How International led an employee-first rebrand

International’s rebrand from Navistar focused on much more than just the company’s external branding – there were plenty of internal roots in the campaign as well.

At Ragan’s Internal Communications Conference in October, Megan Troppito, director and head of communications and brand at International, told the audience that when her company began the process of rebranding, her team focused on employees first to give their campaign the foundation it needed.

“If your employees do not believe in your brand, the external world never will,” Troppito said. “That is really something we embodied — we start with our employees first, really get them to understand and believe in the company they work for and the brand they should embody. Then the external perception will come.”

She shared the details of the rebrand’s launch event and how it got employees involved from the jump.

“We hosted an employee-only event in our main atrium — it goes up five stories, and people were lined up on every floor looking down at the stage. At the same time, every one of our manufacturing facilities hosted its own watch party. It wasn’t streamed on social, it wasn’t a public broadcast — it was for employees.”