As with many companies, recruitment was often a challenge for logistics company Griffin Kinetic. Yet these days, the company can boast an easier time attracting quality personnel who fit its culture of irrefutable reliability and service. Its staff are also keen brand ambassadors for the company, embodying its core values with a strong sense of ownership.
This is the result of a rebranding exercise, which its Managing Director Mr Gerry Tan calls “an enlightening experience”. Through the project, Griffin Kinetic identified its strategic growth options and niche activities, and better understood how it should position itself with greater relevance to its clients.
“Our brand review in 2008 provided a very good 360-degree view of the company for us. We realised that our perception of ourselves was quite different from the market’s perception,” he recalls. “At that time, getting customer feedback was not one of our strongest points, so it surprised us that in some aspects, some of our customers didn’t think we were as good as we thought we were.”
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As it were, the company’s brand architecture needed a rethink. Griffin Kinetic had long been known as a strong logistics provider in the marine and offshore industries for the last 21 years. But this created some confusion when it began offering special transports for the pharmaceutical and biotech industry in 2007.
“People questioned our logistics abilities in pharmaceuticals because we were seen to be established in the marine and offshore industry,” explains Mr Tan. “So we realigned our brand strategy, leveraging on our reputation as a leading logistics provider to create a new brand name for our move into specialised logistics services.”
The company renamed its pharmaceuticals arm GK Pharma and kept the Griffin Kinetic name for its marine and offshore logistics arm. Its holding company was renamed GKLOG Holdings.
With this new and more comprehensive structure in place, it embarked on a “shouting” phase to communicate its new brand image, starting with a lavish gala dinner to engage its staff and partners in late 2009. “We then actively participated in road shows and overseas exhibitions in order to make a splash,” says Mr Tan.
Results have been encouraging and the company feels confident moving into the future. “I think before any enterprise can move forward, it needs to establish its history and roots,” he adds. “That’s what branding is — a self-study of who you are, who you want to be, and how to get there – in short your company’s DNA.”
Even the company’s employees have gotten into the swing of things and exude a sense of pride. “Because of their active participation in the branding process, they now have a strong sense of feeling towards the organisation. They too have evolved and become proud brand ambassadors of the company.”