In case you missed it, Uber announced a new rebrand. This is on the heels of a rebrand a couple years ago, but after shifting of leadership and some bad PR, Uber set out to find their roots and create a brand that positioned them better.
As church communicators, what can we learn from the rebrand of a massive international company that does almost $7 Billion per year?
Here are 5 things:
1) Listen, listen, listen
Whether you’re in the market for a new brand or not, the best thing that Uber did during this rebrand was listen to their audience. They asked questions about the brand and name recognition, colors, and more and came away with three common threads that influenced the rest of the brand.
As church communicators, it’s vitally important that we ask questions and get to know our church before we jump into a branding conversation. On a practical level, this might look like: conducting surveys, bringing in a third party to review the brand, and holding small focus groups. It’s important to remember, though, that a brand is so much more than a logo, so listen to how people perceive your church, your culture, and your community.
2) Simplicity stands strong
The Uber logo is comprised of a custom wordmark. That’s it. It’s so incredibly simple, yet it took thousands of hours to get to that point. Simplicity is a result of taking things away until you’re left with only the necessary elements, and that’s exactly what Uber did here.
For our church logos, don’t be afraid to explore wordmarks and other simple logo forms. It’s so easy to make a complex logo, so start asking “why do we have that? Is it necessary to our mission?” If not, take it out. Simplicity also extends to colors, so try to stick to 2 or fewer colors in your primary palette. Don’t be afraid of black and white!
3) A brand is more than a logo
Uber’s brand elements include: the logo, composition, typography, icons, color, motion, photography, illustration, and tone of voice. They left no stone unturned and worked to create a cohesive, thoughtful, and engaging brand.
Most churches do a good job of creating a logo and color that works, but neglect other elements of the brand. Are there elements of your logo that you can pull out to create a unique composition? What type of photography will help move your brand forward? What is your tone of voice? Is it conversational, is it professional, somewhere in between? These are all questions that churches should be asking to create a strong brand.
4) Messaging matters
After listening to customers, Uber knew exactly who they were and what type of messaging was going to reach their audience. They created common language that can be used by their team, their drivers, and their customers in order to push the brand forward.
We often talk about how churches have the “greatest story to tell.” But how are we leveraging clear and compelling messaging to tell that story? Take some time to figure out the message of your church. I recommend reading the book Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller, but if you don’t have time to do that, here are some questions you should answer: 1) What are people looking for? 2) What problems are they facing? 3) How can we help them solve their problems? 4) What does success look like for people? Answering those questions will put you on the right track to clear messaging that works.
5) Good branding is an investment
Not only did Uber spend thousands of hours on this rebrand, they’re going to have to spend millions of dollars to put the branding in place and make new brand collateral. Why did they do that if they know it was going to be so costly? Simply put, they understand that good branding is an investment.
While you don’t have to spend thousands and thousands of dollars to get a strong brand, you should be willing and able to invest some time, money, and energy into getting it right.
Here’s to making strong brands. You got this!