Brand strategy is one of the most powerful initiatives an organization can undergo. It’s an opportunity to evolve a company’s mission and value proposition based on current and future customer needs with the result being a purpose-led, customer-centric road map to create enhanced value for customers. ANDMORE recently completed this process as we rebranded from International Market Centers (IMC) last year. ANDMORE is more than just a new name and logo, it’s a framework for how we will live into our mission and vision and create more value for buyers and sellers.
The focus of this transformation process was to create a powerful brand that would resonate with our community of buyers and sellers and open new opportunities as we innovate and drive positive business growth and change. We were guided by the understanding that the most powerful brands aren’t just a beautiful logo and a catchy tagline. They have a well-defined, authentic ethos that guides customer interactions, product presentation, visual identity, community relations, and more.
Successful brands create an identity that informs every decision a company makes. They have a clearly defined mission and purpose rooted in extensive research and customer feedback to create a brand identity that resonates with audiences. ANDMORE emerged from our rebranding efforts as an “omnichannel wholesale marketmaker, fueling opportunities for wholesale buyers and sellers to connect, grow, and prosper.” Like other strong brands, our identity is a guiding principle and aspirational vision that helps us set priorities, maintain focus, and make important decisions about our business.
The ANDMORE brand strategy gives us the space and flexibility to expand the ways in which we connect our wholesale buyer and seller communities to create even more opportunities to connect with the right business partners, at the right time, in the right way – providing new tools and experiences that enhance and extend our physical event offerings.
The ANDMORE brand ethos encourages us to extend business opportunities for our customers in interesting and exciting new ways, including the recent successful extension of Shoppe Object, a NYC-based home and gift trade show, into High Point Market as a home-centric, designer-focused satellite event. Our brand promise to seamlessly connect wholesale buyers and sellers through physical and digital platforms was furthered by the 2023 launch of the new @Market app. True to our brand strategy’s customer-centric approach, we will persistently solicit customer feedback to refine and innovate to add more value to the product sourcing experience.
An updated visual identity is a key element in ANDMORE’s brand transformation. The new organizational focus is visually manifested in the look and feel of our new corporate logo, which features a fresh and contemporary form, with strong visual memorability and utility. The open parentheses (which appear in place of the ‘O’ in the ANDMORE name) add an interactive element providing a canvas to visually showcase the hallmark elements of our brand – products, categories, and experiences – and reinforce our brand promise of always adding more value. New colors, fonts, and design style visually tie our markets together while indicating that ANDMORE has entered a new era.
A well-defined brand allows for differentiation in the marketplace through a unique value proposition and distinctive visual identity. The look and feel of a brand sets the tone for the organization’s unique offerings. Instantly recognizable logos, messaging, and styling are visual representations of the experience the brand offers.
Customers began to experience the ANDMORE brand at the summer 2023 markets as our physical campuses and marketing communications – websites, guides, advertising, emails, signage – took on our new look and feel. The ANDMORE brand provides the common thread that ties all markets and products together, so buyers and sellers understand the full breadth of our offerings.
Brand equity doesn’t happen overnight and takes a very deliberate and coordinated approach. Great brands are brought to life through usage by an organization’s team members, customers, and community. As such, maintaining and promoting the brand is not just the work of marketing and communications teams, but the whole organization. To ensure the successful implementation of the new ANDMORE brand, we hosted a series of internal workshops to educate the entire organization on the brand identity and the proper usage and messaging associated with it. Our creative team developed brand guidelines and templates to demonstrate how to use the brand elements correctly and consistently.
As we celebrate the first anniversary of the brand launch, it’s gratifying to see the broad awareness and adoption we’ve achieved in just one year. Like all great brands, we continue to evolve and grow guided by our ANDMORE ethos. As our name implies, we will maintain our brand promise to bring more and more to our buyers and sellers.
................................ Karen Olson, executive V.P./CMO for ANDMORE, has a more than 25-year career in wholesale marketing and business strategy. Since joining ANDMORE in 2011, she has made an indelible imprint on the company’s marketing for High Point, as well as its expansion into Las Vegas in 2011 and Atlanta in 2018.
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