• Washington Post, Monday, August 1, 2011 9:16 AM

When Honest Tea wanted to expand its base from natural foods into the general market, the company chose a branding overhaul. The company, now fully owned by Coca-Cola, created a tag line: "Nature Got It Right. We Put It in a Bottle."

In the D.C. region, a leading area for marketing, advertising and public relations specialists, companies seeking government cash, groups seeking to influence Washington power and stay relevant to members, and even government agencies are doing what Honest Tea did. The D.C. Water and Sewer Authority, for example, seeking to recover from the lead contamination controversy from a few years ago, has rebranded itself to D.C. Water and introduced a whimsical new logo depicting a giant blue drop of water.

Rebranding is driven by a harsher economy and efforts to get ahead of the recovery. "Everything's changed," said Christie J. Susko, immediate past president of AMA DC, which recently changed its logo and tag line. "Resources have changed. Products have changed. Prices have changed. Business models have changed. People are spending money differently. [Some companies have] gone out of business and others have changed their value proposition to stay competitive.

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