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the content is perfect and people did- n’t know about it and you needed a fresh way to get the word out, the return on those efforts to rebrand is not very good,” she said. “If you have nothing more than an aware- ness problem, then a fresh approach to communications is perhaps all you need. But more often, when an organization decides they want to rebrand, it’s because there’s some- thing off in the content where it’s not really speaking to their target [audi- ence] very well.” A classic rebrand of graphic ele-

ments provides “an important visual cue,” Fortini-Campbell said. “Having the look be something that is attractive, clear, up to date, and well-positioned is critical. But unless you want it to just be win- dow dressing, you have to think about the rest of it. In the scheme of things, that sort of branding is relatively easy. It does not com- pensate for a lack of attention to the rest of the experience.” And while design is important to

get the attention of people at the outset, the brand comes from what happens on site rather than fromthe marketing behind the event. “As people think about creating brands for conferences and meetings, they really need to think it through to the total experiential level,” she said. “They need to make sure that every-

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