Rebrand Case Study with Mouse Loves Pig

If you’ve ever wondered, “How do I rebrand my small business?” this case study can show you what to expect!

Great branding isn’t exactly a magic bullet that can change your business overnight, but it’s often pretty close. For many of our clients, we’ve found that a new name and a new look for their business can be the one thing that helps them skyrocket to success.

That’s certainly been the case for Ruth Rau of Mouse Loves Pig. She came to us in need of a new name for the retail side of her toy business. She told us:

“I’m growing, expanding, outsourcing, and while I love the name Handmade Happiness by Ruth, I recognize that it could be a misleading name for a toy made in a small batch manufacturing facility instead of in my home studio. The toys need to grow up.”

We worked with her on a business naming and logo and brand identity design project, and since then her business has been growing by leaps and bounds.

A few months after working with us on her rebrand, Ruth told us:

The gal in charge of the trade show remembers me applying last year and said something to the effect of “with your amazing products and your adorable branding, we knew that you’d be the first call to make from our waitlist.” Please pass this win for branding on to the team, because the only thing that has changed since I applied last year is the branding, I used all the same photos for the application this year.

The gorgeous new branding and amazingly thoughtful new name have shifted my thinking as a business owner from “my little craft business” to “global toy brand.” I am so excited to share the newfound clarity and refinement of the screen free toys dream with the world.

She recently won the Pirouette One To Watch Design Award from the Playtime New York trade show. As she pointed out, “Another brand that won this award at the European version of this trade-show has a 25 person team.”

We recently caught up with Ruth to ask her more about how the work we did for her to re-name and re-brand her business has helped her company achieve successes like this one.

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What made you decide to invest in a new brand identity for your business?

I realized that the vision for my business and my branding were not matching up. In my mind’s eye, I have this picture of an airport gift shop with a display of easy to grab, easy to use, screen free travel toys…. and my old business name and branding didn’t seem to fit with that vision. I knew I needed a new business name because my old one was long, hard to remember, and often misspelled. And my old branding looked nice, but not nearly “international toy brand” nice.

How was your experience of working with Aeolidia? What was your favorite part of working with us?

My favorite part of working with Aeolidia was the pre-branding interview process. And I call it a process because we went back and forth, me answering “what is your business all about” and them asking “tell us more, what about this, how does it feel, who uses it, etc?” They kept asking questions until it was crystal clear to both of us who my customer is, how my products help them, and what feeling I want them to have about my business.

From there, the process was just more and more exciting as they presented pieces and parts of the new brand image. It was like watching a flower bloom or watching a teenager grow up into an adult. So cool to see the visual representation of all of the hopes and dreams and wishes for my business. And instead of me having to direct the conversation, the Aeolidia team took the reigns and kept both of us on task, helping me make those big decisions about brand identity.

What impact has your rebrand had on your business?

My favorite thing now is to tell people my brand name and see the instant laughing smile. Every time. Full grown adults in super serious business meetings about orders and finances and supply chain have this momentary lapse into childhood nostalgia when they hear our business name and see the new branding. As if even our name spreads the joy of childhood play.

The brand has won design awards, been featured in more magazines, and generally is taken more seriously by more people with our new professional branding package.

But the biggest impact has been on me, the owner. It’s almost as if the business has taken on a life of it’s own and has it’s own personality separate from me which makes it so much easier to make big decisions about business direction. Aeolidia has helped me take everything I want this business to be about and put it into an easy to communicate package that I can now share with my employees, my customers, and with the world.

Read the 7 things Ruth learned while crowdfunding for her creative business »

Is your small business in need of a rebrand?

Is a new logo or brand identity the one thing that could push your business over the tipping point toward success?

If you think the answer might be yes, contact us and let’s talk about how Aeolidia can help you achieve your goals.