Is It Crazy to Rebrand and Launch a Product at the Same Time?

Actually... No, it is not. It sounded crazy at first, but we began to realize that many of the things we needed to do for rebranding were needed for our product launch as well.

This question came up because we have a rhythm of launching major software releases in Q3. We also prefer to make improvements to our company in Q3. Being the summer quarter, Q3 is typically a little quieter, and we can work on improving our company in anticipation of our customers coming back from summer in Q4. We were worried that rebranding the company any other quarter could be distracting and hurt our ability to execute well for our customers. Thus, we asked if we should rebrand in Q3 even though we were planning to do a product launch.

Here is a sample of some things that we do for our product launches:

• Design new web pages about our new product.
• Work on the messaging and words that we need for launch. 
• Introduce the product to our customers in a step by step process that does not overwhelm them.
• Educate our customers and prospects about the new product.
• Train our sales team to sell the new products.
• Train our coaching team to help clients with the new product.

Amazingly, the above list works for our rebranding project as well! So why not kill two birds with one stone? We decided to rebrand and launch Rhythm 3.0 in Q3 and take advantage of our marketing launch process.

I am so excited about Rhythm 3.0. I cannot wait to see how it will help our customers. Rhythm will now help you to drive collaboration and execution daily with your teams. My Rhythm on iPhone puts Rhythm in your pocket! We did a sneak preview of My Rhythm for our customers. Dr. Steve Vogt, CEO of Bioplus, got really excited, too. He sent me an encouraging note right after the sneak preview saying, "I will use it more, my team will communicate around Rhythm. It will integrate into everyday life vs. being a once a day event. Bravo!" Check out My Rhythm with this link to our customer webcast.

Rhythm 3.0 will also help to provide tools and discipline to do what you have learned from Balanced Scorecard, Covey's 7 Habits and 4 Disciplines of Execution, Good To Great and Mastering the Rockefeller Habits. Here are a couple of examples of how Rhythm 3.0 can help you do what you have learned:

• Balanced Scorecard: Consider setting up KPI (Key Performance Indicator) dashboards to measure the categories suggested from the Balanced Scorecard - Financial, Customer, Internal Business Process, Learning and Growth. Rhythm allows you to make your strategy come alive by connecting your execution to your strategy. You can use the Balanced Scorecard or a customized version of this. Then, My Rhythm for iPhone lets you put this in your pocket, and keep your most important KPIs top of mind during your busy day.
• Jim Collins’ 20 mile march: Jim Collins taught about the importance of having strong discipline and executing with strong rhythm. He calls this a 20 mile march. Rain or shine, put in your 20 mile march everyday. We love this concept, and using Rhythm, you can design your 20 mile dashboard, and check your execution daily with My Rhythm for iPhone. How cool is that? Execute to your 20 mile march and build a great company.
• Verne Harnish and Mastering the Rockefeller Habits: Rhythm has always been the best and most elegant system to implement the One Page Strategic Plan from Mastering the Rockefeller Habits. Now you can take your personal top 5 priorities and top 5 KPIs with you no matter where you go. My Rhythm for iPhone puts that in your pocket.

I’ll stop at three examples. But I am so excited! I cannot wait to see how our clients and coaches will be using these new tools to take daily execution up several notches.

Rebranding during our product launch turned out to be a very good idea. Dr. Stephen Covey’s 6th habit is “Synergize - Combine the strengths of people through positive teamwork, so as to achieve goals no one person could have done alone.” By rebranding and launching Rhythm 3.0, we synergized. We were able to achieve more in our team than if we did both projects by themselves. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to our team, who worked hard to find smart ways to work together and get us to where we are today while serving our customers the way they do every single day. Starting this new chapter in our company’s history accompanied by launching Rhythm 3.0 has been an amazing journey. 

I want to thank every Rhythm Systems team member and every client for the privilege of this wondrous journey with you. Welcome to Rhythm Systems and Rhythm 3.0!