Recognizing the right time for a rebrand — PART II
In our previous blog post, we explored the reasons related to structural drivers for why that moment is the right time to rebrand. For this week, we will be looking at how strategic drivers attribute to a rebrand. Understanding these drivers and the key goals within them can help you determine whether or not this is the right time to pursue a rebrand.
Strategic drivers.
While positioning is a key element of any rebrand, there are certain situations that require an organization to utilize the rebranding process to launch a new position as a way to signal a significant shift. The strategic drivers of a rebrand include:
Change Direction
Broaden the Scope, Scale or Visibility
Narrow the Scope
Change Internal Culture
Change the Expressed Personality
Change the Perceived Composition
Change Direction
As the world evolves, it’s inevitable that some products become more popular while others lose forward momentum. Leaders are forced to make big changes, which could include redefining the industry they exist in. American Express is one example of a business that chose to reinvent itself to stay relevant in an ever-changing world. Created as a package delivery service (think Pony Express), the company first evolved by focusing on serving banks, shuttling currency and stock certificates. However, the company changed direction in 1958 by shifting away from currency exchange and focusing solely on the charge card business. Today, the company remains one of the strongest global financial services and travel entities. It’s possible to use rebranding to signal a massive change in direction as long as leadership and internal teams are fully committed to the new vision for the organization.
Broaden the Scope, Scale or Visibility
Of the six strategic drivers, this could be the easiest to see. Companies like Amazon, Google, and Facebook have broadened their scope as a way to capture greater market share. Amazon began as an online bookseller; today the company sells nearly everything and offers services beyond its e-commerce platform.
This strategic driver for rebranding varies greatly depending on the operational direction of the company, past challenges that possibly tarnished the brand and several other factors. A rebranding expert works closely with leaders to peel back the layers of the existing brand to determine what might be worth preserving and how big a signal needs to be made to make the greatest positive impact.
Narrow the Scope
In some instances, companies consider narrowing their scope and focusing on either what they’re best at or what element of the business is most closely aligned with their purpose. Having laser focus and every member of the team focusing on a single industry, product or service can create an opportunity for a company to become the market leader in that particular area. When done well, it’s even possible for the brand name to become the title of the category. More obvious examples of this include Kleenex and Q-Tip. If you need to blow your nose, there’s a good chance you’ll ask someone to hand you a Kleenex over a tissue.
This strategy can be tied to financial challenges, operational inefficiencies and a number of other triggers.
Change Internal Culture
A majority of the rebranding work Daake guides does not start with internal culture as a key driver. However, more often than not the need to focus the rebrand on re-aligning internal teams becomes a significant portion of our work. The reason for this varies. In some instances, an older company has struggled to evolve its internal processes or even philosophies to keep employees aligned. While there has been a change in leadership, it can be difficult to make a similar change in culture. Overall, the goals in changing internal culture include:
Enhancing pride and confidence among employees
Refreshing and redirecting competitive energy
Transferring affiliation from a particular unit to the parent company
By engaging team members at each level of the rebranding process, significant shifts in culture can effectively change the course of a business.
Change Expressed Personality
The need to rebrand as a way to signal renewal or to refresh a company’s public image is also fairly common. This could be due to an established, 100 year-old brand needing to shed some historical baggage or to demonstrate a commitment to innovation or modernization. It could also be triggered by an event that negatively impacted perception of the brand.
Regardless of whether your company is facing a public relations nightmare or the brand has been feeling lack-luster for a period of time, changing your personality to more closely align with your company’s values and your customer’s lifestyles could go a long way toward boosting the effectiveness of your branding.
Change Perceived Composition
The last strategic driver for rebranding is to change perceived composition. This essentially means to use rebranding as a way to redefine how you organize and communicate about different areas of your business. We often work with organizations who need to determine if they’re a “branded house” which means there’s an umbrella brand that is the hero in how different entities are named.
However, in the case of large or multi-industry brands it may make more sense to retain the equity of each sub-brand. During the rebranding process, we help companies identify existing brand equity and the power it can (or won’t) bring to the new strategy.
Depending on the goals of the rebrand and the level of existing brand equity of the other units, it may make the most sense to lead with the sub-brand and use the parent company as an endorsement. This strategy is designed to play into the credibility of the parent company while making the more boutique brand the hero.
At pivotal moments, rebranding is the most effective way for leaders to signal significant change. Are you at a pivotal moment? Drop us a line, and we'll be in touch.