Having thought about brand migration yesterday in the context of Santander(http://www.thevalueengineers.com/2009/05/27/banks-and-brand-migration-alex-comments-on-santander-for-the-bbc/), I thought it might be worth setting out some of the key issues brand owners might want to consider before setting out on a similar exercise.
- Why are you doing this? Simple question to start with but a good one to check before you start the journey. Inevitably there will be benefits of synergy, costs savings in rationalisation and so on, but you also have to ask yourself what is the benefit from a branding perspective? How will the new destination brand be a bigger and better brand vision than where you are now – rather than just replacing one name with another?
- What is in it for your end consumer? Consumers can be very cynical about brand name changes and will always ask “What is in it for me?” In order to take them with you on the journey you have to offer them the benefits of coming with you – whether that is better product, better service, or better value.
- What are the risks involved? Which customers are you likely to lose along the way and do the benefits of the new brand in attracting new customers outweigh that loss? How do you mitigate against the risks through effective marketing?
- How do you tell the right story about the brand migration? You can position a brand name change in the same way you do a brand – who am I targetting? what is the benefit? why should they believe it? Once you have that you need to tell the story powerfully and convicingly.
- Do you have enough resource to really get behind it? Changing a name is not just about new livery and letterheads but also about the resource commitment for communicating the change to your customers and building a vision for the new brand in people’s minds. This does not come cheap – just imagine the cost of the recent Norwich Union to Aviva campaign.
