Building better organizational rebrands: exploring the employee viewpoint

Abstract

While organizational rebranding as abusiness phenomenon has become commonplace,it is accompanied bya startling failure rate and typically high cost. Employees play an important role in representing an organization’s brand, but researchers have virtually ignored the employee perspective of these initiatives. This qualitative case study addressed that gap by exploring the employee viewpoint of a rebranding initiative including the employees’suggestions on ways to be engaged to strengthen buy-in and alignment with the new brand. Based on employee input, current rebranding theory was reinforced and two new barriers to success were discovered and proposed. This study concluded that with a better understanding of employee viewpoints, organizations are able to generate better rebranding outcomes for their stakeholders, including customers, organization leaders, organizers of these initiatives and, of course, for employees.