The Power of a Brand
Taking stock – and looking forward – five years into our transformative journey as Curious Plot
Five years ago today, this agency launched an all-new identity when we rebranded from FLM Harvest to Curious Plot. This was a decision nearly two years in the making, and the volume and complexity of work it took to pull this off dwarfed nearly everything we anticipated.
But … five years on … we can unequivocally say that every stressful discussion and every late-night work session validated our decision to make this change.
Our why for rebranding
Nearly every one of the eight companies I’ve worked for in my career has changed its brand in some manner – ranging from simple logo refreshes to the launch of an entirely new global organization following a corporate divestiture. As I think back on those companies and their brand updates, it made me realize that all of these organizations had their own unique “whys” for the changes. And, so it was for us.
In my 12 years with the agency, we have operated under three names and distinct brand identities: FLM+, FLM Harvest and Curious Plot. In that same timespan, we have grown from fewer than 30 team members to now nearly 100 more than that. The first two identities reflected who we were at specific points in time. Our current brand – one we expect to keep for a very long time – is more about defining where and how we want to continually grow.
More than anything, we concluded that a new brand would position us for the future we envisioned and aimed to create – fueled by curiosity and driven by the pursuit of helping write the stories of the industry we lead and serve.
Our learnings from rebranding
Spoiler alert: Rebranding is not for the faint of heart. Among the many things we learned after our rebrand, five rise to the top:
- The sticker shock is real. Whatever you may budget for a rebrand (team time, money for outside resources or a combination of both), go into the project eyes-wide-open knowing that the final resource requirement will surpass your expectations – and probably by a lot. You cannot begin to anticipate all the things you have to manage until you’re well beyond the point-of-no-return.
- The lawyers must be your best friends. A tenet of every new naming initiative is to secure a name that will withstand any trademark challenges from other organizations with a similar name. You might think a quick Google search will give you a reliable answer, but trust that it is not nearly enough. We engaged a legal team that conducted multiple trademark database searches, consulted government registry requirements, leveraged search engines and other public records and analyzed every industry space where we could have competitive conflict. After we narrowed our list of potential agency names from nearly 500 to our top 10, believing that all of those 10 were highly viable options, the legal team almost immediately culled the list from 10 to three. No negotiation – just a very firm opinion that these seven names are out. (Fortunately, Curious Plot was one of the three names that survived that first critical cut and ultimately emerged as the strongest option for us.) Do not attempt to DIY this critically important step.
- Paying clients want love, too. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in your own internal work – especially something as exciting as a rebrand – that you may be distracted from your commitments to your customers. It’s a bad day if that happens. We worked hard to define a team and process that could run alongside the client delivery team, ensuring that clients didn’t see any impact from the other huge initiative being managed inside our house.
- Transparency is critical. Keep in mind that emotions can – and do! – run high around something like a rebrand (change can be difficult for some) so be sure to bring the team along via appropriately timed updates that will inform the team, build belief in the new brand and set them up for success in positioning it to clients and other stakeholders. In our case, that meant disclosing to our entire agency that we were launching a new brand identity a full six months before we did it. That was a huge risk, as we obviously did not want the news of an impending rebrand to leak prematurely. It is one of our great points of pride that our team held that news confidential up until the day we publicly launched the brand.
- Engage, empower, trust and believe in your team. See Point 4 above.
How we know the rebrand worked
As we take stock of the Curious Plot brand on its 5-year anniversary, we gauge its success according to a few different measures:
- The brand fueled our growth. In the five years since the brand launched, our revenues have increased significantly (including a past-two-year growth rate of 32 percent without an acquisition); our employee head count has increased by nearly 60 percent; and our client roster has been significantly diversified across our target sectors of food, agriculture and companion animal care. Especially for an agency, these are winning metrics.
- It has advanced our culture. The rebrand enabled our team to see our path with greater clarity and to reinforce that each of our team members delivers on that brand experience through the adoption of our core values.
- Our brand is resonating in the market. More than anything else, the Curious Plot brand has given us the framework to change how the audiences we care most about see us. Our work is awarded at a higher rate than ever before. We have more proactive outreaches from prospective new clients than ever. We hear anecdotally of how our stakeholders name-check our agency in very positive ways.
Looking ahead: The stewardship of a brand
As we move into Year 6 with the Curious Plot brand, we do so knowing that our work to define and advance the brand will never be complete. We have a responsibility to stay grounded in truth around our strengths and weaknesses, to continue to pressure-test our value proposition and fine-tune how we are showing up in the marketplace and with clients. A brand is never set-it-and-forget-it.
The Curious Plot brand has delivered for us in countless and game-changing ways. THAT is the power of a brand.
Deron Johnson is an executive vice president, chief brand officer at Curious Plot. Among all his accomplishments over a 35-plus year career, the rebrand of Curious Plot ranks at the top of his list.