137 136 Growth Rings
e Best of Davey
By 2009 the recession, which officially ended in June, had taken a toll. Almost all
of Davey's service lines saw revenues drop. Davey would end the 2009 fiscal year
down six percent in revenues. To come out of the recession, the company launched
a rebranding initiative that worked from the inside out. e company dubbed
the campaign "Building on the Best of Davey" and centered it around five brand
attributes: integrity, commitment, expertise, capability, and experience. A complex,
two-year initiative, the rebranding effort had three phases. It started with the launch
of "Building on the Best of Davey" by introducing and explaining the brand changes
to employees and shareholders through internal messaging, including lengthy features
in e Davey Bulletin. Next, the campaign shifted to "e Best is You" and explained
to employees their role in the new branding initiative.
"We took a unique approach as an employee-owned company in the service
industry," said Sandra Reid, vice president, corporate communications and strategic
planning administration, in a 2009 interview with 1to1 Media. "Our face to the
external world starts with our employees. And it was very important we communicate
to all our employees the strengths of the Davey organization."
As Reid recalled in a 2017 interview, the new brand had to be real so that it resonated
with employees. e brand had to accurately reflect the company's broad scope of
operations and capabilities. Employees would be unlikely to embrace something that
was not true to the company's core values and services. Developing the new brand
required intense internal focus.
In the third phase of the rebranding effort, the campaign shifted to the new external
brand marketing. at included a new brand promise, "Proven Solutions for a
Growing World," extolling Davey's heritage, innovation, and client focus. e brand
promise was also incorporated into the company logo.
"'Proven Solutions' came about through a lot of research and conversations," Reid
said. "We had a lot of different themes we tested with clients, prospective clients, and
within the company itself. Hundreds of people were surveyed internally and exter-
nally." e combination of internal and external communications effectively changed
the way employees and clients would view the Davey brand for years to come.
e rebranding efforts were designed in part to strengthen Davey's relationships
with its clients. is proved particularly important in residential services. Jim Stief,
then vice president and general manager, Residential/Commercial services, noted in
a 2008 Bulletin article that client service was at the core of R/C operations. e
concern, Stief recalled in a 2017 interview, was that competition would be fierce as
the world came out of the Great Recession. "Anybody can go to the bank, buy a nice,
shiny truck and slap a logo on themselves, and that somebody might provide the
same service, whether pruning, fertilizing or tree removal, at two-thirds of the price
we will charge," Stief said. "We don't compete on price. What will the client value?
9
Building on the Best
(2010 –2013)
Chapter 9
