Brand Development

A rebrand can reboot a company’s presence, distance it from baggage, or align its visual communications with an updated strategy. Sometimes, though, rebranding can backfire… or does it?

At the end of August, IKEA sloughed its font of choice for over five decades, Futura, in favor of Verdana – and the resulting panic among brand experts, designers, and typography lovers spread quickly across the Web. Verdana was designed for Microsoft to be used on screen and at small sizes. It does this well, but designers and type designers seem to simply hate Verdana. Frankly, I think this is mostly because it stands for typography in the hands of the masses, and it’s not as sleek as Futura (which is WOW’s font of choice).

Earlier this summer, the 16 year-old Sci Fi Channel rebranded to SyFy. Apparently, the reason for the change was the fact that “Sci Fi” was not something that the channel could own or copyright as it describes a genre that anyone else can use as a descriptor. So, with SyFy, the channel can establish a wordmark that can be rolled out to its subsidiaries and projects. However, Sci Fi fans were incensed at what was considered an affront to their loyalty.

Tropicana had its own debacle earlier this year, as well. After nearly a quarter century, the company updated the “straw in the orange” with a minimalist design. The reboot of this iconic brand, however, was likened to the disastrous relaunch that was New Coke. Tropicana executives responded to the uproar – and possibly the impact on sales – quickly, and the branding has already returned to the loved straw in the orange design.

Holiday Inn has been rolling out a rebrand quite slowly – announced in 2007, the update will continue through 2010. The rebranding will start with the logo, which has ditched the well-known script and rising star graphic in return for cleaner, simplified Webby look. The goal is to reposition Holiday Inn more directly against Hilton and other properties geared toward business travelers. It’s not just limited to the logo: new signage, exterior hotel lighting and landscaping, lobby areas which include a “unique brand scent and sound experience” and clutter-free front-desk, and updates to room amenities. Response has been lukewarm, and franchise owners have noted that the timing is unfortunate (as the travel industry continues to struggle).

So here we’ve got four examples of rebrands with less than stellar reception. But they’ve all got something in common: people talked about them, either via petitions from loyal fans, or scathing reviews by branding experts. The takeaway here is that while a rebrand may not successfully accomplish the reboot that brand managers seek, there is likelihood that the move can raise awareness, regardless of positive or negative reception.

This is only brushing the surface, with recent, high profile examples. I’d love to hear your rebrand backfire stories.

Even the best marketing campaign won’t get results if people aren’t getting it. Often, clients fall into one of two camps: those who want to leverage every new medium and those who want to stick with the tried and true avenues of reaching their audiences. Of course, there’s a happy medium:  the secret is learning where your audience is most likely to look for information and reaching out with a message that rises above the static.

What works for one product or organization may not work for another. Certainly, many variables can affect the results of a campaign — from ad copy to design, to the economy to the weather. In fact, you develop an integrated campaign and then research, execute, and fine-tune to improve at each step.

• Evaluate Lead Sources – Where do your leads come from? Are they coming from the Web, from trade shows, from phone calls in response to direct mail?
• Set a Budget – The ultimate goal is to generate the greatest response for the lowest cost-per-contact, but there are always costs involved. Determine your revenue objectives and identify what resources it will take to hit the target. Be sure to account for all production costs, as well.
• Identify the Audience – Is your customer 65+ or 18-25? There’s a significant difference in how each consumes media, and which media to which each responds. The younger group is likely Internet-savvy, while the older group may be more receptive to direct mail or telemarketing.
• Ask – Your existing clients are likely to share with you, especially if you provide an incentive such as a thank you gift or discount. Ask them to participate in a survey – whether online or informally during a chat – and take the opportunity to learn about how they consume media and what appeals to them.
• Select the Mediums - The most widely used (but also the most expensive) offline marketing mediums are print advertising, radio spots, and television commercials. All of these mediums base their pricing structure on their levels of distribution, audience scope, and ratings. The Web has quickly achieved very broad reach, and will soon pass broadcast and cable television as the medium with the broadest consistent reach; this includes email marketing, banner advertising, and pay-per-click ads. And there’s always direct mail, event marketing, location-based promotions, and telemarketing, all still the tip of the iceberg.
• Refine the Strategy - Take the “Sniper vs. Shotgun” approach to branding, which certainly applies to effective marketing campaigns. The shotgun goes wide and has hit or miss results; the sniper is precision. Planning, research, and strategy will bring a higher return on your investment.
• Build the Argument – To be successful, it’s essential to create a campaign that’s differentiated from your competitors and addresses a market need. This is where market research can make the difference between swift action and a lukewarm response. Identify your audience’s pain and the language that will move them to respond.
• Develop the Appeal – Take time to do it right: great copy with a compelling call to action, great design, a good mailing list and/or thoughtful media buys, and a clear and easy way for the audience to respond. Test out different versions of each campaign element in each of your chosen mediums.
• Monitor Response – Is one version of an ad, a landing page, or direct mail piece getting better response than another? Keep the one that’s performing and go for round two. Are you not getting the volume of response you expected? Test out some tweaks to the message and the medium. Are you getting phone calls, but very few clicks? Maybe your audience prefers human contact to online interaction.

Marketing in a downturn can help position an advertiser ahead of its competitors who choose not to spend the dollars when things are tight. However, if your company is actually on the verge of failure and under intense scrutiny, it might be best to just step out of the advertising game for a while.

Case in point: In the wake of its bankruptcy filing on Monday, General Motors has introduced a new ad campaign. Positioning its bankruptcy as a rebirth/reinvention, a new 60-second commercial addresses some of the auto manufacturer’s past failings, references its current strategy, and proclaims its entrance into “Chapter 1.”

The spot opens with “Let’s be completely honest: no company wants to go through this.” It’s true. But GM is unlikely to garner much sympathy from consumers and stakeholders who will see ad buys as abuse of the taxpayers’ bailout money. However, according to USA Today, the ad is running on time purchased long before the bankruptcy, and GM has cut back on new ad buys.

The thing is, GM is taking advantage of low-cost social media – and doing it well. The company used social media as a crisis communications tool with which it could interact, explain and go deeper with audiences. It’s blogging. It developed a microsite for the “reinvention” of the company. GM is on Facebook. It’s even Twittering.

Really, it looks like GM is doing a lot right. But producing a flashy new TV ad isn’t probably what GM needed. While it’s admirable that the company wants to address concerns about its future head-on, it may backfire as consumers perceive GM as ponying up millions for production and placement of the campaign.

I don’t often blog about WOW’s accolades, but I do want to toot our horn a little about two recent award wins. The WOW Factory received the Gold award in the Ads/Direct Mail Piece category of the 2009 Hermes Creative Awards and a Best in Category in the 2009 Print Excellence Competition managed by the Printing & Imaging Association of Georgia (PIAG).

The winning Hermes entry was created on behalf of Premiere Global Services (PGI), a global provider of communication technologies. Our team was presented with the challenge of introducing a product to impossible-to-reach hospital executives. We developed a must-open package that was delivered overnight and spoke to busy C-suites with an edgy, direct message from the president of Premiere Global Services. As a result of this campaign, PGI saw deals close 30-60% faster – a real testimony to its success.

The Print Excellence Competition Best in Category was presented to WOW for a corporate overview brochure created for RADCO Development. The company was in a growth mode with the distressed commercial property division, including attendance at several tradeshows, and it needed to bring all its materials in line with a polished identity. WOW developed a compelling brand position, website and brochure with cases studies that reflected the company’s industry leadership, and showcased RADCO’s impressive property portfolio.

Our clients are working with WOW to produce great marketing and meetings, and these awards are just another acknowledgement and awesome third-party validations of what we know are awesome projects. Cheers to PGI, to RADCO, and to WOW!

Are taglines necessary or not? If they are necessary, why and when? There is a wealth of folk wisdom related to taglines, but there aren’t many hard data sources to back up this conventional wisdom.

Taglines are your brand in shorthand; the good ones have staying power, often years after they’ve been superseded. Taglines can help explain what a company does when the company name or logo doesn’t make it clear. The WOW Factory’s tagline, “meetings + marketing”, does just that.

There has been a trend toward ditching the tagline over the past few years. Brandweek discussed this several months ago:

“For generations, taglines have served as the foundation for advertising—a short statement poised to deliver the brand message in a memorable way. Today, there is some consensus that the tactic is on life support. … Taglines are often more utilitarian and less emotional, experts say. They tend to be fed through the focus group mill until they’re watered down beyond recognition.”

I’ve looked and there are no numbers to support either side of the tagline argument. Have you seen a white paper or other evidence to support the folk wisdom? Let’s begin to establish some evidence – qualitative and quantitative data about how and when taglines are best used.

I’d love to for you to share your insight through a comment or a tweet.

One thing Brand Atlanta had going for it was – no one was indifferent! Unfortunately for the campaign, the attention it garnered was polarized toward the critical, not positive. Marketers were especially vocal in their dismay about the campaign, and last week, the City of Atlanta pulled funding for Brand Atlanta, the project that developed a highly recognizable (albeit not anymore loved that the Olympic Izzy)  logo, a hip-hop inspired theme song, and the “Every Day Is Opening Day” and “City Lights, Southern Nights” taglines. Brand Atlanta was launched in late 2005, but Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin says that after an $8 Million investment of public funds and a total expenditure of $20 Million there’s no money to continue supporting the campaign in the recession. Franklin said, “I have come to learn that branding is a long-term process.  It requires years of consistent and persistent investment for the brand to take shape.”

She’s right, when we are talking about brand awareness, and according to Brand Atlanta the city has indeed climbed the ranks of tourist and meeting destinations (what they don’t discuss is how they isolated the impact of the brand campaign on that trend). But the campaign’s inconsistency led to its downfall. While this was indeed a marketing campaign, it was not an effective brand. The logo was often referred to as a “bullet hole” or “hurricane,” and the campaign was criticized as a misdirection of funds that could have been allocated to the city’s hard-hit services such as the police and fire forces. Dallas Austin’s theme song never caught on.

Following a 2006 study analyzing the impression a TV ad with the tagline, “Everyday is an opening day,” made on a few select markets, Brand Atlanta found that the slogan did almost nothing to improve how potential visitors view the city or their likelihood of coming to Atlanta. So, the “City Lights, Southern Nights” tagline was introduced – and stalled at the gate. Neither of these taglines are action statements; they’re forgettable and smack of vapid marketing-speak rather than capturing the varied, vibrant scene that Atlanta actually delivers.  What Brand Atlanta lacked was brand affinity. What it gained was not brand awareness, but rather brand notoriety.

Honda has a wonderful viral campaign that we love: Honda: The Power of Dreams. The microsite hosts a series of short documentary films addressing some unconventional topics, such as “Failure: The Secret To Success.” The Power of Dreams microsite notes:

“Honda has a rich history of making impossible dreams come to fruition. And because the lessons of the past help guide our future, there is a simple humanity found in even our most complex products. We wanted to document our advancement as a company through film to give you a better understanding of the people behind our products. Please join us as we uncover Honda through the candid approach of the documentary film process.”

It does exactly that, and with great finesse.

Additionally, there’s a beautifully animated video that tells a story of Honda’s founding that has been produced:

Honda has a great idea with these, and has done a fantastic job in softly promoting the brand and its history through striking visual work. We’d love to see this campaign become a larger part of Honda’s branding, and for other companies to take notice.

(Disclaimer: Honda Engines is a client of The WOW Factory, but we are not involved in this campaign.)