Five brand lessons from our partnership with Rivian

Rivian Case study insight

When Rivian was preparing to step into the public eye, they weren’t just launching a vehicle—they were introducing an entirely new way of thinking about mobility. In this video, Chris breaks down five brand lessons from our work with Rivian. From translating engineering language into human language to defining a new category—Electric Adventure Vehicles—and building a scalable brand system. These insights apply far beyond automotive. They’re about how strong brands clarify, align, and flex as they grow. Watch the video, then head to Parliament’s website to read the full article and dive deeper into the thinking behind the work.

Outline

00:00

Intro

Chris from Parliament shares five key lessons learned from working with Rivian. When the partnership began, Rivian had spent seven years developing in secrecy with no public website or brand. The challenge was to help Rivian unveil what they were building. The first lesson introduces the need to translate internal language into something accessible and human.

00:27

Lesson one: Translate internal language

Chris highlights Rivian’s engineering-heavy culture and founder R.J.’s MIT background. While their technical language was precise and accurate internally, it didn’t always connect with customers. The takeaway is clear: technical precision matters inside the organization, but relevance matters outside.

00:54

Lesson two: Create new terminology with EAVs

Rivian recognized that the idea of a traditional “truck” carried baggage that didn’t match their vision. To solve this, they introduced the term “EAVs”—electric adventure vehicles—for internal use. This language helped free the team from old assumptions and allowed them to think beyond what trucks had historically represented.

01:17

Lesson three: Documentation enables delegation

Chris explains how clear documentation and a strong brand platform allowed Rivian to scale. As the founding team grew busier, shared documentation enabled teams to make aligned decisions without constant oversight, creating speed and consistency across the organization.

01:46

Lesson four: In-person connection really matters

Spending time at Rivian’s headquarters in Detroit, with their tech team in Silicon Valley, and at their factory and test track in Illinois deepened Parliament’s understanding of the business. That firsthand experience strengthened belief in the mission—and it showed up in the work.

02:00

Lesson five: Stakeholders and brand flexibility

Customers, investors, suppliers, and partners all care about different things. Rivian operates within a complex ecosystem, and strong brands need to flex without breaking to serve those varied needs.

02:12

Conclusion and further resources

Chris encourages viewers to read the full article and explore the case study on Parliament’s website.

Transcript

Hey friends, it’s Chris at Parliament.

Five takeaways from working with Rivian.

When we partnered with Rivian, they had spent seven years quietly building garages, warehouses, test tracks, secret facilities. They had no website, no brand. Apart from private investors, the world had no idea what they were creating. Our job was to help shape their coming-out party.

Along the way, we learned a thing or two. Five things, actually. Here they are.

Lesson one: translate internal language into human language.

Rivian’s team spoke in precise engineering terms. R.J., their founder—he was an all-star at MIT. He’s truly brilliant. Their whole team is incredibly smart. And they speak in precise engineering terms. Accurate, yes, but not relatable to their typical customer. Technical precision matters internally. Relevance matters externally.

Lesson number two: when you’re a true innovator, you have to be careful about inheriting industry language that carries the wrong kind of baggage.

Now, of course, Rivian makes a truck. But the trucks that have been on the market for the last 100 years—they don’t match Rivian’s vision. So we created new terminology they could use internally. Rather than calling them trucks, they could call them EAVs—electric adventure vehicles.

The goal wasn’t to create a new consumer category. The goal was to give them language that wasn’t burdened by all the things trucks are, but Rivians aren’t. That helped their internal team shift their thinking. At Ram, truck might have meant XYZ, but here it doesn’t. Here, EAV means something completely different. The language gave their team permission to move past what a truck has always been.

Lesson three: documentation enables delegation.

As Rivian scaled, R.J. and the founding team couldn’t be everywhere at once. A clear positioning strategy and brand platform allowed their teams to make aligned decisions without constant oversight.

Lesson number four: in-person connection really matters.

Spending time at their headquarters in Detroit, visiting their tech team in Silicon Valley, touring their factory in Illinois, and driving prototypes around their test track changed how well we understood their mission and their business. Our belief showed up in the work.

And the final lesson, number five: customers, investors, suppliers, and partners—they all care about different things.

Rivian is part of a very complicated ecosystem. They have a ton of stakeholders. Strong brands can flex without breaking.

For more depth and detail, head to Parliament’s website and read the full article. While you’re there, you can dive into the case study as well.

All right, that’s it for me. Be brave. Stand apart.