Part 1
Ollie’s rap on the door made her look up from her notes. They pushed open the door ever so slightly and Anne waved them in. They took a seat in the chair across from her. “I emailed you the direct mailer draft a while ago, but figured you didn’t see it because you were on the phone. For a long time.”
“Meeting went long.”
“I wanted you to give it a look-see before the end of the day so I can get started on the revisions tomorrow first thing.”
Glancing at the clock realizing it was nearly 5pm, Anne opened up the document, scanning it quickly. “It looks good at first glance. I’ll go over it a little more closely tomorrow myself. Did you give Carrie or Evie a chance to take a peek?”
“Evie took a look right before she got with Dan and Sarah. I believe they’ve started going through the reviews.”
“Great. You can head home for the day; it’s almost 5 anyway. See me in the morning and we’ll go over this together tomorrow in detail.”
Ollie nodded, standing. “I’ll see you tomorrow then. Have a good one.”
And then her office was vacant again, silent except for the whisper of the office door settling back into place.
She opened a blank email and began to type.
From: Anne Neuman <aneuman@hges.com>
To: Domestic Marketing Department <domesticmarketing@hges.com>
Bcc: Damien Wilson <damienwilson@hges.com>
Subject: Big news of big project!!!!
Hi Team!
Super exciting news! This is MAJOR. We’ve been greenlit to create a company-wide rebrand proposal. This is big so we are gonna have to GET TOGETHER AND GET CREATIVE. We’ll talk about it at next week’s scrum meeting. I know it’ll be hard to keep your excitement at bay and I know you guys will have questions and I promise I’ll answer all of them, preferably in a group setting. But right now, let’s keep our focus on the billboard campaign and put our creative energy into that.
Thank you!
After hitting send, Anne sunk back into her chair, suddenly exhausted, relishing what she now imagined was probably one of the last less-stressful days of work she would have for a long time. Feeling her stomach rumble, she realized that all she wanted was a hearty meal, having missed lunch, a re-run of Gilmore Girls, and a good night’s sleep. But, she had a date to meet. As she was saving her files and closing windows, her email chimed one more time.
From: Damien Wilson <damienwilson@hges.com>
To: Anne Neuman <aneuman@hges.com>
Subject: RE: Big news of big project!!!!
“GET CREATIVE”
I’m sure your team will love that bit of advice. :)
–See quoted message-
A little snort of amusement left Anne’s nose as she read that, already hearing in her head the way he would have delivered that statement in person. She decided it was probably time to set up a rule within Outlook so Damien’s emails to her became obvious, and so she decided to make his name show up as big and blue in her inbox when he sent her mail to make sure she didn’t miss it.
Her phone rang and she answered it immediately, almost regretting that decision since she didn’t want to get caught up on the phone and make herself late. “Hudson Gateway—”
“Anne from Domestic Marketing Department, I have one more thing to add.”
“And what’s that, Damien from C-Suite?”
“I haven’t forgotten what you said to me. Regardless of whether or not we actually rebrand, I want a separate proposal on the marketing tactics you’d like to try to address to reach different demographics more successfully. Again, I’m skeptical of this more than a rebrand—we’re a far different company than other national or international companies that are allowed to have a little… attitude in their public response.”
“Of course.”
“So I’d like to see some Goldilocks-type approaches for this too. If you are able to gather data from both competitors and other industries who might be following this approach, then all the better. Let’s see a spectrum, from absolutely crazy to as dry as, well, us as you claim. I’m no stranger to sending or being on the receiving end of memes, but I and the board will definitely want to see a variety of examples, and I want everything from Wendy’s to government agencies.”
“Elon better watch out, you’re coming in hot to claim his title of internet troll.”
“Oh, God, I hope not. If he knows what’s good for him, he should be afraid of me in other ways.”
“Do you know him?”
“I’ve met him. He’s a bigger tool than I am, and that's saying something.”
“The bar is on the floor.” Strike two, she thought, again utterly appalled at herself for letting that joke slip. But the other side of her wondered, “Only a tool?” He’s way worse than that.
“Ouch. He’s also a Nazi.”
Phew.
“There is that.”
“And I’d much rather be a tool, or die, than be a Nazi—”
Phew.
“—Anyway, this may or may not be a different board meeting, but right now let’s operate under the assumption it will be the same one.”
Damien paused.
“Are you sure this is something you can handle?”
She took a breath, and hesitated. “Yes, sir.”
“Sir,” he said, and then he was gone.
Anne met her date, Todd, at a restaurant on Broadway in Albany’s cute neighboring city Troy. The warm months in Troy were quaint. In the spring and summer, the city closed down a stretch of Broadway to vehicle traffic, allowing patrons to gather and socialize at tables bleeding into the streets. Patrons would be seated underneath canopies of green trees and string lights with flower beds as backrests to their seats, and one would hear the ruckus of a band playing in a nearby bar, but you’d never be quite sure which bar it was.
While the day had started off hot and humid, the sun had boiled away the excess water in the air, leaving a much cooler evening in its wake making for a nice, comfortable night at a worn wooden table. With a couple of appetizer plates shared between them, him with a glass of Nine Pin Cider and she with a Malibu Bay Breeze, it proved to be a pleasant night. He was tall with black hair, blue eyes, and swaths of tattoos climbing his arms. He was taller than he’d seemed in his profile and was of average build, if not a little rounder around the waist, but with a disarming smile and the way he held a conversation more than made up for any qualities he may have feared he lacked. He was an engineer, part of a company that did contract work for the federal government, and seemed to like his job enough. But with a sheepish smile, he told Anne that his real passions were homebrewing, and making horror fan films. He seemed like a good person, and he was an easy conversationalist. He never lingered on himself too long before asking Anne a question about herself and actually listened to her response, and that was a nice change of pace from other dates she’d been on recently. None of it felt forced either. Their conversation was fluid and organic, and by the end she found herself genuinely attracted to him.
It wasn’t that she felt a romantic spark between them, but there was some kind of chemistry there that she wanted to explore, and so naturally, she agreed to go back to his apartment with him. Tripping over his adorable small mutt as they were awkwardly and clumsily removing clothes, the two of them landed on the old leather couch unceremoniously entangled with each other. Despite only one of them predictably being satisfied, Anne found she’d had plenty of fun with Todd on that couch. The blooming bruise on her collarbone from the way his mouth had been on her skin, and how she didn't actually mind it, was a testament to that.
As Anne was pulling on her pants, Todd handed her a glass of water, flashing his sweet sheepish grin. She took it from him gratefully, taking a big gulp to wash away any number of tastes from the evening. She handed it back to him, slipping on her shoes. Still holding the glass, he escorted her to the front door.
“I had a nice time tonight,” he said, “even before your clothes were off.”
“I did too.” She offered a gentle smile.
“I’d like to see you again,” he said, turning red, “but no pressure. I get it, I really do. You don’t have to tell me yes or no now. Just wanted you to know that I enjoyed your company… all of you.”
He grinned again, and irresistibly, she smiled back. “I’d like to see you again too.”
He took her face gently in his hands, pulling her into a deep kiss. “Goodnight, Anne,” he said when he broke it, then gave her one final peck on the cheek.
“Goodnight, Todd.”
The following week within the Domestic Marketing Department was alive with the excited buzz of taking on the rebrand project, but Anne made sure to remind them that the customer service campaign was a priority, and by the end of the week she was happy with the quality of work her team had produced. The landing pages that Ollie and Carrie had put together were sleek and ready to launch, the finished mailer refined and ready to hit mailboxes. More importantly the billboards were eye-catching, and the new template for testimonials would fit not only all different platforms, but she believed it would grab attention on all platforms. It occurred to Anne that maybe down the line it would be worth it to also do some employee testimonials to bring humanity to a company that, save for the times the public saw the HuGES work trucks digging up lines or preparing for wind storms, was notoriously free from a human face. Despite his CEO status, Anne suspected that Damien was not too keen on being the outward face of the company, especially since she herself hadn’t known the man’s name or face when she had crossed paths with him in the elevator.
“I know you have been so anxious all week to finally talk about the email I sent a week ago,” Anne said the following Monday at their morning scrum meeting.
“You think?” Evie said, swiveling back and forth in her chair. “I’m surprised that I managed to get anything done last week, especially since that’s all I was thinking about when I was doing nothing but going through miles of text for most of it… which, for the record, was rather excruciating.”
“Trust me,” Cameron said, “if you think going through the good reviews was excruciating, while pulling them I read quite a few not-so-good ones. Those were excruciating. ‘They say they are not a corporate monopoly,” he recited sarcastically, “but where else can you get your services? One star.”
“And yet,” Anne said, putting the billboards up on the TV for the team to see, “I think you nailed these, especially with what we’re currently able to work with. While they are safe, as we all knew to expect, they read really well and I think will have a good impact on the public.” Anne flipped to a different board. “They have excellent programs and I appreciate them helping others that are less fortunate.’ This review that you and Sarah picked particularly speaks volumes about the work that we do. Given not only our physical location within Albany in a lower-income section, but also our public persona as a philanthropic organization with the aforementioned programs for those struggling with insecurities of different types, this one should definitely go right out front.”
“I agree,” said Jessica, the community functions liaison, “and I can start investigating some different ways outside of our service programs that we can help with the community’s perception of us. If I could enlist Alex to help me with that, that’d be swell.” Jessica motioned to Alex, the head of Domestic PR.
“If we figure that out I’ll write a press release, and then Dan can create some blogs on the work that we’re doing in the local community. And we should do that for all of our other major markets in the US. I can get in touch with the other satellite offices for that.”
Anne nodded. “Great work.” Doing all of this on a small scale and seeing how it all worked would be excellent for expanding it to the larger markets, and happening alongside the possibility of a rebrand meant really exciting things could happen. “Madison, make sure you keep an eye on those analytics on Facebook and Instagram specifically.”
“Sure thing,” Madison said, scribbling on her paper.
“I’m also starting to think we should make a landing page for the best reviews, and have the social media posts link to there. That way we have something precise to track. Rachel will make sure that site is live and functional. Can you do that today?”
Rachel, the front-end developer nodded. “No problem. I can also link it to our HuGES Assistance Programs page, if I can get a CTA graphic from Ollie or Carrie.”
“On it,” said Ollie.
“Oh, and Ollie,” Anne added, “I think you should also take the billboards and social media graphics and put them into Google and display ad sizes, as best as you can and as many reviews as you can.” She turned back to Madison and Luke, the digital marketing analyst. “Link to the same place as social but with a different tracking URL. I’d love to see a weekly report of the spending and click-throughs of that campaign.
“Can we please talk about this rebrand now? I can’t stand the suspense,” Evie exclaimed in exasperation.
“Yes, yes. This won’t apply to most of you until it comes to fruition, which it might not at all. So I’ll give a general overview to the lot of you and then have the more relevant individuals stick around for a more extensive debrief. So design team, Sarah, and Daniel, that’s you guys. You have notepads? Here’s the sum of it: We’ve been given the okay to draft up some rebrand proposals for the company. Yes, the entire company. This is going to probably be the most stressful, biggest undertaking any of us have taken on and nothing might even come of it like I said, but,” and she chose to quote Damien on this, “you are all competent people with the right knowledge and skill sets to do it well.”
Evie gave her big, exaggerated doe eyes. “Aw, thanks.”
“Everything I say going forward is a big ‘What If’ but we are going to talk about it like it will happen. Manifesting and all that. This is going to be a complete brand overhaul. A new logo, style guide, tagline, website, advertising approach, ev-er-y-thing.”
Ollie raised their hand.
“No,” Anne cut in, “probably not the name but if you have ideas, I’m sure you can include them and I’ll float it, but even I can’t say I support that one.”
“Actually,” Anne paused, remembering Damien’s expression in the elevator, “do some where you shorten the name to just ‘Hudson Gateway.’ I might be able to sell that one.”
Ollie lowered their hand.
“Hopefully, the necessary items eventually will trickle down to Dev and Data Analysis to get some focus group and polling data, but until then, this is strictly 2D design and mockup phase. Cameron, Amanda, and Michael, Luke, and Madison, we will also be broaching and researching different approaches to reaching a more diverse group of people—the way you’ve always wanted to try, but that will be a different conversation that, much like this particular conversation doesn’t include you right away, doesn’t include the design team right away. But if you want to get started researching different methods you’d like to try, I suggest you do that. The most important piece for all of you to understand right now, is that this must be kept on the down low. This is DMD internal only. Anyone in this room only. Not anyone below us, or anyone above us, and obviously as your NDA states, outside of us. Am I clear?”
There was a sea of nodding heads, and Anne noticed the slight conspiratorial smirk on Evie’s face.
Anne clapped her hands together. “Alright, the rest of you are dismissed,” and took her seat, waving for the remaining team members to move in closer. “Okay guys, this is a design-heavy project. Actually it’s not even heavy, this is a design project. Obviously, Evie, you are the one fronting it, but I want everyone’s opinion to matter and the team work is beyond invaluable. Ultimately we will be presenting three final design ideas to the board of directors and the CEO, but I want to start with ten solid ideas and narrow it down to the best three. We’re going to need the option of a gentle rebrand.”
“Gentle?” asked Carrie.
“Gentle’ meaning it’s not off-the-wall. Something lukewarm that the people who play it safe might be able to stomach,” Evie said with the slightest bit of bitter tone. “But hey, if it makes our logo easier to work with, I’ll take it.”
Evie was right. The current logo for HuGES was a graphic atrocity very challenging for the designers to work with because of its odd shape and typography. At least that’s what Evie had complained about for almost Anne’s entire short tenure of working with the woman, often dramatically claiming it was designed on a napkin which they scanned and called it a day. Evie was a strong designer, and if Evie said it was awful to work with, Anne knew it was probably true.
“He wants to see a range of proposals, from bold and innovative to safe and conservative. We'll need to consider how we want to position Hudson Gateway Energy Solutions in the market, what our brand values are, and how we want to communicate those to our audience. I’ve been told you can absolutely present something ‘off-the-wall,’ as you put it, but in reality I think we should shoot for something right in the middle. Something that is a little out of their comfort zone, but also something that they can acclimate to. The way we’re going to sell that one is to really show them how and why it will be successful. I want you to do that with all three, certainly, but I really think aim for whatever one we decide is in the middle. I’ll get you a detailed list of everything we need after we need to create to really sell this, but for now, focus on the process of designing ten really good logos. This could be your legacy.”
This could be my legacy, in both failure or success.
“Any questions?”
“Deadline?”
“Can we have ten refined logos within the month?”
The three designers exchanged a look.
“Just the logos,” Anne reminded them.
Evie nodded. “If we can have two days a week we work solely on the logos and the rest of the days for other tasks, I think that should be plenty of time between the three of us. If not, I’ll let you know if we need to dedicate more time to the logos as we approach the end of the time frame.”
“Sounds good to me, and it makes it easier for me to keep track of the man hours you’re putting into it, at least, as I’ve been instructed to do.”
“Who exactly has instructed you to oversee this?” Ollie asked.
A broad smile stretched across Anne’s face as she couldn’t resist keeping a mysterious tone. “That’s need-to-know, Ollie. That’s need-to-know. Rest assured, it's all part of our process to ensure that we have a comprehensive understanding of the effort put into this project.”
Anne continued. "I'd like to hear your initial thoughts and ideas on this. What direction should we explore for the rebrand? Any specific themes or concepts that come to mind? Let's open the floor for brainstorming."
Anne listened intently as Evie and the design team discussed their initial ideas for the rebrand. She could sense the enthusiasm and creative energy in the room, and she was eager to see the diverse range of concepts that would emerge from this brainstorming session.
As the team continued to share their thoughts and concepts, Anne made notes and occasionally offered insights and suggestions to help guide the discussion. She wanted to ensure that the team explored a wide spectrum of ideas so they could present a compelling set of options to Damien and the board.
After a thorough brainstorming session, Anne summarized their key points. "Your input has been immeasurable. It’s clear that there’s so much creative potential in this room. Let's compile these initial ideas and start working on design concepts for each of them. Evie, I know you'll lead this effort and I won’t hover or micromanage, but keep the lines of communication open, and let's meet regularly to review progress and refine our concepts."
The design team seemed to understand the plan, and Anne appreciated their willingness to tackle this challenging project with enthusiasm. Rebranding a company as significant as Hudson Gateway Energy Solutions was, mildly put, no small feat, and she wanted the team to approach it with dedication and creativity. “I believe in your abilities,” she said, bringing the meeting to a close. “I know you’ll rise to the challenge. We can make a big impact with this rebrand. You could even say… it’ll be HuGE.”
