First, some context
A year ago – on March 3, 2025 – we launched our agency under a new brand: Achtzehn Grad. But because a rebrand is never just a name and a logo, we’d already been through some truly wild times by then.
The idea had been floating around for ages. In July 2024, we finally went all in: our Creative Director, Art Director, Account Management Director, and Strategic Planner started locking themselves in a room on a regular basis and built a completely new brand strategy from the ground up (brand essence, vision, mission, positioning, values). By the end of October, over a Tequila Sunrise (disgusting – but weirdly perfect for the brand story), we got the official green light from our CEOs.
Right on time for the start of Q4 (a terrible idea, in hindsight), we pulled the entire team in. Together, we tackled visual branding, brand voice, website, comms and social strategy, rollout planning including IT, client communication, merch, launch event, launch campaign … memories that still trigger very mixed feelings.
We had a bunch of bad ideas
- Doing the rebrand in-house. Brilliant, because no one knows us better than we do… right? Yes. And also a terrible idea, because no one is as close (too close) as we are.
- Peak phase in Q4. A massive, seemingly unclimbable mountain of extra work on top of everything else. Yeah… we know.
- Involving the entire team. Everyone has an opinion (a different one), which creates an insane amount of alignment work. It’s time-consuming – and tbh, it costs nerves.
- Burying a brand the team felt connected to. We didn’t expect letting go to be that hard. At first, a lot of ideas were still way too close to the old identity. And: there are people who won’t (or can’t) go along with that kind of shift, for professional or personal reasons. In our case too, some people left the company during the process.
- An open briefing. Barely any guidelines and handing over responsibility for “making it happen” sounds like a dream. Reality check: too many options are paralyzing. Even for us. It frustrated everyone involved.
- Rebranding in an economically tough time. Even when denial does its job: late 2024 / early 2025 were rough for our industry – and beyond. For us too. We didn’t have the luxury of freeing up resources for a rebrand. Everything had to happen alongside the existing workload. Sure, doing it earlier would’ve been smarter – but you only know that after the fact. And waiting wasn’t an option.
- Pressure and stress everywhere.
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After the shock, the dopamine
- We now have a brand that’s thought through. With a convincing story behind it. And it’s working: internally, in how the market sees us, in the quality of incoming requests, in pitch invitations. We’re attracting the right people. We’re positioned strongly. Doors that used to be closed to us are now wide open – and every single person on the team knows which doors we want to walk through, and which ones we don’t.
- And we’re still here. Stronger. Closer. More of a unit than before.
Okay, a few more positives
- We got a taste of what it feels like to be on the client side. And were able to sharpen our process because of it. Here's how we do it.
- We learned a lot about each other, our working styles, and how we handle things together.
- There’s sweat and tears from all of us in this brand – and that creats a bond.
Would we do it again?
No. Never.
Are we glad we did it? Yes. Absolutely.
And because we did it properly (not just on the surface) we don’t even have to ask ourselves that question. Out of a long, exhausting, nerve-fraying process came a brand that’s genuinely strong and intentional. One that fits us, and the times we’re living in. Which is exactly why it can last.
Callout: And if you’re thinking: “Okay, but you still haven’t told us why you’re called Achtzehn Grad,” you’ll find that answer – and more – in our Brand Book: brand.achtzehngrad.at