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Design
Management
Journal

The Cat Rental Store:

Leveraging the Global
Recognition of the Cat Brand
Bonnie Briggs, Corporate Identity and Brand Communications Manager, Caterpillar, Inc.
Jill Dorjath, Brand-Marketing Consultant, Caterpillar, Inc.

Reprint #01124BRI24
This article was first published in Design Management Journal Vol. 12, No. 4
Managing Design for Global Value
Copyright Fall 2001 by the Design Management Institute . All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced
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 CASE STUDY

The Cat Rental Store:

Leveraging the
global recognition
of the Cat brand
by Bonnie Briggs and Jill Dorjath

hen a global company moves into a new business, questions about brand
W should be a priority. Should the new operation share or break away from
the existing brand? How should the brand be implemented in different international
locations? What is the best way to work with dealers to adopt the brand strategy?
Offering answers and insights, Bonnie Briggs and Jill Dorjath assess Caterpillars
experience related to these and other dilemmas.

Caterpillar Inc. is the worlds largest
manufacturer of construction and
mining equipment, diesel and natural
gas engines, and industrial gas turbines.
A global competitor, it records half its
sales to customers outside the US, and
is a leading exporter.
In 1997, company management
announced an objective to grow the
company from $19.7 billion in sales to
$30 billion during the next decade. To
get there, Caterpillar would need to
become more industry-focused and
expand the spectrum of customers it
served.
The equipment rental business
presented a significant opportunity for
Caterpillar. In North America alone,
what was a five-billion-dollar industry
10 years ago had increased to twenty
billion todayand industry experts
predicted that will double before the
end of the decade, said Caterpillar
chairman and CEO Glen Barton.
Caterpillar recognized that the
rental services business was also a good
fit for the companys new line of com-
pact construction equipment, which is
manufactured in Japan, North
America, and Europe. The introduction
Bonnie Briggs, of these productscompact wheel
Corporate Identity and loaders, mini-hydraulic excavators, and
Communications skid steer loaderswould open doors
Manager, Caterpillar, Inc. to many new markets and customers,
particularly in the rental services
industry. A key factor: Research showed
a significant percentage of these prod-
ucts are rented, not sold.
The rental services business would
give Caterpillar and its dealers an
opportunity to connect with a new
Jill Dorjath, customer basethe small contractor.
Brand-Marketing These are customers who use smaller
Consultant, machines, previously not available
Caterpillar, Inc. from Caterpillar, for their work in
excavating, landscaping, cabling, utility

24 Design Management Journal Fall 2001


Rental services industry analysis, October 2000.
jobs, building construction, and many others.
An obvious benefit for Caterpillar was the
businesss brand-building potential. By connect-
ing with customers early in their careers and
giving them a positive experience with the Cat
brand,1 the company would have an opportunity
to build brand loyalty and preference.
Caterpillars sales and service are delivered
through a worldwide network of more than 200
independent dealers. Traditionally, this distribu-
tion network has played a key role in
Caterpillars success. The relationship between
Caterpillar Inc. and the worldwide dealer organ-
ization is built on a long history of cooperation,
respect, and a joint commitment to serving
customers. It was this sense of partnership that
made the focus on the rental services business a
very natural growth opportunity for both
Caterpillar and its dealers.
Background
In 1996, Cat dealers found themselves united
from a business opportunity perspective, but not
necessarily from an identity perspective. Dealers
who were already in the rental services business
had their own logos, which they had developed,
invested in, and promoted over time in their
own locales.
At the same time, some competitors were
building national presence under single brands.
These chains did not have to reinvent the
wheel in every geographic market, and were
thus maximizing their resources and sending a
more unified message to the customer. And
because there was a definite trend toward mass
industry consolidation, they had an opportunity
to grow even faster. It became clear that having a
The Cat Rental Store: Leveraging the global recognition of the Cat brand
unified brand was an important step. This early
stage marked the refinement of the rental ser-
vices business strategy and the realization that a
single distribution brand would play an impor-
tant role in achieving that strategy.
Because of the rapid expansion of the rental
services industry, it became obvious that the best
way was not to start from ground zero to create
a new brand, but instead to leverage the existing
Cat brand. But how do you do that in a way that
distinguishes this new business and yet doesnt
damage what you already have? This was an
overriding question as the Caterpillar team
thought through potential risks to the Cat
brand.
The process begins
Our corporate identity group, which manages
existing and new applications of the Cat brand,
was brought in at a very early stage. We agreed
that Caterpillars entry into the rental services
business merited using the Cat brandbut not
without some pretty strong qualifiers. For
instance, we determined that the new rental
services identity had to be global; it had to be
regarded as long-term; and in order for it to
succeed, the project had to be supported at the
highest levels. Thinking about breadth, scope,
and support as we began the process allowed
us to ask more questions and involve more
stakeholders. It also helped define the resources
needed. Once we
achieved a com-
mitment within The equipment rental
Caterpillar that
these qualifiers business presented a
would be met, we
proceeded with
significant opportunity
the design of a for Caterpillar
new distribution
brand that con-
tained the Cat design mark. It was at this point
that the team needed expertise outside
Caterpillar for design and brand positioning.
We chose Siegelgale, a consulting firm that was
familiar with our company.
The project team grew quickly to include
the rental services groups in Latin America and
Europe for necessary verification of internation-
al business and identity goals. Additional
1. Cat is a registered trademark of Caterpillar, Inc.
Design Management Journal Fall 2001 25
Managing Design for Global Value
The Cat Rental Store design mark and the three-dimensional
Cat Rental Store sign.
research determined
perceptions in the
marketplace and
more clearly defined
Caterpillars role in the
rental services business.
The effort revealed
vital information about the attitudes, needs, and
expectations of customers. Research showed that
customers in the rental services business had
expectations that were distinctly different from
those of Caterpillars traditional customer base.
They preferred a retail-oriented environment
with close proximity to their jobsites. It was nec-
essary to consider opening more store locations,
though probably much smaller facilities. Finally,
and perhaps most important, it became clear
that this business required a culture that was
different from other businesses. This would
prove to be an enormous challenge. Signaling a
new identity that promises accessibility, the right
tools, and unparalleled service response was one
thing. Delivering on that promise was something
else entirely. The new culture really meant
understanding what customers expected from
the rental services business and adjusting to the
way that business was conducted. It sounds sim-
ple enough. However, nothing involving demon-
strated behaviors is simple. Both the culture and
the identity depended heavily on having a clearly
articulated brand positioning that focused on
the customer.
The new rental services brand
Positioning involved reexamining the core
attributes of the Caterpillar brand. Historically,
the attributes more closely associated with the
brand included powerful, confident, and
straightforward. Some attributes fit, but more
were needed. The new positioning involved
adding resourceful, ambitious, and accessible.
26 Design Management Journal Fall 2001
The result of the repositioning was a new brand
promise: making the best resources readily avail-
able to the individual small contractor. In order
to meet the challenge of creating an identity that
could be positioned and therefore leveraged
consistently worldwide, dealers would first need
to agree to change their existing identities and
unite under one umbrella name. The
name that was selected, The Cat Rental
Store, signaled a more retail-oriented
business concept. Other options were
either too long or not descriptive
enough. Now that we had the name, the
positioning, and the business rationale,
it was time to explore the design of the
mark itself. The design objectives were a
direct extension of the research and the
brand promise.
The new mark needed to
Unify
Simplify
Be accessible (friendly)
Be unique
Be strong graphically
Siegelgale had several design proposals. Given
their history with Caterpillar, they were well
versed on how the brand could and couldnt be
used. They had helped develop the positioning
and strategic foundation of the project at hand.
The firm produced several design directions that
all looked pretty close to existing and approved
dealer applications. I could tell that the design
team was frustrated by the limitations associated
with the Cat design mark and at the same time
didnt want to appear as if they didnt know or
respect the rules. I urged them to show me
what they didnt want to show me, and within
a matter of minutes, they surfaced with a set of
visual concepts that were right on target: bold
and original, and breaking all the rules.
Corporations with strong, valuable brands
generally draw their standards from the same
rule book. For Caterpillar, there were several key
principles that had been taught, reinforced, and
administered worldwide for many years. They
included never altering or recreating the design
mark; never creating a new logo that contains
the Cat design mark; ensuring the design mark
stands alone; never combining graphics or other
 The Cat Rental Store: Leveraging the global recognition of the Cat brand

new name/brand was extremely difficult.

It is far easier to design an identity system
than to implement one. The greatest strengths
of Caterpillar and its dealers turned out to be
the biggest identity implementation challenge:
the companys decentralized corporate structure
and its independent dealers. We could not
simply hand them a
turnkey identity manu-
al for a new business
Right: Supplier support materials and interim standards.
and expect them to fol- The new rental services
words or marks with it; and avoiding the creation low it. Instead, we had
of other logos that compete with the Cat brand. to convince them of its
identity had to be
The challenge to Caterpillars corporate identity value. This required global; it had to be
group had just gotten more complicated. strong personal selling
both within Caterpillar regarded as long-term;
Selling the concept and throughout the
The new Cat Rental Store design evoked the dealer network.
and in order for it to
friendly, one-stop-shop concept that rental The initial launch of succeed, the project
customers were looking for. The addition of The Cat Rental Store
rental red to Caterpillars existing color palette identity concept had to be supported
of yellow and black created a strong link with occurred a month shy
the Cat brand, and also signaled the spirited, of our first anniversary
at the highest levels
ambitious personality of the new business. The on the project. The
dealer name took on a supporting role and was design concepts for the
incorporated into several applications in a new distribution brand were presented at a
uniform manner. Caterpillar dealer meeting. Dealers who were
The team of internal design managers and interested in the rental services business gath-
external designers then began creating The Cat ered to learn about Caterpillars identity strategy.
Rental Store identity for all applications: direc- The new logo was unveiledand dealers were
tional signage, stationery, business cards, vehi- not impressed.
cles, interiors, yellow-page ads, photographic Instead of seeing how this might unite their
style and imagery, and more. This comprehen- business identities under one umbrella and ulti-
sive inclusion of all potential components of mately help grow their businesses, dealers were
the identity system was beneficial, and eventually concerned by the elimination of their own logos
made launching the system much easier and
understandable.
Caterpillar marketing organizations under-
took the culture-training component of the new
identity system. First, they worked with dealers
to ensure they had the capabilities they needed.
There were clear objectives for the type of cul-
ture that needed to exist within rental stores.
They encouraged dealers to train their staff,
and to hire employees who had the characteris-
tics that fit the culture. They helped dealers set
up performance measures for encouraging their
staff to perform.
For some dealers, who already had estab-
lished rental services companies operating
successfully under locally known and respected Comprehensive online standards and templates showed actual examples
names or brands, the reality of changing to a from dealers worldwide.

Design Management Journal Fall 2001 27

Managing Design for Global Value

effectively. The facility mock-up was presented at

the annual dealer meeting in Tucson, Arizona, in
August 1997. This successfully drove home the
importance of the brand, as dealers experienced
a first-hand look at just how carefully this busi-
ness concept was planned. They saw how their
employees would look in their uniforms, how
they would answer the phone, handle customers,
what their stationery and advertising would look
like, and how theyd run the store. The response
was immediate. Adopting The Rental Store iden-
tity made good business sense. The unveiling in
Tucson was pivotal, and dealer acceptance
jumped from 5 percent to 30 percent.
Before-and-after concepts of French product catalog.
Language and communications
and the lack of prominence given to their own While North American understanding and
names. Many did not understand the kind of acceptance of The Rental Store identity was
changes needed to support this business. At first, being won, the team continued to work diligent-
they could see no benefit in replacing all of their ly to gain further acceptance of the concept with
signage, business cards, stationery, and other col- its subsidiaries and their dealers (most notably
lateral materials to reflect the proposed change. in Latin America and Europe). One of the first
Though initially negative, the dialogue that steps was to do research and testing to deter-
day yielded positive results. We realized that we mine the feasibility of translating The Rental
needed to devise a way for dealers to actually Store logo. The research included benchmarking
experience the new Rental Store identity so that with other major corporations, consultation
they could see its value. What was needed was a with industry experts, and a linguistic analysis
plan to win over conducted with rental customers in Europe. The
the dealersand linguistic analysis helped us determine that there
The diverse cultures in help them think were no significant negative associations with
beyond the logo to the language or the color combination used in
Europe and Latin the entire identity the brand. In fact, during the research, the only
America, as well as system. adverse comment was, I dont know what it
says, but I really like the way it looks! That, in
the varying levels of Experiencing the fact, reinforced the principle that brand identi-
concept ties are seennot read. As a result, only one
rental-market maturity, At this point, only English version of the trademark was launched
made it imperative to about 5 percent of worldwide. The rationale behind it was this:
the dealer network Consistent usage of The Rental Store trademark
tailor the strategy to had accepted The would help establish brand awareness more
Rental Store iden- quickly and cost-effectively. Once dealers under-
each territory tity, and even stood that the translation option had been
those converts considered objectively and had been tested, they
wanted concessions. Armed with a greater began accepting the decision not to translate the
insight into dealers inclinations, we prepared English words within the brand. Dealers also
for a second rollout. No changes were made to realized that keeping the trademark intact visu-
the design of the brand or to its proposed appli- allywith a single languagewould help them
cations. The difference was a matter of presenta- all achieve recognition faster.
tion. We decided the best way to sell dealers on Later, we learned that some of the literal
the concept would be to create a Rental Store translations of The Rental Store carried entirely
facility prototype, and to act out the culture different meanings. For example, in France it
that would be necessary to enter the business meant window blinds In the UK, the words plant

28 Design Management Journal Fall 2001

 The Cat Rental Store: Leveraging the global recognition of the Cat brand

hire better reflected the nature of the business

than did rental services. The decision to have an
English-language-only version of the trademark
required us to put even more emphasis on the
supporting marketing communications. It was
more important than ever to create messages and
images that reflected local environments, culture,
and people. Additional tag lines, secondary
signage, and informational/directional signage
were entirely in local languages.
The diverse cultures in Europe and Latin
America, as well as the varying levels of rental-
market maturity, made it imperative to tailor
the strategy to each territory. For example, in Cat Rental Store identity applied to existing facilities around the world.
Europe alone there were major differences. In Clockwise top left: New Zealand; Ohio, USA; Florida, USA; France
the UK, rental had been in existence for more
than 50 years, and in France, more than 30 years.
In many other countries, the business was in its
infancy.
There were many people working concur-
rently on aspects of this highly complex interna-
tional project. For this reason, communication
was a critical component of success. Training the
entire team on the specifics of brand identity
was an important factor. Not only did we all The Cat Rental Store photography put the emphasis on local people and
have to be on the same page as this was rolling job sites rather than product. This example is from Mexico.
out, but we also had to ensure basic understand-
ing of the standards and guidelines and the all-
important rationale for why we couldnt accept (private investors) demanded. Before developing
any variations to the system or the mark itself. a pilot store, the Latin American organization
offered dealers extensive management training
Pilot stores classes specifically aimed at the rental services
Shortly after the dealer meeting in Tucson, the business. A Caterpillar dealer in Sao Paolo,
team began working with key dealers to create Brazil, established the first Cat Rental Store in
pilot stores. In North America, the opening of a South America. Further implementation in Latin
Colorado dealers pilot store was a landmark and South America required additional man-
event. The dealers decision to replace its signa- power. Caterpillar took advantage of a program
ture colors and unique brand with The Cat through the US State Department, which offered
Rental Store was key to continuing advancement a staff person to work for a year at Caterpillar
in the programs development and implementa- and act as spokesperson to promote the new
tion. Months after it opened, visiting dealers business identity throughout Latin America.
were still arriving, asking questions and getting The European equivalent pilot store opened
real-life answers. They saw the one-stop-shop in France with the help of dealer Bergerat
concept working. The endorsement and excite- Monnoyeur. The French dealer chose to enter the
ment the first pilot store generated among rental business by acquiring SLEVMI, an existing
employees and customers demonstrated the rental services chain with 20 years of experience
sheer power of influence among the dealers in the businessand its own identity.
themselves. Because of the language issues and cultural
In Latin America, the rental climate was and financial concerns (that is, loss of good
shaped by a different phenomenon: the opening will), selling the value of The Rental Store iden-
of economies and the speedy, state-of-the-art tity concept in Europe was not an easy task.
technology and efficiency that customers However, our French dealer [Bergerat

Design Management Journal Fall 2001 29

Managing Design for Global Value
Before-and-after virtual facility makeovers of The Cat Rental Store
identity helped sell the concept to the dealers.
Monnoyeur], while initially very challenging,
ultimately became our strongest supporter, says
Claudio Scotti, European manager of rental
services. This dealer saw the value in having a
single, unified identity with other dealers world-
wide, and even elected not to use his own dealer
name, but instead to use the name SLEVMI for
all the stores. The first European Rental Store
opened in Argenteuil, a suburb of Paris, in May
1999. Today, SLEVMI has more than 80 stores
open for business and is continuing to expand.
Once the pilot stores were up in each territory,
the team worked to set up global suppliers for
signage, licensed merchandise, fleet vehicle decals,
and more. Suppliers were selected on the basis of
quality, overall speed, cost, and coverage. The
design team provided dealers with a list of recom-
mended suppliers and supplier requirements.
The Guidelines
Up until this point, comprehensive specifications
and standards had not been published, partly
because final specifications were developed at
the same time pilot dealers were implementing
the system. It was decided not to publish on
paper, but instead to publish through the exist-
ing brand identity intranet Web site. And for
the 200-plus dealers who needed fast, accurate
guidelines as they were unfolding, the Web was
the perfect solution. It soon became the one
safe source for information on The Rental Store
identity standards. In fact it was the only source
of information.
The site contains the usual specifications,
downloadable electronic art, stationery, and
formatted templates. But it was decided early on
to avoid the standard diagrams and two-dimen-
sional illustrations, and instead display actual
photographic examples of dealer facilities around
the world. It became a powerful visual tool that
not only demonstrated what could be done, but
what actually has been doneclearly, with more
emphasis on visuals than words. What was
30 Design Management Journal Fall 2001
learned early on in the all-important selling
process proved to be the best way to communi-
cate the standards: let dealer examples, showing
results, reinforce the success of the program.
Lessons learned
Throughout the development of the Cat Rental
Store, there were tremendous challenges to
resolve and learn from. One of the most difficult
was using the corporate brand (CAT) as an
element in a new brand. Any corporate brand
manager will tell you that one of the problems
associated with breaking a rule is that once you
do it, you run the risk of losing all credibility
and control. Both are critical to managing the
identity system and building a brand. We chose
to take that risk to be known globally more
quicklyand we achieved even more respect
and understanding internally for what it takes
to establish a brand. The identity system was
elevated in importance, and its visual strength
reinforced the original business objectives. Its
unique design became more obvious and con-
siderably less controversial as time went on. The
Cat Rental Store established its own personality
and reason for being.
Instead of diluting the corporate brand, the
new Cat Rental Store brand went a long way
toward evolving and relaxing the Caterpillar
image. And yes, from time to time, we have to
deal with entrepreneurial experiments using the
Cat design mark and then explain why it could
be done for The Cat Rental Store, but not for the
logo they are proposing. That gives us the
opportunity to talk about the process, the com-
mitment, and the need to have a comprehensive
set of standards, specifications, and guidelines
without which it would be impossible to sustain
any brand, much less a new one. And it would
also be impossible to prevent widespread logo-
mania. But then, thats what brand manage-
ment is all about. It goes well beyond the design
of an attractive trademark. It has much more to
do with the design of a system that carefully
considers all of a businesss audiences and
cultures. And the real work begins after a brand
is launched. Brand management will always
depend heavily on well-designed systems that
enable brands to evolve, grow, and be accepted,
in an increasingly global marketplace.

The Cat Rental StoreAltorfer (dealer),
Peoria, Illinois
Questions that were impossible to answer
How is this logo going to help us get more
contracts right now? How can we quantify its
effect? How much is it really bringing to our
businessexcept cost? What is the connection
between branding and our sales? When will it
pay off? Whats the value of a global brand to
my customer?
Many questions simply cant be answered
until a concept has been tested. And testing takes
time. One things for sure: No matter how much
testing goes into that new concept, youll still be
surprised.
Some surprises are good. We found that
employees embraced the professional look
and connection to the Cat brand offered by
The Cat Rental Store.
Some surprises are not so goodthe only
translated trademark occurred in Quebec,
Canadaa result of local cultural and
political pressure.
The Cat Rental Store: Leveraging the global recognition of the Cat brand
At present
The Cat Rental Stores are now well established
around the world. Australia and New Zealand
opened their doors in 2000, and the newest
stores are located in Japan and Singapore. Those
that are in place, throughout North America,
Latin America, and Europe continue to expand.
Each business is distinctly local but shares a
global identity that signals a common commit-
ment to the customer. The trust that the
Caterpillar brand has built, through more than
75 years of quality service, is now reinforcing
that reputation through The Cat Rental Store. 
Reprint # 01124BRI24
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Design Management Journal Fall 2001 31