Marketing a New Brand

If you are launching a new brand or re-brand, there are a few things you should know. Just after launch, you will need to spend the majority of your marketing resources gaining awareness for the new brand. The emphasis on your new brand identity can taper off over the next six months or so, while you increase your specific marketing messaging. (See our handy branding transition graph).

The time your transition will take depends on how well your message is publicized and how quickly your audience accepts the new brand; media treatment of your new name, tagline and logo will give you a gauge. The transition process and expected response are considerations you should discuss with your creative agency during the branding process. We have done re-branding projects that were seamlessly accepted by the media and key audiences within weeks, while others moved more slowly--and the difference is not always determined by how entrenched and long-lived the previous identity was!

As your new identity gains awareness, you can shift your focus onto specific marketing messages promoting your services, products, programs and so on. Eventually, the bell curves of branding and marketing will settle out to a predominance of marketing messaging, while maintaining a baseline brand reinforcement component.