Brand Launch / Business Refresh

Musings at the intersection of sharp edged practical knowledge and blunt theoretical grounding. In this edition, I share a distilled set of experiences on brand refresh and brand launch.

Dale Steyn has called it a day. A pace bowler like no other. I oft get reminded of Michael Hussey’s memoir, in which he recounted his experiences while facing Steyn. He summed his survival against his relentless attack, which I let you read more about it here, by saying “….Perception is an amazing thing.”

Brand is about creating and shaping perceptions. It’s been one year since we launched our new brand Vi. I have taken the time to reflect on my learnings. The experience of launch of Vi brand, and in particular Vi Business, as a member of core team, did teach many valuable lessons - Simplicity in communication, intensity in execution and more importantly an opportunity for business refresh.

1.???????Legacy is an ally

Being led by a powerful existing brand(s) meant that brand(s) are deep rooted in many aspects of our business - systems, communications, ways of working, and ways of communication. It’s an opportunity to question legacy as we rebuild the new brand, brick by brick, and word by word. The departure from legacy while borrowing the best from the past is an enriching passage.

1.???????Moments of Truth and CXX

Beyond the logo, the tagline and the creative assets, brand refresh is a good point in time to review and redefine CX. I shared my viewpoint at an event organised by Assocham Branding and Marketing Council that there is no better function than Marketing to do this. During our launch, we revisited 400+ moments of truth across products, segments with wider functions on a common virtual wall. Collective view of Customer is always good, ye!

2.Set your own Benchmarks

Brand launch gives mind space to study industry and competition benchmarks and create new ones in the process. We rebuilt our Social Media strategy from scratch and realised that sometimes not referring to past is a great start point.

4. Creation & Collaboration

With great partners by your side - Ogilvy, Pennywise, WaveMaker and Ad Factors - the journey could be exciting with each party pushing the envelope a little more, to get to the best. It’s a melting pot of night owls, quality obsessed and customer centered teams creating many unforgettable moments.

5. Clockwork

It’s a countdown all the way through. Precision in planning, numerous launch scenarios, iterations, and more dynamic states to move between, brand programs are an absolute masterclass in managing complexity, confidentiality and race against time. A crash course in high stake program management with very little room for a miss.

6. Drive to Zero

Zero defects, zero wastage. A lot is possible. A great opportunity to pave new roads to sustainable marketing operating model.

7. Business! Business!

The brand launch is essential adrenalin which can lift up spirits, give renewed courage to wage new market battles. Capitalise on the program and design business refresh programs around products, partners and more importantly customers. Get personal, get intimate, share stories like never before and drive business agenda. We were lucky to be able to do many business and customer programs around the brand launch.

My heart desires to see Steyn bowl one more spell. It’s befitting to recount a few lines from lyrics of a song ‘A long December by Counting Crows’, the band he quoted in his retirement message,?

…

And it's been a long December and there's reason to believe

Maybe this year will be better than the last

I can't remember all the times I tried to tell myself

To hold on to these moments as they pass…

The brand anniversary day of Vi, called The Vi Day, is yet another one to hold on to.

#WeareVi?????#TogetherforTomorrow?????????????????#MarketingMavericks