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Introduction
It is a widely known fact that the need for continuous brand innovation and reinvention
stems from the threats of rapid pace of change and intense competitive pressure in both
domestic and overseas markets. Given the vibrancy in the consumer preferences and
choices as well as uncertain business fortunes, the brand rejuvenation has almost become
a survival imperative to avoid the tragedy of brand erosion. In the words of Aaker (1991)
ever increasing costs and inherent risks involved in the promotion and launch of new
brands and limited life cycle of brands have pushed the need for rapid brand rejuvenation.
As a result, India Inc. has witnessed a series of brand renewals, refreshments, brand
makeover, renaming, repositioning and rejuvenation efforts hoping to preserve and
enhance their brand equity and reach out to the new customers in both domestic and
overseas markets. But in their mad rush for rejuvenation, it is surprising to note that the
companies have been resorting to such urgent makeovers without honoring the emotional
attachment and brand equity heritage with the existing and old customers. Empirical
studies conducted across the world show that the brand rejuvenation efforts have not been
an easy task and corporate history is studded with spectacular failures of rebranding of
corporate. Hence, the purpose of the paper is to probe and focus on the reasons and factors
behind the spectacular failures of the global rebranding efforts and weed out the lessons
and implications for the Indian companies which sometimes resort to rejuvenation without
rationale. The paper also intends to ascertain the issues and challenges before the Indian
companies and also aims to offer suggestions for successful rebranding without sacrificing the
much coveted and hard-earned brand heritage and equity.
Associate Professor, IFIM Business School 560100, Bangalore, India. E-mail: shivakanth.a@ifimbschool.com
The
Rush
for
Corporate
Rebranding in India: Rejuvenation with a Rationale or Irrational Exuberance?
2011
IUP
. All
Rights Reserved.
53
repositioning has received a very little attention in the contemporary marketing literature
and most of the time has been equated as the variation of brand positioning. For example,
researchers like Biel (1993) have termed it as an act of building or rebuilding an image
for an old brand. Ries and Trout (1987) opined that the brand rejuvenation relates to the
management of customers perceptions and emotions related with the brand. Keller (1993)
believes that brand rejuvenation is all about positioning more focus on brand associations
by controlling the consumer perceptions and highlighting the differentiations of the
brand from its rivals. Aaker and Shansby (1982) believe that brand rejuvenation has a
strategic angle and it is like selecting those brand associations which are to be build upon
and emphasized and those brand associations which are to be removed and de-emphasized.
Kapferer (1997) emphasizes that brand rejuvenation will be commonly stemmed or
triggered by the underperformance of the brands. In the opinion of Day (1999) the
corporate will be tempted to go for brand rejuvenation because of two fundamental forces
affecting the companies. One is internal forces having inward focus and external forces
changing because of dynamic markets, technology and competition altering the companys
position in both domestic and international markets. Downs and Haynes (1984) opine
that the companies find the need for brand rejuvenation when they find a huge gap
between the companys and consumers perceptions of a brand. Srivastava et al. (1998)
argue that the companies go for brand rejuvenation whenever there is a big gap between
brand image and brand identity or whenever the brand positioning is not catering to the
needs of evolution of market forces or whenever its brand equity is threatened in the
domestic or international markets. Kohli and Jaworski (1990) have made a clear
distinction between the brand rejuvenation and crisis management. They make the
distinction by revealing that brand rejuvenation is not a turnaround strategy rather it aims
to create superior value for customers, markets and profits for the producers. Kotler (1999)
suggests that the companies resort to brand rejuvenation not only for achieving the
strategic purposes but also to maintain or regain a competitive advantage in the domestic
and overseas markets and sometimes it may also be triggered by correcting the initial
positional errors committed by the companies.
Muzellec et al. (2003) and Muzellaec and Lambkin (2006) point out that companies
normally adopt the narrow approach to brand rejuvenation by just resorting to renaming,
reshaping the brand logo or color whereas, neglecting the structural factors which are
more crucial. They also admit that sometimes the need for brand rejuvenation comes from
the structural reforms induced by the series of mergers and acquisitions in both domestic
and international markets. Stuart and Muzellec (2004) argue that brand rejuvenation will
not be successful unless there is a clarity on the assessment of potential benefits, clarity
about the processes, participation of the stakeholders and sustained support for the
proposed changes. Ewing et al. (1995) in their study conducted on the rebranding efforts
of Mazda of South Africa, have found out that the immediate triggers for the brand
rejuvenation of Mazda emerged from the responsibility of being sensitive to the existing
customer base, developing a strong advertising and internal branding for the dealers
network. Schultz and Hatch (2003) in their study on LEGO group on corporate
54
rebranding have concluded that to make brand rejuvenation successful one needs to
maintain the cultural heritage and yet still achieve contemporary relevance in both
domestic and international markets.
Daly and Moloney (2004) in their study of Vodafones takeover of Eircell of Ireland and
subsequent rebranding of Eircell to Vodafone found that in a crucial phase of transition,
it is relatively safe to advertise both brands, i.e., Eircell and Vodafone in their promotional
activities, till the brand values, ethos and legacy of Eircell successfully passed on to the
new acquirer, i.e., Vodafone. But the Vodafone never forgot to include the Irish values in
the subsequent brand rejuvenation efforts. Finally, Merrilees (2005) in his study on
rebranding of Canadian Tire, has highlighted the role of qualitative and quantitative
market research and company intuition to guide a new brand vision and found that
successful brand rejuvenation demands effective stakeholder management with staff,
dealers, suppliers and management and advertising and other changes to the existing
marketing mix plays a crucial role in the successful brand rejuvenation. Keller (1993)
believes that the success of the brand rejuvenation can be measured with the degree of
alignment between the new brand identity and consumers brand knowledge defined as a
combination of brand awareness and brand image. Downs and Haynes (1984) mention
that the success of the brand rejuvenation can only be measured by consumers display of
awareness of the change and positive attitude towards the brand rejuvenation. Therefore,
all the above studies single out one fundamental fact that the rebranding or brand
rejuvenation is not only to be manifested in visible identities but also in the basic brand
principles, ethos, experiences and promises made to the customers in the long run.
55
Repositioning
the Brand
(Dalda)
Changing
Brand Elements
(Canara Bank)
Entering New
Markets
(Airtel)
Making Old
Brands New
(Godrej Group)
Managing
Brand
Perceptions
(Onida)
Expanding
Brand
Awareness
(Videocon)
Brand
Rejuvenation
Improving
Brand Image
(Mahindra &
Mahindra)
Old Logo
New Logo
Bajaj Automobiles
Dabur
Airtel
Godrej
Shoppers Stop
Ceat
Videocon
Muruguppa Group
Reliance (ADAG)
Mahindra
Bank of Baroda
Canara Bank
Mantri Developers
UTV
56
http://brandfailures.blogspot.com/2007/04/rebranding-failures-british-airways.html
The Rush for Corporate Rebranding in India: Rejuvenation with a Rationale or Irrational Exuberance?
57
overambitious Indian corporates. In the later part of 1980s and the early part of 1990s
MicroPro was the market leader in word processing software product, WordStar. It was
heralded as one of the greatest milestones in the software development efforts ever made.
The unprecedented success of the WordStar has brought a big success to MicroPro in terms
of both profits and popularity. The remarkable success of WordStar software made MicroPro
overambitious and later rebranded itself as WordStar International. But the newly branded
company was poorly positioned to compete with the integrated software companies like
Microsoft. Finally, the rebranding initiative proved to be a counterproductive to the
company and introduction of Microsoft Word led to its rapid decline. Hence, the lesson for
the Indian companies is that deviation from the age-old formulas may look and sound
fashionable but more often may prove to be counterproductive.
58
http://tmsbiz.com/marketing/dalda-revival-of-brand
The IUP Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. VIII, No. 3, 2011
the fact that changing a logo itself demands a tremendous investment in time, money and
emotions. If companies or corporates go for a change in logo without solid reasons and
strategic vision, it may prove to be the suicidal initiative for the companies resulting in
monumental waste of money, time and brand equity. The spectacular failure of Tommy
Hilfiger may offer certain lessons for the Indian corporates like Rasna Limited, Onida and
Videocon which suddenly went for a change in their logos without any solid reason and
strategic vision. Tommy Hilfiger which is one of the worlds best loved designer clothing
brands went for an ambitious rebranding effort in 2000 which was not so successful and
consequently its share price fell from a high of US$40 in early 2000 to US$11.62 at the
end of the year. The post-mortem of the rebranding exercise of Tommy Hilfiger revealed
that the toning down of its logo proved to be a disaster as the unique designing and
features of its earlier logo has made Tommy Hilfiger one of the most famous and sought
after brands in the world. When the logo disappeared or was toned down in attempting
to compete with successful high fashion brands such as Gucci and Prada, it made a
strategic mistake and brand ran into trouble. Stung by the failure of instant logo makeover,
Tommy Hilfiger is now focused on holistic brand management, than the peripheral image
makeover. Hence, it is high time that Indian corporates should mind that logos have got
their own brand equity and heritage which cannot be divested like machineries and raw
materials. The recent debates about the change of logo of Airtel, Videocon, Dabur, Bajaj
and Murugappa group in India manifests the danger of losing a string of loyal customers
and losing the X factor enjoyed by the logos of the brands. Though the peripheral changes
to the brands are relatively easy, the expected outcomes of the brand rejuvenation will be
delivered to the corporates when they successfully fulfill the promises they have made to
different stakeholders of the brand. Finally, a successful rebranding involves overhauling
a companys goals, message and culture, but not just changing a name or logo.
59
Indian corporates is that it does not make sense to blindly go for rebranding exercise
as the rebranding exercise needs to be continued by sustained advertising campaign
involving all the crucial stakeholders of the organization.
60
http://www.businessinsider.com/rebranding-failures-2010-3#london-may-have-won-the-bid-but-its-weird-olympiclogo-has-everyone-up-in-arms-3
http://www.flintriver.co.uk/blog
The IUP Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. VIII, No. 3, 2011
Conclusion
Finally, it cannot be denied that corporates in general and Indian corporates in particular
feel that rebranding or brand rejuvenation is relatively easier way to retain the old
customers and attract the new customers than launching new brands in a turbulent
market. In this context, this paper intended to bridge the gap in the available literature
on the challenges of rebranding by citing various examples of rebranding failures across
the world. It is clear from the above analysis that brand rejuvenation or rebranding
extends beyond the visible changes in the logo, letterhead, brand mascot, tagline, changes
in the color and shape of brand logo, etc. The drive of brand rejuvenation has to be
soundly backed by research on target market, clarity in content and text of the message,
involvement of all the crucial stakeholders and commitment of top management to the
real changes in brand ethos, values and principles. The challenges before the Indian
corporates are to adhere and deliver the promised new quality and services, effectively
communicate and coordinate the structural changes to the crucial stakeholders of the
brand rejuvenation, differentiating products and services from competitors by leveraging
the advantages of rebranding, sustained and robust advertising campaign to champion the
cause of new identity and values, sustained backing of the top management and finally
sticking to the organizations core values and principles as a guiding light in both internal
and external affairs of the organization. Finally, it is high time that the Indian corporates
should introspect themselves whether the benefits of rebranding are really worth when
compared to the inherent costs of rebranding and the quote of Harish Bijoor that I do
believe when a logo change is undertaken, it is important not to forsake the larger interest
of today for the larger interest of tomorrow summarizes the tendency of some of the
Indian corporates who are rushing for rejuvenation without a rationale.
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