We often hear the phrase: “People are of afraid of change.”
Which is odd, when you think about it, because change is the one unconditional, undeniable fact of life. Nowhere in nature does change not occur. Seasons shift, transforming familiar landscapes into new scenes daily. Rivers carve new paths over centuries. Animals evolve through adaptations to become fitter versions of themselves. Even the rock slowly erodes and changes its composition. Human life itself is a testament to change: we grow, we learn, we evolve.
The point is: change is not just necessary, it’s inevitable. In business, as in nature, those that learn to embrace and harness change to their advantage survive, and even thrive.
Change is not just necessary, it’s inevitable.
But, amidst all this change, what keeps a business true to its core values? As businesses evolve, how can they ensure important audiences are not lost along the way? Walking the tightrope between change and continuity can feel like an impossible task. It’s no wonder people fear it.
Here’s our take on how Creating Sense™ through strategic branding can help businesses navigate transformation and come out on top.
Embrace change, or face the consequences: A cautionary tale
To understand why embracing change is essential to business success, let us tell you a familiar story.
Once upon a time, there was a very successful brand that no longer exists. At its height, this brand was one of the most recognised on the planet. It employed 84,000 people in over 9,000 stores across America. Every home with a VCR used their products weekly … If not nightly. What could go wrong?
The brand we’re talking about is, of course, the DVD rental retail giant, Blockbuster. In 2004, the company was valued at $3 billion. Less than a decade later, in 2013, Blockbuster had filed for bankruptcy.
Blockbuster’s failure to pivot to changes in how consumers accessed media became their downfall. It would be easy to blame Netflix. To claim that a rival brand swept in with better technology and pushed them out. But the facts are quite different. Netflix had actually started as a company that mailed DVDs to people’s doors. And in fact, in 2000, when Netflix was just a struggling start up, they offered Blockbuster a partnership to stream the video rental giant’s content on their platforms. Blockbuster turned it down, calling it too ‘niche.’ By the time Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy, Netflix became a $28 billion company.
The moral of the story? Transformation is essential for businesses. Those who refuse to change with the times, sink under it.
Those who refuse to change with the times, sink under it.
The question is not if transformation should take place, it’s how transformation takes place and what businesses can do ensure they have the right tools to navigate change, with confidence.
Navigating the rough seas of change
Business transformation presents myriad challenges for brands aiming to set a clear course amidst uncertainty. Change has profound impacts on identity, market position, and customer relationships. At the forefront lies the struggle to maintain authenticity whilst embracing evolution.
Changes in processes, products, or services during transformation can also result in inconsistencies in brand messaging, visual identity, and customer experiences, leading to confusion among internal and external audiences alike.
Having a clear, well-defined and forward-looking strategic positioning becomes a ‘North Star’ for businesses, a guiding force from which to navigate the rough seas of change and protect hard earned relationships with important audiences.
Having a clear, well-defined and forward-looking strategic positioning becomes a ‘North Star’ for businesses.
Finding your North Star
At its core, a well-defined brand strategy provides businesses with clarity. By articulating a clear brand positioning, businesses establish a sense of direction that informs decision-making at all levels. This clarity not only fosters internal alignment but helps in creating sense™ for all important external audiences, guiding them to understand, embrace and even endorse new paradigms.
But this doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a process that combines deep introspection with foresight; having hard conversations about who we are, whilst maintaining an open mind about who we need to become. Once discovered, it requires a deep-rooted commitment, from leadership to employees, to define a strategic direction and embrace it.
At SDA, we help businesses discover and define their North Star, by combining close brand consultancy with data-driven insights, within a sprint-based hypothesis-led approach that leads to robust, data-backed results, quicker. In our experience, strategic branding that embraces these three principles find the greatest success.
1) Start change from within
The success of a new brand strategy begins at home. Before persuading customers to embrace change, it needs to be deeply understood and embodied internally.
Before persuading customers to embrace change, it needs to be deeply understood and embodied internally.
This involves not just creating and communicating the new brand from the top down, but actively involving internal stakeholders in its development and implementation. The benefits of a workforce switched on to the brand strategy are numerous. For starters, it makes the road to embedding the new brand run smoother. More importantly, when employees feel invested in the brand’s success, they become ambassadors for it, championing the brand externally and driving positive perceptions among customers and stakeholders.
Using a sprint-based, hypothesis-led approach allows us to guide businesses through change by bringing them into the strategic development process. In an iterative process, we gather the right people together across an organisation to input ideas, debate directions and craft a stronger outcome. This way, important stakeholders are both actively part of shaping the strategic solution, and guided through the stages of understanding, accepting and advocating for the change.
Another beneficial and yet often overlooked side effect of a collaborative development methods is the creation of a bolder appetite. The uncertainty that change brings often puts people off making bolder, more meaningful moves. Sticking to the status quo can just feel like the safer bet. Engaging stakeholders along the transformational journey gradually expands comfort zones, inching step-by-step towards a vision that initially may have seemed beyond reach.
2) Start from the future, and work your way back
Many brands renew themselves to adapt to changes in the market. But anticipating future trends is the key to taking the lead, positioning businesses at the forefront of their industry. A future-ready mindset involves not just reacting to change, but proactively seeking opportunities to innovate and evolve.
A future-ready mindset involves not just reacting to change, but proactively seeking opportunities to innovate and evolve.
By analyzing emerging trends and technologies, incorporating future consumer insights, businesses can position themselves ahead of the curve, ensuring they remain relevant and competitive in a rapidly evolving landscape. This forward-thinking approach fosters resilience in the face of challenges and openness to new possibilities.
That’s why our strategic discovery process always begins by deeply understanding the worlds our clients inhabit today – their industry, their markets, their audiences – and examining how these worlds are changing. Armed with this foresight, we can craft solutions that not only address current needs but also anticipate future challenges. Our aim is to help our clients not merely to keep pace with change, but to pioneer it, guiding them towards sustained success amidst an ever-evolving landscape.
3) Break the mould
Brands that take bolder leaps forward have greater longevity in success. Innovative design plays a pivotal role in this journey.
Brands that take bolder leaps forward have greater longevity in success. Innovative design plays a pivotal role in this journey.
Take the example of global pharma and life sciences company, Merck. After 350 years of pioneering medicine, Merck recognised that the future of life solutions will be driven by digital technologies. By repositioning Merck as a Vibrant Sciences and Technology company, we helped them to sit at the forefront of that shift, by taking the bold move to make technology the focus of their business and their brand.
But why stop there? To fully take advantage of this positioning, Merck needed to break through the preconceptions of the pharma industry. In a world that typically leans on a dated, clinical representation of pharma, we designed a bright and bold brand identity, inspired by the intricate patterns seen under a digital microscope. This vibrant and colorful new visual identity is a radical change from the industry, giving Merck a reputation as pioneers at the cutting edges of scientific discovery, and recognised leaders.
Challenging conventions through design not only sets brands apart but also yields measurable financial outcomes. Those willing to break the mould often reap substantial rewards, underscoring the transformative power of design-led innovation.
Creating Sense™
In a world that is rapidly and continuously on the move, businesses need to transform to succeed – and we believe brand plays a pivotal role in helping them do that well. Strategic branding is not just about adapting to change; it’s about leading it. Understanding how markets, industries and audience needs are set to evolve in the future is the first step to ensuring lasting success. Bold design that breaks through category expectations helps to position companies at the forefront of their industry. A well-defined and forward-looking brand strategic becomes an invaluable roadmap for helping businesses navigate transformation and ensuring everyone across an organisation embrace and endorse changes.
At SDA, we support organisations big and small by creating sense™ through their brand. If you want to understand more about how strategic branding can help you navigate change and succeed in the future, get in touch.
