WholeFoodsspoke to Erica Schulte King, Director of Marketing and Communications at INFRA, to get some insight regarding the reason for the rebrand, the thought process behind it, and what it means for the association.
“INFRA was merely a vision at Expo West in 2004, when four retailers got together (probably over tequila and fries) to discuss the possibility of collaborating and leveraging their collective voice to strengthen their opportunities in the industry,” says Schulte King. “Our first members joined INFRA with only that vision, no real ROI, but a commitment to the dream that independents nationwide could remain autonomous, yet speak with one voice. We are on the precipice of our 15thbirthday—INFRA was officially founded in 2005—and it was time to make our visual mark match the rest of our brand in the industry. With more than 245+ members and 40+ Associate Retailers, we have come a long way in 15 years. It was time to take our grocery bag mark and turn it into a more accurate representation of who we are today.”
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In Fall of 2018, INFRA sent out a Request for Proposal, and ended up hiring Haberman, who, Schulte King says, is a “very well-known branding company, not only in the Twin Cities but in our industry.” The reason the rebranding took a year? “We took our time to really choose a mark that we felt allowed us to accurately represent our brand.” Schulte King says that this choice—and even the idea of what, in fact, INFRA’s brandis—was a community effort: “We involved many of our stakeholders, including members, industry partners, the NGO community, the Board of Directors, etc. in the very early stages through interviews around the current INFRA brand and their thoughts around what we do, who we are, and how we should be represented. It was wonderful getting so much buy-in from our community, and really allowed this process to be more inclusive, which is what INFRA strives to do on a daily basis. From there we worked with Haberman to start sorting through what they ‘heard’ and how to accurately reflect that in first the Identity Brief, then the Storytelling and Mood Boards. Ultimately, after input from the stakeholders and staff along the way, the Leadership Team made the final decisions regarding the mark.”As to what it means for the organization? No worries there—it’s the same great association, with new and improved packaging.
Schulte King concluded: “We welcome all INFRA partners and members to use our mark to accurately reflect how you work with INFRA.” The new mark can be downloadedhere.
