The art (and the agony) of brand repositioning
HATTER’s leadership on the risks, rewards and realities of changing-up your brand identity
Jo: Congrats on the new HATTER look and sound! Why did you decide now was the right time to change things up?
Simon: After the first round of our recent LEGO Botanicals work, I realised our positioning didn’t reflect what we were producing or how we were showing up. We’d been focused mainly on kids’ projects, so our tagline Positive Recklessness was rooted in joy and playfulness. Yet, our work is so much bigger and more nuanced than that. It builds communities. It makes people think. And it delivers real commercial benefits for clients.
Henri: Exactly. We didn’t think our branding necessarily helped clients understand what we did – or why physical moments matter so much in today's digital, fragmented world. There’s a real push right now for physical experiences because people are fatigued with digital marketing, but lots of agencies are jumping in without the expertise, time or skills to pull it off. That risks damaging the sector by delivering poor products, which hurts everyone. Meanwhile, we’ve been delivering successfully for big clients for years – but weren’t telling people that.
S: We're constantly competing against global agencies despite being much smaller. The industry shift toward brand experience made it the right time to really stand behind our expertise.
J: So, once you decided to refresh, where did you start?
S: We did a lot of comparing! I think it’s healthy to know how peers think and what they’re doing. We looked at agencies we often pitch against and those we've lost pitches to. All of them, in their own way, were talking about the actual experiences rather than the emotions evoked – which we weren’t. It made me realise we needed a clear and simple direction. Something you can say to your mum and she gets it.
H: And it has to stand the test of time – because we don’t want to do another reposition in the foreseeable future (or ever again)! [laughs] Yet, looking at different agencies, I realised there was a tendency to move towards whatever the zeitgeist is at the time – ‘culture and communities’ is the current favourite – but that risks boxing yourself in. We wanted something meaningful that represented what we do and what we want to do in the future.
J: How did that lead to the new tagline ‘Making Moments That Matter’?
S: It came up during a late-night new business meeting when the client didn't show! Henri and I were talking about how to present what we do and I just said: “We make moments that matter”. It was simple, clear, and true.
H: Ultimately, that’s what our entire business is about: making moments that move a dial – whether that’s brand empathy, sales, or connection.
J: Tell me about the five pillars of HATTER’s new ‘Who we are’ ethos.
H: They all come from genuinely wanting to do the best possible work. They're about remembering there are real people involved – whether that’s keeping the audience front and centre, not white-labeling suppliers so people get their due credit, or avoiding hype-driven marketing that doesn't connect consumers to brands.
S: They reflect how we show up. It's about human-centered design, empathy, and clarity. We want clients to know exactly who they’re working with and what we stand for.
H: We’ve earned our stripes. We’ve learned these things the hard way. We know our business. And we know that it’s important we stay true to what we believe in.
J: How integral was balancing legacy with forward thinking?
S: Our legacy is understanding the importance of brand experience itself, so our work needs to be at the heart of everything. As long as we did that – and kept our logo! – I was fine with other changes.
H: That’s another reason ‘Moments That Matter’ works so well – because our past work matters to us as an agency. We don’t do throwaway experiences. Everything we make requires blood, sweat and tears (not literally – well, sometimes). Putting on our experiences takes huge investment from both sides. Clients want to work with an agency that cares as much as they do.
J: What has the process meant for you personally?
H: It's been validating. A moment of: “Yes, we really know what we’re doing. We are the experts.”
S: And freeing. Knowing we can just focus on us and what we do brilliantly – all of these amazing jobs we've made for big brilliant clients. These are things we're really, really good at. Why are we not shouting about that?! Forget trying to be the cool kids, let’s concentrate on what we do really well: making great brand experiences and moments that matter.