Lillio (formerly HiMama) | In-house | Chief Marketing Officer
Redefining a Brand to Match its Vision and Reach
How good ideas take shape
Starting Point
1
HiMama had grown beyond its original positioning as a parent communication tool. Over time, the company expanded into a broader education SaaS platform - offering curriculum, professional development, and operational support for childcare centers and providers. Customer feedback also pointed to a growing disconnect: the name “HiMama” felt increasingly narrow and not reflective of modern families or the full range of caregivers. The product and vision had evolved, but the brand had not kept pace.
Challenge
2
The existing brand no longer reflected the depth of the offering or the audience the company was trying to reach. “HiMama” was strongly associated with early-stage childcare centers and simple communication, while the business was able to serve the needs of more complex, mid-sized operators. There was a growing gap between how the company showed up in the market and the value it was actually delivering.
Approach
3
I led a full rebrand as a response to a clear gap between how the company was perceived and what it had grown to become. The work began by synthesizing customer feedback, market positioning, and product evolution - including a recently acquired print curriculum - to align around a shared point of view: that the brand needed to reflect a joyful, broader, more inclusive vision of early childhood education, and the diverse customers it served.
From there, we redefined the brand at its foundation. This included clarifying positioning, articulating a more expansive value proposition, and developing a name and identity that could support the company’s growth. The naming process was closely tied to mission and meaning, ensuring the new brand felt warm, approachable, and intentional - not invented.
The work extended beyond brand expression into activation - partnering across marketing, sales, product, and customer success teams to bring the brand to life and ensure the new branding, positioning and messaging were consistently applied across all offerings and touch points. The goal was not just a new identity, but a cohesive, usable way for the business to communicate its full value.
What Changed
4
We reintroduced the company as Lillio - a brand grounded in its mission and built to reflect its expanded role in early childhood education. The new identity, messaging, and visual system retained its warmth and playfulness yet aligned more closely with the needs of growing childcare businesses, shifting perception from a single-purpose tool to a comprehensive platform supporting education, operations, and growth — now including both the digital platform and newly integrated print curriculum.
By integrating the acquired curriculum under the Lillio umbrella, we created a consistent brand experience across both digital and physical offerings. This not only strengthened the company’s market positioning, but also reinforced the broader value proposition: a unified platform that supports educators, operators, and families at every touchpoint.
What It Made Possible
5
The rebrand created immediate excitement and momentum - both internally and in the market. It gave the team a stronger, more aligned way to communicate the company’s value, particularly with the mid-sized operators it was built to serve.
We introduced Lillio at NAEYC, engaging directly with thousands of educators and operators and hearing firsthand how the new brand resonated. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and those conversations translated into meaningful new connections and early pipeline opportunities.
Across a customer base of tens of thousands, the transition was seamless - with no confusion or disruption. At the same time, the broader launch campaign drove increased engagement, pipeline, and industry conversation, signaling a clear shift in how the company was perceived.
How I made it happen
