Sean hanna's guide to re-branding at business extra
Two years ago Sean Hanna found himself at a junction. His business was about to turn 30 and was in need of a new lease of life. He could either throw himself into reinvigorating seanhanna to create a super brand or let it drift and slowly fade away.
Realising that he wasn't ready to hang up his scissors just yet, Sean began a complete reinvention of the brand, which he shared with the audience at his Salon Business Extra Seminar.
- The Manufacturer
"This was the scariest decision that I made," said Sean. He took a shopping list of his requirements which included training, products, a company with artistic credibility, who would be fun and wanted to work with him. TIGI met those requirements. - Salon Design
Sean looked to high street brands that had a similar target market to seanhanna and took inspiration to those that had branding he admired: Abercrombie & Fitch, Kurt Geiger and All Saints. The result was a uniform style that was personalised in each of his salons and includes bare ceilings, theatre lights and multi-textured walls that are decorated with graphics on walls. - The Team
"This was the most important one as if the team didn't believe in the manufacturer or the vision then we would have been in trouble," Sean explained. He got the team on board by taking the managers on a TIGI trip to Orlando to explain the new ideology and added to the buzz with a complete re-launch at the company's annual awards. - Advertising
Sean had always created his own adverts as he had thought it would be a waste to spend money on an agency. But the new super brand had to be slick and professional so he brainstormed with an agency until they had created ads that would appeal to his target market. "We advertised on London buses, which worked really well because we had paid for two months but it took them about another two months to take them down!" he revealed. - PR
"This was something else that I'd never really understood before," Sean told the audience. "But you have to learn how to work with journalists in a way they want to work with you." Since taking on a new PR, Catalyst Consultancy, seanhanna has seen an increase in the trade and consumer coverage. The key lesson is that the stronger the brand gets the more people want to speak to you. - Marketing
As part of the rebrand, Sean and his team make sure that everything they do communicates their brand values. Marketing materials are all clear, clean and on-brand. - IT System
"After the manufacturer, this was the most scary decision I had to make, I was going to lose my data and no one offered exactly what I wanted," Sean told the audience. He appointed SalonGenius who he felt most met his requirements for text marketing, email marketing, database analysis, booking appointments online and collated head office reports. - The Website
This was built with a content management so that it could be updated regularly. Sean focuses on using search engines to attract the potential clients in the areas he has salons in. "It won't be long before we don't use print media for advertising and only use the Internet," he concluded.
Since re-branding, seanhanna has experienced 40% growth, which will need to be sustained to make the considerable investment or time and money worthwhile.
However, Sean is in no doubt that it was the right decision for him: "I know what would happen if we did nothing: we would have been a brand that used to be pretty cool but has fallen," he said.
