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It’s me, my brand and I

Mario Alonzo-Debout,
March 3, 2020

From redefining RDB's claim to finding the perfect logo. Read the next part of Mario's journey and his learnings about rebranding a marketing agency.

This blog article is part 2 of the rebranding story of RDB.

Read Part I

Perfect timing

This time we took the right approach. Miri supported us in starting with a workshop to review our current market place, the target audience, and our business model canvas.

We strengthened our niche by committing to the purpose economy and the long term strategy of servicing companies with companies following the triple bottom line principle – people, planet, profit.

Our expertise in branding, effective global marketing, content creation, diversity, culture and sustainability was supposed to be reflected without losing our social entrepreneurship DNA.

We quickly aligned on a new claim:

We build brands that do better.

With the new claim we positioned RDB as an enabler, helping to drive both a brand’s purpose and its profit.

A one-stop-shop for purpose, branding, content and performance.

I never felt so clear about our value proposition even though “purpose” is still a buzzword and open to interpretation. But it is the closest to a social-entrepreneurship mindset we can define in marketing without diluting into corporate social responsibility or charity.

With Miriam, our solid strategy and Christian’s talent and empathy, we were convinced we would be able to inspire great work.

Finally!

We now were able to explore brand personality and Christian challenged us with two very daring territories.

Driven by the insight that our value proposition would mostly be attractive to people who share a similar mindset we started to get confident with a more sophisticated approach, one that would reflect our insightful and thoughtful approach.

We also let go of the thought of being able to please everyone.

We felt Christian now had everything he would need to explore executions.
Before his final presentation, I was prepared to surrender. I would have taken the best of whatever is going to be presented.

“If we can’t meet my expectations after all that work and preparation, it’s probably me. I am the problem”, I thought.

He showed us the first line and I thought: “I could live with that” – in the past we’d explored similar directions.

His second proposal was very modern. We mentioned Nike a couple of times in the brief but could now see that this is not us.

When you see it, you will know

And then he showed us his final draft.

And there it was.

I immediately connected with it. I could sense the excitement mount while looking at it.

  • It’s timeless – reminding me of fashion brands and colleges.
  • Its typography reflects Robin Hood but is still contemporary.
  • It’s a badge. A crest. A coat-of-arms.
  • It’s bold, confident, elegant. A bit hipster.
  • It works well in all sizes.
  • The { represents the bow.
  • It’s portrait mode representing a mobile-first approach.
  • The {} would allow us to brand things we feel are at our core like {Diversity} or {Purpose}
  • It also has something nerdy with them being used in e-sports to show clan membership in front of one’s nickname.

I loved it.

Color palette

“All we had to do” now was refining the details and develop the visual principles.

As a last highlight, I want to mention the brilliant color palette Christian designed.

Designers, if you want to give your color palette some life, name it! It’s details like this that make the difference between great and brilliant.

Very long story short

What did I learn? A ton.

  • Things take time and you need to dedicate some serious resources & budget.
  • Don’t rebrand when you are in the middle of a transformation.
  • Get support from an outside perspective. Someone without the emotional and legacy baggage you carry.
  • Start with business strategy and a clear positioning or you will be lost.
  • Clearly define your purpose and keep it separate from your mission statement.
  • Don’t start to involve your creative team before you are able to brief on the above positioning. You will only cause frustration by expecting your creatives to “get it” while in reality, it’s a gamble to hit your taste.
  • The rebranding is the END-result of a change-management process, not the kick-off.
  • Be careful when tapping into a public commons brand like Robin Hood. You will have a hard time not gravitating to its power and will be limited by its boundaries.
  • Avoiding trends is difficult. There is only very little that hasn’t been done before.
  • A rebranding is not done with the guidelines. The real work starts now. You need to change all templates, adjust the interior design, relaunch the website, change all social profiles, train all your designers all next to daily business. Brace yourself to plan some resources across the company.

No matter how hard, it’s worth it

As RDB is my baby, it grows with me and I grow with it. Almost 7 years is a long time. There are moments you feel the clothes you are wearing no longer reflect the person you are.

The feeling when you get clarity about who you are and where you want to go is beautiful and creates a lot of energy and momentum for the business. I’ve never been more proud of RDB than I am today.

For the first time, the brand is no longer about me or about what I thought it would be, but what it became through the countless people who shaped it for the last 7 years. Thank you.

If you can relate and

  • need an outside perspective or just input on how to get started

  • struggle with how to incorporate purpose or a new culture into your identity

  • want to give your brand the contemporary style it deserves in a digital age

  • want to build a brand for the first time

  • want to understand how to bring your brand to life through content and social media

don’t hesitate to contact us and check out our work.

I am confident {RDB} Robin des Bois can help or recommend someone to you who can.

Book a free consultation about your rebranding with RDB

*

Read other articles connected to rebranding

Why your rebranding strategy should be all about purpose

June 10, 2020
A conversation about rebranding strategies with Mario Alonzo-Debout, Founder, Managing Director & CCO of RDB and The Major Oak and co-founder of MDB & Allmende.
Read more
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It's me, my brand and I - Part 2

June 8, 2020
From redefining RDB's claim to finding the perfect logo. Read the next part of Mario's journey and his learnings about rebranding a marketing agency.
Read more
https://rdb.agency/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/its-me-my-brand-and-i-part-2-mobile-header-1-e1608028250239.png 999 720 RDB Agency https://rdb.agency/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/logo.svg RDB Agency2020-06-08 15:47:282020-12-15 10:42:52It's me, my brand and I - Part 2
Rebranding a Marketing Agency

It's me, my brand and I - Part 1

June 8, 2020
From toxic pitch culture to founding RDB, an agency that does better. Read Mario's journey and his learning along the way.
Read more
https://rdb.agency/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/its-me-my-brand-and-i-mobile-header-1-e1608026850114.png 999 720 RDB Agency https://rdb.agency/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/logo.svg RDB Agency2020-06-08 14:54:482021-01-21 14:06:12It's me, my brand and I - Part 1
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It’s me, my brand and I – Part 1 Rebranding a Marketing Agency Why your rebranding strategy should be all about purpose
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