I read an article recently on some success re-brands. http://tinyurl.com/2ar3426 This got me to thinking of some other successful re-brand efforts. Wal-Mart is one that stands out. Giant (a grocery store chain owned by Ahold). I am not sure if they are in all states so some of you might not know them. Best Buy, Pepsi, Kodak, Burger King, Verizon, and up until 3 months ago, and probably the biggest omission from the list is BP.
This led me to my next question. Why were they successful. What did they do right/wrong? I has talking to a colleague about this and he had said he was rushed to do a re-brand when a new CEO took over. He said it was a mistake and tried to talk him out of it. I asked how he came to his conclusion. He said he felt it was wrong to re-brand. Of course the ‘felt’ thing really got to me, and hence the problem with some re-branding efforts. They are either knee-jerk reactions to economic climate, or are rushed through.
So how do you go about seeing the validity if a re-brand is necessary? I think the question one asks is why did they do a redesign/evolution? When a company re-brands, and maybe that’s a better term, re-brand, Wiki definition of a re-brand is:
“Re-branding is the creation of a new name, term, symbol, design or a combination of them for an established brand with the intention of developing a differentiated (new) position in the mind of stakeholders and competitor.”
So what is this evolution term as I have seen some people call it. I am not sure evolution fits here in total. Is it really evolving in the term of brand development or is there an admittance that something is wrong. Yes a brand can evolve and needs new way to communicate that, but how many of those brands mentioned evolved? I would dare say that is the exception, not the norm. Usually companies re-brand because of a negative connotation associated with it, or communicate a new message.
It’s a shame that someone has a knee-jerk reaction and thinks that the re-brand is the answer. Here is what designers/marketers should do in these cases. first you saying you should keep the brand and not do a makeover is just an opinion. Just as the new CEO wanting a re-brand is an opinion. Unfortunately his opinion will win out 100% of the time. What should be done is some careful market research with consumer focus groups, surveys, questionnaires, etc on how the current brand is perceived. then do the same thing with a new brand, how do they react to the color schemes, do they like red & black, does another color scheme fair better? If your data affirms your opinion, you now have something to bring to the table. this way if the new logo flops, you kind of have a ‘I told you so’ in your back pocket. I have NEVER EVER once won out with a business owner on this stuff when it’s just my humble opinion against theirs.
What to do first. The first thing to do is talk to the ownership and key executives. Ask them how they perceive the company. Do you think old fashioned, high tech, family oriented, industry leader, etc… then make sure the branding is in line with what they perceive. The second thing is to then get permission to talk to some key accounts. Usually the sales dept. will tell you who is approachable. Ask these customers the same question. I guarantee what ownership and customers perceive are two different things. this is really helpful to align correctly any branding efforts. Asking customers can come in several forms. questionnaires, or a focus group discussion. Usually you have to hang a carrot to get people to talk in this format.
Next, do the primary and secondary research, well actually above is primary research. The secondary research is the obvious stuff. research on competitors etc. I sometimes pose as a potential client so I can get all of their sales and marketing materials, which is extremely helpful. Look at their website, other public data.
Once you have this, you can, and only now start to figure out what direction you need to go for the re-brand. Now granted, there are a lot of companies who blow by this stuff, and unfortunately that is a mistake. I can’t emphasis enough how important it is to do the questionnaires with ownership and key clients. the results almost always shock ownership. Having this research will be extremely helpful in determining the direction to take the project.
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