Taking Flight: How Wingman AC Rebranded to Soar Higher
0:00 Welcome to From the Yellow Chair
0:50 Meeting Wingman Heating and Cooling
3:38 Why Rebrand and Overcome Fear
8:05 Creating a Brand That Builds Trust
11:25 The Rebranding Process and Team Buy-In
16:42 Seeing Results and Community Impact
20:42 Final Advice: Just Do It
25:35 Closing Thoughts and Contact Information
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Speaker 1: 0:00
All right, what's up? Lemonheads, welcome to another episode of From the Yellow Chair. I'm Crystal, and, guys, I am super excited for today's conversation. I think so many people live in the state of analysis by paralysis. No opposite Paralysis by analysis, where they want to make some decisions to move their company forward. They're just scared, maybe, or anxious about it. But today we are going to be talking with some people that I would consider friends of Lemon Seed. They've done a great job with launching a new brand in Alabama. I can't wait for you to hear from them. So, grab your lemonade, get your treadmill turned on, whatever you've got going on, because we are getting ready to sip some lemonade, all right. So this is the most fun little couple. I love you guys.
Speaker 1: 0:55
When you guys came on and then when I was looking for like I was like, hey, I want to interview some of the people that have done rebrands with Lemon Seed. Everybody was like, oh, we love Wingman Eating and Cooling, so you guys are like one of the top ones on our list to talk to. So joining me today on From the Yellow Chair is Connor and Caroline. They have Wingman Heating and Cooling in Auburn, alabama, and right now I have an intern that said Roll Tide. And I think I cussed y'all out when we started by telling y'all that. So I don't know that I set a great tone when we first got it got started there. But, guys, I want everyone to know how cool your brand is, how important it was. New name, new visual took a lot of faith right, a lot of trust in the process, and so I thought I would just ask like why should anybody listening to this podcast care what Connor and Caroline have to say right now?
Speaker 2: 1:45
I'd say just because we just got through the process, so to speak, went through it last year and we were in their shoes. So you know, not wondering what, you're just wondering what to do next and kind of looked at a few different opportunities and decided to move forward with Lemon Seed, so it was a pleasure.
Speaker 1: 2:03
Great, great, great, great. Caroline, how did that feel? Were you nervous? Are you the nervous one or are you the calm one? Yeah, I think I'm more of the nervous one. It's like taking a big risk.
Speaker 1: 2:14
I think we were really comfortable with our brand before and then taking the risk to get a whole new brand was very scary for me. But I'm very glad we did and I think we've seen the hard work pay off and even though just the months where we were kind of trying to figure out what the brand was going to look like and what we wanted, they were good months, I mean y'all made it such a pleasurable experience, like Connor said, but it was stressful, kind of to see, you know, the light of day in the final of it. But I mean I think we've seen the hard work pay off and we've seen just so much good come from the rebrand. So I mean I'm so happy, I love it, I love it.
Speaker 1: 2:48
So you know a lot of contractors live in your space, like where y'all were a year ago, like Connor said, you know. So you're living in a space of. You know what you need to do, but you're scared to do it. You've got a lot of people. The weight of the company is on your shoulders and like it's a scary process. So you guys those of you that are listening y'all know that Lemon Seed has really been on a kick of helping companies rebrand and refresh their brands. So I remember I think I was a part of this kind of at the beginning. You know there's all these emotions of you kind of have your ideas too of what you thought, but you guys actually went a different, a whole different direction, I think, of what you guys really started with. So what made you guys really go, okay, it's really time to rebrand, like we're ready. What was that magic button for you guys?
Speaker 2: 3:38
I think for us, you know, with the hopes of in the future, maybe looking to do a different market or whatever the case was, our name was Auburn Premier Air, which was an okay name for this market, but it kind of symbolized Auburn University and stuck with the same colors as them and so we didn't really stand apart. We kind of just fell into that mix of everything, and if we ever wanted to branch out Auburn in the name was not going to do us any good. So we just wanted a good, fresh look, one that you just immediately trusted and immediately remembered, and through the process it became just that.
Speaker 1: 4:11
Cool, I mean, I love this thought. It takes a lot of courage, though, to just say you know what, like, I know, everything that we've done needs to be changed Because I mean, you know and I deal with this every day people will say, well, but everybody knows me by this name and you're like. You know they do, but they will also come to love you as this new look and feel. And for you guys specifically, y'all were in a battle of an SEO battle.
Speaker 1: 4:38
When you're trying to own terms that the university owned and the colors, like it was really hard to differentiate yourselves and stand out, and a lot of people do that. They name their company after the city or the mascot or the university, and it just causes lots of confusion and lots of wasted um stuff online. So I really appreciate that that feedback there, because a lot of people need to take that advice, um, as they're thinking through their name and like how that works when you're searching and all of those good things. But you, what did? You mentioned what wasn't working with the old brand, but was there a specific moment, maybe, that you guys were like, okay, we're going to do it, we're going to take a leap and actually do it, or was it a process that you guys kind of went through?
Speaker 2: 5:18
I think it was just a process we went through and, you know, saw some people doing some rebrand and just kind of started doing my own research and just kind of decided that it was going to be the best move for us. I think it's always as a business owner. There's always an excuse to keep putting it off because there's always fires to put out and whatnot. But the best time to do it is now, and it only gets more painful the longer you wait, because there's more stuff to be done.
Speaker 1: 5:50
Oh, yes, oh, oh yes. That is very true. So you know, I tell everybody, the longer you continue to drive marketing to a brand that you're going to change is wasting money, for sure, and again, but you know I also understand like not everybody is able to do it, so it is definitely at least making a strategy behind that. So what did you want your brand to make customers feel? I think that was an important piece for you guys to trust. Yeah, and like one of the biggest things was, like a lot of the people that do call are normally like the women in the house or like the wives or, and like you want somebody to come to your house that you feel comfortable them being in your house. Like I've had contractors come out that like I don't feel comfortable being home, like, yeah, with them. So it was like very big to us that it was like something like family oriented, because we want wingman to be family bringing the culture that we already have and just kind of putting it, coming up with a brand that fit that culture.
Speaker 2: 6:38
Yeah, I love that yeah, clean, cut professional people, but then putting a brand to that.
Speaker 1: 6:44
Yeah, and you know that's very true. I say this all the time. Your logo and your brand is about how you make people feel yeah, and so you know you're right when people feel you know. You mentioned this earlier. So women women are the decision makers a lot of time on, at least, who's going to be called to come out to the home. Maybe not on bigger financial decisions, it may be more of a cohesive choice, but really we've learned that women are the ones that are having to dissect and figure out who the heck to call, and so we want to pull up to their house and our vans look professional, our team look professional, we park correctly. Everything about our brand and especially you guys mentioned trust. You want to reflect that feeling, and so it's really impactful to understand how people are responding to that. So have y'all. I know you know and we'll have a picture of your brand. So you know your brand features this really cool dog, Kai. Tell me about why it's a specific dog. It's a specific dog, correct?
Speaker 2: 7:37
Yeah, it's our dog, kai, and he's a duck dog and you know it's just something about a lab that, you know, just connects to people and, uh, like, most all families have a pet, whether that's a dog or cat or anything in between.
Speaker 1: 7:51
I just think it just symbolizes, you know, family and trust and, um, just having that, you know labrador was a big deal for us and we love cows, yeah, I mean, it was precious, he's adorable and I agree it is such a connector piece and also like, let's be honest, on the marketing side of things, it's a lot easier to build messaging around, all the things that are dog-oriented and how he is your wingman. So for those of you that don't understand a duck dog, right, I'm assuming he helps you with you. Go hunting for ducks For sure. Yeah, so I'm from East Texas, so I know exactly what a hog dog, a duck dog, all the dogs so. But the cool part here is he is your wingman, right.
Speaker 1: 8:33
So when so this all came from? Discovery? Right, when you were talking to the branding team here at Lemon Seed and just talking out who you guys were, they were just able to bring this to life. And when I saw this brand come up in our meetings, I was like this has such a good story and connection and that's what the world wants right now. So, with all this AI and all this generated stuff, what people are really looking for is a genuine connection, a genuine connection, and I think when you have Kai on there and he's your actual dog and you know it's a plan of, like you said, people making the connection with the dog and the. That makes everybody feel safe and at home. So I love, I love that part of the of your brand story is just, we are your wingman, just like Kai is our wingman, and your slogan is quality comfort is our game is our wingman and your slogan is quality, comfort is our game. And so, again, like this is a very fun theme that you guys have going on.
Speaker 1: 9:26
And then, caroline, I've seen pictures of the cutest little kids in camo on your social. So those are y'all's kids. Yes, they are. We've got two boys and a little girl, and so on your company page there will be pictures of them dressed in camo. And I have to give you all a shout out. All the time you and I became personal Facebook friends because, honestly, what you're seeing there is a continuation of this brand, and so it is really setting you guys up for success when people start really associating and you don't even have to try right, like this is not even something that you're not. You're like this is our everyday, everyday, like our kids are just dressed, you know this was not a major like let me go.
Speaker 1: 10:06
You know, we had a interaction one time with someone that was like, well, I want a parrot. And we were like, okay, so what is a parrot? And they're like I just think parrots are cool. Like, okay, do you run a parrot sanctuary? Do you repeat everything your client says, like give me a, give me something. Um, and so for you guys, like I really think this is who y'all are as people and it's so authentic, it's so real, I just absolutely love it. So, um, a little bit, I wanted to talk you mentioned this, uh, connor, and it's. I appreciate this statement a lot and I figure both of you have something to say here. Walk me through a little bit of like the process with LemonSea, like how y'all were feeling during discovery and presentation and all of that.
Speaker 2: 10:50
I would say, you know definitely the tie back with something you said earlier, like it's a process. It's a fun process, but it is a process. I think so many people want to put it off, especially like right now, just like summer's coming up for heating and air industry, and so you know we're going to get ready to be busy. But if you wanted something ready for next year, you probably need to start now, because we wound up waiting until after summer and then it wound up, you know, launching in the following summer, which was still fun. But if you wanted something ready for 2026, the best time to start would be now, because it's a process and you don't want to rush through it. You want to make sure you get it right, um, every little detail, so it was a fun process good, good.
Speaker 1: 11:27
So you know, we go through that discovery process with you guys, where we just like tell us about yourselves yeah and you start just kind of I call it word vomiting.
Speaker 1: 11:34
It's terrible word, but you just start telling your whole life story, sometimes like things you've done, and then something sticks. And then you were presented a couple of auctions, um, and I think y'all kind of married a couple together because y'all have the orange right, the safety orange, again all things indicative of a, of hunting, and the duck, and then the duck dog, all the cool stuff and um, so you guys made that decision how hard was it to make the final decision to go with this particular look and feel?
Speaker 2: 12:01
you know we involved our team a lot. Caroline was really involved and that's another huge benefit, is it it? Made her like excited to come to work and like she just loves the creativity of it all. So it got her coming in a lot more and just enjoying her job day to day and just brought the team together.
Speaker 2: 12:17
But we kind of made a decision together with the whole team and finally came to the conclusion. You're right. We married a few different ideas together and ultimately came out with Wingman and the design that it looks like now.
Speaker 1: 12:29
Well, and I love this part. Yeah, I was going to say I think the hardest part was like waiting in between meetings, like for the next meeting.
Speaker 2: 12:35
Very much anticipation, yeah.
Speaker 1: 12:37
Yeah, cause you're waiting on, like okay, we're going to make all these edits and give us like a week or so to make these edits. Absolutely so the anticipation will get strong, and I want to say this so normally clients struggle when they ask a committee like hey, what do y'all think of this? And so one thing that I'll give you some props on, because our design team mentioned this is I think you guys asked for input, but it wasn't going to keep y'all from making a decision that you two felt like was the right decision. And that is where a lot of contractors will go wrong is they want the team buy-in and they want to be able to trust people, but it just it puts them in paralysis, like I mentioned earlier. I mean, so what do you think like what? Did your team have any negative feedback about it when you took it to them? Or how did you present this to the team to get them excited?
Speaker 2: 13:20
feedback about it when you took it to them, or how did you present this to the team to get them excited? Ultimately, you're right, not every single person is going to agree to one thing, but we ultimately made the decision ourselves. But we did want their input and we made a few I can't remember what they were now but a few changes. But ultimately we made the decision and we just stuck to it and then, once that brand launched and we kind of started to embody that brand, nobody even remembers them.
Speaker 2: 13:48
You know, making little decisions like that, it just everybody fits in it and it really just, you know, took our culture, that, like I said, took our culture we already have and just put a really, you know, a fitting face to it yeah, so then.
Speaker 1: 14:02
So like that was probably now that you're looking back. So like you invested with lemon seed, we built the brand. Tell me about actually launching the brand. Like, maybe what are some things that y'all have gone through with? Is it vehicle wraps or signage? Or like maybe was there any like little obstacles that you had to overcome to feel good about actually going live with your brand?
Speaker 2: 14:19
I think the vehicle wraps was something that was really anticipated, because that's, that's like it, you know, and then the person getting out, of course, but like the vehicle wraps is like your brand.
Speaker 2: 14:30
So, you know that was exciting and, uh, just kind of just going through everything making you know that's. One thing that we were nervous about is, like it's a lot of things you know from you know uniforms to vehicle wraps to you know all the different stuff. But LemonSeed really helps organize that process in your brain so you don't have to overthink it.
Speaker 1: 14:51
Yeah, good, that's exactly one of the things I tell everybody is it's a process. Once you understand that it's a process and your mindset gets right and there is money like there is money involved, it's an investment overall, but you'll be so glad that you did it and you ran hard and ran fast as fast as you could with the implementation of it. Vehicle wraps are every contractor's favorite pieces. It's like bringing it to life for them and so for sure. And it's also like mass media, I call it like those vans driving around. All of a sudden, people will be like y'all have doubled in size, when really all you did was wrap an extra vehicle, you know, and drive it around. People are like I see y'all everywhere, right, yeah, so what kind of reactions do y'all have? A specific instance of someone telling you oh my gosh, I love what you've done. Or asking about the dog or any kind of little pieces like that.
Speaker 2: 15:42
Yeah, I mean people, once they put two and two together, that this was Auburn Premier Air. It's the same company. They say the same thing. When people see our brand now or we meet them face to face, they talk about they see us everywhere, whether it's trucks, billboards. We partner with y'all for marketing as well, so all the different avenues that we do in marketing they they see us literally everywhere.
Speaker 1: 16:06
So it's had a really big positive impact for sure I think for me one of my favorite things is like our friends will call us that. Like their kids have like seen our vans drive around and like the first thing they notice, like the dog on the van and they automatically know who they're talking about. Like it's us, but like the little kids notice it and like that's what we. Like it's even our kids. Like we'll be driving. They're like, oh my gosh, a wingman van and like all the time, but like they think it's the coolest thing ever it is.
Speaker 2: 16:31
It is an investment, but it makes your marketing dollars go so much further when you have a good brand.
Speaker 1: 16:37
Oh, yes, amen, Amen. And honestly, y'all are in the thick of this just now, coming on the other side of a rebrand where you spend a lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of emotional investment getting it done and now you're starting to reap those benefits and, honestly, all you want is people talking we recognize the dog, we recognize you guys and, honestly, like, all you want is people talking like we recognize the dog, we recognize you guys, and that's. That's like gold, right, and you're right, connor like it will make all of your other marketing perform so much better because people get to know you, right, people get to know who you are and then, when they see your ad or when you're in a sea of other companies names, they recognize yours. So that's definitely, um, a great thing. Has it changed the way that you guys participate in your community? I know you guys have big hearts anyway, um, but have you guys been more motivated to do those things? Or?
Speaker 2: 17:25
I think through partnering with y'all in marketing, uh has really pushed us to start getting into some. We're doing a community event at the end of may it's called burger wars and we we had our own burger night here at the office, where a few of the guys cook as a competition here, and we found a winner. And now we're going to go to the Burger Wars in May and it's a huge community event. Several thousand people come and we'll cook a bunch of burgers and hopefully win Burger Wars.
Speaker 1: 17:52
Oh, that is so fun and really what you you're doing, like I have this thing right now. I'm on a tangent like two plus two equals five, meaning that it's really hard to measure all of these independent things like, okay, I wrapped a new vehicle, no one calls, hey, I saw that new vehicle riding down the road. I'm going to call and buy a new system. Um, so it's always layering. Everything is better when it's layered together, and so so these community events.
Speaker 1: 18:14
I saw that burger war on your social media and that is just such great for your culture. Y'all look like a great place to work, a fun place to work. So everybody's like I can't get new employees. And I'm like, well, you're not really building a great culture. So people want to drive a nice, pretty van, people want to have a good uniform, people want to have a cool story, and so you guys are really winning the game there, and so I'm so thankful that y'all chose Lemon Seed to be a part of that. I think it's really important that people understand. So do you think that your team and you mentioned this, but you think you guys came together more around this? Was there any negativity around it?
Speaker 2: 18:51
Like, did y'all just not allow it, like give life or just you know a really really strong culture and, um, I think that's kind of what makes us who we are and you know, you know other companies can try to, you know, copy that, but you can't. You can't copy something like culture. Culture, something that just you know originates itself, and so it was. They took to it really well, and you're not. You said something about our culture earlier. It looks like a fun place to work. You know, for us, marketing is not just to show clients who we are, it's also marketing to future employees. Yes, what you see and said, man, that looks like a fun place to work and I like to think we have the best guys in town and I'm confident in saying that and continuing that through not just branding or marketing to homeowners, but also marketing to future employees.
Speaker 1: 19:43
Yes, I love that. That is one of the most underrated things is. It's better than an Indeed ad Right? It's just showing that you're a good place and a healthy place to work for sure. So well, ok, any big things coming up for you guys, any new exciting things coming up for Wingman that you guys want to tell us about?
Speaker 2: 20:01
We just did a merger with another company. So we just had or I say, a merger, we just acquired another local company in town. So that's, that's going to be fun. Just, you know, marketing to them and, other than that, just getting prepared for summer. We've got a lot of big things coming up with y'all through marketing and our marketing strategy. So just kind of, we've got a new building.
Speaker 1: 20:22
Yeah, just got a new building. Oh, yes, yes, making it our own and all the kind of stuff with the guys.
Speaker 2: 20:29
Always interesting. You're always something.
Speaker 1: 20:31
Yes, no-transcript. I would say just do it. I mean, like the money's worth it. And I know, like for us, when we first, you know, thought about it like the money was a big factor, like it's not, you know, just pockets in your chain oh, my god, change in your pockets, um. But like it, it really has paid off, it. Like I mean, we love it, the guys love it. I feel like it's brought a lot of us together, like it's something that the guys are proud of, where a lot of our guys go and say, like they love being with me and like, even like our guys friends, like they want to be with man and it's just so much fun to see it grow into what it is and I can't wait to see where it grows even further. But I just think it's cool that people want to be winged man, you know, yeah, yeah, absolutely. So your advice is to just do it, stop overthinking it. Perfect. What about you, connor? I'd say the same thing.
Speaker 2: 21:33
I mean, it's just made, like I said earlier, your marketing dollars go further. It's just made everything a lot easier and it's almost like a breath of fresh air going through, like we know exactly what our brand is, we know what it looks like, we have the exact colors, the exact fonts we use. Just everything is made easier when you have a really good brand to go with it. Yes, yes.
Speaker 1: 22:00
And it does make it easier. And so what Connor and Caroline, what they're talking about here is, with Lemon Seed, we have basically two branches of service basically. So we will serve you on the branding side and help you create the brand and launch the brand, and then ongoing services. And so you guys did the rebrand and then came on ongoing services, where we're helping them strategize and and create those things. And so you know, it is much easier when you have a cool, solid brand, something that is unique, that has a personality of its own. And so you guys are a joy to work with. Your team absolutely loves you, they're always talking about you guys and I noticed one of the things that I think contractors will be interested is, you know, your account manager, the strategist for Wingman, came to me and said, okay, they've got some people kind of moving around in their area down there doing some cool things and, like you know, there's motivated, and so the advice that I gave and I'm interested in what you think.
Speaker 1: 22:51
You know, when y'all came and y'all hit the ground running, it probably disrupted the whole HVAC market down there. They were like, where did these people come from? What happened? And now it feels like everybody's trying to do what you're doing and ramp everything up, and so my biggest advice was number one if you're not getting kicked in the pants, you're not in the front Right. So if you don't ever feel pressure, it's because you're not a pressure to anyone. So that was good. That's a good way to kind of look at it.
Speaker 1: 23:17
But also a lot of things are a flash in the pan. A lot of people like to come in really hard and heavy at the beginning, but they just lose steam and they lose energy and they can't keep up and they get the attention of maybe like they get a business coach or whatever and they hit the ground running. What will win this game for wingman is consistency and frequency. So just consistently show up frequently, modify your strategy, bringing in new things. You guys are not afraid of risk, and so that's a big game changer there.
Speaker 1: 23:47
But I would tell you that I think it's just more about knowing that if you weren't in the front, people wouldn't be like coming up on you. But also you guys are more aware now of marketing in your own market. So what might not have bothered you earlier? You know, and a little competition is good, but I love that you guys were tenacious, like, hey, we want to make sure that we keep our foot on the gas when a lot of people retreat, you know like, oh, I'm scared. Y'all were like bring it on, what can we do next? And that's when we started, one of the first things we said is like we want to be different.
Speaker 2: 24:17
We don't want to be like every HVAC company in town.
Speaker 1: 24:40
Yeah, and try to be genuine. Try to be genuinely us. Like you said earlier, it just makes it easier when the brand is you. When you try to, you know, go after something, be a part of that. We feel like at Lemon Seed, we're really trying to help people build legacies and I think you guys are well on your way and y'all are young and fun and just have such great entrepreneurial spirits, and so we just love being a part of it. So if anybody wanted to reach out to you guys like they just needed some advice maybe not even about Lemon Seed or anything like that what would be a good email for them to reach out to you guys?
Speaker 2: 25:07
Both of ours, Connor C-O-N-N-E-R or Caroline, at wingmanaccom.
Speaker 1: 25:15
Perfect, so drop them an email.
Speaker 1: 25:17
I'm sure y'all would love to visit and share any tips or thoughts that you guys, that listeners, that you might have about, even if it's not about their experience with Lemon Seed. They are young and fun and doing great things there in Auburn, alabama, and so I'm sure they'd love to visit those things. So if Connor and Caroline's story definitely has you thinking that maybe it's time for you to step up your brand, we've got good news. That's what Lemon Seed does best, and we do our best to be a collaborative partner that pushes you, yet listens to you, and so we don't just give you a pretty logo. We're here to help you really make this a good implemented strategy where you dominate and grow in your market, and so we'd love to talk to you at livingseedmarketingcom.
Speaker 1: 25:58
Fill out that, contact us and let us know. Also, you can head over to wingmanaccom, check out what their brand looks like. Check them out on social media, give them a follow. But if this has really sparked you and you want to create your own brand and you love this episode, I'd love for you to give us a review and let us know how we're doing. We got more brand stories coming your way. So, caroline and Connor, thank you so much, thank you for having us on Absolutely.
Speaker 1: 26:25
And guys, guys, thanks for listening to another episode of from the yellow chair. Uh, again, consider leaving us a review and if not, we will see you next time. Bye.
