Rebranding: How Important is Brand Identity to Success?

Rebranding: How Important is Brand Identity to Success?

By Alexandra Weissner, Intern N.Y.

Wikipedia offers the following definition of rebranding: “Rebranding is the process by which a product or service developed with one brand or company or product line affiliation is marketed or distributed with a different identity. This involves radical changes to the brand’s logo, brand name, image, marketing strategy, and advertising themes. It usually results in the repositioning of the brand/ company. It may just involve merely superficial changes.”

Karen DeYoung’s article, “The Pentagon Gets a Lesson from Madison Avenue,” describes brand identity as a key to success. DeYoung illustrates the associations we make with leading companies as a result of their branding efforts; “Volvo means safety, Colgate means clean. iPod means cool.”

Consumers tend to connect certain words with products that they have liked and disliked. They are also likely to continue buying products that have produced, for them, good results. DeYoung’s comparison of brand identity to the war in Iraq, shows how this concept applies to situations experiencing negative and positive conditions.

DeYoung uses Wal-Mart as another example. She writes, “Wal-Mart’s desired identity as a friendly shop where working-class customers can feel comfortable and find good value, for example, would be undercut if telephone operators and sales personnel had rude attitudes, or if the stores offered too much high-end merchandise. For the U.S. military and U.S. officials’, understanding the target customer culture is equally critical.”

This statement holds true; if you promise customers that your product or service does something that it does not, your creditability is damaged. Creditability is of critical importance when dealing with consumer industries and, similarly, countries in times of war. Mistakes cause customers to lose trust in products and services, and re-establishing brand faith can be a painstaking process.