Retiring a brand
that we felt it spoke more clearly
to the role the business plays with
customers today. It signalled a move
from describing where the business
started – in exhibitions – to a more
purposeful statement about our
influence and positioning both at
exhibitions and beyond the show
floor, into data and digital products
and specialist content.
Or, as Informa Markets CEO
Charlie McCurdy said: “Informa
Markets really brings to life the
role we play helping to bring
energy, opportunity, growth and
success to the specialist markets our
customers operate in, and to our
customers’ businesses.” It gave us
an opportunity to go to market with
a new story, through a new website,
press releases, videos, stories and
interviews, while retaining the
existing product brands, reputation,
and loyalty. It also provided a
focus and motivation for both sets
of colleagues to work towards
establishing a new business, rather
than remaining or joining an
existing one.
w w w.exhibitionworld.co.uk
Tips for brand retirement
Once the decision to retire one or
more brands has been made, it is
important to ensure you have a
clear and workable plan to transfer
their equity to your new brand.
One of the most important groups
to consider in brand retirement is
colleagues. When things go well,
colleagues are your best brand
advocates. Not only do they engage
with customers, peers and other
companies you work with, they
speak to friends and family and post
on social media. When colleagues
are engaged, support the brand
retirement and understand what
you are trying to do, they will help
convey the message. More than
this, retiring a brand takes many
different teams and functions to
practically make it work, and so
getting people on board to help and
buy in is critical.
We carried out research with
those we were relying on to help
with retiring both brands, to gauge
the depth of feeling and areas
that needed particular care and
attention. In some instances, this
initial research – whether it is
through questionnaires, interviews,
workshops or informal discussion
– can shape the way the project is
set up.
Another essential first step
is to audit the full extent of the
retiring brand’s digital footprint,
to estimate the scope of the job in
hand and who might need to be
involved in taking actions. This
might include multiple websites,
at a product brand and business
or corporate level, and the search
engine optimisation that is tied into
bringing people to the sites, as well
as social media channels and any
online references where company
name is specified such as Google
Maps and Wikipedia.
The communications that
customers and suppliers receive
should also be in scope, whether
those are marketing newsletters or
eblasts, what appears on invoices,
and even what bank account names
customers pay, tied to the legal
entity they are contracting with.
In terms of physical assets,
it can be easy to forget about
signage on buildings, and having
a sustainable solution for retiring
branded stationary and goods while
minimising unnecessary waste or
landfill is essential.
When the research and
information collection stage is
completed, it is then possible to
create an action plan for each
individual task, including what
communications and information
should be provided when to
customers, suppliers, key partners,
including venues and so on, so they
can also be part of the journey and
so we make their role, and any
changes we are asking them to
make, as easy as possible to fulfil.
For us, neither the Informa
Exhibitions nor the UBM brand
could be retired overnight either,
particularly given UBM’s long
history, and the carefully co-
ordinated process we undertook.
They will continue to have a visible
footprint and historical legacy, but
over time and, if done correctly,
the business’s most important
stakeholders will have made the
journey to Informa Markets, a
brand that brings our strategy to
life. As Jeff Bezos of Amazon once
said: “A brand for a company is like
a reputation for a person. You earn
reputation by trying to do hard
things well.”
Right: Graham-
Jerome Ball,
Director of Global
Branding, Informa
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