Brand Strategy
Setting a vision. Defining a higher purpose.
For 80 years Arrow Electronics has been apart of almost everything that takes a charge. From phones to planes, cars, coffee makers and computers, they work with almost every major electronics company in the world. But, they live in a category that’s virtually unheard of. A category that only speaks to those who understand granular language and transactional deals. Arrow wanted to elevate this category while building reputation for the brand globally. They wanted to inspire confidence in C-level executives to bet their business and talented professionals to bet their career on Arrow.
Challenges:
- No Central Marketing Team
- Lack of Organizational Alignment
- Hundreds of Acquired Companies
- Product vs. Solution Selling
Goals:
- Develop a common aspiration and DNA; become "One" Arrow
- Differentiate based on a true purpose
- Create awareness and unity internally and externally
- Create brand architecture and solutions portfolio
Solution:
Over 2500 employees including the Arrow Global Executive Committee were engaged. Customer, category, market sizing, and competitive analyses were conducted.
A comprehensive brand strategy and positioning were developed and acted as a filter for the way they look, behave, recruit, speak, and innovate.
Arrow doesn’t sell parts and pieces. They ‘Guide Innovation Forward’ making future possibilities, tangible realities.
A strategic internal launch introduced the brand to employees while providing education about the importance and value of the effort. Global brand guidelines were written in close collaboration with designers and translated into 8 languages.
A visual language was created to communicate the breadth of their offerings externally and unite employees internally.
Support came from the top down and stakeholders from all over the world were quick to embrace and culturally embed the brand.
Impact:
The $21B Arrow brand launched in a year. For the first time in history, Arrow's 16,000 employees knew what the company stood for, how to talk about that externally, and how their individual brands fit within a larger story.
Perception shifted from ‘Arrow is a distributor of parts’ to ‘Arrow is a company that helps make the possible, practical- guiding innovation forward with some of the most innovative companies of our time.” This internal perception shift led to a transformation in the way Arrow does business.
As the lead and sole strategy consultant I helped Arrow Electronics create their brand purpose and strategy, operationalize this strategy through a solutions portfolio and visual design system in collaboration with designers, apply the brand to recruiting, on-boarding, and retention efforts, develop a verbal identity, and sales enablement program.