Reflections on Templafy’s insight-driven rebranding.

TW: Let’s get started. Tell us about your rebrand! What was the motivation behind the decision to rebrand Templafy?

CL: Yes! Well, like every other startup evolving into an established business, over time, we adapted to the market we were in. We figured out where we were super strong — and where we could be very helpful, i.e., around companies that rely on business documents to deliver the value that they have to their customers. So, a big motivation for us was looking at how Templafy presented itself to these brands.

Essentially, the parties that we were going to, they changed, and so we wanted to make sure we were dressed better for the occasion. We weren’t trying to change the DNA of the company — we just wanted to make sure that we’re in control of the perception that our customers have of us, that they look at us in the way we think we should be looked at.

TW: And what was the journey like? Talk us through the process of your rebranding.

CL: Well, we started, first of all, with making the decision to rebrand, looking at, as I said, becoming more precise in showing what we deliver to the people we deliver it to. And that decision was to accompany this strategic shift with a branding piece as well — to have a rebranding rather than just a shift in business focus.

After that decision, the first thing we did was assess the market to find partners who would support our efforts in that notion. We looked from both a strategic perspective and also from the perspective of being able to physically turn that into something that would be a tangible brand — a visual identity, and so on.

Once we’d found that partner, that's when we kicked off the project. Interestingly enough, that was exactly 365 days before we actually launched the brand — exactly one year.

EB: Rebranding is an exciting and transformative journey, and at Templafy, we approached it with a lot of thought and collaboration.

We started by conducting interviews, both internally and with our customers, to gain a clearer understanding of how our brand is perceived. This insight was crucial in shaping our strategy moving forward.

We held brand workshops, creative workshops, and brainstorming workshops to explore how we wanted Templafy to be represented in the market. From those discussions, we identified our new brand archetype as The Guru. This reflects our commitment to seeking knowledge and wisdom, positioning us as a trusted thought leader in our industry.

We also established four core brand attributes that define who we are: intelligent, bold, sincere, and human. These attributes guide our communication style and visual identity. One significant change you’ll notice is our shift toward a more customer-focused narrative. We want our customers to tell their stories, rather than us just promoting our offerings.

Visually, we blended our new identity with Scandinavian minimalism, emphasizing simplicity and functionality. Our visuals incorporate unique shapes that represent different data pieces, highlighting our innovative approach to document automation and AI.

Our objectives for this rebranding were twofold. Externally, we aimed to refresh our brand perception to align with the evolving market. Internally, we wanted to foster excitement and pride among our team about the brand they represent.

Looking ahead, we’re committed to creating a brand that is dynamic and evolves with us. We’ve made significant strides, but this is just the beginning. I’m excited about the journey ahead and the opportunities that lie in further exploring and enhancing our brand at Templafy.

TW: One thing that’s unique, not just to your industry but to Templafy specifically, is your own offering. The brand cohesion and centralized file system services you offer are super useful for brands looking to rebrand. Do you feel like that influenced, helped, or even hindered your process? Did you have to distance yourself as a business from your own services?

CL: That's a really good question. There’s this saying in Denmark, “The baker’s son doesn’t like cakes.” I’m sure you can work out its meaning! There was a little bit of that, but mostly, it didn’t negatively impact us. I mean, we’ve been involved with so many rebrands for some pretty large brands. So, we’ve been able to get a good idea of what works well and what doesn’t. You’re also able to get a good understanding of what “good” looks like and what you want to achieve, and that definitely influenced what we did.

To be honest, we also felt a certain degree of responsibility. Templafy offers this dual-value proposition: firstly, to work fast and allow you to quickly get revenue from the documents you create, and, secondly, to adhere to your brand rules. So, there was a sense of taking our own medicine, and after being this expert on brand cohesion, we needed to make sure that we were able to showcase that ourselves. And at the end of the day, we still eat cakes!

EB: Our centralized approach to content truly played a pivotal role in our rebranding process. When all materials — like new assets, logos, fonts, and best practice slides — are readily accessible to everyone in the company where they already work, it makes transitioning to a new brand incredibly seamless. Actually, I just overheard the other day, someone saying that we could launch a new brand internally with just a single update meeting, which really speaks to the level of brand cohesion we've achieved.

This basically means that we can roll out our new brand overnight, allowing everyone to continue their work without interruption, which is why I think I am able to go on vacation almost immediately after we went live with the rebrand. It speaks volumes about how well everything is running. Of course, it’s not just the tech; we’ve got an amazing team behind us that makes it all possible!

Overall, having everything centralized not only facilitated a smooth rebranding process but also empowered the entire organization to adapt swiftly.

TW: That’s interesting — the idea of having to put your money where your mouth is. When you offer something that makes rebranding easier for other brands, when it comes time to do it yourself, you’re thinking, “Yeah, we have to do this right. We have to nail this because we’ve helped other people do it before.”

Following on from that, did you find your internal rollout easier because you were able to rely on your own technology to help out?

CL: Absolutely. We do have strong tools available — we provide some of them ourselves, so of course, we're leveraging those. But even before that, we made the decision pretty early to include a larger part of the company in this process than perhaps you would typically assume. There’s a lot of secrecy around rebranding because you want to launch with a big splash. But we realized that we wanted to involve more people than maybe we needed to, so we went into an all-hands meeting and presented what we already had to the full company. It was really just a logo and some other visual elements, along with some slides about strategy.

That proved to be a pretty good decision because we didn’t have to keep things secret. We could bring people into the project as and when we needed, and it also gave our teams something to be excited about and time to prepare for such a big change. Giving your teams that time to “switch” onto the new brand identity was super important and allowed us to quickly get past that teething phase where stakeholders are uncertain about the parameters of the new look.

TW: That makes a lot of sense — creating a team of people who have a stake in the rebranding and allowing people to gently build loyalty towards the new brand before it's necessarily needed.

Now, something that's fairly unique about the opportunity to speak to you today: So far in our “Reflections on rebranding” series, we speak with people whose rebrand was eight months ago or a year ago. But yours is very fresh [we chatted with Christian the day before the Templafy rebranding went live], so I have to ask you from that fresh perspective: How do you plan to maintain the brand cohesion and keep people enthusiastic in the months after you launch?

CL: Great question. This is where all our experience of being part of so many rebrands comes into play. So many times, we’ve seen brands say, “Okay, well done everybody, here’s a new PDF,” and then leave it at that. A brand is a living, breathing thing, and it works best when it’s treated like an ongoing thing. With our rebranding, we designed the visual concept and the rest of the design structure to be agile, so it can adapt to changes in the market.

Practically, we included our own design team quite early on, working with the agency partner but taking ownership of the visual language we were creating. That way, they feel like it's their — our — identity from the start, and we can continue to improve and iterate it down the line rather than leaving it alone post-launch. And, of course, that’s where technology comes in. We have these systems that support making the brand feel alive. That allows us to keep on innovating while staying true to what we’ve built.

TW: That’s a great link to my next question. How did you roll out your rebranding? And what technology did you use to make that process as smooth and seamless as possible?

CL: The short version is — a lot! What’s important is to prepare your entire tech stack for what’s coming with the rebrand. That goes for everything, from customer support onwards. Of course, that includes the brand management platforms we’re using to support the rebranding. And naturally, we have our own offering on the templates and documents side.

But it really does extend quite far outwards. Once you start exploring, there are just so many touchpoints that need your new visual identity to be represented. We’ve been doing a lot of work to prepare all of those, to make sure they have what they need to present a great brand experience and hit the ground running post-rebrand.

TW: And moving into the more general topic in rebranding, rather than focusing on your rebranding specifically: What do you feel makes rebranding important?

CL: To me, a rebranding is your opportunity to influence perception. Specifically, to target that perception towards the companies and the mindsets in those companies that are most important to you, where you can unlock the biggest value.

Viewing it that way makes it become a very connected part of your strategy. And obviously, brands have to stay modern and relevant with their identity, so that can be an important factor of rebranding. But what’s important is that it’s tied together with your strategy and that you don’t just do a rebrand to change your look, but there’s more behind it than that.

TW: And on the flip side of that? If that’s what a good rebranding looks like, what about a bad rebranding?

CL: Well, a bad rebranding would do the exact opposite — it would influence perception in the wrong direction, from a strategic perspective. Something like that can draw your brand away from the people or customers who give the most value.

In terms of what makes a bad rebranding, I think it’s when you miss the point of what you’re doing. For example, tone of voice. If you suddenly decide to be all modern and fresh, that might work for your teams, but maybe not for your audience. So, if you don’t properly consider the customer perspective, you might be shooting yourself in the foot by making the wrong decisions.

TW: Absolutely — there’s that challenge of caring about your brand and investing lots of yourself into the brand but having to distance your personality from the brand’s personality.

CL: For sure — I've made that mistake in the past! That’s something we really carefully considered in Tempafly’s rebranding journey: Making sure that how we communicate is appropriate for our clients and not just for ourselves.

It sounds so simple, but I do think that many companies actually end up making that mistake. They miss the point of who they're actually trying to influence because they’re so desperate to put their own personality into the brand. Again, it’s that analogy of what party you're going to, who's going to be at that party, and how you dress for the occasion.