A brand
can never be a static entity. Changes in external environment, including but
not limited to competition, as well as shift in consumer behaviour make it
imperative for companies to keep revisiting the brand, in particular, its strength
and relevance in time and day. The change however, can sometimes be from within
as well. A firm may choose to change its vision and mission, re-look at its
portfolio or expand in different market(s) and consumer segment(s). Obviously, an
existing brand (and its associated attributes like identity, essence and
promise) may fall short of meeting the expectations of the changing world in
and around.
Evolution of the Coca Cola Visual Identity over the years |
There
are multiple ways in which a brand can be made-over to represent its new-found
vision and aspiration. This post looks at two such makeover strategies in
particular - Rebranding and Brand Refresh, also because these are probably the
most misunderstood and incorrectly interchanged terms.
To
understand the two terms clearly, let’s take a short caselet.
There
are three brands – Air, Earth and Water. All the three brands cater to young
audience between ages 18-35 years and are about 10 years old now. Air and Earth
are facing some troubles in their sales cycles as well as customer retention
and loyalty scores.
Executives
from ‘Air’ found out that their Target Group (TG) isn’t able to relate to the
brand anymore. The TG has attributed this disconnect to its visual identity
(Logo, theme, colour, design). The target audience claimed that the brand didn’t
convey a youthful personality and hence has resulted in eroded association and
attachment of the customers towards the brand. It felt that the brand has not
kept up with time and has remained stagnant in terms of its expression and what
it stands for. Conclusion- The brand isn’t preferred by its TG for its loss of appeal.
‘Earth’s
executive had a worse reckoning with their TG. The customers claimed that they
do not associate with the brand anymore and it is for their parents instead.
They further added that the competitor has climbed up the ladder in terms of customer
understanding, offerings, communication, engagement and even futuristic
concepts for them. On the other hand, ‘Earth' is still stuck with the same
Brand Identity and older form of communications.
Conclusion- The brand is ‘there’,
but ‘not there’ for its TG ("Not for me").
‘Water’,
was in a different boat altogether. Having done well in existing target market
for its products, it now aims to appeal to a much larger segment albeit with a
different set of products under its current brand. However, it understands that
its current brand identity and messaging will not be able to appeal to multiple
segments effectively. So, the brand needs to be acceptable to multiple markets
and segments.
Hence, what
‘Air’ needs is a facelift. A visual identity make-up which will make it more
appealing to its target audience. The values and vision does not change, but
the focus is only on cosmetic changes that would make the brand more appealing
and relevant to the TG. ‘Air’ needs a Brand
Refresh.
Britannia (2018) |
However,
it is not necessary that only those companies, which face issues as mentioned
above go for Brand Refresh. Brand Refresh is often used as a routine strategy
by some companies just to maintain a new visual identity that gives them a contemporary
status in the target audience to avoid brand fatigue.
Godrej (2008) |
Some of
the examples of Brand Refresh globally are Google, Verizon, and Starbucks. Back
home, Britannia, Godrej, Star TV and HUL have adopted a simple Brand Refresh strategy. While there may have been associated communication for their brand refresh launch, these were mostly cosmetic changes to be contemporary.
‘Earth’
and ‘Water’ have bigger problem and opportunity respectively at their hands
though. They requires much more than a cosmetic retouching, something which is
deeper and affects the core and values of the brand. The change would attempt to
make the brand relevant, not just by its visual identity, but with its newly
framed (or communicated) brand promise and even culture to the customers. These
brands will see a structural change in how they look at the customers, what the
brand will stand for and what does it intend to be for its customers. ‘Earth’ and ‘Water’ need Rebranding.
India Post (2008) |
Rebranding
can occur with or without any name, design or logo change (unlike Brand
Refresh). Some of the examples of Rebranding globally are Old Spice (in 2010),
Apple (post 1997 when Steve Jobs took over) and Walmart (From “"Always Low
Prices," to "Save Money. Live Better" in 2007). In India, companies like Airtel (To tap a
larger audience through their internet services), Hero (Post split from Honda
in 2011), India Post (“Giving wings to your dreams” campaign trying to tap
youth) and Incredible India(Show India in a different light) have taken the
Rebranding route for their respective brands.
An interesting perspective on Rebranding is presented by the 2018 winner of REBRAND GLOBAL 100
AWARDS, Brand Bhutan. The video shows how a tiny hillock nation is trying to
rebrand itself for its products and services, a shift from its earlier branding
of a scenic and spiritual country. This way, one unified, overarching country
brand has been developed for Bhutan.
Click for more details on the Rebranding campaign - Brand Bhutan.
Finally,
Rebranding and Brand Refresh are brand makeover strategies but should not be
confused as being one and the same. Brand Refresh is a cosmetic change which
essentially deals with the look and feel of the visual identity of a brand. It
does not look at structural and architectural changes of the brand and does not
affect its brand promise (at least not explicitly). Rebranding on the other
hand is much deeper. A Rebranding strategy cannot be undertaken without making
structural changes to the brand. It also leads to subtle changes in brand
promise and brand identity, which are propagated down to the target audience
through cues and messages, implicit as well as explicit.
In the
next post, we'd look at what are the other brand makeover strategies and when to use which one?