Fleet Management: Tips on Rebranding Your Fleet

When is the right time to look at rebranding your fleet? When a merger occurs? When the business develops a new product line? If branding elements like a logo change happens? Effective fleet management means understanding what rebranding is all about and how to do it successfully without losing customer trust.

Richard Duncan, the Managing Director of TBWA/Hunt Lascaris in Cape Town wrote a post for Media Tool Box and defines rebranding as “Affecting a change to a brand in order to stimulate a change in consumer attitudes, perceptions and behavior with the end goal of generating positive market growth.”

This statement is certainly true  if your brand has become stagnant, too sterile or no longer leads in industry competition.

Too many fleet managers fear rebranding when they shouldn’t. Change, they say is inevitable and some brands are so embedded into the mind of the consumer fleet managers often think why mess with success? If you look at the most recognizable brands in history, logos and slogans have changed in rebranding efforts yet still remain consumer favorites.

Why Rebranding Is Essential

Thomas Edison once said, “There’s a better way to do it. Find it” and he was right. For example, no one says Federal Express anymore—now it’s FedEx.  And, as far as automakers go, the Nissan takeover and name change from Datsun to Nissan was a good thing, not a bad one.  In fact, Nissan’s brand is stronger than ever these days.

If your fleet management duties involve a rebrand, below are some great tips to help you get started on the right rebranding path.

Determining the Brand

Too often and especially in fleet management, the brand is not identified correctly. For example, some fleet managers may think the brand is only the logo and consistency of that logo on fleet vehicle wraps and graphics, letterhead and business cards. In reality, however, the brand encompasses the entire customer relationship experience from beginning to end. Define your brand in totality—not just logos or slogans but customer service, advertising, website and social media marketing efforts. People will see your fleet graphics but there are other elements to rebranding successfully. Before you can rebrand, you must review your current brand.

Is the Logo or Slogan Changing?

What’s the reason for the rebrand? From there, what areas do you need to focus on the most? Big corporate giants change the design of their logos all the time. Even though the change may be a slight variation, they do this to keep the logo fresh and in line with the times. If your logo is going through a rebranding process, you don’t want to keep it a secret! Put the new logo on everything including your fleet vehicle graphics and wraps. Visuals are your strongest ally.

New Product or Enhancements

If your company is a plumbing service and you have a fleet of vans to carry your plumbers and their equipment from job to job and add a new service such as installing on-demand hot water systems to help cut on energy costs, you need to let your audience know what’s new. You need to announce this new service via your fleet with decals and graphics announcing the new service enhancement. And, it’s not just your fleet! Your website, social media advertising and your website must be consistent when announcing the new product or service enhancement.

Packaging and Perception

Fleet management includes looking at your fleet as the “package” or delivery of your brand. If you skip the process of being innovative with new packaging—meaning your fleet graphics redesign, you’ll be losing a lot of daily visual impressions.  Saabira Chaudhuri’s article, “What a Packaging Makeover Can Do for Your Company” tells us of the importance of package rebranding. In the article, Chaudhuri quotes Richard Bates who is the Senior Partner and Executive Creative Director of the Brand Integration Group. Bates says of packaging, “Up-scale retailers like Tiffany, half of what the customer pays for is a beautiful blue box with a white bow. Packaging has the potential to make or break a product.” If your fleet vehicles are dull or void of your brand, perhaps your “packaging” needs a rebrand.

Knowing When You Need Experts

Our final tip on fleet management rebranding is a no brainer really. You’ll find you will need help in your rebranding efforts and you can make the cost affordable to rebrand successfully. Determine your budget and seek out the help of expert marketing consultants who have in-house graphic designers to help you rebrand.

At Sunrise Signs, we understand why rebranding is so important in fleet management and we offer in-house consultants with prices to fit every budget.  Hollywood insiders say “It takes years to become an overnight success” but if you use the right rebranding tools, the consumer’s perception will continue to be a trusting relationship—not a new relationship where you  have to reel them back in.