(Note: Our blogs are not written by GenAI).
A new CMO often inherit brand confusion, changing markets, and outdated positioning. As a result, one of the main to-dos for the new CMO is to perform a brand makeover and get it approved by the C-suite and the board. Of course, the brand is not just a logo or color scheme – rather it is how a business is perceived by the market and why customers trust it.
Brand makeovers are necessary at crucial junctions of businesses. For example, Microsoft had four major brand makeovers as follows:
1980s to 1990s: “A computer on every desk and in every home”
Early 2000s: “Enabling people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential”
2013-2015 (reflecting Steve Ballmer’s focus on mobile): “Creating a family of devices and services for individuals and businesses that empower people around the globe at home, at work and on the go, for the activities they value most”
2015-present (Satya Nadella era): “To empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more”
You can see the last rebrand was especially crucial for Microsoft, enabling its focus on cloud and apps. Microsoft’s market cap has increased 10-fold – from ~$346 billion to ~$3.7 trillion – after this refocus. Obviously, there were many reasons for this tremendous growth, but the brand makeover was a major contributor.
Understanding the Strategic Context
Before starting the rebranding efforts, you need to really understand your business. For example, you need different strategies if you are a small startup versus a large enterprise. If you are a startup, you cannot outspend incumbents, and so probably you will need to either focus on a niche market or offer value propositions that incumbents cannot easily replicate. If you are an enterprise, bringing coherence which enables different divisions to operate with unified messaging would be the key requirement.
Similarly, you need different strategies if you are a B2B versus B2C. In B2B, the focus is logic, trust, and ROI. In B2C it is emotion, identify, and immediacy.
An example of a company that evolved based on strategic reset is HubSpot, which evolved from “inbound marketing software” to “the CRM platform for scaling companies,” reflecting its move into a broader market and more mature buyer.
Define Your Brand Core
Explore the following questions on your brand:
Purpose: Why do you exist?
Vision: What future are you building?
Mission: What do you do every day to realize that vision?
Values: What principles shape behavior?
Use findings from the above explorations to create perceptual maps (i.e. X-Y axes map with four quadrants that represent how consumers perceive your brand compared to competitors). Identify where you are and determine where you want to be.
Codify Your Value Proposition and Positioning Statement
The format to use for this purpose is as follows:
For [target customer], [Brand] is the [category] that delivers [benefit] because only [Brand] is [unique differentiator].
Once you draft your positioning statement, test and refine it by verifying it with real buyers. The positioning statement will be crucial on your efforts to get buy-in.
Align with C-Suite: Speak their language
Now you have done the hard work of repositioning the brand, you still need to create internal champions for your cause. That would be your C-suite colleagues. Each have different interests, and you should articulate the need for brand positioning in terms of their interests. Below are some examples:
- CFO: ROI, CAC, margin uplift, long-term value.
- COO: Operational consistency and scalability.
- CPO: Product differentiation and roadmap alignment.
Socialize your vision first individually and then to the full C-suite for their buy-in.
Architect a 3-Act Story for the Boardroom
Now you are ready to face the boardroom. First you need a compelling storyline to sell your vision. Best practice is to create a 3-act story as follows:
Act I: The Setup
- The brutal truth: market pressures, misaligned messaging, missed opportunities.
Act II: The Tension
- The stakes: customer confusion, internal silos, or new competition.
Act III: The Resolution
- Your rebrand as the unlock. Paint a picture of what the business could become.
An example of a company that transformed with this way is Adobe, which underwent an existential crisis during the internet era. In response, Adobe repositioned itself from boxed software to “Creative Cloud”, reframing itself as a continuous value provider rather than a one-time purchase.
Polish Your Presentation & Rehearse the Ask
All the well-known best practices for effective executive presentations apply here. That said, following is the recommended structure for the presentation:
1. Start with an executive summary.
2. Keep each slide focused on one insight.
3. End with a clear call to action (budget approval, go-live decision, resource alignment).
Conclusion
Successful brand transformations first win over the C-suite and the Board, and then over the customers. Keep your narrative rooted in business goals. Use combination of qualitative and quantitative arguments. Involve all parts of the company by making the proposed initiatives cross-functional.
Once you are successful in this crucial mission of Brand Reinvention, you become more than a marketer – you become a strategic leader.
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