CorpComms Magazine

When a company has a distinctive marque and a long standing heritage, launching a rebrand is a difficult and emotive experience but when James Hussey took over as chief executive of De La Rue on January 1, it was one of his new year resolutions.

Stephen Rogers, managing director at StrategicFusion, which carried out the rebranding exercise, explains: 'There had been a board level review, which led to the disposal of one business unit and the view that De La Rue needed to refocus.

'When the new chief executive was appointed, he looked at corporate strategy in light of any impact it might have on the brand to ensure that it remained aligned with core values.'

De La Rue has a history dating back to 1813 when Thomas de la Rue published the first edition of Le Miroir Politique newspaper in Guernsey.

It is the world's largest printer of banknotes, producing more than 150 national currencies, and operates three other divisions. It produces hologram and security products, identity systems and cash processing solutions.

Misunderstood brand

StrategicFusion carried out a survey of one third of the company's senior 100 managers, using its 'Envisage, Enhance, Engage' programme.

'We found that the brand was so old that it had established a life of its own, but that it wasn't as well executed or understood as might have been expected,' says Rogers.

De La Rue had previously conducted an analysis of customers to find out what they thought of the brand and also to assess where the business needed to be in three to five years in order to stand out against the competition.

What became clear was the De La Rue was viewed as an authentic brand. 'They were delivering certainty through products, certainty through history and certainty to customers,' explains Rogers. 'Certainty was the core proposition at the heart of the brand.'

The review found there was no need to change the distinctive marque, which had a long and distinctive heritage, but instead to give the brand a proper definition. 'We needed to establish a clear set of values,' says Rogers. 'We asked employees what the brand's values were, and found that they did not find them easy to express. They just took it as it was. We had expected to get a reasonable level of responses with a proper definition.'

Giving life

When this did not materialise, Rogers realised that the 'real task was to bring the brand to life'.

His team developed a clear set of brand fundamentals and an internal theme, 'One De La Rue', that could be communicated across the entire company.

The rebranding exercise was unveiled at an internal conference for 120 managers, where they were shown a film about De La Rue, learned about its strategy and senior executives discussed the group.

'You can't say You were brand X and now you're Y without joining them up,' adds Rogers. 'You need to explain the key drivers and rationale behind the thinking, and what it means and how working behaviours need to change.' The audience were 'receptive and enthusiastic' and the rebranding exercise is now being rolled out across De La Rue's 3,000 employees.  

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