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This question has been closed, and points have been awarded.
Rebranding Do's And Dont's - Case Study Request
Posted By: Jim Deveau/Catalyst* on 7/11/2005 3:33 PM (CST) 2500 Points
Hello Everyone:

I am posting this question with a fair amount of points because I would like to get as much SPECIFIC input as possible.

Situation:

I am working with a client friend who is facing a difficult decision on re-branding his core brand, which is the namesake of the foreign parent. The brand has been promoted in the US with a fair amount of support and promotion but generates relatively low brand name awareness and recognition given this investment. This lack of broad-scale recognition and inferred attributes could possibly be a limiting factor in his ambitious growth plans.

My friend absolutely feels he should execute a re-branding - so that is NOT the issue I am placing before you today.

His issue is execution and rationale. He is getting pressure to execute a comprehensive re-brand in one fell swoop with a very low marketing budget. He (and I) both concur that this could be a disastrous strategy for the brand, which has a fair amount of industry sponsorship and endorsement associated with it (sorry - I need to keep the company and brand confidential).

He needs to create a convincing argument for his fellow senior managers that a successful re-branding campaign requires one of two distinct strategies.

1. INTENSIVE STRATEGY - with a significant expenditure in advertising, promotion, and communications. This strategy will allow the brand to be re-staged in very few incremental steps AND allow him to execute over a relatively short time frame BUT CANNOT be executed without the investment.

2. GRADUAL RESTAGE - with a much lower overall marketing investment. The re-branding can be done with a lower budget but requires a SIGNIFICANT amount of time to execute gradually over several design/communications phases.

REQUEST:

I request your collective input on best/worst practices based on SPECIFIC re-brandings you have been associated with or have SPECIFIC knowledge of.

We need specific information/case studies to build a body of knowledge to support our conviction that, to be successful, one needs either a significant investment over a relatively short time frame OR a longer, staged re-brand with a lower overall communications investment.

Great answers (which will receive more points consideration) will include links to specific articles and/or case studies on this issue that will help create this body of knowledge.

I would also LOVE summaries of specific do's and dont's relative to your personal experience with the executional (time versus money) issues I have framed.

Thank you in advance for your contributions to this question, especially to my long-time colleagues!

Posted by: Jim Deveau/Catalyst* Author Response
7/11/2005 4:27 PM (CST)
Hi everyone:

One point of clarity - great white papers/case studies/articles/personal summaries on FAILED attempts are just as valuable as those on successful re-stages. Thanks!
 
Posted by: virago* Accepted Answer
7/11/2005 8:11 PM (CST)
I was involved in a rebranding exercise in Australia that failed (also with me leaving the company) after 2 years. Actually I should have left after 1 year because I worked out why it wouldn't work.

The reasons for the failed rebranding was:-

1. Little funding & support from senior managers.
2. Short timeframes to develop strategy, plans and execution.
3. Unable to change name that confused the market. This was a big problem. It was confused with another brand in the same market.
4. Conservative marketing approach from senior managers stifled any creative marketing campaign.

Even though we had great packaging & design & promotional message the little funding, support and name let us down.

We also hinged on all the efforts and not put in place alert metrics on bottomline levels to step in and make changes. We needed to all stop planning to budget a certain level. We need to all develop a range so your bottom level is the figure we step in and implement plan B.

And when it came time to step in it was too late. The campaign was lost and there was also no Plan B!

Sorry no links but I hope this helps. Good luck.
 
Posted by: Richard B* Member Response
7/11/2005 8:36 PM (CST)
Wow, this seems like a frustrating position for your client.

The thing that keeps coming back to me is whether changing the current brand has anything to do with solving the customer's problem? Will the re-branding do anything for the customer or is this just an internal debate about the current brand's value? Has any data been collected on what the audience feels towards their brand and whether they think it's worthwhile changing?

The case for rebranding should be focused on these questions and not on your client/friends desire to create "a convincing argument for his fellow senior managers".

Enlighten me if I don't understand the real issues.
 
Posted by: Jim Deveau/Catalyst* Author Response
7/11/2005 10:29 PM (CST)
Thanks to virago and Richard.

Richard - to make it clear - my client has done his homework on the rebranding issue and has clearly identified the need to rebrand.

The issue at hand is that he needs to convince the rest of the management team that he either:

a) needs a significant budget to execute an intensive re-branding campaign on a relatively short timeline (e.g. announce and execute)

or

b) needs a longer time frame with a more limited budget so that he can introduce a more gradual, incremental re-brand (low impact).

He would love case study justification or cited examples demonstrating how this has been successfully (and unsuccessfully) executed. Most important - he must clearly demonstrate that executing a radical change in a short time frame with a limited communications budget is a certain recipe for failure.


I hope this clarifies the issue.
 
Posted by: Mushfique Manzoor Accepted Answer
7/12/2005 2:16 AM (CST)
hi Jim

following are some links that googled from the web on successful rebranding..

http://www.promotenews.com/2003/0617.html

http://adtimes.nstp.com.my/archive/2001/jun10.htm

http://www.copernicusmarketing.com/about/mzine/monthlyeds/march01.html

http://www.bbj.hu/?module=displaystory&story_id=184215&edition_id=1475&form...

gotta rush, will get back with more.

cheers!!
 
Posted by: AndrewS Accepted Answer
7/12/2005 5:27 AM (CST)
Never underestimatte the power of name or brand within the market.

http://www.brandchannel.com/features_profile.asp?pr_id=76

A classic failure here in the Uk was Royal Mails change to "Consignia"
 
Posted by: Mushfique Manzoor Member Response
7/12/2005 6:44 AM (CST)
hi Jim

Pepper Blue answered this reply on similar topic here.

"Slovak Telecom did it and talks about it here:

http://www.telecom.sk/En/Default.aspx?CatID=33

Landor has done brand revitalization and rebranding for many clients globally. More info here:

http://www.landor.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=cPortfolio.getClientsByProjectTy...
"
plus, you can check the American Marketing Association at www.marketingpower.com But you have to be a paid member of AMA @USD 195/yr to access various case studies they have on branding (i am just a registered member :-().

Hope that helps

cheers!!
 
Posted by: Mushfique Manzoor Accepted Answer
7/12/2005 8:17 AM (CST)
hi Jim

adding to my earlier posts, the following is the link to a Case Study of Club Med, France's largest travel and tourism company.

http://www.atme.org/pubs/members/75_307_1301.cfm

also the link to the Case Study on rebranding of UK govt's Dept of Culture

http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/webdav/servlet/XRM?Page/@id=6048&Session/@i...

hope this helps.

cheers!!
 
Posted by: thinkmor Accepted Answer
7/12/2005 8:28 AM (CST)
Hi Jim

From what you decribe "..The brand has been promoted in the US with a fair amount of support and promotion but generates relatively low brand name awareness and recognition given this investment. This lack of broad-scale recognition and inferred attributes could possibly be a limiting factor in his ambitious growth plans. " - sounds like your client's brand could be in more trouble then just re-branding.

When the Brand Experience does not match the Brand Image this is sure sign that there are somethings more fundamentally wrong with the brand's quality & attributes or possibly the level and quality of marketing communications.

Also, all successful re-branding happens with ideally the CEO and senior management leading and then cascading the processes throughout the organization, where is your client in the process?

I would say the client is possibly being pressured by the City to force things quickly ( less than 6 months) as this is normally the case scenario to 'dress up' the incumbent before IPO, buy-out, acquisition etc The Abbey National in the UK is case in point that is extremely embarrassing.

If you look at some successful cases like HSBC (previously Midland - they rebranded with little stakeholder involvement because they were acquiring throughout different regions and wanted a global platform), BG (previously British Gas), Sodexho (Gardner Merchant wanting to re-position themselves outside of only a catering perception) they re-branded over a period of 12-18 months internally.

It does depend on the size of your organization but also on the key drivers that are driving the change of the organization e.g. acquisition, re-addressing values/philosophy, re-positioning etc.

Most organizations found that 'processes & people' were a significant area that most organizations under-estimated in time and complexity in reality. This cannot be stressed enough and it's only when you are in the middle of the change you realise how difficult these issues really are in practice.

Corporate re-branding benefit from external consultants supporting the processes and communication issues that are, as mentioned, more complex in practice than in planning and can be followed through comprehensively to aid cementing permanent change.

Some Key "Dos" to Successful Corporate Re-Branding

Identify all internal and external stakeholders perceptions and needs in the change process

Persuade the CEO/MD and senior management to lead the change process

Integrate implementation within the decision making process

Involve staff wthin the development process to establish permanent change so everyone involved is 'on side'

Keep communication flowing and tailored to all stakeholder perceptions, requirements and needs

Through comprehensive planning, monitor/evaluate mini milestones/objectives and incorporate contingency plans in case of crises

Prepare and equip people as best as possible throughout change process

Be realistic in your planning approach

Use external consultants to expand resources(control complexity and intensity of change) to help monitor/evaluate at all stages

Use this change process to take advantage and meaningful communicate the organization's more tacit corporate knowledge like values, core brand values, philosophy, how they are expressed etc in an explicit way.

Make sure to announce when you have 'officially' arrived

I will let you know if I can dig up any case studies for the aforementioned organizations.

Hope this helps you Jim.

Zahid Adil
 
Posted by: Jim Deveau/Catalyst* Author Response
7/12/2005 8:52 AM (CST)
To AndrewS, Mushfique, and Zahid (thinkmor):

Thanks so much for your contributions.

Mushfique - thanks for taking the time to search out links and for the Landor idea - this will help focus my client on some of the practical needs in graphics and packaging.

AndewS - I had no idea of this fiasco in the UK and I shook my head while reading this article. It is amazing indeed when a company rebrands for rebranding's sake and the CEO himself states the new name "doesn't mean anything".

Zahid - you bring up an excellent point of concern - which is the underlying motivation of the rebrand. I have been in situations in my career where the dynamics you mentioned (dressing up the goods before selling them off) played a major role. Thanks for the Abbey National reference. Thanks also for the references to successful re-brands and for pointing out the importance of process and people in rebranding efforts. If you could find any links or documentation to your other examples - it would be really helpful.

One of the things I like most about the KHE is the way in which we "check in" globally when questions are posted. The UK is well into its business day (thus the great contributions so far). It will be interesting to read US posts now as we come "online" for the day.

Thanks again for the excellent contributions so far.
 
Posted by: AndrewS Member Response
7/12/2005 9:03 AM (CST)
Jim, I guess like most of us we have met businesses who see rebranding as just a logo change. Tried to bash that into one or two businesses myself that a simple logo change just isn't enough.
 
Posted by: Frances* Accepted Answer
7/12/2005 3:49 PM (CST)
Hi Jim

Your question made me smile (ironically) because it struck a chord: I just wish that your friend's fellow senior managers could have a peek at my Inbox - it would turn them off a 'quick and dirty' brand change for life...

The story: A client of mine took a great deal of care setting out strategic objectives for a re-branding. However, when these proposals got to board level, somehow they got watered down into 'let's have a new 'brand' in three weeks!'

The new 'brand' (actually just a change of colour and logo put together in about a week by a 'cheapy' agency) was launched on Monday. So - now the client finds themselves with a new logo, but:
- little idea of how to apply it
- little idea of what it means - or should mean - to them.

The client is in a panic, now they realise just how much work it is to change a brand, and how little they have done. On the design-side, they are applying the brand very badly - because they don't have time to think about it. So basically a great opportunity for change has been transformed into a waste of everyone's time...

Sometimes I'm glad I'm just a writer...
 
Posted by: Jim Deveau/Catalyst* Author Response
7/12/2005 6:42 PM (CST)
AndrewS and Frances:

Many thanks for your added insights. I am coming to realize that experienced marketers who go "deep" absolutely understand the inherent risks in not executing a rebranding properly. We also understand the process and people aspects, as pointed out by Zahid. Yet - ironically - there isn't a lot of documentation and case study available that helps us build the case for our convictions.

This is precisley why my client friend is in dire need. He KNOWS the right way to go but he is having a hard time convincing the top of the food chain without a few documented failures that tried to "go it" on the cheap.

The response on this question is relatively light (only 4 contributors to date). I am hoping that a few more experts can help point us in the right direction for case studies and/or resources.

Thanks again for the contributions thus far.
 
Posted by: sham Accepted Answer
7/13/2005 3:29 AM (CST)
hi jim,
your post shoud specify at least about the industry in which the rebranding is intended. after thorough examination of the situation if you are convinced that the rebranding has to be done, its fine but identify the flaws. few important things according to my limited knowledge are to understand why the brand failed.

1. whether positioning of the product was proper or not
2. the market potential was understood properly or not
3. brand name was selected properly or not (is it imititating its close competitor etc)
4. whether the product itself is of good quality or not
5. whether adaquate marketing support was given in terms of promotional items/ advertising or not
6 is pricing strategy right

After going through your post my feeling is that there shoulod some serious problems in one or more of the above areas,

to give an example (sorry no links available) Pfizer introduced its Amlodipine brand in India in 1995 under the brand name Amlogard, and 5mg tablet was priced at Rs.25/-. later Dr. Reddy's labs launched the same Amlodipine undr the brand name Stamlo for Rs.5/- and most of the pfizers market was taken away by Dr. reddys. pfizer stoped selling its brand for 1 year and cam back with a rebranding strategy, in which apart from pricing the product at Rs.5/- they promoted the product for a new indication fo angina pectoris which was not promoted till then and started continued medical education programmes for physicians and cardiologists and highlited the fact that amlodipine is their research molecule and gave the details of research which helped them get a consideragle share of Amlodipine market.
once you identify the flaws it will be easy to rebrand the product.

hope this helps you
 
Posted by: AndrewS Member Response
7/13/2005 4:24 AM (CST)
Just get your friend to remember that it its simplist form, a brand MUST deliver the promoted promise.

To deliver that promise takes more than a fancy name, new logo, exciting new literature, great colour scheme. To deliver the promise the business MUST understand what market they are in, what the market trends are.

How customers see you (position in the market), how the business sees themselves (their positioning in the market).
What are the comeptition upto? Do they fully understand the competition ?

Masses of internal factors, like ... can they deliever what the market is after? Any retraining needed? There will need to be internal clarification on what the business stands for ... then and only then, if needed, should any external rebranding take place.

Rebranding must throw most of the efforts internally, because its the people inside the business that will deliver the promise.
 
Posted by: thinkmor Accepted Answer
7/13/2005 8:32 AM (CST)
Hi Jim

Here are a few links that may help in support:

BP Re-brand
http://www.babymilkaction.org/pdfs/spinpdfs/exercises/A_warm_welcome.pdf

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/hsp/bm/2003/00000011/00000002/art0001...

http://www.brandchannel.com/brand_speak.asp?bs_id=81

Abbey National Bank -
http://www.prophet.com/news/pressreleases/03-05Mabbott.htm

Aligning Your People with your Brand
http://www.prophet.com/knowledge/whitepapers/downloads/BrandAssimff.pdf

Internal Branding
http://www.prophet.com/knowledge/articles/downloads/DavisDunn_BrandingInsid...

Pitfalls that Kill Branding Efforts
http://www.prophet.com/knowledge/articles/downloads/pitfallfix.pdf

Brand Driven Business
http://www.prophet.com/knowledge/articles/downloads/Creating%20the%20Brand%...

Book

Brand Failures - 100 Biggest Branding Mistakes of All Time

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0749439270/qid=1121253470/sr=8-1/r...

Hope these help Jim.

Zahid Adil
 
Posted by: Jim Deveau/Catalyst* Author Response
7/13/2005 8:57 AM (CST)
To Sham, AndrewS, and Zahid:

Thanks for the continued input into this discussion.

Zahid - your links will be invaluable to my friend - thank you so much.

AndrewS - thanks for pointing out the comprhensive requirements of a rebranding. I can tell you that the product itself is sound - it is well-designed - it is positioned well - and its features and benefits do line up nicely with consumer needs. I have this product in my home as a consumer - 2 family members use it and its a good product.

Sham - thanks for pointing out the lack of specific information. I am limited by confidentiality, but I can tell everyone the following:

1. This is a durable consumer product.
2. The product is available in many mass channels, but it is not what I would consider a mass-marketed good. It relies heavily on specialty channels and specialty retailers.
3. The product is promoted via endorsement and advertising/promotion within its target audience and within its specialty channel.
3. The BRAND NAME is the critical element forcing the rebranding. While it has a significant position (and strong brand name attributes) in its home market - it is not nearly as effective in the US market where there is a MAJOR business development opportunity.

I hope this might help get a few more insights before this question ages. It would be great to hear from a few more practicioners out there!

Many thanks for the insights thus far!
 
Posted by: AndrewS Member Response
7/13/2005 10:02 AM (CST)
When this is all over, you MUST come back and tell us the brand your talking about :-)
 
Posted by: skoobie99 Accepted Answer
7/13/2005 10:44 AM (CST)
I agree with AndrewS, I am intrigued by your client/friend's situation and would like to find out more about the brand and outcome at a later date.

To distill the problem you describe in a few words, it deals with obtaining funding to launch the re-branding "in the right manner". The re-branding is a major decision and just to play devil's advocate, has your friend conducted a survey (this can be informal) of the stakeholders and decision makers? We all want to believe that "top brass" will support a well-documented/well-positioned/well-thought-out strategy, but there may be factors beyond our control...

To put it a different way: Will the re-branding decision be supported with an appropriate budget if the proper documentation/historical facts are collected/analyzed/submitted, or is the very low marketing budget that has currently been allocated to this re-branding proposal a way to choke/discourage the re-branding effort?

You mentioned that the brand your friend/client is proposing to re-brand is the namesake of the foreign parent, so there may be deep feelings associated with the existing brand and lots of resistance to change it.

Hope this allows you to examine (and ideally nail-down) this angle.
John
 
Posted by: JBtron Accepted Answer
7/13/2005 8:37 PM (CST)
Jim,

It's great to hear from you!
We'll talk later...

First of all, I concur with your disaster-laden assessment of situation your client friend has been presented.

But if “he is getting pressure to execute a comprehensive re-brand in one fell swoop with a very low marketing budget,” that’s a warning sign: there must be SOME corporate urgency that’s driving this. We must know what it is in order to help as efficiently as we can. Jim, you’ve seen me ask this of virtually everyone else online who wants to rebrand. Unfortunately, your client friend is no exception; his situation begs the question more than most.

Alienating sponsors will also ensue if they do this on the cheap and negatively impact the prestige of the sponsor brands through brand confusion.

I KNOW that’s not you’ve before us here, but this information is crucial to the rebranding he now faces. And if, in reality, he doesn’t know the reasons why, that, in and of itself, is another reason that further supports the position that we don’t fully understand the dynamics and need to know more, particularly the industry category: there usually are category-specific dynamics that also impact the branding continuum.

I must return to a deadline; I will chime in a bit later with some personal experiences.

Great research and insights, everyone!

Hope THIS helps!

Best,

::JBtron
 
Posted by: ASVP/ChrisB Accepted Answer
7/13/2005 9:27 PM (CST)
Jim

I think BP is the best example I can think of.

And the 2002 rebrand isn't the first time. They went "Green" in the late 80's, and a global cost of some GBP600M at the time I recollect, and their chairman said that the rebrand paid for itself inside (?) six (?) months (might have been nine, but it was short) simply in terms of increased sales attributable to the rebranding.

It was an incredible exercise involving the almost overnight refurbishment of every service station all pretty much simultaneously. about as "big bang" as you can get.

AndrewS has mentioned Consignia which was a dud. Another Brit example was the British Airways "flying fag packet" rebranding which seemed to last not very long at all. BTW for all the US readers - "fag packet" refers to the fact the new BA livery resembled a cigarette packet design. Fag=Cigarette in Britspeak, for the uninitiated.

Back here in Oz, Cato's work on Commonwealth Bank and Qantas is legendary, well worth a look.

Hope this helps.

ChrisB
 
Posted by: Jim Deveau/Catalyst* Author Response
7/13/2005 10:21 PM (CST)
Many thanks to skoobie99, JB, and Chris B:

It's great to see you JB and Chris - I feel like a couple of my oldest friends just dropped in for a beer.

You have all been generous with your time and insights. I would love to give more specifics, but I can't release any more information.

Skoobie and JB - your instincts and insights are dead on - I wish I could provide more detail.. The only relief I have vis-a-vis this question is that the core issue is not necessarily the "how-to" of the re-branding - its getting the senior management team to have a much healthier respect for the intricacies of the re-brand and the potential pitfalls of "going it on the cheap".

Many of you have voiced concern about the underlying motivation for a quick execution - this is something I am sure my friend will be more sensitive to as he goes forward.

Chris B - many thanks for the great examples of BP, British Airways, and for the insights on Quantas and Commonwealth Bank. These are all great resources that should help my friend assemble a body of knowledge.

I will leave this question open a bit longer - but please - everyone - know that you have really contributed to the discussion. This is a great demonstration of the collective power of this forum.
 
Posted by: Carl Crawford Accepted Answer
7/14/2005 8:19 AM (CST)
Check your email, 22 pages on re branding failures.
 
Posted by: Jim Deveau/Catalyst* Author Response
7/14/2005 9:12 AM (CST)
Carl ("Firefox"):

This was EXCELLENT - THANK YOU SO MUCH. I am going to hang on for just a bit longer before closing in case there are any additional contributors.

Jim
 
Posted by: mholmes* Member Response
7/14/2005 6:33 PM (CST)
I don't have but one comment.

Include your audience in testing. If the emperor is not wearing any clothes someone in your audience will tell you.

Creative insight comes from inside the redesign effort, adoption comes from your audience.
 
Posted by: Jim Deveau/Catalyst* Author Response
7/14/2005 9:37 PM (CST)
To my KHE colleagues:

Many thanks for your great contributions to this discussion. I was able to gather a great deal of perspective for my client friend, and I am sure he will be most appreciative of your inputs. I am especially grateful to the case study references, as this is what he needs the most to create a body of knowledge to use with his management team.

All told - you have confiirmed what we surely feel is an blinding glimpse of the obvious - a rebranding must have a cogent rationale, a solid strategy, sufficent budget, comprehensive tactical plan, management commitment, and a thorough process-driven execution. You have also pointed out that any management team forcing a timeline and undersupporting a rebranding effort might indeed have alterior motives or a different end-game in mind.

I have tried to be fair in my distribution of points, reflecting the efforts of those who have taken their time to post articles and references to help. This is a great demonstration of the KHE in action - and I thank you all once again.

Jim
 
Posted by: mark_hogan Member Response
9/7/2005 11:01 AM (CST)
Quality information lads and Zahid is a bit of a legend! ... well done guys!
 


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