Get Happy
Meet a company in desperate need of some deep-tissue branding.
If you think branding is just about slapping your logo
everywhere, think again. Great branding means developing a
personality for your company and finding ways to infuse it into
every facet of your firm. Want to see a company living its brand?
Let's visit The Happy Company.
Before
Mark Juarez, 44, was a massage therapist in 1992 when he
invented a tool designed to stimulate acupressure points in the
body. Its differentiator was the big smile he branded on the front
of the wooden ball, later named The Happy Massager. It was such a
success that Juarez created the company Tender Loving Things
Inc.
Content Continues Below
During
As tender loving things sought to expand, Juarez found its
company name "did not reflect who we were or what we
did." Worse, the company name combined with the massaging
device as its signature product often gave the erroneous impression
that it was an "adult toy" manufacturer-clearly not the
impression Juarez desired. "In one sense, the new name was
easy," recalls Scott Ogilvie, the company's creative
director: "Happy would become our name."
After
The Happy Company relaunched in 1999 to a very, er, happy
reception from customers. Although it might seem to be a simple
name change, in reality it transformed the brand personality of the
entire company. Happy became the company mascot and appears on the
revamped Web site, catalogs and hang tags. The offices were painted
a cheery yellow with garden fences built around cubicles. New
products were introduced embracing the concept of bringing
happiness to the world: Happy Roller massager for feet, Happy
Scrubbies bath toys and more. Even the company's required
labeling flaunts its brand with the tagline "Made with love in
China."
Elizabeth J. Goodgold
is CEO and chief nuancer of The Nuancing Group, a brand consulting
firm in San Diego.
Contact Source