Once the team has been set up, it must get moving. The first major step is the assessment phase, which consists of establishing an exhaustive list of all the changes that will need to be made.

The brand change lead, the project director, the Stream director, and one or two members of their team come together.

**The comprehensive inventory**

In a room that has been secured in advance to prevent any information leaks (windows covered, code or key required for entry), all the elements to be modified are listed, from the smallest to the most complex. Each “item” to be modified will be subject to specific actions and its own timeline.

An entire wall is reserved for this exercise. Divided into zones for each Stream, the items are written on sticky notes and grouped by Stream and by activity.

This list will serve as a tracking and control tool for the teams and the project director.

It is a lengthy task, but a necessary one to ensure that nothing is overlooked. It is important for department directors to participate, as it places them in a position to get involved and commit to concrete actions to be carried out by their teams.

Once the list has been established, it can be completed the following day and will remain on the operations room wall as a reminder. An electronic version is shared with the Stream director.

**Delegated planning**

Based on this list, each Stream is responsible for determining a budget and a specific backward schedule (retro-planning) for each item in order to define its completion deadline, cost, required resources, and therefore 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 one month, but may extend to two or three months depending on the complexity of the tasks to be carried out and the number of entities involved. This is undoubtedly the phase where efforts must be most concentrated.

At this stage, teams begin to grasp the complexity of the operations to be carried out and fully commit to the objective to be achieved.

It is at this point that external suppliers who have signed an NDA can begin to be involved, without mentioning the final objective of the operation. They are provided with precise but incomplete specifications (no mention of rebranding, logo change, or specific date).

The initial schedule is built based on the timelines for implementing each change and the teams mobilized, but not on ongoing projects. Priority is given to the rebranding.

Once the schedule has been established, arbitration between planned operations and those related to the rebranding will be conducted by the CEO, the CFO, and the relevant department director. As there are financial, market share, and sales objectives at stake, this discussion has major implications.

This is the moment for each department to present its strategy to achieve its annual objectives while carrying out the rebranding: hiring additional resources, postponing a non-strategic project to a less busy period, abandoning an investment that will no longer align with the new brand values, and so on.

**A multi-level budget**

Rebranding is a costly operation that leads to major changes at all levels. Since this budget must be validated at the highest level and included in investment plans, the Chief Financial Officer is involved very early on.

On a tangible level, changing the brand identity means replacing all previous brand codes wherever they appear, from business cards and access badges to offices, stores, reseller networks, product packaging, and more. 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 signage.

On an intangible level, the previous identity must be replaced in the minds of employees, customers, and all stakeholders working with the company. This concerns not only the digital ecosystem in which the brand is embedded everywhere, or emails, but also all touchpoints with these audiences, including customer service, offer names, their presentation, information and communication campaigns.

The IT and Communications directors must use their experience to estimate the budget required to update mobile applications, websites, and e-commerce platforms, as well as the costs of communication campaigns. Each will present a first draft of their investment needs within the week following the inventory meeting.

Each Stream director will have to:

* Assess the resources required to carry out these tasks. Can this be implemented with our current teams? Do we need temporary staff? Should we involve an agency or external expertise?
* Launch high-level cost estimates for the largest expense items, namely: furniture in the case of stores whose design must be rethought; logo replacement (which can be numerous and complex to modify, for example on the façades of main buildings, store signs, and successive partnerships already in place); communication campaigns; and the digital ecosystem.
* Estimate the costs of all changes, often with several levels of intervention. A “facelift” version is evaluated, involving minimal changes to comply with the new identity; a “renovation” version requiring deeper changes without discarding what has previously been implemented; and a “rebuild” version that some areas may require.

Arbitrate costs and determine priorities.

After several company-level trade-offs, the assembled budget is presented to the Board of Directors and defended by the CEO and CFO. Decisions are made regarding which investments can be classified as CapEx (capital expenditures) and which should be treated as OpEx (operating expenses).

“Group-level” considerations are added in order to define an overall investment target for the project. Feedback is then provided to the teams at the expanded Steering Committee level to clarify expectations and make the necessary decisions.

Equipped with a comprehensive list of actions, a schedule, and a budget, each Stream is ready to implement the rebranding.

What begins is a marathon that will conclude with the launch of the new identity. The next key step in the rebranding journey is to set teams in motion and keep them mobilized until the very end. Quite a challenge.