Something Old, Something New: a Measured Approach to Rebranding
As humans, our instinct is to resist change. It’s hardwired, in fact. The amygdala (part of the brain) interprets change as a threat, and our body responds by releasing hormones, putting us into ‘fight or flight’ mode for protection. We resist change for emotional reasons too: familiarity is comforting whereas newness can leave us feeling unsettled.
Change, it seems, is a risky choice. Even so, it’s often preferable relative to maintaining the status quo.
As marketers, let’s never forget that a brand’s identity isn’t static. Markets evolve, and companies and their competitors change within that. Brands and branding need to adapt to keep up or better yet, keep ahead. Rebranding can mean the difference between life and death for some brands, but the more successful ones will usually initiate change before the situation becomes so dire.
When an already-established brand determines that it is necessary to change or add to the name, adjust the brand’s visual language by introducing a new symbol or evolving an existing one, or simply change other aspects of the design it is known for, that is what is meant by rebranding.
Brands sometimes do this proactively, for example when a company recognises that their existing identity isn’t suitable to take up an opportunity to innovate and grow. Or, your brand’s aesthetic might no longer speak to your company’s values and products, and need to evolve as you expand the scope of your business or enter new markets. Maybe the name of your business is too limiting as you launch new lines or expand into new territories. Or perhaps your brand just isn’t doing a good enough job of differentiating your offering relative to competitors. These are all fair reasons to consider rebranding.
Of course, rebranding happens reactively too. If a brand is losing relevance and the connection with its users suffers, or for more practical reasons such as a merger, legal issues, and so forth.
But, just as much as we might resist initial change, it’s never long before we adjust to the newness.
Many of us have already forgotten that the red cellular giant Vodacom was once robed in green and blue; and that the brand name ABSA did not exist at all before the merger of five individual entities the early 90’s. And I suspect that if we fast forward just a few years from now, nobody will recall the tumult that arose when SA’s much-loved retailer PEP decided to refresh their 55-year old brand.
PEP’s current branding was certainly looking tired, in a market where most competitors had moved on (Ackermans, Jet, Mr Price and Pick n Pay had all rebranded more recently). Many marketing professionals shared their views that the new look took the brand just a step too far away from its roots; that it felt too mod for the more traditional client base (read: lower income market). The reality is that although marketers certainly have experience in marketing – they are not necessarily the brand’s audience.
It’s been said that the best brand consultants are your customers.
And as I scoured through the many (many!) comments unpacking the rebrand, it became clear that there is a lot of love for this new look; that the brand experience had already moved forward some time ago and the brand identity was merely playing catchup.
I am not a Pep customer myself, so the truth is that my opinion doesn’t count AT ALL! It’s the customers who will ultimately determine whether their rebranding efforts pass or fail. But I did see this as the perfect opportunity to unpack the concept of rebranding in a little more detail.
The one thing about rebranding is that it can’t be approached in a formulaic way. I conducted some background research into the rebranding of almost 20 major brands; both local and global. The reasons for the change are so personal, the business goals and the competitive context and the nature of the relationship customers have with the brand, all so intricately unique that it seems unreasonable to compare the learnings.
Yet, one area of consistency is the importance of involving your customers; to understand their level of comfort with the brand, and how much change is tolerable. Changing too many brand elements all at once can scare away even the most loyal of customers. Customers who have an emotional bond with your identity. Fiddle with too many elements, or even just a single critical one, and you could lose what your customers view as most central to the brand. And lose them as a result.
If you only have one takeout from this whole story, it’s that you shouldn’t make assumptions. Save yourself the guesswork. ASK your customers how they feel about the direction of the change or the specifics before embarking on wholesale implementation. Listen to the variety of perceptions qualitatively, and determine if they hold weight quantitatively.
From the rebranding exercises I have personally worked on, the key to success lay in three things:
- Firstly, in addition to understanding what necessitated the change, gaining insight into what does work and is valuable too, to avoid throwing the baby out with the bathwater so to speak.
- Secondly, understand how comfortable the market is with change, and scale the degree in relation to their comfort levels. I’m not suggesting you should only change at their insistence. In the words of Henry Ford, if he’d asked people what they wanted they would’ve asked for a faster horse - they couldn’t imagine a motorised vehicle. What I mean is that it helps to ask for input, both qualitatively and quantitatively, from the very people who are invested in your brand beyond the bounds of the business itself.
- And finally, the third point, the manner in which the change is shared with the market. Communicate. Take your customers along with you on the rebranding journey.
I can think of many examples that have come unstuck on this final point. Consumers attributing false intrinsic qualities to a product because they are uncomfortable with its new exterior. Perceptions of value shifting, resulting in a once acceptable price point now being deemed poor value. Rebranding done right can be a saviour, but get it wrong and anticipate trouble.
Indeed, change is fraught with risk. But often, resisting necessary change comes with even greater perils.
If you found this informative, follow Jack Be Nimble and pick up new tricks from our regular posts. Or if you are a brand owner who needs more structured advice, for example to determine how to proceed with a low-risk rebrand, get in touch to schedule a consultation.
Image Credit: Markus Spiske on Unsplash
