You may have noticed that SMSFcentral looks a little different. After a year-long labour of love we officially launched our new website and identity on 1st October 2018.
Why Did We Rebrand?
Simply put, we felt that our old branding didn’t represent who we were and what we stand for any longer. Rebranding is a natural part of any company’s journey as they grow and evolve. Uber, AirBNB and Google have all rebranded in recent years as their mission continues to change.
When we started SMSFcentral it was to take the burden of SMSF administration away from the investor. That is still a fundamental part of our daily mission but we now have an over-arching purpose which is to support professional advisers in transforming their client’s future.
You can read more about our story, values and purpose here.
The Rebrand.
Our research found that the four important members of a SMSF are The Investors, The Adviser, The Accountant and The Administrator. Each have their strengths and weaknesses but working together as one provides the best support for a SMSF.
Our evolved logo is a symbol of collaboration and a shared purpose. It represents the four important stakeholders of a SMSF working together as one with the superfund itself represented as a circle in the middle.
It was also important to us to reference our heritage which is why we have kept the same name, incorporated our deep red as a core part of our identity.
The rebrand has been such a transformative and empowering experience, we wanted to share with you what we have learned and give you 3 tips on telling your best story.
1. Start with WHY
The amazing Simon Sinek is best known for the popularising concept ‘WHY’ back in 2009. For those of you who are not familiar you must watch his TED talk.
At the very start of our rebrand process we looked back at not WHAT, or HOW we do what we do but WHY we do it.
We workshopped our WHY with the whole SMSFcentral team as we wanted to ensure it resonated and was at the core of everything we do.
That’s where our purpose stems from – ‘Transforming Client’s Futures.’ Whether it be our own direct clients or those of our professional advisers.
2. Bring Others Into The Conversation
An important factor in our rebrand was to ensure we had our finger on the pulse. Brand perception and awareness are just as as important as brand values and message and are often overlooked. We needed to be certain that the direction of our rebrand matches the community we serve. It was this outside perspective that allowed us to see our blind spots which we wouldn’t have learned had we not bought other people’s opinion into the conversation.
3. Work With An Expert.
We could have undertaken this rebrand in-house, spent months working on a brand mark and identity whilst saving ourselves some money.
We didn’t – because one of our core values is ‘We Are Stronger Together’. We know our strength isn’t in rebranding and design, so we enlisted the help of a branding experts Ben and Briony from Tom Thumb.
Using their unique eye-q model Ben and Briony lead and developed the rebrand focusing on our core purpose and story.
Go back to you ‘Why’ Simon Sinek’s ‘Start with WHY’ is one of the hottest ted talk right now, and rightly so, the message is so powerful. For any brand review process to be successful, the first steps need to be based on understanding who you truly are – honestly and openly and why you do what you do. For us, it was:
- We wanted to share with you our tips on a rebrand.
- Evaluate your success and failures
- Look for a full service team
