June 7, 2022
My career as a brand marketer and corporate communicator has provided many interesting stops along the way. Whether it was fast adapting the Digiorno pizza brand to Western Europe or introducing Easy Mac to legions of hungry tweens for a quick after-school snack, following and understanding the journey of great brands has always been an interest of mine. As a native Nebraskan, even when I lived in places like Chicago, New York or London, I kept my eye on a handful of Nebraska-headquartered businesses and brands—Union Pacific, Mutual of Omaha and Scoular among them. So, when I saw a posting to lead marketing and communications at Scoular in late 2018, I was intrigued.
Fast forward several months when I had accepted the role and faced the exciting but daunting challenge of stewarding the Scoular brand to its next chapter. While I didn’t know what form the brand work would take, one thing was crystal clear to me: Scoular was one of the most undermarketed brands I had ever come across. During my onboarding, I talked with leader after leader who demonstrated deep industry expertise and contagious passion to match. Who was this Scoular that seemingly few people outside of current employees and customers had heard of? Our goal was clear—help elevate Scoular to its rightful place in the mind of current and prospective employees and customers.
As a team, we had a lot of questions. How do we balance between legacy and future vision? How do we refresh a brand that covers the broad but deep expertise Scoular offers? One thing we knew for sure was that we couldn’t do it alone. Enter the Brand Alliance—a cross-functional team which provided fantastic perspective and guidance from every area of the organization.
Ultimately, we developed the following framework which kept us focused on brand evolution vs. brand revolution.
In late 2020, we launched the refreshed Scoular brand internally to employees and externally to customers, the media and key partners. The reception was overwhelmingly positive.
A milestone in our brand work is the integrated branding at our new global headquarters in Omaha. By having a solid understanding of what we want the brand to stand for and how we want it to show up, we were able to successfully integrate strong branding with world class functionality. It’s exciting to host customers in a space where the surroundings reinforce and reflect our business philosophy.
Our evolved brand foundation work has also guided us in the development of new market entries and positionings for Scoular. Whether it’s the launch of Scoular-endorsed brands like Encompass™ and Emerge™, or showing up as a comprehensive solution provider at events like Petfood Forum, our refreshed brand is helping us think differently internally and externally.
The best thing about Scoular’s brand evolution is that we’re just getting started. Along with organizational changes that enable Scoular to better serve customers and operate more efficiently, we’re working hard to collectively raise Scoular’s brand awareness in relevant areas. We know there’s continued opportunities to escalate and educate about our amazing business. So, who’s with me? Let’s Get Growing!
Watch a short video to learn more about Scoular.
Director, Brand Marketing
