The Covid-19 pandemic has hit us in a way none of us ever imagined. It has led to innumerable losses for the economy and individuals as well. The companies that are still prevailing are either e-commerce or one which was well established on the ground. So if your business is yet in the process, consider yourself fortunate.
However, the growing vines of Covid have led to the transition in consumer’s mindset and for the success of companies, producers are opting for a strategic way out called rebranding. So if you are planning on giving your business a brand new look after being in the grips of covid-19, this is the right place for you.
Brand names and individualities are constantly evolving, and this isn’t limited to enterprises looking to improve their public image. Some of the renowned firms are Airbnb, Kia, etc.
The rebranding process is akin to treading on a thin coating of ice, where one minor slip can result in an impending collapse. The industry has seen it all, from logo revisions to brand name changes over the years.
Sales, according to Gary Vaynerchuk, are the foundation of any firm. As a company expands and enters new areas, its target audience expands as well. With constant changes in consumer behavior over time, rebranding becomes an act of selling a bundle of fresh concepts to consumers at the end of the day. As a company expands into new industries, the connotations connected with it alter.
Rebranding is a concept that is well known across the domain of business associates. Though laymen or folks planning on entering the realm might have encountered it for the first time. It is the essence of a successful crusade of any company.
Defining Rebranding: its importance for your business
It refers to the process of rewriting and remaking the impression of the company or its products.
The major aim marketers bear in mind whilst adopting the method of rebranding is to create a fresh image to attract the new consumer base amidst keeping up the good appearance before the existing customers. Putting it on theoretical grounds it is a marketing strategy that involves the alternation of the logo, symbol, name, or perhaps a blend of all of them.
When we rebrand our companies we tend to raise awareness about the company.
It is easy to understand that rebranding campaigns are driven by the look and feel and therefore marketers are required to change the outlook of their corporations or products. One of many common objectives of rebranding is to impact a customer’s perception about a product or service or the company overall.
This might seem easy to many of you. But it is not that simple and the hidden risks are frightening. A good process of rebranding can help you extend the product’s life in a market. If it happens to be wayward it might have a cataphoric impact on the reputation of the corporation that cannot be repaired.
Why should you consider rebranding?
A corporation may decide to rebrand for a variety of reasons.
- Internationalisation
For your brand to call its name out to the world, it is important to have a little consideration on the personalization of international likes and dislikes. To undergo this, you need to rebrand yourself.
- To uplift the tainted image
Maybe there was too much bad coverage. It’s possible that the rebranding is in response to shifting customer patterns.
If the company’s product offering has changed, a new image can be a good option. A rebrand might be prompted by changes in the target market, a purchase or merger, or even the current era.
- Create a new identity that helps you stand out in a crowd of rivals.
When you come across several other brands providing what you are providing along with additional features at more or less the same price, you tend to suffocate your business expansion and standing. To overcome this problem, it is always advisable to revisit your company and product, keep up with the changes and launch them again with much enthusiasm.
- Outdated Image
In case you have expanded your business with a new line of products but keep the same branding as it was earlier, you are doomed. As people will never know new products and services you are to offer. Your new target audience won’t be appealed to by the same outdated branding process. Hence this calls for rebranding.
- Corporate Identity development
Some of the brands have a messy corporate identity that is incomplete. This may start with choosing the primary color or font to use and ending it there. The key factors to check-in for are:
Logo
Fonts
Color palette
Photography
Different ways of giving your business a new start
Rebranding can be performed through two types:
- Reactive
- Proactive
Reactive
When a corporation reacts to anything, it is said to be reactive. It could be in response to a series of incidents that have tainted the company’s or a product’s image.
When the goal is to fully change or cease the company’s earlier image, the term “reactive” is used.
This could be the result of legal issues or bad press. A merger or acquisition could also be to blame.
Proactive
When you behave proactively rather than reactively, you are taking action ahead of time.
When firm management plans forward or recognizes a chance for expansion, proactive rebranding occurs.
Targeting a new market, refocusing, or reconnecting with clients are all possible causes. It could just be a desire to try something new.
Example of rebranding in the context of Indian manufacturers
Larsen & Toubro
The need for rebranding
The giant which was in a crisis of downfall stirred up and paved its path into the new version. The reason for the whole rebranding was explained by L&T CEO and MD Sanjay Jalona. He, when asked by the media, answered rather rhetorically, “How many companies even have an infotech department anymore?” He strives to clarify why a B2B company like L&T Infotech needed a brand and identity refreshment.
It might occur to you why a firm that was previously a backroom operation for global conglomerates donning the greasepaint?
The answer, well, can be found in today’s quickly changing corporate landscape. Organizations no longer use the term “infotech” to describe any of their functions. Jalona explains that exponential technology is one of the main things sweeping their sector nowadays. Customers expect and demand radically different services as the technology landscape changes, and unless these expectations are delivered, IT organizations may shortly discover themselves out of business.
The initial processes
For the purpose of re-establishing themselves, the first step taken in the direction called for Larsen & Toubro’s IT division rebranding, which involved ditching the clumsy “infotech” moniker in favor of the sleeker and easier-to-pronounce acronym L&T.
The next step down the lane was that it has also updated its logo and other visual identity indicators, as well as launched a digital campaign to inform customers, partners, and potential workers that the rebranding effort is more than just a cosmetic makeover.
Defining the brand identity
The graphic identity for the brand is required to express the ongoing development while still leveraging the L&T heritage. Building something new without demolishing the old was a difficult task for them. The branding took into account its history while also incorporating the vitality of today. LTI explained that they need to come up with something that isn’t breaking the lineage and that was indeed the challenging endeavor.
Convergence is central to the brand’s look and feels, which includes the logo, the digital ribbon that will signify its presence on the web and other offline promotions, and the wordmark. The rising merging of physical and digital everywhere formed their basic brand philosophy. The brand colors, the confluence of an amber sky and a blue sea, and the new wordmark all express convergence.
The L&T connection is preserved, but the superfluous IT was removed from the label. The wordmark was intended to provide rapid and easy recall.
The new genre of rules
In their venture of rebranding, LTI recruited Saffron, a global corporate identity and brand consultancy created by ad legend Wally Olins, sometime around July last year after redefining its operating framework and recruiting criteria. The cost of the year-long rebranding project was not disclosed by Peeyush Dubey, area vice president-marketing at LTI, but he estimates that it was close to a million dollars. He continues, “We didn’t want to announce anything until we had accomplished anything.” Only after the internal reorganization did Saffron and LTI come up with the tagline: Let’s solve.
Calling the world
The digital platform is indeed the modern world’s watering hole, and that was where marketing and advertising were concentrated. L&T set up the team and devised a targeted marketing strategy. Anyone who had stopped by the L&T Infotech website in the last year, for example, will see pop-up teasers about the facelift. The team also worked on programmatic advertising, which implied that a client will be targeted not only based on her social profile, but also at a specific time of day when she is most likely to spend time on the internet.
Conclusion
With changing times, a brand may need to reinvent itself.
Once in the lifetime of every business rebranding plays its part. This process proves to be quite beneficial if handled with utmost supervision and proper understanding of the environment.
So if, God forbid, you see your business going down, remember rebranding is your best way out.
The above example is a drop in a pond. There are numerous examples of post and pre corona times. 90% of the times rebranding campaigns help the firms to achieve what they long for.
Think back to Rome; it wasn’t built in a day, but was the outcome of many alterations. Keep up with the time and who knows people start remembering your business in the same way you remember ‘Har Ek Friend Zaroori Hota Hai’ from Airtel rebranding campaigns.
