MIC sat down with Rohit and Lee from Good Hands for our monthly podcast, Wingrove Street, and discussed their recent brand identity redevelopment.
Rohit Thomas and Lee Sandwith run their own boutique consultancy, specialising in brand, marketing, technology, and digital business. They work with startups, entrepreneurs, small businesses, not-for-profits, and larger enterprises.
Their consultancy started as The Trio Agency, which had a traditional agency style business model. It was successful, but eventually the pair realised that there were things in the business—such as the clients they were attracting and the requested jobs—that weren’t making them happy. They decided to make a shift and rebrand the business.
They admit letting go wasn’t easy.
“One of the things we have as a human reaction,” Lee explains, “is that we don’t want to feel like we’ve done something wrong. There was a really big sense of have we failed because we want to change? And when we talk about changing our brand, we’re not talking about just a logo or an identity. It’s the sum of all the experiences people have when they connect with you.”
Rohit adds, “It’s hard to try the unknown in exchange for something that’s essentially sustaining us and our families.”
Their goal was to create happiness in their brand, in the work they put out in the world, and happiness for themselves in the jobs that they do.
“Part of the change,” Lee explains, “was how do we articulate this? What is our brand now? And Ro came up with a very succinct kind of phrase, which is simple: we’re a place for amazing ideas. We’re not the place you get your business cards rolled out . . . And since we’ve changed our name to Good Hands and identified that’s what we do, we’ve quickly attracted the right kind of people.”
When asked where the name Good Hands came from, they explain it was internal market research.
“We asked our clients,” Lee says, “what do you think of us? How do you feel working with us? What do you think we do best? What do you think you would change? And we got some incredible feedback. We asked ten very distinct clients of very different levels of industry.”
Rohit continues, “The clients that we valued, and they valued us, did not see us as an agency . . . They saw us as someone to go to when they had a really tricky problem to solve, or a really amazing idea that they needed to get off the ground. A lot of the feedback came back to things like we trust you with our business. We’re in good hands. And that actually came through in three or four of the surveys, the phrase, we’re in good hands.”
“That was really where it came from,” Lee adds. “Our clients told us what our name was.”
Rohit and Lee believe it’s important for a business of any shape, size and purpose of have a clear brand and identity. But what does that really encompass?
“It’s the people behind the brand and the experience that you provide,” Lee states. “If you have staff or a social media account, it’s how your clients interact with you. Your brand is really about the experience that people have.”
“It’s got to be consistent,” Rohit says. “It’s worth spending that time and articulating what your brand is . . . What does the brand sound like? What does it look like? What experience should people have when they interact with it?”
Rebranding is a challenging process. Businesses often reach a crossroads where they need a brand shift, but don’t want to lose the things about their business that are working. Lee’s advice in that situation is—if there’s great value in the brand—don’t knock it down.
“Realign your brand,” she says instead. “The question I like to ask myself is who am I helping? Why are we helping? How can we find them? And then you can make the tweaks.”
This kind of brand realignment doesn’t need to be in the form of a logo change or font update. It can be in the way you communicate your message. Lee shares an example of a construction company they are currently working with.
“We met with the crew to talk about the value of the brand and why they should show pride. It’s encouraging for people to feel proud of where they work. And that’s the brand, isn’t it?”
She explains that they always encourage their clients to have as many stakeholders involved in the rebranding discussion as possible. “Get as many people in the room to contribute to the value of the brand . . . We don’t have all the answers. We want the optics to be broader.”
As for whether the pair can offer any advice for businesses going through a brand identity change, they agree it can help to normalise the idea and process of starting over.
“So many of the things that inhibit people from change is fear,” Lee says. “Why would I throw away something that I’ve been doing for ten years? You’re not throwing it away. It still exists, and it was still wonderful . . . It’s called growth and we all want to grow.”
Rohit also suggests leaning on support, whether family, friends, business partners, clients, or mentors. “Lean on those people.”
Find Rohit and Lee on their (currently under construction) website thegoodhands.com.au and on Instagram @the_goodhands
We thank Ro and Lee for sharing their experience and expertise on our podcast! You can listen to this month’s podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Melbourne Innovation Centre is delivering the Digital Solutions program across Victoria. Rohit and Lee both offer mentoring through this program! To learn more about how Digital Solutions can support your small business, click here.