29 July 2021
Revolution or evolution: refreshing your next generation brand
Australian businesses are right in the middle of the biggest transfer of wealth in at least 60 years.
Between 2011 and 2028, the Post WWII Baby Boomer generation will retire and for more than 400,000 small business owners, that means handing over the keys to the next generation – family, equity partners or new owners.
A significant proportion of this estimated $3.5 trillion in business value will be brand equity, the “premium that a company generates from a product with a recognisable name when compared to a generic equivalent.”
The founders of companies create brand equity through their hard work, their commitment to service, their reliability, the quality of their products and their unique personality. We call this essential point of difference their brand story.
But it is also reflected in their visual identity — colours, logos and typography — and how that has been marketed over many years.
Maintaining that brand equity while putting their own stamp on a business is a significant challenge — and risk — for new owners.
During the last 12 months we’ve helped three iconic South Australian businesses – Toop + Toop, DBH Lawyers and The Prairie Hotel – retain their hard earned brand equity while refreshing their offer for a new generation of clients.
These are their stories.
Toop + Toop
South Australia’s most awarded real estate agency, Toop + Toop, engaged Fuller to undertake a brand refresh at a critical stage in the agency’s growth and development.
After a strategic process of succession planning, Toop + Toop was in the process of transitioning from its founders, Anthony and Sylvia Toop, to the next generation: Bronte Manuel, Genevieve Toop and Suzannah Toop.
While the new owners wanted a rebrand that would communicate a ‘changing of the guard’ they also wanted to retain the brand equity in the business – in particular, its leadership within the highly competitive and rapidly evolving South Australian real estate industry.
Before starting on the brand refresh, Fuller undertook extensive research with agents and clients to inform the Toop + Toop brand strategy.
The brand story that emerged was the commitment the agency had to going the extra yard – the concept of ‘more’. More experience. More time. More effort. More trust. More insights. More data. More results. More care.
This concept was developed into the ‘Expect More’ brand tagline, inviting their potential and current customers to ask for a higher level of service from Toop + Toop than their competitors.
