Paykel’s rebrand to Involved Media makes it a ‘challenger’, says Sarah Keith
Newly rebranded Involved Media's managing director Sarah Keith dives into the decision to move away from the Paykel Media name in this chat with Mumbrella's Zanda Wilson.
“The key is we really wanted to reposition as a challenger brand, where you’re neither the market leader nor a niche offering.”
Paykel Media is rebranding to a new name to become, Involved Media. The independent media agency is getting a facelift after 22 years explains managing director, Sarah Keith.
“A challenger brand is characterised by a mindset which is about having business ambitions beyond conventional resources, often based around value that we can offer to clients which other brands can’t,” Keith explains.
“I had a lot of support internally and globally to make the case for change.”
L-R: Dan Hojnik, Tony Paykel, Sarah Keith
Keith tells us that the rebrand was, at least in part, the result of a desire to grow beyond the current perception of Paykel, something she says wouldn’t have been possible if the agency retained the Paykel Media name.
“You can’t become a challenger brand with the same identity. So I felt it was really important for me to be able to say ‘okay, the transact part of the business will keep running, and we’ll retain that as a division’, but to ensure that we can amplify our strategy offering to clients, it’s really for us to break from the past and evolve the overall agency.
“And the easiest way to do that is with the name change.”
The brand refresh comes two years after Paykel Media was acquired by Active International.
The change also comes a few short months after Sarah Keith joined as managing director, when Tony Paykel stepped down from the role to lead the agency’s partnerships.
But Keith shows no sign of concern that losing that name will result in any loss of reputation or brand equity, especially as Paykel himself is going nowhere.
“Tony is still a very important member of our team. Tony Paykel runs what we call the transact part of the business, the operational par of the business.
“Our brand has been standing strong for two decades now and effectively we’re evolving and adapting it to build a stronger brand; one that really reflects now where we want to move in the future.
“If you think about our tagline, we talk about trusted advice and being results-driven. That is really the strategic drive to the future.”
Involved Media Logo
Expanding the capabilities of the business started with the hire of Dan Hojnik as a senior strategist, and now Involved Media is continuing to look to expand its team and offering.
“[Hojnik] has really refined what we’re calling our Involved planning framework and he will have a digital strategist working with him,” Keith says.
“We’re also stretching our insights and research team, with the move of Saffron Clark into that team as well. So that’s the key to it, having strategy at the heart of what we do.”
If clients are to take something away from the rebrand, Keith says it’s that they understand that their offering will continue to be about helping them understand how media actually works.
“I think that it’s almost impossible to try and advise a client about, you know, even simple things like television, without evolving yourself. It’s been driven by the complexity that we find ourselves in. COVID changed the game.
“Looking back at 2020, no one would have seen that TikTok would have such a huge increment, and also what has now happened in terms of Google not taking part in industry initiatives around data.
“So many things keep changing and I think it’s so important, so if a client really is at the heart of what your business, you need to take a strategic lens to ensure that you are driving the right results.”
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Zanda Wilson was a reporter and podcast producer at Mumbrella, specialising in radio reporting. He left Mumbrella in September 2021.
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