| Epic Advertising
2009 REBRAND 100 Winners > notable
Industry/Sector: Internet/Multimedia Communication
Enterprise Rebrand
Country Base: USA
Below: Before Images, Rebrand Images, Summary
Summary:
Industry Setting - The company is a performance marketing company, which means its mission is to provide online advertisers of all sizes measurable and effective internet advertising impact. Therefore, it sits in a highly competitive sweet spot of the industry between advertisers (upstream) and publishers and internet distribution (downstream).
Challenge - The company (under former brand name, Azoogle) was founded in 2000 as a CPA (“cost per action”) affiliate marketing network. Through seven years, the company experienced very strong growth within this niche. However, traditional affiliate marketing is only a component of performance marketing broadly and there were other things the company did as part of opportunistic expansion that fit under performance marketing like Search Engine Marketing, Media Planning, Creative Services, Video Advertising, Social Network marketing and more. The challenge was that the Azoogle name was somewhat limited and known only as an affiliate marketing company; which created many barriers to entry with our clients (the advertisers) in trying to exhibit our wider set of competencies.
Strategy - The company decided to preserve the Azoogle name while rolling in a new umbrella brand (Epic) that better encompassed the company’s expanding suite of services that weren’t just traditional affiliate marketing. The Azoogle brand meant something very concise to marketers and clients, and we chose to maintain that and not disrupt it. However, when we hit critical mass in terms of our competencies outside of purely affiliate network marketing, the timing was perfect and the story was easier to understand. The Azoogle brand name was maintained nearly in its exact state from an operational point of view, as a “division of Epic Advertising”. Slowly, we started to promote and market the new Epic brand and its wider suite of services (of which, Azoogle was one of them) to our target audience being top-tier online advertisers and agencies, as well as Fortune 500 brands.
It is notable that we made the final decision to rebrand in early February 2008; and we announced the new brand – along with new website, marketing materials and everything consistent with a major rebrand - less than 8 weeks later spending less than $15,000 in total.
Result - By all accounts, internally and externally, the rebranding has met with unbridled enthusiasm. The Azoogle name as a corporate brand name was confirmed as “limited” by many people and seen as too close to “Google” to be a company that could be taken seriously as a major industry player. Advertisers and other clients who knew Azoogle understood our strategy and were easily retained. New advertisers now had a very clear picture of our company structure and wider set of competencies. We even managed to win business from advertisers that previously thought our business was too narrow in scope. We also have garnered significant press opportunities, speaking engagements, “expert” bylined opportunities and more PR than we ever had in the company’s first 7 years in total. Further, our relationship with key outside agents (bankers, investors, industry analysts) was heightened.
Credits:
Client: Epic Advertising - www.epicadvertising.com
Brand Strategists/Designers: Epic Advertising - www.epicadvertising.com
Chief Marketing Officer: Michael Sprouse
Manager, Creative Services: Eric Baer
Art Director: Vitali Soroka
Senior Designer: Paul Biondi
Marketing Manager: Cherilyn Earl
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