Plant life shows possibly the clearest examples of adaptation. Based on where a tree or plant needs to live, you’ll be able to instantly see ways in which it’s grown to succeed with what it’s given. To get informed for your rebranding strategy, take a look at your surroundings—and maybe keep the tree planted right where it is.
If your business is concerned with branding in Orange County, it can be a noisy, distracting environment. With all those distractions, making your brand and your “environment” match up can be a real task. Putting your effort here is the key to a successful rebranding strategy.
Take a look at redwood trees. It’s capable of growing extremely tall—well over 300 feet. Living near the coast, it is nourished by the damp fogs that sweep in from the sea. Its sturdy trunk and solid root structures keep it grounded against the winds. Now imagine if a redwood tree were somehow transplanted just a few hundred feet over, into the ocean. The sturdy trunk would be smashed to pieces by the pounding waves.
For contrast, look at kelp. These towering underwater forests of algae were designed to thrive in those same churning tides. Unlike the rigid, unyielding trunks of the redwoods, the loose and rubbery strands of kelp bend and sway freely with the ebb and flow of the tide. By being flexible, kelp is able to withstand a far more punishing environment.
To take it back to branding, no matter what environment your brand is operating in, certain aspects of your brand are best kept sturdy like a redwood, and aspects that are as fluid and reflexive as kelp. Either way, it’s essential to keep branding intuitive, paying attention to how your business and your brand have progressed over time.
Visual Identity
Especially if you’re a larger company, you’re going to want parameters pretty rigidly defined to ensure that renegades on your team don’t get overly creative with customer-facing materials. Still, there can be room for some kelpy flexibility here. A published style guide that gives a few options is key to making sure your brand isn’t flexing where you don’t want it to be.
Culture, Voice, Message
It’s essential for a rebranding strategy to call attention to your brand’s message—and it’s here that mess-ups can happen. If you own a restaurant that has always offered the best authentic European cooking—food that often makes people say, “Wow, this is just like home cooking,” then it would be foolish to change the interior design to funky-colored walls, glass furniture, and other modern accents. People would feel the disconnect, and the home-cooked quality of your food would likely be covered up in a way. It’s an unsuccessful transplant. Rather than uprooting the tree and planting it in a new location, which may harm it, we want to keep it planted where it’s always thrived best. A rebrand is more akin to making that tree stand out—maybe by clearing away the brush and dead branches that have accumulated, putting up a placard to make sure people don’t miss any of the tree’s best features. We’re making sure that people can see what makes this tree special.
Are you looking for help with branding in Orange County? The right help can go a long way toward ensuring that your rebranding strategy will make your brand shine.