It happened a little less than a year ago, when we were engaged by a mid-sized company to help them build a new position for their entire (and very complex) business. Hired under the label of a ‘re-branding’ effort, Cohesion went to work: first to understand the issues and situation and then to develop a new positioning.
As we interviewed employees and partners, we began to uncover an interesting theme: the people that knew this company well had a relatively clear (and common) understanding of what it was and what it could be. The problem: absolutely no one had ever taken the time to develop a way to articulate that understanding. In other words, no one knew how to talk about this company and its products — they had no way to tell its story. Worse yet, senior management didn’t believe they had a messaging problem – they wanted to believe it was solely a positioning problem.
Our solution: 1) Quickly solve the positioning issue, which was little more (in this instance) than stripping a really sound idea of the poor messaging that surrounded it, and then, 2) Address the more complex issue of delivering a detailed messaging platform disguised as a positioning effort.
The result: A re-branding effort that really wasn’t one at all, but rather, was a complex (yet concise) architecture of how every internal and external audience should be addressed, through the myriad of situations and issues this company faces. A tool and approach that this company now uses successfully on a day-to-day basis.
This is the work of Cohesion. If we can do it for them, just imagine what we can do for you.
