Once the team is in place, it must get moving. The first major step is the inventory, which consists of establishing an exhaustive list of all the changes that will need to be made.

We bring together the brand change leader, the project director, the Stream director, and one or two people from his team.


The big census.

In a room that has been previously secured to avoid any leak of information (clouded windows, code or key to enter), all the elements to be modified are then listed, from the smallest to the most complex. Each “object” to be modified will be the subject of actions and its own timetable.


We reserve an entire wall for this exercise. Separated into zones for each Stream, the objects are written on post-its and grouped by Stream and by activity.

This list will serve as monitoring and control for the teams and the project director.

It's a long job, but it's necessary so as not to forget anything. It is important that department directors participate because it puts them in a position to get involved and commit to concrete actions to be carried out by their teams.


Once the list is established, it can be completed the following day and then left on the wall of the operating room to serve as reminders. An electronic version is shared with the director of Stream.


Delegated planning.

From this list, each Stream is responsible for determining a budget and a specific retro-planning for each object in order to determine its completion deadline, its cost, the necessary resources and thus the start date of the work.


This responsibility is entirely managed by the Stream itself, which informs the project director. This exercise (including adjustments) should not exceed 1 month, but may take up to two or three months depending on the complexity of the tasks to be carried out and the number of entities involved. It is undoubtedly on this phase that efforts must be most concentrated.


At this stage, the teams understand the complexity of the operations to be carried out and are invested in the objective to be achieved.


It is at this stage that we can begin to involve external suppliers who have signed an NDA and without mentioning the final objective of the operation. A precise, but incomplete, specification (no mention of brand change, logo or precise date).


The first schedule is put together based on the deadlines for completing each change, the teams mobilized, but not the projects in progress. Priority is given to rebranding.


Once the schedule has been established, the arbitration between scheduled operations and those linked to rebranding will be led by the CEO, the CFO and the department director concerned. As there are financial, market share and sales objectives, this discussion has major implications.


This is the time for each department to present its strategy for achieving its annual objectives while carrying out the rebranding: hiring additional resources, shifting a non-strategic project to a less busy period, abandoning an investment that does not will respond more to the values ​​of the new brand…


A budget on several levels.

A rebrand is a costly operation that involves major changes at every level. As this budget must be validated at the highest level and included in investments, the financial director is involved very early.


At the material level, the change in brand identity involves replacing all previous codes which are present everywhere, from the business card to the access badge including offices, boutiques, the network of resellers, product packaging , … Most of these elements are replaced regularly, so budgeting for them is not complicated. This is not the case for heavier tasks such as replacing furniture or signs.


At the intangible level, it will be necessary to replace the previous identity in the minds of employees, customers, and all stakeholders who collaborate with the company. We are talking not only about the digital ecosystem within which the brand is coded everywhere or emails, but about all the points of contact with them including customer services, the names of the offers, their presentation, information campaigns , Communication.


IT and communications directors will have to use their experience to estimate the budget envelopes necessary to review mobile applications, websites and e-commerce as well as the costs of communications campaigns. Each will present a first draft of their investments in the week following the census meeting.


Each of Stream's directors will have to:


Assess the resources needed to complete these tasks. Can we implement it with our current teams? Should we resort to extras? Do we need to bring in an outside agency or expertise?

Launch high-level cost assessments on the purchase of the largest items, namely: furniture in the case of stores whose design must be redesigned, replace logos (which can be numerous and complex to modify, for example on the facades of the main buildings, the store brands and all the successive partnerships put in place), the communication campaigns and the digital ecosystem.

Estimate the costs of all changes, often with multiple levels of intervention. We evaluate a facelift version which consists of changing a minimum of things in order to conform to the new identity, a facelift version which requires a more profound change without throwing away what has previously been put in place and a reconstruction version which certain subjects require.

Arbitrate costs and determine priorities.


After some arbitration at the company level, the budget thus assembled is presented to the board of directors and defended by the CEO and the CFO. We will choose which investments can be placed in CapEx (investment expenses) and which should rather be placed in OpEx (operations expenses).


The “group” issues are added in order to give an investment target to the project as a whole. Feedback is given to the teams at the level of the Extended Steering Committee in order to clarify expectations and make the necessary decisions.


Equipped with an exhaustive list of actions to be carried out, a schedule and a budget, each Stream is ready to implement the brand change.


It’s about starting a marathon which will end with the launch of the new identity. The next key to rebranding we're going to go through is getting teams moving and keeping them engaged until the end. Quite a challenge.