HCLTech was recognized as Forrester’s 2024 B2B Program Of The Year Awards winner for marketing executives, thanks to the impressive results from its comprehensive rebrand and digital transformation. Rebrands are expensive, time-consuming, and not without risk, but when done right, a company can see substantial results. For HCLTech, the rebrand unified the company, created cohesive messaging, enabled clear buyer journeys, and ignited an even stronger sense of pride among its over 200,000 employees.
The Right Time And Right Reasons For A Rebrand
HCLTech, a company with impressive growth fueled by organic expansion and strategic acquisitions, nevertheless faced a brand identity crisis. Independent branding efforts across business units led to fragmented messaging, inconsistent creative, and disjointed digital experiences. With limited brand recognition in key markets, HCLTech felt it was the $13 billion company that nobody knew. Recognizing the need for a unified brand identity, HCLTech embarked on a comprehensive rebrand and digital experience transformation.
Factors For Success
Several factors drove HCLTech’s success:
- Executive support. Leadership saw the rebrand as essential for driving growth, fostering customer loyalty, and attracting top talent. They fully supported all aspects of the initiative, including the expansive digital experience transformation that encompassed a complete rearchitecting of internal and external websites, streamlining buyer journeys, and a focus on performance-driven content. Most importantly, the executive team supported substantial long-term investment in brand campaigns post-launch to ensure that the brand took hold with target audiences around the globe.
- A strategic initiative. The rebrand was a strategic move to unify the diverse business units under a single, powerful identity with plans for activation programs that would drive revenue growth goals. This was no vanity project focused on fonts and colors. This extensive, data-driven project aligned with the business strategy and exhibited a long-term commitment from executives.
- Customer- and employee-inspired. HCLTech’s rebrand was more than a name change; it was a strategic move to unify the diverse business units under a single, powerful identity derived from the company’s mission, vision, values, and brand purpose, which center around clients, people, communities, and the planet.
- Strategic sponsorships and aligned advertising. The company amplified the brand experience through strategic sponsorships in key markets, including the sponsorship of MetLife Stadium (home of the New York Jets and Giants), the Australian national cricket team, and the Scuderia Ferrari HP Formula One team. Targeted advertising and account-based marketing initiatives further amplified brand awareness and perceptions.
Stellar Results
HCLTech’s brand value surged by 15.9% year over year, making it the fastest-growing IT services brand globally according to Brand Finance Global 500 and IT Services 25 2024. The business saw a 25.7% increase in its stock price and associated market capitalization, alongside significant improvements in brand familiarity and consideration scores with a 75% lift in brand recall. The new unified digital platform enhanced user experiences, attracting more visitors and job seekers, and also delivered operational efficiencies.