Business Builders Podcast

What It's Like To Rebrand with Oswin Gegenhuber

• Brenton Gowland & Ron Tomlian • Season 3 • Episode 42

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Rebranding can be a daunting task, but when done right, it can give your business a competitive edge, help re-engage customers, attract new audiences, and give your company a fresh direction. If you are considering rebranding your business, this episode of the Business Builders podcast is one you don't want to miss.

In this episode, we talk with Oswin Gegenhuber, who recently completed an 18-month rebranding process with his business. He shares some great insights on his experience, including his challenges and how he tackled them.

So tune in to learn from Oswin's journey and discover tips that can be helpful if you're thinking about rebranding your own business.

The topics we discuss in this episode are: 

  • About our guest, Oswin Gegenhuber
  • How Oswin began to realise the value of marketing
  • How Oswin knew it was time to rebrand
  • The role gut feeling played in marketing and rebranding
  • The importance of having a clear brief
  • How much should you involve your internal team in rebranding
  • The early results of the rebrand
  • Marketing is the foundation of the business
  • Advice for business leaders who are going to undertake a rebranding project
  • About our next episode

 

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Helping businesses find their new shape.

SA Business Builders
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Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Business Builders Podcast. Until next time, KEEP ON BUILDING !!

Brenton Gowland:

Hey their business builders! Rebranding can be daunting but done right, it can give you a competitive edge reengage customers attract new audiences and give your company fresh direction. So today we're talking with Oswin Gegenhuber, who recently completed an 18 month rebranding process with his business, so stay tuned for some great insights. Well welcome to the Business Builders podcast. We are your hosts. I am Brenton Gowland.

Ron Tomlian:

And I'm Ron Tomlian. And Brenton I believe we've had communique from overseas.

Brenton Gowland:

Yes, we had someone from Mexico reach out to us, tell us that they'd been listening to the podcast. And they got a lot out of the Julia Palmer interview that we did two episodes ago, and got some great insights from that episode. And you know what, that makes me feel really good. It makes me feel like we're contributing to our listeners.

Ron Tomlian:

Yeah, it's nice to think that people are getting value out of what we do.

Brenton Gowland:

So if you're listening to our podcast, feel free to reach out to us, you can do that on LinkedIn. And we'd love to hear your thoughts and which episodes you have got something out of, because that helps us plan for the future.

Ron Tomlian:

And it's always good when we have someone on like Julia, and today we do as well.

Brenton Gowland:

We do indeed. So a couple of episodes ago, we were talking about the Pepgs rebrand. That is P-E-G-G-S. So they went from Mrs Peggs to Peggs. And today, we're lucky enough to have the business owner Oswin Gegenhuber with us. Now, Oswin's owned the business for about four years. But what I like about Oz and his story is, last episode we talked about, if you want to build marketing capability in your organisation, you can either have a top down approach where it's led by the management or a bottom up approach where it's led by the marketing people. Now often lead the marketing initiatives within Mrs Peggs, to lead them through the rebrand. So it was really a top down approach. And I'm really interested in diving in today to really hear about how Oswin started to see the value of marketing, because I think that'd be really insightful and a really good background, Oswin started off as a tradesperson, on the tools, he studied engineering, and then he worked 13 years on the tools. And then he was lucky enough to have kids and he took a year off when he had a each of his children, two children. And during the time he took time off, he went and studied and as a result of that study, he ended up starting a small business and that small business through operating that business, he met the original owners of Mrs. Peggs worked with them for seven years. And then when they were ready to retire, he ended up buying the business.

Ron Tomlian:

Fantastic story, isn't it? Yeah.

Brenton Gowland:

So without any further ado, Oswin. It's great to have you here on the business builders podcast.

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Thank you Brenton. Nice to be here, and good to see Ron.

Brenton Gowland:

So we'd just like to start, I've given you a little bit of background, and your bio, and so forth. But it'd be really great to hear in your own words, what your journey has been over the years how you came to buy the Mrs Peggs business and then get to a point where you were going to rebrand it. So please, in your own words, tell us a little bit about yourself.

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Yes, as you said Brenton, did work with a large corporation known as Hills Industries at the time for 27 years, and during that time, had some great experiences and learned a lot about manufacturing about products and how you get them out into the market. But what I sort of came to the conclusion that after that time, it seemed like a nice idea to start up an SME, and to sort of have the flexibility now having children, and not the sort of nine to five job that I'd been doing for quite a number of years.

Ron Tomlian:

So we're going to talk about your rebranding experiences shortly. But first, so we can understand the background to that project. How did you come to realise the value that marketing could have for your business?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Well, I sort of looked at it as a, like an engineering experience, I guess is that, you know, there's a lot that goes into developing a product, launching it and getting it out into the market, and then not knowing a lot about marketing. It's sort of looked at putting it in that sort of perspective, and then soon realised the importance of you can have the greatest product in the world, you can have great finances, but if you don't market it correctly, neither of those are going to have any impact on your business.

Ron Tomlian:

Yeah, I call it the Field of Dreams syndrome, you know, build it, and they will come. Yeah, but the truth of the matter is, until you need marketing, a lot of people don't realise the value of it like Oswin but when you realise that they're not coming, sometimes you start to realise that you've got to do something about understanding this marketing. So it's great to hear from your perspective that that's, that's the value that it can bring to an organisation.

Brenton Gowland:

Yeah. And was that just the thing that you were just because you bought the business you had all these realisations that this is what I need to do. And this is what I need to learn about.

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Yes, in some ways that it was an experience I hadn't had been involved in, during my journey of over the 27 years, and just felt that there was a big hole. So I had to go and learn what it was about. And obviously still in the learning process, and how a good marketing campaign can can really boost your product.

Brenton Gowland:

And I know that when you took over the business, you would have had to take over the marketing and so forth as well. So what was the business was actually the marketing kind of running smoothly when you started? And you then had to start to get involved? And how did you find that actual marketing component? Right? So because you would have been running campaigns regularly? Yes.

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Yes, absolutely. We had quite a number of world found out later is really more advertising, then, I guess, a marketing campaign. When that was, I guess my view on it, my naive view on the marketing side was as an advertising as a marketing, and that's where I sort of started to realise it, we just being reactive to what we need to advertise. And we didn't have a proper marketing plan in place to be able to build our advertising on.

Brenton Gowland:

Okay.

Ron Tomlian:

So how did you know it was time to rebrand from Mrs. Peggs? What, what were the science? And ultimately, why did you decide to go ahead with it? Considering the huge amount of work it would take to complete?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Yeah. Very good question. I saw, I wanted to expand the product range in the Mrs Peggs, Handy Line business and sort of realised that it was called Mrs Peggs Handy Line, which was actually the name of the product. It was a one product business and wanting to expand the product range, we needed to set up platform that we could call the products from a, I guess a, like a branded perspective, and then work on you know how we can introduce those products that sort of came to the point where we looked at the logo, we looked at what we were doing the website, and it just looked like it was a bit bit tired, it needed a fresh new look, what that look was going to be like we didn't know at the time. But it just felt that the timing was right. If we were going to move this business to the next level, we needed to start the platform from the foundation.

Brenton Gowland:

Yeah, great. So as the owner of the business, the responsibility to drive the rebrand in the marketing your business ultimately end up resting with you. So what have you done then to develop your ability to drive your company's marketing capability and ultimately lead that rebranding process?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

So in the first four months of having the business left a lot of the suppliers and I guess, agency that were working with the previous owners in place, yep. So they could understand how to operate it, through that 12 months, sort of realised that, you know, we were doing a lot of reactive advertising, we didn't really have a marketing plan in place for as little as I actually knew about it. So I started asking the questions, you know, what are we doing? What's our longer term plan? How are we measuring? You know, the reaction from people? Are we getting value for our money, right advertising funds? So this all started lens, a lot of questions, and people started getting a bit nervous, or they just didn't seem to react in the way that I thought they would.

Brenton Gowland:

What do you mean, people you means your suppliers?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

The agencies that we'll be using at the time? And then it just came down to or what do you want? And I thought, Well, I'm not a marketer, I need you know, that that coming from experience that people have been involved in marketing for a period of time, so I just thought it was time to reach out and understand it further. And to actually get some people around the business around myself that could explain things and st art building on the experience.

Ron Tomlian:

So the rebrand take us through the rebrand, how did you go about making it happen?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Okay, so the rebrand, we sort of looked at who we could work with. So we put it out, we put a brief together as to what we wanted to achieve with the rebrand. And we then went to four or five agencies, we settled on, one that we thought would be out to give next life to the to the brand. And we worked with them over a period of six months, and just grew on that. And that's how we came up with the rebranding of the Peggs.

Brenton Gowland:

Right. So a big part of that decision was actually deciding on the agency. Yes?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Yes, that slowly because obviously, I didn't have the experience and branding side of it. We also had a marketing consultant come in to sort of guide us in the way of how how do you go about getting a soundboard to do a brand refresh. So that was very helpful in giving us the structure of how we go about it. There's a lot of brainstorming that went on. And then that ultimately brought us to the point where we put a brief together to be able to go out to the agencies with an understanding of what we wanted to get out of it.

Brenton Gowland:

And I think this is a point that a lot of businesses would get confused about is how to choose the right agency. And even though you had a marketing consultant come in, which was great. Ultimately, the choice was your own. I know that from talking with you, and so forth. But how did you come to choose the agency that you did? What were the things that were floating around in your head?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

So after we did a lot of the brainstorming, etc, we then come up with a, I guess, a matrix of who the agencies that we're going to potentially work with? What were their strengths? What were their weaknesses? We had the staff members at the time, go through a fairly extensive scoring system. Yep. And then we got down to the point, what were their strengths? What were their weaknesses, and then narrowed it down to two, there was two that were very, very close to getting on board. And then it eventually come down to the gut feeling. Fortunately, it's not unfortunate, but it's sometimes you know, you can do all the work. But it just what I guess what felt good. And that's where we ultimately came settled with the agency that we took on board to do the brand.

Brenton Gowland:

Well, how much Ron, is that gut feeling point, I think is actually really important. So how much is gut feeling in marketing do you recon?

Ron Tomlian:

Well, in terms of like any relationship, it's about how that relationship is going to work. And it's not going to be purely logical. It's going to be how much you trust, how much you believe. And so it comes down to, you know, the chemistry. And I always think that, regardless of whether we're talking about an advertising agency, or a consultancy of any sort, yeah, it's how much you feel that there is a chemistry, there's an understanding, there's the potential for a trusting relationship there. And if it's not, there is probably not right.

Brenton Gowland:

Yeah. And I think that what you were talking about, there was a matrix and you went through stages with these people. So you would have built up a fairly good understanding of what these agencies were good at, and who was best fit over time, I would imagine.

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Yes, absolutely. That was, that was a big part of it. Because that gave us I guess, got us down to the tee that we were eventually looking to settle on. And it sort of also gave me an understanding of what this industry or what the industry is all about that, you know, there's a lot of work and skill in being our to refresh a brand. Yeah. And it just did. That sort of doing all that work came to the point where that gut feeling is the sort of the end part of it. But there was a lot of facts and information that went into that, that we had to research and look at before we made that decision.

Brenton Gowland:

And I had the privilege of being involved with you through this process. So I know there was more to it than that. And you got an agency involved, but you build a bigger team. Right? So I'm talking about IT professionals getting involved, staff members, just even freight considerations and so forth, there was several layers to this, can you just talk us through how much was involved in this from, you know, changing the name of the business to to freight companies, and all the things you had to think about and the team you had to assemble to get it done? Because agency was one choice, leading the front facing, how it looks how the brand speaks. But then there was all this stuff that happened in the background?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Yes, yes, that was a part of the learning of a quick learning curve that just changing or refreshing a brand is part of it. The rest of it that came with that was talking to all our current suppliers. And you know, even though we're a small business, if you put all those people together, it becomes quite a large organisation, that you need to trust those businesses and you need their feedback, you need to work with them. So always looked at whatever your suppliers are or agents, agencies are, that are actually part of your team. And you want to treat everyone with the same respect you'd like to be treated with. And if you don't, then it's going to be a pretty tough task. So we brought all these people in during the brainstorming sessions, so that they could tell us from their perspective, what things we need to consider and look at and understand. And that's basically how the team came together, even though it was more than just the internal team that was quite a number of people externally that helped us guided us and gave us feedback and information to make the decision we did.

Ron Tomlian:

That's music to my ears because what that demonstrates to me is a real understanding of what branding is about. It's not just the superficial logo, and the look and feel. It's the big being able to deliver and that involves a team suppliers freight forwarders internal, external, who are going to deliver on the promise that's made by the brand? However that looks?

Brenton Gowland:

Yeah,

Ron Tomlian:

Yeah, it's fantastic.

Brenton Gowland:

So I got to ask, everyone gets a picture in their head when they go out to do something like, you know, you might think I'm going to start a business, and it's going to be huge. And there's going to be so many people that just come and buy my stuff, I would imagine that you had a picture in your head of what the brand refresh was going to be like. So what did you actually think the experience was going to be like? What did you think it was going to do?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Yeah, I guess, having spoken to people in lottery just dumped into it once bought the business was nearly two years later. But having spoken to a lot of people that talk about when it was Mrs. Peggs, and was sort of founders that seven out of 10, people hadn't heard of us before. So we saw there was plenty of scope to grow that business, and all of the three people that do know, but we're very passionate customers, we're a great following of passionate customers. And, you know, out of those three, sort of envisage that one or two of them would be okay with the change. And there was always, you know, you're going to get the one that says, No, we should just stick to what we have. But it was just, I think it just felt like it was the right time, we wanted to build the business on new technology and platform. So why do it in bits and pieces, we just thought we'd do it all in and give it a news, give it a new start a new refresh, and then go from there.

Brenton Gowland:

And what did you think the process was going to be like, before you began?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

If we, you know, get the people with the experience and the expertise in those fields, that you've engaged with them, provide him with a bit of a brief that tell you the whole story they can do everything can was great. That's why we go but in reality, with everything, you you'd really do need to have a handle on what is going on, on what you're doing, you can't just leave it to external people, what can happen is that they take it on board and start doing what they think is best for the business, and not necessarily what you may think is best for the business.

Ron Tomlian:

So how on that note, how important was it for you to be very clear in your brief to the people who are involved? How important was it to have that locked down in your own head, what you were trying to achieve? Before you got them involved?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

I think it's very important. But it's not sit and cut, it's a start. And even though you may have this vision in your head, it's and you've written it down, you've got it all ready to go. You still need to be flexible in having other people's ideas. Because at the end of the day, it's one person's idea. It's good to have people that have been in that field and experienced it and worked with lots of brands and lots of other companies and businesses to bring their expertise. But yes, in one way, you can't just leave it and move on and let them go with what they think's best, you still need to refer back to the brief. And it's it's a moving target. You got to keep keep, keep going so that you can enhance other people's ideas and get the most out of it. So you're seeing it evolves. Really, it does, it does evolve from when you sort of start and I guess unless you've done a number of rebrands or web new websites, which I would think most people in small businesses may have done it once or twice in their lifetime. Maybe not at all. They just stick with what they are doing. Because it's a bit. It's a bit daunting. It's exciting. But it's also a bit scary and daunting at the same time.

Brenton Gowland:

Yeah, absolutely. So you said that a little bit earlier that you expected that perhaps these professionals would just do their jobs and be able to get everything done, and they'd lead the way but you said that comment that Ron was referring to earlier that they have their own idea for the business, you have your idea? And yeah, you start with a brief but then it evolves. So what did you learn about how to keep these people on track, to be able to deliver the result that you knew that you needed to achieve?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Well, you have to have regular meetings, that's the communication is very important. Also, having a team that is working on the, you know, in the same direction, if you don't have your own team on board and working towards the end goal, then it makes it even more difficult to then get the agencies or external suppliers on board. So having that set and then just regular communication and if you're not, if it doesn't feel right, then you got to bring it up and talk about it and not just jump it.

Brenton Gowland:

Interesting.

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Jump at the end result.

Brenton Gowland:

Yeah, if it doesn't feel right, that's interesting, because that means that You had, again, a gut feel for where the brand should be going.

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Yeah. When whenever we came up with a key milestone throughout the process, you just sit on it for sometimes three, four, five days, even even a week, have a weekend, thought about it, go back to it, actually have it up in front of us and see how it looks and feels. And when you sort of do that, and go back to what it was, or what it used to be, it just grows on you. And it just feels right, then you make you make the decision. And you'll say give interesting credit to the people that you hang around, you get other people to look at it. Not everyone agrees, but I tell them the majority did at the time. And that just sort of I guess gives you that support that it's the right way to go?

Brenton Gowland:

Why is it important to give credit to people who come up with those ideas at the time, just out of interest?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

What solid everything's a bit of a it's a team effort, you know, that are part of the team, you are working for your company, they, especially in a small team, you get to know them more guess say more closely, intimately, or you get to know their day to day routines like to say if you don't involve them, they're not going to really feel part of the team or part of the business.

Ron Tomlian:

Cool. So how much did you involve the team in in this brand launch? Which team? Are we talking about your internal team?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

The internal team right from the start right from the very beginning brainstorming session, when we invited the key players from each of the suppliers that we were dealing with at the time, they were coming to the agencies when we're going through looking at what they'd come up with. We then had weekly meetings to look at this as what the proposal is. And it wasn't just one proposal, they they came up with two or three ideas, and then would settle on looking at this really does shine this one? And yes, run right through the process. We involved everyone in in the decisions.

Brenton Gowland:

And do you feel that cut you a better result? How do you feel that affected the outcome that you got in the end?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

And I feel we got to a great result would have been better if it didn't involve? My probably can't answer that? Because we don't, I don't know how it would have turned out if we didn't involve them. It's just the way that I feel about when you you do have a business. You call it a family business. It's called a family business or reason non because all your family work in it is because the team that work in it become part of your family.

Brenton Gowland:

Yeah, that's great.

Ron Tomlian:

So tell us about the early results of the grand launch, because it's only about a month or so since it actually launched? Is it what you expected? Are the numbers up? Are they the same? Are they positive signs for the future? What do you think?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Yeah, good question. Ron, it's near on a month that we've, since we've launched, the initial launch went very smoothly, we had to do a lot of transitioning over from the old to the new. There's a lot of stuff that goes on in the background it wise which marketing is one is part of the important goal, but it as well as very important. And when they start talking in codes and everything, it's really hard to follow it I'll say, look, I think they everyone did an exceptional job, you don't realise how much goes on behind the scene to make a website and a brand look nice and fresh. At the front end.

Brenton Gowland:

Because the website, to your point is only the front end. But there's a whole delivery mechanism. And again, because I had inside knowledge and got to see this happen, there were so many things that and this happens with every rebrand, particularly because Mrs Peggs is selling predominantly all of its products online before it became pegs. And then there has to be a transition period where you go from one platform, because you change which platform did you use originally to sell your products?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Yeah, so we're on a WordPress WooCommerce system. And after doing a bit more research into that found that the security was getting to be a bit of an issue. And obviously, with all the cyber attacks and everything going on these days, it's sort of hard to ignore that. The other thing is that was a lot of August programming, and we couldn't change much of the website. So we had to always ring up and get them to change just even some wording or a picture. So the idea was to incorporate a system where we could do some of that ourselves and be a bit more reactive and be able to dunk quickly. So yeah, it was all a whole new platform, not just the website se was quite a bit to integrate and bring together.

Brenton Gowland:

And so then you had to make sure that from day one that those orders were being processed properly going through your system then ending up communicating with the freight company and then being able to fulfil delivery to create a full delivery. It's almost like you had to build a full delivery system from scratch and move from one to the other. Yes?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Yes, it's part of it. There's obviously off the shelf software systems that you can integrate. When we went to a, I guess a Shopify setup So they need to, firstly be able to integrate, they need to be able to read what your product mix is and be able to separate out making sure it's sent through the correct freight forwarders say there was quite a bit of work was still obviously working on that now when we need to do a little bit of custom work just to make the automation, or get the automation of those orders to where we want it to.

Brenton Gowland:

Yep. So. And to Ron's point, what were those? What are those early results? Are you happy with where things at?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

I think so because the end of the day, what was what you're doing, you think is in the best interest of the business. And it's really pleasing to say that, you know, our orders continued, There was at this early stage, we probably on par where we were before we, before we launched over, but the setup that's going to be there to be able to build on that over the next three to six months. I'm really excited about.

Brenton Gowland:

Yep, it'd be really good to get you in and again in three to six months and just hear what's happened and what the results are. Because I think, you know, the rebranding process, how long did it take you?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

The whole process was just over 18 months, and it was a quite intense, 18 months, because obviously, you're still trying to run the day to days of the business. And to then bring, like a major project, like a brand refresh a new website and a new operating platform, on board with the same team, it does get quite hectic. So I guess it's anything you probably would need to do is have a look at your resource levels and making sure that you can service both.

Brenton Gowland:

Yep. And did you expect that it was going to take 18 months when you started the journey? How long did you plan for?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Well, once again, it goes on what you told. So it was looking at about 12 months. But you know, I guess we were living in quite an unusual time. You know, we've we've all worked dogs have sort of endured a pretty crazy three years. So to sort of think it went from 12 months to 18 months. It's it's a time thing, but we're still the businesses could still operate. So I guess it wasn't time sensitive. In that sense. We could still run the business, it was still operating fine. So yeah, it was. Yeah, I didn't think it was too bad timeframe.

Brenton Gowland:

Yeah, that's interesting, because it wasn't just the website, was it you had to rebrand all the products develop new, I guess templates for those products to be printed, and so forth. So there was that whole side of it as well.

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Yeah, we had to look at our inventory levels, so that we didn't end up with is too much stock of what was branded Mrs Peggs, and then bring in the new stock and making sure that we could serve as both at the time. So you know, there's a financial commitment to do that as well. space that you need to consider in your warehouse. And then obviously, how to logistically make sure you're sending out the right products and for what people have ordered.

Ron Tomlian:

So you've got a new brand or a brand refresh, you've got a new platform, you've got new systems sitting in the background, new system, sitting for suppliers, and so on, where to from here, what are the next steps?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Go on a holiday Ron!

Ron Tomlian:

Very good. You deserve it.

Oswin Gegenhuber:

We're not quite there yet. But we're very close. And now, I guess, without her again, leading up to the brand launch, you obviously have to park a few things to the side so that we could have that nice transition that we did experience. And now we're going to move on to obviously, documenting all the processes of how we now go through the getting an order from the customer and getting out the door. And then also working on our whole marketing strategy. Because this is, you know, it's a big part of obviously doing the brand refresh. Having the new website, we now got to attract people to our website. And so the next key thing, I guess moving forward would be to work together a really solid marketing plan together.

Brenton Gowland:

So you said to me earlier today that the marketing never stops? Do you want to just talk about that for a minute? Because from your point of view, did you think it was gonna be rebrand Done and done or now you it's almost like this is the first starting point yes?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Yeah, just doing the branding. The marketing doesn't this is the start of the foundation of taking the business for the next five to 10 years. And you got to keep that our biggest thing will be to educate people about our product and the benefits of it. And you got to do that through your marketing streams. And it's got to be a progressive process. You can't just throw things out there and expect people to come flocking to your product. You got to get them to understand what the benefits are and how they need that need in their life and why our products are more suited than others.

Brenton Gowland:

Just before we end up we always with the big Isn't builders podcast asked for advice. But just before we do have you What have the reactions been to your new brand that you've heard of yourself to this point, because I know from experience your brand, even though not everyone knew about it, the people who knew about it, were passionate about it. My favourite story to share is when I was walking through the CBD in Adelaide with the two handy lines, Mrs. Peggs Handy Lines under my arms. I had people screaming at me down from across the row going It's Mrs Peggs. And this is when I first met I was when and I was standing there going what is happening?

Ron Tomlian:

And you do not look anything like Mrs Peggs.

Brenton Gowland:

No, I know I wasn't even wearing a skirt. I just had these two clotheslines with me. But the point is like you've got passionate customers, what have you heard so far? What's the reaction been?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

On an overall scale of things being quite positive, we've had a lot of good feedback, we've obviously sent the rebrand out to our customer bases, and we're gonna get a bit of feedback and how they felt about it all and we've had the old one or two people say are you really loved the missus pegs. But I really, really liked the fresh, new look in the lifestyle that you've come up with. So yeah, I would say it's been a really good success as far as the feedback. And we're sort of looking now that, you know, we were really endeavouring in getting into the different different demographics of people so that we can, you know, provide something that you know, that people are going to be able to use for a number of years.

Brenton Gowland:

Well, I certainly think your brand now represents the quality of the product you've got because I think the no brainer with the missus pigs product is the quality was outstanding. And the missus pigs brand was a bit dated. But now I think it looks like what's in the packaging?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Yeah, I guess we went back a question before about, you know, when do you think it was time, you know, a website that's eight, nine years old, is probably not a good space to be in with an E commerce business mail plan now was, obviously to set up the right platform that we can update that a lot easier. And, you know, every three to three to four years. So you know, what's come of that as some other longer term goals that are gonna make it easier for us to keep it fresh and looking, looking, looking modern and keeping it up to date.

Ron Tomlian:

Awesome. Now, you've just gone through a significant marketing exercise, which is a rebrand, or every brand refresh. What did you learn? As the leader of your business? What did you learn from that experience? And what would you do differently given half the chance?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Well learnt a lot. It really opened up Pandora's Box for me and like anything, when when you don't really know a lot of berries that are here that that's just marketing, it's all fine. You don't, it just looks after itself. And that's the fear that you get when you don't know about something, you tend to just push it to the side. Now I've sort of got that, I guess. revitalise fear about marketing. And you know, that it's there's a lot of work that goes into it. There's a lot of investigation as far as how do you do it the right way? And I think just keeping it, keeping it simple, and making sure that you believe in what you're doing and why you're changing it?

Ron Tomlian:

And would you do anything differently?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Absolutely, you'd be naive me to say that we're doing exactly the same way. I think some of the key things is to have a really good internal team around you that believe in what you're doing and why you're doing it. And then that resonates down through to your suppliers and agencies. The other thing would be that I'll do a lot more background work on you know, who you do bring on board that time is invaluable. Because once you start the process, it's you can't chop and change and move from one agency or supplier or company to another you, you know, you got to do that. Work with them. And you end up with a result that may not be what you expected. So lots of homework on what you're doing and getting your brief to a point where you're happy with it. Because obviously you still want to be a little bit you want to be flexible to bring in their ideas as well.

Brenton Gowland:

So you're saying really take the time upfront to do the research? Yeah, and I think that's with a lot of things that you do that. Yeah, probably one thing I would have known as, spend a bit more time upfront, and just getting a few other things, obviously not understanding marketing as much as I probably understand engineering and product development. Not that you need to get to that level, but you do need to have an understanding of what goes on and how it works and have obviously some support, guidance, mentoring, and do a bit of that before you decide to launch into it. You know, it's invaluable to hear and talk to as many people ring companies that have done it before. Go do some searching on the internet, find out companies if they've just done a rebrand or refresh, ring them up. Talk to them. You'll find eight, nine out of ten of them will talk to you. You will So joined a couple of groups here you you went, I think, to Queensland and did a management retreat, and then you joined a group to learn about ecommerce. Yes?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Yeah, that's right. It's, I guess it says that progression, have always sort of been a bit of that way. If you don't know what you're doing, don't ignore it, try and learn, learn about it and just learn about overtime. You don't need to learn it in five minutes. But you just keep asking the questions, find things that interest you that you can learn how it sort of works and operates.

Ron Tomlian:

Yeah, that's a genuine curiosity that we've often talked about before. And it's it's refreshing to hear that it does actually work when you put it in practice. Now, the Business Builders podcast is all about giving practical advice to people. So it'd be great to wrap up our discussion today with your recommendations for business leaders who are going to undertake rebranding projects, two or three things that you think would be really important for them to consider or do.

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Believe in what you're doing, have a really strong belief and that you know, what you're doing is the right thing to do, not just on gut feel, but also on, you know, the information that you have at hand, talk to as many people as you can that have gone through that process themselves, do your homework, do lots of homework about making sure that you get the right platforms, the right systems, the right people, and having a great team, having a great team that's going to support you and get you through that whole process. Yeah. And you built that team, though, didn't you? Yeah. So every time that we just having, having the right people and building that culture, it's a start of how you build that culture and how you want to be treated than then you treat them the right way, then they'll they'll give it back to you as well. So yeah, it's really important that you build a nice culture within your team. And that will then bring the work and, you know, they really, really get into it and feel the same excitement that you do. And it's not their business, but they begin to feel that they can work within it.

Brenton Gowland:

So what's your excitement level now? I know you're going to go away on holiday, because you told us a little while ago, but what's your excitement level? Now that you've got this whole thing done, and you're ready for the next stages?

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Basically, I can't wait to get back after my few days off. So I'm really excited.

Ron Tomlian:

We won't tell your family.

Brenton Gowland:

No. We wont, cuz I'm pretty sure they won't want you to go back to quick.

Oswin Gegenhuber:

I guess when you work through for 18 months, and you're saying of the light the light at the end of the tunnel. We're getting there, we're getting there. And when you actually do it's this massive relief in a way and you go, wow, that was intense. But gee, you learn a lot. I think it's the whole thing. If you don't put yourself out of your comfort zone, then you're never going to learn what you can possibly do. And that was a big thing was going out of the comfort zone and taking on this challenge. Also in a crazy time with COVID and everything else going on. But it just felt like the right time to do it.

Ron Tomlian:

Great advice.

Brenton Gowland:

Absolutely. Excellent advice. So look, if you have not seen the brand, that Oswin is talking about go and look at www.peggs.com.au with two g's. So that's PEGGS.com.au. It looks fantastic. It's been a big piece of work. 18 months in the making. And Oswin it would be really good to get you back in about six months or so to talk about what you've learned then from the point of where this new brand has launched to where you are at that particular point.

Oswin Gegenhuber:

Very happy to come back for it and look forward to it.

Brenton Gowland:

That's great. And look for those of you who are listening, we're going to pick up next episode on some of what Oswin was saying here and we're going to talk about how to go about finding a marketing agency or appointing a marketing agency for your business.

Ron Tomlian:

So on that note, it's goodbye for me.

Brenton Gowland:

And it's goodbye from me and we will speak with you again in a couple of weeks.

Ron Tomlian:

Bye.

Brenton Gowland:

Bye.