Case Study – Brand Execution

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The challenge

One of the largest hearing healthcare retailers in the U.S. was rebranding with a vision-based transformation that went light years beyond a “name and a logo.”

It was the triple crown of brand experience:

  • Consumer Branding: Global and local (U.S.) collaborative development of a retail hearing healthcare brand
  • Business Transformation: A CTO leading a new retail vision: focus, values, ambition, USPs and key priorities 
  • Business and Brand Integration: Bringing together a 35-year legacy brand with 28 merger brands 

Deliverables

  • Rebrand Local Sponsor and Project Management Oversight “air traffic control”
  • Global liaison on brand and campaign development
  • Delegate with supporting agencies: brand, creative, communications, digital, employer branding, event planning, research, public relations, sign design
  • Internal communications
  • Retail Brick & Mortar Branding: external sign program + internal visual merchandising, 360 centers
  • Member of the launch event team

The client

For more than 35 years, HearUSA has been a leader in retail hearing healthcare. With that legacy came mergers, acquisitions, hearts & minds that were never fully integrated. The new brand was a catalyst for parent company WSA to position retail globally. And for HearUSA to transform the business with a new retail vision, culture, and community.

Our approach

Running this rebrand involved a heady combination of modern project management techniques, marketing expertise, experience in multi-unit B2C retail, communication (global-local, executive, field), flexibility, empathy, seeing opportunities and rolling with the vision as it evolved.  

A lot of rebranding is what we call “turning over rocks.” If you see something messy underneath: address it, communicate early & often, involve stakeholders with skin in the game, and identify the best route forward.

Project highlights

Bringing value: A project of this scope doesn’t succeed without the contributions of many internal and external stakeholders. Gaining trust, being counted on to deliver, and showing up as an integral team member was critical.

Aligning stakeholders: From early board/global approvals of plans & budgets, to internal consultation, to weekly updates to the Executive team, Directors, and other audiences – communication was intentional and evolved in stages to bring people on the journey.

Scaling information: Recognizing various audience needs – from executive to execution. 

We used Monday.com to organize workstreams, tasks, and owners/stakeholders into boards and developed templates for higher-level views that didn’t get bogged down in detail.

National signage: Sign standards, brand books, and proposal review for 360 centers called for a daily 6 am meeting for five months. From inception to execution, partnering with Operations to bring the brand to life at the retail center level was awesome. 

Results

We supported HearUSA in a successful transition from “here to there” with the launch of the new brand. Turned over some rocks and improved processes. Helped forge new relationships where silos had existed. And checked the boxes on solid project management (including 390 task areas marked “100%” complete).

The icing on the cake is that this work will help people take charge of their hearing health and make wonderful sound a part of their everyday life. It was a privilege to work with a transformational leader and the entire team realizing this vision.

In the client’s words

“A rebrand is an incredibly energizing time for a business. The challenge is running the existing business, while preparing for the launch and execution of a new experience. Even a minor evolution of a brand requires multiple touchpoints to be updated, while a re-invention/revolutionary update requires not only an update but a reimagination of the entire brand experience. In these situations, your existing brand and your new brand are running in parallel, potentially stretching and conflicting resources. For HearUSA, hiring Trestle Solutions was the right call given the extensiveness of our rebrand. Their involvement was critical to our successful launch.”