The word Yahmo may be unfamiliar to most people, but a rebranding exercise by Western Australian blinds retailer Blinds Direct in November 2006 has given it a whole new meaning.
The word Yahmo may be unfamiliar to most people, but a rebranding exercise by Western Australian blinds retailer Blinds Direct in November 2006 has given it a whole new meaning.
Established in March 2005, Blinds Direct worked from a unique business model of creating mobile ‘area licencees’ in selected metropolitan regions, who would service the customer from start to finish.
After a year in business, founders Steve Hemsworth and Kevin Knight realised that, to set their business apart from its competitors, a new, unique and clever branding strategy was necessary.
Recruiting the services of WA ‘brand guru’ Kel Norton, Blinds Direct undertook a complete re-branding, including a new name and logo, to reflect the company’s vision and appeal to its predominantly female demographic.
“When looking at growing the business, it was apparent to us that we needed a name that could be owned, branded and protected,” Mr Hemsworth told WA Business News.
“We worked with some very clever people, and with a clean sheet of paper – and a lot of money – they went away and got a brief from us on what we are and where we want to go.”
Following extensive market research, Mr Norton created the name Yahmo. He also designed new administrative and marketing materials, incorporating the new logo into stationary designs, letter heads, flyers and promotions, as well as company uniforms, van branding and a new-look website.
The two founders say they are ecstatic with the final product, which they believe embodies the modern, design-focused vision of the company.
It also created a brand that could be owned and protected.
“The brand – consistent with the trademarks act – needs to be unique and non-descriptive of what we do. Yahmo is unique, it’s non descriptive. Blinds Direct was not unique, and it certainly was descriptive,” Mr Hemsworth said.
“It is what we asked for – it was unique, it was different and it got people talking,” Mr Knight said.
However, one of the main challenges for the founders was adjusting to the change, and investing faith in their brand consultants who had no emotional attachment to company.
“One of the challenges was getting our head around why would we change something that we loved,” Mr Hemsworth said.
“We did it because we had faith in the experts we paid a lot of money to. It was blind faith – we don’t really know but we trust these people who know more about this aspect of this business than we do.”
But they both agreed that the investment was worthwhile, and would form a solid foundation for the company’s next growth phase.
“What we have done is big business mentality. It’s no emotion, it is purely on what makes business sense,” Mr Hemsworth said.
In addition to the new logo and name, Yahmo took a holistic approach to its rebranding.
Similar to a franchise system, the brand roll-out involved a high level of consistency, uniformity and control, with area licensees instructed to follow strict requirements in their representation of the brand.
Marketing the new brand mainly consisted of direct marketing to new estates, the new website and a fleet of high-profile, branded, red mini-vans.
With no money spent on advertising to date, word-of-mouth marketing and customer referrals have been extremely strong, according to Mr Hemsworth.
After spending tens of thousands of dollars on the whole exercise, the founders believe the monetary investment will pay for itself many times over within a year time, when they expect to execute their ambitious growth strategy.
