Low impact rebrand follow-up

A few days ago I wrote about a low-impact rebrand we’re working on with one of our clients.

This email came in yesterday from our client:

“I’m happy to hit pause on the uniforms for a couple of weeks. I like the idea of sourcing high-quality ethically produced shirts, and then having them embroidered locally as a separate step.”

Which I outlined in the email as one of a few options.

At the start of a rebrand when everything is new and exciting, there’s a buzz to get things done quickly (particularly on our client’s side) – I see this a lot with rebrands, and believe it’s mostly fuelled by anticipation and the excitement of all the new stuff to come. Even when you’re planning on going the more ethical route which can take longer, that doesn’t make you immune to excitement.

However, as the rebrand gets moving and we settle into the rhythm of ticking things off – our client’s heart-rates slow down, and everyone starts looking at the to-do list more realistically.

What this email highlighted to me is that, even though our client was already prepared for the slower route, this was a moment when she herself took the pressure off the timelines in favour of doing things the preferred way.

We could have made up a deadline to keep things moving, but the deadline would ultimately have been meaningless – it puts all the focus on the delivery time, rather than the low-impact values we all want to honour. All a deadline would have served is the excitement.

By stepping back and being considered about our suppliers, we’re acknowledging that the timeline is something we have full control over. We can change or remove it entirely, and it’s – very often – not the most important thing.