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Leaders in Brand Transformation™

Archive for the ‘Brand Positioning’ Category

Why Rebrand?

November 6th, 2009 by Dan Bergeron - Filed Under: Brand Equity, Brand Experience, Brand Identity, Brand Positioning

There nothing we enjoy more than helping to guide an organization through the rebrand process. Usually (always) organization have already set the mandate for ‘why’ they are going through this process. Here are a few reasons why a company should consider a rebrand (and a couple of  reasons why you shouldn’t).

1. Relevance: Companies and brands need to stay relevant to their target audience, and let’s face it, audiences change. When your target evolves and starts to sniff out competitors, it may be because they feel their first preference (you) is no longer relevant. Rebrands in this case often are accompanied by new product offerings.

2. Mergers & Acquisitions: When 2 companies are combined, there are likely 2 unique audiences left to communicate to. Sometimes it is a matter of re-packaging the company / brand in a way that will appeal to both. In other cases however, one of the brands may remain dominant, and simply go through a refresh.

3. Innovation: Technology surely evolves faster than any brand, and if your company / brand is dependent upon technology and you are consistently innovating, then a rebrand should follow your natural path of innovation. It is an outward expression of your companies evolution and will keep audiences coming back to see ‘what’s new’.

4. Reposition: Taking a brand to a new position is difficult (value to premium for example), and requires a company to think about the new audience they are hoping to acquire. They likely have a different DNA than the old audience, and it’s often best to re-launch a brand to target this new demographic. Often, brands will not necessarily rebrand a current label, but rather create a new freestanding brand to float into the market.

5. Rejuvenation: The greatest brands in the world consistently update and refresh their look to stay contemporary and fresh. We find that 10 years is often the max threshold for consideration of a rebrand. In cases where a company has a 25 year old ‘look’, they will probably find themselves looking over their shoulder often at the up and coming brands who are demonstrating innovation and business evolution. If you have the mind set of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ (pardon my backwoods grammar), I would encourage you to consider a ‘brand refresh’. This maintains and celebrates the history and heritage of your brand, but shows your audience (current and future) that you are adaptive to change.

6. Outgrowth: Small companies can become big companies if they’re good at what they do, but small companies often start with meager logo’s & visuals. This is mainly for budget reasons (or perhaps their artistically oriented nephew was commissioned for the original design in exchange for a box of shiny new pencil crayons). There comes a point when a company will become more sophisticated then the look they are carrying, and that is usually the best time to rebrand.

Reasons NOT to rebrand

1. Too young: If you’ve unrolled a company or brand to the marketplace in the past 3 years, it’s probably not the best time to rebrand. It takes time to evolve a brand into something genuine and unique, and it’s wise to avoid the costly process of rebranding to try and ‘sell’ more. Often, a different approach to marketing or new campaign can help.

2. Change for the sake of change: It’s not a great idea to rebrand if the only reason you have is because you ‘want’ to. If there is no new innovation, attitude, behavior or product position, then consumers will be left with a flat experience. Imagine if a restaurant sells crummy food, and start to lose market share. They decide to rebrand to bring people back, yet still sell the same crummy food. This is a sure recipe for failure (no pun intended) as they’ll almost certainly lose that customer for life.

Stand up for soda!

November 6th, 2009 by Dan Bergeron - Filed Under: Brand Experience, Brand Positioning, Marketing

I came across this video, and was truly inspired by the underlying message. It’s a story about John Nese, a California entrepreneur who runs a “soda pop stop”, and specializes in carrying a huge selection of Soda’s brought in from all over the USA and around the world. He’s really keyed in on the magic of branding, and the art of differentiation, and most importantly, has realized that he doesn’t need to compromise to be successful (you won’t find Pepsi Cola on his shelves!). Rather than trying to be something to everyone, he’s found success as a niche business, all while supporting other niche businesses. Very cool.

The truth about logos

October 7th, 2009 by Dan Bergeron - Filed Under: Brand Identity, Brand Positioning

Logo’s are a funny thing. In our world (the creative world), we get commissioned to design them, often with the expectation that we are building a ‘brand’ for our customer. The fact is, we aren’t building a brand, we are merely building the signature that their brand will carry. We naturally assume that because of the mass exposure to world class brands (say Starbucks for example), that their logos were designed, and greatness instantly followed. Not True. Logos often (if not always) precede legendary brands, and it’s the behaviour, product quality, reputation and buzz that truly builds the logo into well recognized signatures for these great brands. That’s not to say that the right logo isn’t important, or even critical to future success.

Logo’s are a critical piece of the puzzle and here’s why. Before a brand has a chance to achieve greatness, it is judged thousands of times over. It sets the tone for how the brand is positioned. It gives visual queues to the consumer on what they should ‘expect’ from that brand. If the brand is set to hold a premium position in the market place, then the design should reflect a premium look. Consumers will expect to pay premium pricing, and you will eliminate pesky non consumers (cheapskates) from the mix. If the logo is designed to be the value leader, a simpler, slightly more generic look is often best. Take a look around and you can see the difference, KIA versus Mercedes, Banana Republic versus Wal-Mart. Coca Cola versus the ‘house’ brand.

Ultimately, a logo’s job is to set expectations, and be a unique signature for an organization. More importantly it represents the position the company expects to hold (we refer to it as relevance). If it doesn’t, you may have only 2 choices; re-brand or re-position. More on both topics in future posts!

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A Stimulating Recruitment Effort

October 5th, 2008 by Sam - Filed Under: Brand Positioning, Creative Campaigns

To stay ahead, Hudson LLP Chartered Accountants faces the constant challenge of recruiting the industry’s best in up and coming talent. This means placing a big emphasis on campus recruitment. Recognized as one of Calgary’s Best Places to Work, Hudson has an engaging culture and a lot to offer articling students, so when RFX was asked to develop a recruitment campaign, we had a nice head start.

After looking at the big picture, it seemed obvious that the very thing the average student relied on to get through classes was also the perfect symbol for Hudson’s energizing culture and value proposition. With an Energy Drink as a tested creative platform, RFX built a rich set of marketing collateral around the message of “stimulate your career” that conveyed the essence of their brand and resonated beautifully with their target audience. Having just launched the campaign in September ’08 the results are already in with increased attendance at information sessions and resumes to sift through. (We have an idea of what the client will be drinking in the coming months).

I’ll have a tall, non-fat-extra-hot-double-shot brand experience please.

June 1st, 2008 by Dan Bergeron - Filed Under: Brand Experience, Brand Positioning

Brands are born from experience. Common Brand Touchpoints including icons, graphics, websites and marketing materials should be a reflection of a “brand’s reality”, but they alone do not form the brand entirely. We believe a brand is reflected most acutely by the “felt sense”; the ethereal sub conscious feeling you get from interacting with a brand.

Starbucks, for example, has mastered the art of the “felt sense”. When asked, most Starbucks customers likely will share a similar experience with you: positive remarks about consistent product, consistent atmosphere, and a general positioning in their mind of Starbucks as a premium coffee destination.

So how does Starbucks do it, and how can you?

Starbucks starts everything with a documented promise, which could easily serve as an overall brand-promise: “To provide an uplifting experience that enriches people”s daily lives.” Interesting, primarily because it says nothing about their core (and truly overpriced) product: coffee! In fact, the entire culture of Starbucks is built around experience, first. They believe that if their partners (at Starbucks, employees are referred to as partners) are equipped with effective product knowledge first, then their minds are free to offer a sincere customer experience with every opportunity. This is the primary reason why Starbucks spends so little on advertising, and re-allocates the would-be advertising fund to human resource development, primarily in the areas of product knowledge and customer service training. 11,000 locations later, they have proven that they can build a world-class brand, without spending world-class dollars on product advertising. They believe that their best ad is the last customer that walked out of a Starbucks store, and they have proven it to be correct. The powers-that-be at Starbucks know full well that their people are often the first interaction customers will have with the brand and as such warrant the bulk of their promotional investment.

More than just focusing on their employees though, Starbucks also has aggressively pursued the positioning of their stores as being a “third destination” between work and home, and have thus oriented the in-store experience to match that of their take-out experience. Far from being limited to logos on coffee cups and store-fronts world-wide, the “felt sense” of the Starbucks brand extends to the overall physical space and experience of purchasing and enjoying Starbucks” product. Additionally, the true “advertising/marketing” budget Starbucks” allocates in its traditional markets is typically in the form of community partnership and engagement, like community program sponsorship, youth group support and as the hub of community interaction and engagement ” all experience-based; a better spend of money, and a far cry from the crass, in-your-face advertising other similar brands tend to favour.

Can the same principals be applied to other brands, even if they are not in the food service industry? Absolutely, and there are strategic experts *ahem* that can help with this process. We think of it as building a brand from the inside, out. It comes down to knowing when (and how) to invest your marketing, communication and HR dollars, and building the right strategy for your brand and business goals. If your company offers industrial tools, corporate accounting service, strategic consulting or even janitorial services, there is significant opportunity to apply similar philosophies, and build a genuine brand experience.

Start with a promise, make a wholesale commitment to executing it by training your employees, partners and associates, and define the guiding principals that determine (and differentiate) who you truly are. Do not enforce rules; rather, coach people on adopting the brand principles and remember that your people are often your greatest brand asset. Encourage an atmosphere of empowerment, and reward positive behavior. Most importantly, lead by example, and demonstrate sincere belief in what you are doing. Genuine brands start with stating beliefs, and sincere brands live by them.

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