2013 has seen some big companies rebrand, think Yahoo, SeoMoz and Ernst and Young to name a few. But why rebrand and how do you go about it? We speak to Sadie Gee who headed up the rebrand of AnyCabs to Minicabster. Read the interview below:
Hi Sadie, can you first give me a bit of background to yourself:
Hi Rishi, sure! I have a degree in Business Management and started my career working within the marketing department at JUST EAT. It was actually my time at university that introduced me to the ‘startup world’, where I acted as VP of the Entrepreneurship Society and started a few small-scale business projects of my own to fund my car. I then joined Minicabster in July 2012 and I can remember when the team fit into an office with only 4 desks, very much ‘raw startup’ mode. I saw an opportunity to explore the online industry and got excited by the challenge of growing a business from its infancy into a market leader.
People often describe me as ‘fiercely ambitious’. I can’t deny it; I do have pretty big aspirations in life! I guess the journey to getting where I want to be is what really excites me. I’m also a self-taught guitar player, a bit of a gadget-geek, and a brown belt in Shotokan Karate.
So tell me about your role at Minicabster:
I am a shareholder in the business and responsible for managing all operations at Minicabster. I’ve built several departments including Customer Care and our Call Center, and have pioneered projects across marketing, customer care, and product design - most recently leading the rebrand from Anycabs to Minicabster and directing the design of our new look. It’s been a unique and fantastic experience, a real turning point for the company and I’ve learnt a lot along the way.
What do you like most about working at a startup?
Working at a startup is an experience unlike any other as it’s such a fast paced environment. I’ve worked on two websites, our first app, built two departments, and learnt a heck of a lot. It’s safe to say it’s hard to find an experience like this in a larger organisation, or if I did, it would have taken years to do everything I have done in the space of a year.
I’ve actually interviewed the founder Brooke, when you were called Anycabs. Tell me, why the change of name?
Anycabs was a good name and it gave us what we needed to launch the business, but as a brand, Anycabs couldn’t quite give us what we were looking for. Minicabster on the other hand is a powerful, personable and memorable business name that as well as being a little quirky, has a strong link to our industry! It took forever and a day to decide on Minicabster, it probably was the most challenging part of this whole process!
And what about the Minicabster logo, where did the idea for this come from?
The logo was actually a brainchild of mine. I wanted something bold and iconic, so using the capital ‘M’ for Minicabster seemed like the best idea. A great deal of our marketing will also be focused offline through branded minicabs, so the electric blue mixed with the shape of the logo really did the job of jumping out and demanding attention.
What do you expect the benefits of the rebrand to be?
We have already seen fantastic results from the rebrand! There have been some awesome comments on our social media sites, and the majority of our customers love it. That’s the most important thing at the end of the day, and I’m confident that the rebrand was the right move.
The real benefits of course are to be found when crunching the numbers. Our new interface on the website, mobile site and Smartphone app have lead to a boost in conversion rate, our bounce rate has reduced, and all in all customer interaction is much greater with Minicabster.
What downsides are you experiencing/expecting from the rebrand?
The only trouble with renaming and rebranding is it can be confusing for customers, so we had to really focus on good communication. Also PPC and SEO work has to be built up again, but we made sure we’ve had the best guys in this department before we made the change!
Now you led this project, what were the hardest decisions you had to make?
The decision to rebrand was the biggest one! But after that comes deciding the new name and our brand personality.
What’s next for Minicabster?
We have a pretty hefty growth plan, so there’s more products and new app features coming than you can shake a stick at. We recently secured $2million in our round of funding so expansion into new cities is also imminent, now Minicabster has been born you’ll be seeing us everywhere.
