A few years back I was working on a project for a client that had, shall we say, a particularly difficult brand to work with. If you’re like me then you both reel at the sight of this kind of project, and deeply enjoy the challenge of wiping the slate clean and giving a business something new, unique and thought-provoking to represent whatever great work it is that they do.
Unless you’re Ian Anderson or Neville Brody then you’ve probably had a mixed assortment of clients in the past – from big to tiny, some very open minded, some very set in their ways. And hey, there is nothing wrong with being set in your ways if what you’re sticking to is a strong principal or concept – especially if you firmly believe in it.
But there’s a specific type of CEO that sticks to their guns not out of a fundamental belief or a single vision toward an end goal, but actually out of fear – fear of the unknown. To this CEO, talk of ‘re-branding’ must be put down in a fashion that would make Stalin green with envy.
For this particular client, I worked a lot of extra hours to come up with some cool looking materials, I got some feedback from other people in the business, and I talked at length with the CEO about the value a brand can bring. When I presented my final work it was met with some really positive comments, and you know what? Even the CEO liked it.
And then he told me that they would steadily ‘step change’ their existing logo to this new one, over the course of maybe 12 months. I guess you win some, and you lose some.
* No cattle were harmed during the making of this post. Photo courtesy of benketaro
