Background

To seize new market opportunities, SitOnIt Seating was in the midst of developing two new brands whose names were not yet determined—while simultaneously undergoing a corporate restructuring. The corporate name, SitOnIt Seating, was also the brand name of its highly successful line of office seating or “task chairs.”

One of the new brands was being created to bring SitOnIt’s successful “contract construction” business model to the lounge seating market where SitOnIt was only somewhat known. The other new brand was a line extension of SitOnIt into other types of office furniture.

RiechesBaird was hired to take the executive team through a brand architecture engagement while also creating and launching one of SitOnIt’s new brands.

Issue

RiechesBaird was hired to address the first issue of resolving the company’s brand architecture given that SitOnIt would now have two additional brands with different names, audiences and value propositions. The subsequent but equally urgent issue we were charged with resolving was the creation and launch of the new lounge furniture brand in time for the industry’s biggest trade show—just 90 days away.

Strategic Insight

Considering the substantial equity of the SitOnIt brand, the most logical brand architecture scenario led to the creation of a parent company under which all three brands would align as sister companies. The parent company brand could be based on SitOnIt’s intellectual property and operational excellence in the field of contract manufacturing—or mass customization—giving it the freedom to transfer its expertise to other industries without compromising or diluting the SitOnIt brand, whose name implied seating only.

For the new brand of lounge furniture, RiechesBaird identified the brand’s unique attributes—customization, short lead times and design freedom—then developed its positioning and ultimately coined a name that conveyed the benefits to the customer—and IDEON was born.

RiechesBaird coined the parent company Exemplis, a name that conveyed the company’s exemplary manufacturing abilities. Organizationally, the Exemplis executive team then determined which of its management would belong to Exemplis, SitOnit, IDEON and the to-be-determined new brand.

Result

The brand architecture perfectly suited the company’s needs and provided clarity throughout the reorganization. For more information on the IDEON launch, read its complete case study by clicking here.