This article was based on the interview with Optimizely’s Greg Heinz on making a rebrand behave differently, not just look different by Greg Kihlström, AI and MarTech keynote speaker for The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström podcast. Listen to the original episode here:
In the current MarTech landscape, declaring yourself an “AI company” is about as distinctive as having a blue logo. The barrier to entry for leveraging generative AI has all but vanished, creating a sea of sameness where messaging, visuals, and even value propositions can feel unnervingly similar. For enterprise marketing leaders, this presents a formidable challenge: when a competitor can replicate your go-to-market assets by the end of the quarter, what truly differentiates you? The answer, as it often does, lies in brand. But not brand as a fresh coat of paint or a clever new tagline. We’re talking about brand as a system of behaviors, a credible promise, and a strategic repositioning that permeates every facet of the organization.
Executing a rebrand of this magnitude is a monumental task, fraught with both internal and external pressures. It requires a delicate balance of data-driven conviction and creative courage. Recently, Optimizely undertook just such a transformation, moving to position itself not merely as a collection of powerful tools for experimentation and content, but as the definitive AI platform for marketing. This wasn’t just about launching a new campaign; it was about changing the company’s center of gravity. In a recent conversation, Greg Hines, Senior Director of Brand and Digital Strategy at Optimizely, offered a candid look behind the curtain of this complex process, revealing the strategic thinking required to ensure a rebrand lands with substance, not just style.
Grounding the Change in Market Reality
Before a single color palette is debated or a new logo is sketched, a rebrand must be rooted in a clear and present need. Gut feelings and executive whims are insufficient foundations for such a significant investment. The process must begin with rigorous research, both quantitative and qualitative, to diagnose the precise problem the rebrand is meant to solve. For Optimizely, the data pointed to a familiar challenge for any company that has grown through acquisition: a fragmented identity. Customers and the broader market understood the company through the narrow lens of the specific product they used, missing the larger, integrated value proposition.
This perception gap was the primary catalyst for change. The research revealed that while existing customers were loyal, the broader market viewed Optimizely as just another vendor in an increasingly crowded space. In a world where a marketing leader’s “headspace for vendors is minimum,” being “just another” is a death sentence. The mandate became clear: elevate the brand beyond its individual product components to tell a unified, compelling story that people could connect with on an emotional level.
“People knew Optimizely for that piece of the business that they had already invested in, but they didn’t realize all those capabilities, so there was kind of a scope challenge. And then the other is the piece that the people that loved us really, really loved us, and the people that didn’t really know us that well just viewed us as another software company… what we’re trying to do is, you know, how do we lead forward so we’re not just another software, but really, like, build a brand that people can love as much as the products.”
This is a critical insight for any leader embarking on a similar journey. The goal isn’t just to increase awareness, but to foster affinity. A rebrand’s success hinges on its ability to transform perception from a transactional vendor to a strategic partner—a brand that people choose to align with, not just procure. This requires a promise that resonates beyond features and functions, connecting directly to the aspirations and challenges of the audience.
The Deliberate Balance of Human Creativity and AI Efficiency
In an era defined by automation, the conversation around rebranding inevitably turns to the role of AI in the creative process. For an AI-first company like Optimizely, the pressure to “eat your own dog food” is immense. Yet, a truly distinctive brand cannot be prompted into existence. The team made a conscious and strategic decision to delineate where human artistry was non-negotiable and where AI could serve as a powerful accelerator. This led to a fascinating duality in their execution.
For the core illustrative style, they sought something that AI couldn’t replicate. They commissioned work from a celebrated artist, Andre Cassé, whose unique, handcrafted style has graced campaigns for global titans like Gucci and Nike. This was a significant investment, but one that immediately gave the brand a unique, human, and inimitable visual signature. It was a declaration that in a world of digital facsimiles, true originality still carries immense value. At the same time, they leveraged AI to handle the scale required for a global launch, generating background landscapes and other assets to meet tight deadlines. This wasn’t about replacing designers, but augmenting them.
“We decided from an illustration standpoint, we wanted something that couldn’t be reproduced… it was a significant investment to, you know, lean into him and to commission the work. But it’s also been the one thing that people talk about the most. So I think to me it reinforced the decision to say, hey, like, these uniquely human moments are worth it… I think we did a ultimately a good job in the end focusing on AI as the kind of the accelerator and scaling the work, but the inputs were all definitely human.”
This balanced approach offers a practical model for marketing leaders. The question isn’t “human versus AI,” but “human and AI.” The most durable brands will be those that use AI for efficiency, scale, and speed, while reserving uniquely human creativity for the elements that define their soul. As Hines noted, using AI isn’t always a time-saver, especially when the ideation and prompting process becomes a bottleneck. The key is to apply each tool—human intellect and artificial intelligence—to the tasks they are best suited for, ensuring the final output is both scalable and special.
The Internal Rebrand: Changing Behaviors, Not Just Collateral
Perhaps the most challenging aspect of any rebrand is that the real work begins after the launch. A new website, a new ad campaign, and new sales decks are table stakes. The true measure of success is whether the organization begins to behave like the new brand. This requires a fundamental shift in mindset, storytelling, and internal alignment, moving from a product-centric view to an audience-centric one. For Optimizely, this meant unifying teams that had previously operated with significant autonomy around their specific products, like CMS or experimentation.
This is an exercise in change management as much as it is in marketing. Teams accustomed to dedicated campaigns and messaging for their business unit must now learn to speak a common language, one that prioritizes the unified brand story. This can create internal friction, as it requires giving up a degree of control and focus for the benefit of the larger narrative. The shift is from talking about products and features to talking about what’s possible for the customer.
“I think that’s been the hardest shift internally is those people are used to having a lot of time and attention and energy put into their campaigns and into their story. And as we try to elevate and tell more of a unified story, I think people are feeling the pain a little bit… now that everything’s really AI forward, it just changes the way I think we start with the story, right? So we’re really focused on, you know, what’s possible versus the products and the features. And I think to me as a marketer, that’s so exciting.”
This is where leadership is paramount. A rebrand cannot be seen as a “marketing project.” It must be championed from the top down as a core business strategy. For marketing leaders, the task is to equip the entire organization—from sales and product to customer success—with the narrative and tools to live the brand promise. It’s about ensuring that every interaction a customer has with the company, regardless of the channel or department, feels consistent and reinforces the new identity. This is how a brand moves from a static visual identity to a dynamic, living entity.
The Optimizely rebrand serves as a compelling case study for navigating the complexities of brand strategy in the age of AI. It underscores that a successful transformation is built on a foundation of clear market insights, not internal assumptions. It demonstrates that the most effective creative strategies will not be purely human or purely automated, but a thoughtful synthesis of both, leveraging each for its unique strengths. And most importantly, it reminds us that a rebrand that fails to change internal behavior is little more than a cosmetic exercise. The real work lies in rewiring the organization to live and breathe the new promise.
For those of us leading marketing functions, the path forward is clear. Our brands must be more than just recognizable; they must be resilient. They must be capable of evolving with technology while retaining a core, human truth. The challenge isn’t simply to launch a new brand, but to build one that is durable, authentic, and behaves in a way that consistently earns the trust and affinity of our customers. That is the work that cannot be replicated by an algorithm.
