Rebranding? Here’s How to Host a Good Re-Brand Activation Event

Rebranding is a marketing strategy that companies use to create a new image for themselves and their products. By changing the logo, the name, the colors or the image associated with specific products, brands or entire corporations, businesses are able to make a fresh start with new clientele as well as maintaining the old ones via re-brand activation.

Reasons for Rebranding

There can be a number of reasons for rebranding. Companies either wish to dissociate themselves from previous logos and slogans that held negative connotation, wish to attract new customers, and/or wish to compete with their rivals with the help of a new image. No matter what the reason may be, rebranding requires a lot of capital and publicity for the new brand to be easily recognized by old clients as well as the www.

Out With the Old, In With the New

During every corporation’s lifetime, there comes a time when it needs to pack away its old image and create a new look that stays up to current times. Every company goes through this same process of designing new logos and brands to replace the old ones over time. Take a look at American Airlines and the way it has remodeled itself to provide people with a brand new logo that still states the same motto of top quality and fast air travel.

The Re-Brand Activation Event

In order to achieve success for the new brand and to create awareness among consumers regarding its launch, many companies prefer to host re-brand activation events. In the same vein of a brand activation event, these are usually big corporate affairs that allow the company to reach out to its customers and potential clients, making a name for the reformed brand.

Re-brand activation events are a form of event marketing, where an event is organized and hosted by the company to give exposure to its new image. These marketing events can be held online or via internet communications; but the most successful form is the traditional way of holding in-person, live events.

Types of Re-Brand Activation Events

Although online interaction is faster, cheaper, and easier, it still cannot compete with the impact that a face-to-face interaction can have on a person. Physical events for re-brand activation may be difficult to manage and might cost more than online affairs, but they allow one-on-one communication with consumers as well as rivals and this interaction is often more effective in bringing sales for a company than an online chat or email.

Plus, live events give you fodder for online conversations. You can use the material from the event in your blogs, social media and other communications to display the new logo and brand in action.

If you are planning to host a rebranding event for your company, the first thing to consider is the type of event you wish to host. There are a number of physical events that can be held for brand marketing:

• Food-Based Social – People love food, and if they associate your rebrand with good food, trust us, it will be rememberd in a positive light.

• Sponsor a Party at a Trade Show – Trade shows are where people from specific professions gather together. A large number of companies are usually invited here, making them a good location to highlight your rebrand.

• Partner with a Local Business – Try to find a related but non-competing business that you can partner with to get the word out. For example, have your employees dressed in the new brand and handing out goodies as customers walk into the local grocery store.

• Local Sports Team – Have a “day” at one of your local sporting events, where you can pay to be highlighted on banners, big screens, half-time shows and more. Throw out plenty of new swag to the fans.

• Think Outside the Box – Your rebrand activation should be as unique as your new brand. There is no limit to what you should do, and no box inside which you should fit the event.

Strategies for Hosting Effective Re-Brand Activation Events

Once you have decided of the form of event you wish to host to promote your rebranding, use the seven tips given below to organize an event that is successful and effective:

1. Set Up Targets And Goals

The best events are those that are strategically planned with a clear aim in mind. If your event does not have a direction, you will lose track of it and it will not fulfill its purpose of bringing publicity to your new brand image.

Plan your event and set up realistic and achievable goals for your marketing event. This planning includes attracting the right targeted audience to attend your re-brand activation event.

2. Plan A Creative And Themed Event

Try to incorporate a particular theme into your event to make it into a cohesive whole. Organize a creative event with care and work with your team of event planners or decorators to build the ambiance that you wish for your guests to experience.

3. Reach The Right Audience

Organize a marketing strategy to publicize your event. This strategy is especially important for events where the attendance consists of the general public, because a well-marketed occasion can attract a larger crowd to it. You need to use your marketing promotions effectively to reach out to your target audience.

Consider your products and your brand. What does the new image signify and who would be your most likely customers? Answer these questions and choose to promote your event accordingly.

4. Use Multiple Promotions And Publicize Effectively

Use a number of different platforms to promote and publicize your event to let your target audience know about your re-brand activation. Make optimum use of your resources and utilize more than one means of advertising your planned event.

5. Incorporate Social Media

To engage the attention of potential event attendees, take the help of social media. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and Foursquare can enable you to reach a large number of people in a short amount of time. You can also gauge the interest of the public and encourage people to attend the event through these social forums and once the event has reached completion, a track of it on social media can reveal its success ratio from the attendees.

6. Conduct Follow-Ups

Be sure to organize in advance for email follow-ups to be sent to every attendee and non-attendee that had shown an interest in your re-brand activation event. This will give you an edge over the competition and allow you to discover views from potential customers. It also leads to good business-to-customer relationship.

7. Calculate Your Returns

As event management and planning is always a big task, it can require a large amount of capital. Once you are done with the launch of the rebranding, calculate your profits and revenues. Did you make up for your expenditure? Or have you suffered a loss? Read up on how to calculate your event ROI. Every company that creates a new image for itself should keep a track of its profit margin with regard to the re-brand activation event.

Following these seven strategies, you can plan a successful re-brand activation event for your company. So get started on your planning today!