You’d have to have been living under a rock to have missed Uniting’s rebrand last year.
They moved from UnitingCare to just Uniting. (The word ‘care’ did not reflect on much of the work they do. For instance, customers of ‘home care’ strongly believe that in their own home they get ‘support’, not ‘care’. Also think of young disabled customers – they don’t want ‘care’.
Above is a video from this year’s LEADERS SUMMIT where Uniting’s Chief Customer Officer, Sandra Black, shared some insights into their strategy.
As a Marketing Manager the first things that comes to mind after watching are:
- “Wish I had an editorial team of 500-600 people to write my brand essence”
- “How much did that cost!?” (I have since been told it was in excess of $6 million)
- “Did their efforts to re-brand from the inside out increase their commercial goals”
As you’re aware, re-brands can be risky and if not done effectively can be detrimental.
There’s the first obvious danger – that it won’t be well received by consumers (let’s not forget Airbnb’s accidently explicit logo) and then there’s the less obvious risk – it won’t be adopted by employees.
Rebranding for Uniting from the inside out and carrying their employees with them on the journey meant there were no surprises and that staff were equipped, informed and confident to stand behind the new vision.
This strategy minimises staff turnover which can be common during a re-brand and is a significant expense to any organisation. A clever approach Uniting!
