Brand Transformation: from Career Cruising to Xello

The Challenge

The challenge facing Career Cruising was evident: despite its solid reputation and growth, the company was confined within the career education sector. While successful in Canada and garnering interest in the US, its products mainly appealed to career and technical educators, leaving academic educators and counselors turning to competitors for more college-centric solutions.

Recognizing the changing educational landscape and the growing emphasis on holistic student development, Career Cruising embarked on developing a new platform. This platform aimed to go beyond traditional career education, offering a comprehensive approach to student self-awareness and exploration. The inclusion of pathways for military and workforce options alongside college and career paths signaled a strategic shift towards catering to diverse student aspirations.

The company faced the daunting task of repositioning itself. It needed to move away from its perceived identity as solely a provider of career education solutions and establish itself as a pioneer in holistic student development and bridge from education to workforce. Furthermore, with the impending launch of the new platform, Career Cruising had to ensure its revamped brand identity reflected its expanded vision and offerings. This meant a strategic overhaul encompassing messaging, visual identity, and market positioning to effectively communicate the company's evolution and future direction. Additionally, the new platform required a fresh, modern name that matched the company's culture and added a touch of fun.

The Solution and Process

Convincing the founders that their company brand had outgrown its relevance was no small task. However, they acknowledged the need for change. The term 'Career' was deemed too restrictive, while 'Cruising' connoted passivity, contradicting the company's core belief that selecting and pursuing a pathway should be deliberate and well-informed.

The release of the new platform presented an opportune moment to effect this change and to venture beyond the confines of college and career readiness into a broader concept: future readiness.

Understanding Stakeholder Perceptions: Before delving into the rebranding process, it was crucial to gauge the current perceptions among various stakeholders including customers, employees, partners, and subject matter experts. Leveraging the research tool Vennli, we identified a discrepancy between our internal assumptions about market values and the actual preferences of our target audience. These insights proved instrumental in making informed decisions about the new product and in gaining buy-in from longstanding employees for a complete brand transformation.

Articulating Brand Strategy: Collaborating with the founders, we utilized competitor analysis and insights from the Vennli research to formulate a bold new brand strategy. This process also initiated a strategic planning initiative that remains integral to the company's operations today.

Finding an Identity: Engaging a naming consultant, a small cross-functional team of five internal members narrowed down options for the new identity. Ultimately, we selected Xello from the final contenders, a name that resonated particularly well when we discovered its association with the phrase "Hello world," the first line of code many programmers encounter. Working closely with a design firm, we brought the concept of 'Hello Xello' to life with a vibrant splash page, capturing the fun and modern essence we aimed to convey.

Bringing the Brand to Life: Armed with the newly defined brand strategy and identity, we internally launched the brand and organized comprehensive meetings with each functional area to ensure consistent implementation across all touchpoints.

The Results

The rebranding of Career Cruising to Xello proved highly successful, significantly expanding the company's reach and impact. Counselors and academic decision-makers were often pleasantly surprised to discover that Xello was the rebranded version of Career Cruising, indicating the effectiveness of the transformation.

In the first year following the rebrand, Xello secured contracts with 37 new districts, including three of the largest in the country. This expansion marked a pivotal shift in the company's trajectory, as it extended its future readiness programming beyond Career and Technical Education (CTE) while maintaining its dominance in that sector. Moreover, Xello's penetration into other departments within these districts underscored its growing influence and relevance across the educational landscape.

The growth resulting from these new contracts and expanded offerings translated into a remarkable 25 percent increase in profitability within the first year, despite the initial expenses incurred from the rebranding process. This financial success affirmed the strategy behind the rebrand and validated the company's bold vision for the future.

Brand Transformation: from Career Cruising to Xello

The Challenge

The Solution and Process

The Results

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