Know-How Exchange : Branding

Here is some details. I've used the brand identity prism to define how client perceives us today -

Physique - Large and Aggressive Offshore Outsourcing enterprise

Relationship - Just another Vendor (we were the prime vendors when we were selected)

Reflection - Large firms with weak control and governance on projects.

Personality - Informal, Intelligent, Reactive

Culture - Risky, Gets the job done, No Thought Leadership and non-consultative.

Self Image: Unmatched Authority on chosen topics
Value through offshoring best practices and tools.

I'm still having a problem understanding the problem/issue. Are you the client or the consultant? What industry? What's the problem you're trying to solve? Is it a problem between you and the client, or between the client and his customers?

Changing a positioning is not easy, as you probably already know. And the positioning must reflect reality as perceived by the target audience. So who is in the target audience?

I'm confused. If all of this is vague because of confidentiality concerns, then this may not be the right place to seek counsel. Consider hiring qualified expert help (confidential) by posting a project in the Hire an Expert section of this website.

Your question is all over the shop. You refer to "I" and "we" but you don't tell us which you are.

Are YOU going through the "very rough patches", or is your CLIENT doing the going?

As for all the MBA speak in your response above, most of it's meaningless.

First, you must define your problem.

Then you must outline what it is that your customers currently believe.

Next, you must decide what you WANT your customers to believe.

Then, you need to sketch out how you will turn people's thinking around so that it aligns with your desired outcome.

But before you do any of that, let's look at the issue of rebranding.

To rebrand—to burn new memories into the long term memory of your customers and memories that REPLACE current thoughts—you're talking about changing entrenched beliefs, dispelling strongly help opinions, and repainting vividly painted visions of what your company means to your customers NOW.

To do this and do it well you need one of two things: masses of time or really deep pockets. You cannot do
it with both time and money. You must choose only one. To paraphrase Roy Williams https://www.wizardofads.com/ time and money are inversely proportional: you can save a lot of one by spending a lot of the other.

How MUCH will it cost? Well, how much is the company worth in terms of revenue over a three to five year period? Why three to five years? Because 36 to 60 months is enough time in which to permit old, dissatisfied customers to drift away, and it's a short enough period of time in which your new marketing can begin new conversations about new desired outcomes with NEW customers. Three to five years is long enough to build a new set of relationships in which you PROVE your worth, and it's a short enough period to allow you to weather further market storms.

You mentioned $30 million. Multiply that by between 3 and 5 years and it could cost you #90 million to $150 million.

OR

You could spend less on marketing and instead, invest the majority of your time into research and development that then create NEW things to solve your customer's problems. Then, once you've solve the problems and rolled out your new service and done a modest amount of marketing, the forces of the market (demand) will then drive desire. You then ramp up your marketing efforts to feed the desire and to toot the horn of your improved quality ... as shown by the social proof (in the guise of testimonials) of your new and highly delighted customers ... all of whom then become your new brand stewards. Nothing sells like a story that tells.

What's a great illustration of this latter point? The story of Chung Ju-yung.

He founded what would become the Hyundai Group.

For YEARS in the 1980s and 1990s the quality of Hyundai cars SUCKED. What did Chung Ju-yung do? He invested millions into R&D.

He took on Honda and Toyota but he didn't compete on price. He competed on quality AND on the future. Hyundai was the first car company EVER to introduce the 10 year/100,000 warranty. You want an example of extreme rebranding? Study the history of Hyundai.

In the USA between 2009 and 2010, Generation "Y" car buyers (18 to 27 year olds) gave Hyundai 8.6% of the market. Beating Honda AND Toyota. Ten years ago Hyundai were pretty much nowhere to be seen on major shopping lists.

My last thought here is that you need to clarify your problem and come back with more detail. Where are you? Where do you want to be? How do you want to get there?

Gary Bloomer
The Direct Response Marketing Guy™
Princeton, NJ, USA

Focus your efforts on communicating the changes you're making to solve past problems.

AFTER it's all fixed, then worry about re-branding.


Michael

I would soon re-post my question with surplus details and clarity. Thanks for the advise.