired colleagues from different teams to practice together. This encouraged everyone to see how the new brand unified serves the entire organization. In the end, everyone was reminded that they are part of something larger than just their individual roles.

5) Keep It Going

Remember to train your HR department. The Enrollment Management Association knows that their new name is but one of the many brand signals they’ll send. So their HR department was trained on how to include brand culture and even messaging in their on-boarding process. While your new brand and name can only launch once, your team will continue to talk about and live the brand every day. Give them tools to do it well.

More on The Enrollment Management Association’s transformation is available here.