Promoted feature: Unity makes strength – Traffic Lab is rebranding

We have changed! But don’t worry we are still the same! We just needed a good old makeover to show our real self.

Why is (re)branding key?

Well, that is actually a question in several parts; because not only do you need to ask why branding is key, but also why are we doing this, and how?

It is all about context, mission and strategy. At Traffic Lab, we found ourselves in the situation that we had outgrown our own brand image and visual identity. After six years in the igaming industry, going from a two-man start-up in a basement to a 60 employee front-runner business, our old design simply didn’t reflect the company identity that we have developed ourselves into any longer. It had simply become outdated.

Therefore, we were very much motivated to make changes and in no doubt that rebranding was key in marking Traffic Lab’s position in the industry. We wanted our brand to clearly show not only what but also who Traffic Lab is as a company.

We set out with a clear mission; match our visual identity with the emotional value of each employee within Traffic Lab and with the company identity we’ve grown into.

And how do you do that, exactly? There is no quick, one-size-fits-all solution. For us, it was important that the rethinking of our brand wasn’t just a work of the management. Each company has departments with different views on the organisation, and at Traffic Lab we knew that we had to bring these different mindsets to the table and allow creativity to flow, in order to come up with the best result.

A laboratory of creative minds

Our branding team, consisting of forces from both marketing, content, graphics and accounts, started throwing every aspect of our brand up in the air, discussing both the B2B and internal perspectives together with both old and new company values:

• What is still fundamental to our identity?
• Which aspects did we improve?
• What isn’t relevant anymore?

We conducted a survey for the whole company to get a true insight into every employee’s opinions about the company values and the work environment — and by that we were able to gain a transparent understanding of what Traffic Lab really is, and what it is not. Every voice was heard and every point noted down and put on a board.

Creative sprint: Use post-its to write down all the values your employees connect with your company.

Give it structure: Organise the values into categories and circle the essential ideas.

Polishing: Try to mould the essentials into a concept that reflects your company.

The valuable knowledge from the employee survey, together with the company vision and points from our partners, created the foundation for vibrant sessions of intense and creative brainstorming, rewarding discussions, strategic considerations and a lot of post-its reflecting every aspect of our company.

It was soon clear that our rebranding had to be communicated with three main aspects:

• A new visual identity
• An updated marketing strategy
• A brand manual for internal use

From dark and simple to colourful and vibrant

As you can see on the picture above, the old Traffic Lab design was very dark and simple, which reflected the company we started out to be; a small start-up with a cave-like vibe — but with a flashy yellow colour in the logo to attract attention.

But now, six years later, our focus is no longer just to make the industry notice us. Because through dedicated teamwork, we are now in a position where we are being recognised — and we want our new visual identity to reflect that. And, of equal importance, we want our visual identity to reflect the diversity of our amazing employees and how we actually approach our work.

Therefore, we decided to go for something completely new! As the picture shows, Traffic Lab’s new website is much brighter and way more colourful! First of all, and represented through our new logo consisting of a fresh pink colour,  the bold and experimental side of Traffic Lab is reflected; and the calmer teal colour reflects our professional side.

We have implemented a multifaceted colour palette with a lot of personality to our new website, which, combined with the vivid and playful graphical elements, reflects not only the creative freedom and passionate spirit that is always bubbling at Traffic Lab, but also the inspirational diversity of the people in our company.

A brand with a personality

When (re)branding a business it is important to put up guidelines for what the specific brand consists of, which values differentiates your brand from others and how the company identity should be communicated.

To address this issue, we decided that we should create an internal brand manual. First, this is intended to make every employee fully understand the vision, mission and values of our company brand. And second of all, this brand manual serves as a tool to help us ensure consistency in the communication of our brand, when we are a lot of different people communicating it.

To communicate our company identity correctly, we first of all needed to define our company personality and tone of voice. We wanted the brand manual to not only clarify the company vision and mission, but to spell out the core personality traits of Traffic Lab, too. Because by doing this, you are at the same time defining the values that distinguish your company from others, and we believe these are the values you should lead with.

By humanising your company through specific personality traits, you also create the foundation for your tone of voice. From our point of view, we found it rather useful to elaborate on two sub-voices that distinguish the communication between B2B and (new) employees. This makes it easier for employees to know which values to stress in the communication, e.g. the SoMe-team gets a clear idea of how the communication to new employees through Instagram should differ from a partner-related post on LinkedIn.

Unity is our key

So, how has rebranding been key to Traffic Lab? After a period of valuable research, creative brainstorming and strategic consideration, we find ourselves stronger and more unified than ever — not only with a new, refreshed brand identity but also with a priceless degree of in-depth knowledge about our company and employee values. And this, we believe, is an important step towards employee happiness and the longevity of any company.

The key is to show your true company identity through your brand image, and a good starting point is to ask yourself: what is my actual mission? But even more crucial is to ask yourself: why am I doing this?

At Traffic Lab, the why was evident. We believe that by unifying different people and their mindsets with a space of creative freedom, we can challenge and improve the industry — both for the people concerned, the products, and the customers. That is why we went through this process, and we can now proudly say that our brand identity reflects who we are.

The question is; what is your why? And could rebranding be your key?

Simone Schnoor is a paid media specialist at Traffic Lab’s marketing department. She holds a Master’s degree in Cross-Media Communications and works in the nexus of social media and communications management.