A Brand New Day

Have you ever found yourself standing in front of a customer wondering how to answer the question, “So, what does your company do?” Perhaps you stuck with your standard line and said something like, “I am a printer.” Maybe you used the chameleon approach, where you read the mind of your customer and told them what they wanted to hear. Or perhaps you gave them a long litany of all of the services you provide, prefaced with the statement, “You may want to sit down. This is going to take a while.”

Branding is difficult and time consuming. Add the dynamics of a rapidly changing industry and the effort becomes a formidable challenge.
It’s no coincidence that Vanguard and PSDA recently launched new brand identities. Many other PSDA members have recently done the same thing. Distributors are positioning themselves as problem solvers, more consultative than transactional, and distributors’ printer and supplier partners are redefining themselves to better support the growth areas of our industry.

At Vanguard, our branding effort started almost a year ago and required hundreds of hours of effort. So, why now? “We were in danger of confusing and fragmenting our identity,” says Paul Wry, Vanguard’s creative director. “The marketplace is competitive enough for us,” he added. “It’s important to distinguish yourselves from others.” According to Wry, a brand is not something you can touch, it is something you can feel. “We want our customers to have a good feeling when they think of our name,” said Wry. “It’s vital that they believe that our brand delivers on a promise.”

Wry and his team began the branding process with an internal survey of Vanguard employees followed by a survey of our customers and suppliers. The goal was to find out what people think we do. It was disturbing, but not surprising when results revealed that we were many different things in the minds of our employees. “I was hoping for a common answer but everyone had a unique definition of who we are and what we do,” lamented Wry. Customer and supplier answers were even more diverse. “I was told we were a printer, an ad agency, a fulfillment company, a brokerage, a creative firm and a service bureau.”

After the surveys, the branding team looked at competition and industry trends. They also examined the DNA of Vanguard, specifically the mission, goals, vision and core values. The information was collected and summarized into a strategic brief which became the guide for brand development.

Despite the wide range of information gathered, a clear brand of who we are and what we do began to emerge. “What we found out,” said Wry, “is that customers continued to come back to us for two reasons: they trusted us and could count on us to get the job done.” This helped us answer the question, who are we? From that, “The Take Charge People” service mark was developed. The information also revealed that what we do could be drilled down to three core areas: create, produce and distribute. This became the tagline that would go with the Vanguard Direct name.

The team developed a new website, collateral and stationery that graphically portray all of this. “Our website and collateral are based on case studies,” said Wry. “Rather than having a menu of services, our information communicates that we are project managers that deliver integrated solutions to communication challenges.”
Launching our new brand internally was a much anticipated event. Wry and his team created excitement in the days leading up to the launch by distributing promotional products that hinted at our new brand. The actual launch included a video presentation as well as testimonials from all of the senior managers. Wry pointed out that senior management buy-in is extremely important for any branding effort.

With the internal launch complete, Wry and his team are preparing for the next phase of marketing our new brand. “We have plans for direct mail, email campaigns and other touch points,” said Wry. Vanguard is also planning open house events for targeted customer groups.

The effort is not without challenges. “For the launch to be successful, it’s vital that all employees buy in to the new brand. Equally important, they must live up to the brand,” Wry said. To do this, Vanguard provided each employee with a laminated card to keep on their desk. “The card, which is a constant reminder, lists the promises and core values that our brand stands for.” These promises and core values are not new to the staff. They have been the fundamentals used to review employee performance each year. “It was important that our brand reflect what we are already doing, not some new idea of who we would like to be,” said Wry.

PSDA went through similar efforts during the past year. Staff members worked with marketing research companies to develop a strategic brief to work from. Stacey Gallagher, PSDA’s marketing director, was very pleased with the result. “Personally, I love the look of our new brand,” said Gallagher. “Not only is it clean and professional, it is understandable. With our launch we wanted to get member buy-in. I think we were successful with that. We also wanted a brand identity that would be easy to present to prospective members.”

Similar to Vanguard, PSDA staff drilled down to three silos of what we do. Print, Services and Distribution. According to Gallagher, this effort was challenging because of the diversity of our members. Despite that, staff captured the essence of the association; one that provides a wide range of services in the printing industry. “The word ‘print’ means more than ink on paper,” Gallagher said. “It means that we provide ink on any substance that intends to communicate a message.”

The word “distribution” is equally important because it positions PSDA in the marketplace as a group of organizations that are customer-centric and focused on the end user. We have been saying that we are solution sellers for a long time. Now we have an association with an identity to back that up.

Do you know what your brand identity is? You are your brand. Your brand is you.