Brand Failures

204 Brand failures
But while there is no denying that market trends now move faster than ever,
companies that don’t think carefully before rebranding can risk undermining
their previous marketing efforts. ‘Be sure to use research to consult your
customers, as marketers are often so close to the brand that at times they can
see a problem where there isn’t one,’ says Richard Duncan, managing director
of South African marketing consultancy TBWA. ‘Whatever you do, be
careful not to undermine the fundamental values and strengths of your brand
and ensure that whatever you do is in sync with your business rationale and
aims.’
While this sounds painfully obvious, there are enough examples of
rebranding disasters to prove that it isn’t as easy as it sounds. After all, brands
create an emotional connection with the consumer. Ever since the legendary
adman Bruce Barton famously transformed General Motors into ‘something
personal, warm and human’ in the 1920s, branding has been about creating
an emotional bond. The company may believe it owns the brand, but it
doesn’t own the feelings that the brand manages to generate.
Okay, so people won’t fall apart if their favourite breakfast cereal changes
its name, but they won’t like it, unless they asked for it to be changed. So a
company is left with two options. Either it can make changes so subtle that
the consumer will hardly notice (for example, the Shell logo has had over 20
subtle design updates, none of which have radically changed the company’s
identity), or it must make sure that the changes it makes are in accordance
with the customer’s wishes.
If a company ignores both options and makes changes for the simple reason
that this makes sense for the company, then it may end up following in the
same ill-fated footsteps of the brands featured in this chapter.