Revival Food Co. was founded in 2014 by Indianapolis mom-of-3 Rachel Klein. What started as homemade labels and mini mason jars full of almond butter slowly evolved into a national brand filling the shelves of over 1,000 Walmart stores. With all the free time that COVID gave us to overthink, day dream, and ideate, Rachel got the itch for a little refresh towards the end of 2020. On December 14th, 2021, Revival’s official rebrand was launched to the public.
Before we say anything else, here’s our truest take: approaching a rebrand is equal parts plastic surgery, planning a wedding, and a pregnancy announcement…in that order. Top with a dash of soul searching and you’ve gone full rebrand mode. It’s fun, it’s crazy, and it’s so worth it.
Plastic Surgery
Plain and simple, your company is going under the knife and coming out on the other side with a whole new look. This is the design portion of the rebrand, which is the fun and creative part. You’ll surprise yourself with how many things will be added to your “need to update” list. Think every social account, any tool you’ve uploaded brand assets to (email softwares, ambassador portals, social extensions like Link Tree), physical assets and swag (like packaging, t-shirts, stationary, stamps, etc.). Obviously up until this point, you’ve worked hard to get your brand out there, so it makes sense that it’s really everywhere you look! Take note of all those places, because you’ll have to infiltrate those areas with your new colors, fonts, logos, graphics and everything else from your new style guide.
Possible to embed/insert this IG video here? If not, no worries!
https://www.instagram.com/p/CcWXhtBjpgy/
When people think of a rebrand, they think of image, aesthetic, look and feel. This is a huge part of the reveal, and will be the first impression after all your hard work to deliver it to the world. No pressure! Here’s where that “dash of soul searching” comes in. When we looked hard into Revival as a company, we went back to the bare bones, the foundation, the beginning! We said then and still say now, “Almond butter should taste good and be healthy. Above that, it should be fun.” Emphasis on the ‘fun.’ We consider ourselves a fun team, having fun at work, making almond butter that’s FUN to eat. Okay so you get it, we’re fun. When we looked at our old brand, we didn’t feel that same punch. Not enough of it at least. Enter: loud, bright, vibrant colors! When you settle on just a small piece of your new look that feels right, it quickly starts to pave the way to your new brand. It’s a domino effect for the rest of your work. Take those early brainstorms seriously.
Planning a Wedding
Once you get past the excitement of style guides, photography styles, and new fonts, you think to yourself, “How are we going to execute this?” Great question! Get out your rolodex. Scour your email contacts. Scroll back in your calendar to every helpful industry call you may have had in the somewhat-recent past. Tip: Say goodbye to your pride. No matter what size company you are, you’ll want everyone in your corner for this launch. Utilize those local relationships you’ve worked hard to build since your brand’s inception. Tell your mom, neighbor, the barista who knows your order by heart, friends, college alumni groups. As a brand that was in 1,000+ Walmarts, personal relationships are still something we rely heavily on. Looking back, perhaps it was because these folks have been along for the ride since day 1, and their excitement feels as authentic as yours.
If you haven't made the connection yet, this is the guest list part of wedding planning. Who do you want to celebrate with you? Local excitement with family and friends? Check. Now we move on to the big dogs. Who is actually going to help us reach the masses? Enter: Influencers you’ve worked with before, content creators you’ve had your eye on for a while, and other social subjects whose values seem to align with yours. Send the DM, pick up the phone, and ask them to help create noise around your launch. A surprising fact we forget sometimes when we interact on social media: people are nice. Some will say no, but some will say yes. With our general marketing budget combined with how much we shelled out to make this rebrand happen, we weren’t dangling Ben Franklin’s in anyone’s face. Instead, we put together an influencer box. Consider these the party favors for your wedding. We filled our newly designed boxes with our custom-made tissue paper, 2 jars of almond butter, a “Twirlin’ Spoons” hat, a Revival beaded bracelet, and a few other nick nacks that we thought anyone would love to open. About 50 content creators got this box 1 week before launch with a note from us thanking them and telling them when to post. It was a great success.
The Pregnancy Announcement
Finally, the finale! The time leading up to a rebrand announcement has people feeling suspicious. It’s like when you noticed your sister handing her wine to her husband under the table to “try a sip,” or when they’re being extra inquisitive about certain dates a few months away. There’s always little hints dropped along the way that are hard to avoid. With all the planning and effort put into the rebrand process, you find yourself trying really hard to keep it a secret to make the big reveal all the more special. Leading up to our announcement, we teased our Insta community for a couple days to stir the pot and ask for guesses. Instead of “girl or boy?” it was “T-minus 3 days until our biggest news yet! What do you think it is?” Our followers tossed things out like a new flavor, secured funding, or a new team member. It was fun to keep them on their toes. When we finally announced it, we got comments like “I knew it!” Cue the pregnancy vibes.
The Wrap Up
We’re still getting used to seeing our new jars on the shelf, new colors on social media, and new logo in our email signatures. We still have folders on our desktops that read “Old Stuff” and “New Stuff” because that differentiation took a while to become clear to us (okay fine, we were a little attached). We sometimes thought of it as moving into a new house: you’re upgrading, expanding, and getting a few new shiny things. It’s everything you’ve imagined for years! But you love your old house dearly and cherish the memories that came from it. In sum, you’re harnessing the greatness of your brand as it was to make it even better. You’re recognizing where your old brand got you and how it served you at that time, feeling thankful for it, and graduating to a revived, new look to serve you and your business in a new way. In the craziness of it all it can be hard to notice, but in hindsight, a rebrand is a really magical thing if done right. Cheers to new chapters!
