Rebrand of a Nationwide V2I Technology Company

 HELP, Inc. was founded in 1993 as a public-private partnership to develop and deploy the PrePass weigh station bypass program across U.S. highways. PrePass originated from a truck safety demonstration program in the mid-1980s, initiated by state DOT directors and trucking executives aiming to pre-screen and weigh safe commercial trucks at highway speeds. This innovation improved efficiencies for both the trucking industry and state enforcement agencies by focusing inspections on carriers needing attention, while allowing safe trucks with solid safety scores to save time, fuel, and money.

The PrePass program aggregates federal and state safety data to preclear trucks, enabling them to bypass weigh stations through alerts via transponder or mobile app. Today, HELP, Inc. partners with trucking associations in all 50 states, and PrePass operates in 41 states, facilitating over one billion successful bypasses.

Despite its operational success, HELP, Inc. faced a significant branding issue. The acronym HELP stood for Heavy Vehicle License Plate, which referred to the first transponder device. This name caused confusion among customers, law enforcement, and state leaders who recognized the program as PrePass. After nearly 20 years, there was minimal brand recognition for HELP, Inc.

Meanwhile, PrePass evolved from a service provider to a comprehensive data platform. The new capabilities allowed customers to leverage actionable data to understand and improve safety scores, reduce toll costs, optimize routing, and enhance driver behavior. The existing brand did not accurately reflect the innovative nature and value of the product offering or the organization’s evolution.

As the Chief Marketing Officer, I led the initiative for a complete rebranding. We started by conducting surveys and interviews with employees, customers, board members, and state enforcement personnel. These insights guided two workshops with company leadership to collaboratively define the organization's identity, vision, characteristics, differentiation, selling points, and customer benefits.

Post-workshop, we synthesized the findings to craft core messaging and brand values. These values were developed to justify the organization’s mission, create the basis for a brand story, and communicated internally the “why” behind what we do. After the values, we developed brand personality traits and positioning. This positioning established PrePass as a trusted platform supported by six differentiating messages.

Lastly, we renamed HELP, Inc. to PrePass Safety Alliance. This new name aligned with the organization’s mission and public-private structure, while supporting the PrePass product brand.

With the framework established, we created brand guidelines detailing brand voice and visual identifiers to ensure consistent communications with employees, partners, customers, and other stakeholders.

We then developed and launched a new website and content marketing programs to extend our messaging to target audiences. Over a three-year period, we more than doubled the number of content views annually. Additionally, content-generated database records increased by 72% in the third year compared to the first year after deploying the programs.

The rebranding initiative not only enhanced brand recognition and alignment but also solidified PrePass Safety Alliance’s position as a leader in leveraging data for trucking safety and efficiency. This comprehensive transformation supported the organization’s evolving identity and ensured its continued success in a rapidly advancing industry.