Tuesday Buzz: Lessons from Google’s Alphabet Rebrand

Brand loyalty is not something to be given up lightly, yet Google announced Monday  (opens in a new tab) that it will change the context of the name that has made a permanent impact on the English language  (opens in a new tab) and the nature of the internet.

The decision to make Google a subsidiary of a larger entity, named Alphabet, is prompting other companies to take another look at their own brands for innovative opportunities. But how do you re-create your brand successfully?

On B2B Marketing  (opens in a new tab), Rebecca Scully, managing director of PR firm Smarts Illuminate  (opens in a new tab), explains how to rebrand  (opens in a new tab) without hurting your organization.

There are a total of seven tips, including taking stock of your brand’s strengths and weaknesses and using industry partners to help promote your organization’s new identity. As always, communication is key.

“Ultimately there is no point in changing anything if you are not going to tell your target markets about it or work at instilling the change internally,” Scully said.

And at the end of the day, those changes don’t have to be drastic for businesses to reap the rewards.

“While they may not need a complete overhaul, brands can benefit from incremental improvements as long as the changes are based on real understanding and geared to strengthening its appeal or reaching out to new markets,” she said.

#Assnchat of the Day

Association Chat Update! @HatchEvent  (opens in a new tab) will moderate #assnchat  (opens in a new tab) today at 2 ET on Assn Membership Retention & Value. Thx Eric!

— kikilitalien (@kikilitalien) August 11, 2015  (opens in a new tab)

While tons of association pros are keeping an eye on the #asae15 hashtag  (opens in a new tab), the weekly #assnchat continues unabated! Online community-solution advisor Eric Hatch took  (opens in a new tab) the reins today to lead a discussion on membership retention.

Other Good Reads

Looking for a way to attract young professionals to your next convention? In this interview with Skift, Kelly Peacy, senior vice president of education and events at the Professional Convention Management Association, gives advice on how to get millennials  (opens in a new tab) to your gatherings.

The Michigan Dental Association’s Facebook page is all smiles this week as part of a new social media campaign.  (opens in a new tab) The organization is encouraging people to post a selfie showing off their pearly whites to @SmileMichigan, along with #MyMouthSays  (opens in a new tab) and a caption that answers “What would your mouth say about you?”

As Google undergoes its latest transformation, take a look back at the history of Google headers  (opens in a new tab) to see how the search engine has altered its own logo over the years.

The new logo for Alphabet. (Credit: Alphabet)