Uptempo’s new brand: Big Ideas for Marketing’s Next Digital Transformation

I am absolutely delighted to introduce Uptempo to the world—a new company forged from three leading providers of marketing operations software—BrandMaker, Allocadia, and Hive9. As of today, these companies will operate under one unified company name and consistent brand.  

Phew! And now, I can breathe. 🙂  

It’s been said that repositioning a company can feel like a forced march, and rebranding a marathon (think of Stephen King’s “The Long Walk”). So, I suppose renaming, rebranding, and repositioning a company is the ultramarathon of marketing projects. There are countless moving pieces to a renaming exercise, and so many pitfalls to avoid on the path. Not just legal reviews, communications, content creation, and the like. But the more challenging steps like change management, consensus building, expectation setting, bias-slaying, etc.

Despite all the tools and best practices, rebranding is essentially a subjective exercise driven by opinion more than science. In fact, it may be the last bastion of decision-making in marketing that doesn’t rely entirely on data. Which is, frankly, terrifying to us modern marketers.  

So why do it?  

I believe the most important reason to rename a company is to help answer the question “why does this company exist?” Certainly, for customers, but also for employees, investors, partners, prospects, and the public at large. I say “help answer” because we all know that some of the most iconic names in tech do little to clarify their vision or mission. Think Splunk, Slack, Drift. Great companies make great brands, not the other way around.  

Uptempo’s mission is both direct and profound: to help marketers lead with confidence and love their jobs. Those two outcomes are indelibly linked together. You can’t really love your job if you don’t have confidence in your ability to do it.  

Confidence . . . elusive but achievable 

Just think of all the things that contribute to your confidence: your knowledge of the latest marketing technology and tactics. The business experience and savvy your role demands. Access to insightful data to inform your decisions. Your customer knowledge and ability to appeal to their wants and needs. And of course, how effectively you can marshal resources to hit your targets. All of these must be mastered to some degree to feel confident.  

Just how confident can you be relying solely on gut instinct?  

Letting your intuition be the ultimate decision-maker is how marketers got their “arts and crafts” reputation during the advent of modern advertising. A reputation that is undeserved today. Marketing has gone through a radical transformation over the last twenty years—the most, by far, of any function in modern business.  

And that can be overwhelming.  

It makes confidence both hard to achieve and fleeting for marketers. But it’s vital to help marketers achieve what they are really chasing: effectiveness.   

Today’s great marketers are inspired by the idea of creating new business opportunities or delivering better customer experiences. They are change agents: intent on crafting a stronger message, entering new markets, delivering more customer value, or beating the competition.  

In short, doing better marketing versus just doing marketing better. 

What drives better marketing? 

There are so many tools and technologies available to us to do better marketing. Automation platforms, customer data platforms, content management tools, personalization engines, analytics tools, account-based marketing, even that all-too-often-mentioned newcomer, AI. There are so many technologies to activate and execute great marketing plans.  

But where do those plans live today? In tools that weren’t built for marketers. Spreadsheets. PowerPoints. Email and Slack messages. Even *gasp* Sharepoint folders (or maybe it’s still on OneDrive?) Most plans are entirely disconnected from the sophisticated marketing stack described above.  

This is how marketers—even those at the world’s biggest brands—run the business of marketing.  

How can these marketers be confident when they lack visibility into how marketing plans are being financed, executed, and measured? The sad truth is, they can’t. Most can’t see which direction to take, much less gather the insights required to quickly move in the direction of success. There is simply too much data, in too many places. 

Uptempo is dedicated to fixing this problem, by giving marketers the visibility, velocity, and agility they require to do great marketing. Our new name and brand speaks to that mission.  

Frankly, it’s time that marketers had the tools they need to run marketing like a business, the way great CEOs run great companies. It’s time for software that actually helps marketers plan better, spend smarter, and execute with confidence. So they can love their job.  

That’s Uptempo.