Why to Rebrand? Successful Indian Rebranding Case studies

Last Updated on January 18, 2023 by DesignerPeople

There are a lot of traditional as well as modern businesses who at one phase of the brand feel unsatisfied when they release what their brand emotes and what they stand for are different. That is when the process of rebrand comes into the picture; rebranding is a good sign; in fact, most successful brands like Apple have done it time to time, even start-up companies to those on fortune 500.

Rebranding your company is a strategic decision to upgrade company’s image and occupy the space in the minds of people as per changing lifestyle and requirements.

There are a lot of educated people, and even marketers misunderstand product rebranding. Rebranding is not the same as a new logo, name change, or redesign. But a brand is more than its visual elements or the sum of its features.

For example- People do not value BMW automobiles for their features, colour or design features. These elements change every year as per the trend and their research not even for their logo. However, they value what the name and logo represent to them – elegance, exclusivity, freedom or performance.

What is Rebranding?

It is a thoughtful process of changing the brand image of the entire organization. It is a strategic technique of giving a new brand name, logo, values, vision, mission, change in design and overall look and feel for an established brand.

The rebranding is to build a unique identity for a brand, from its competitors, in the market and gain competitive advantage.

Rebranding Types:

1.Proactive rebranding

Proactive rebranding is when an organization identifies that there is an opportunity to grow, innovate, tap into new businesses or target customers, and to reconnect with its users.

Connect Branding Agency to decide if you will refresh brand or rebrand it completely.

Refresh and rebranding

The brand refresh is a makeover for your company, and it is just like a plastic surgery which will change your brand colour and style of your hair, as well as the underlying features of your face.

Hence refresh updates your brand identity while rebranding will completely transform it into the new establishment.

Example – Titan Industries rebranded itself in the year 2013 and changed the brand logo and also the name to Titan Company. The new logo reflected the company’s commitment to “Create value, innovate, and sustain the highest global standards”.

2.Reactive rebranding

Here it is done in a situation when the existing brand has been discontinued or modified. Such actions could be because of legal issues, mergers & acquisitions, negative publicity such as fraud, planning to beat the competition or to create their niche.

Example- In the year 2009, the fraud case of Satyam Computer Service is pushing to the brink of bankruptcy. Hence this leads to the sold brand to Tech Mahindra. The whole process was through Tech Mahindra, and government authorities then rebranded the company as ‘Mahindra Satyam’ while it merged itself with Satyam Computer Services in the year 2013.

Is It time to Rebrand or Not to Rebrand

Rebranding is a risky affair so ensure is it required at this stage and why are you rebranding. There are always good ways to rebrand, and there are also terrible way and its results.

Such as In 2009, Tropicana changes packaging design of their orange juice tetra packs.

Customers felt like their brand equity and trust is hampered, and sales were reduced to 20%. The company had to get back to its original packaging design just after a few weeks.

Below are a few genuine reasons for rebranding.

Time To Rebrand When:

1.New locations

If you are expanding to international markets, who won’t identify with your current logo, messaging.

2.New philosophy

Make sure your brand mission, vision, and values should govern every decision you make — including brand decisions. By pivoting the Right direction of your business along with them, you will need to re-evaluate your brand.

3.Market repositioning

If your brand targets a completely new customer profile — whether through product, place, price, or promotion — your brand will need to follow suit.

4.Mergers and acquisitions

When two companies merge, two brands s also join. If your brand was acquired or merged with another company, you could not just let both brands battle it out. Finding a new brand that displays the new entity will prevent confusion and help in building trust.

Not to Rebrand When:

These are legitimate reasons for rebranding while below reasons should not be considered for rebranding. Boredom, Ego, to gain attention and cover-up crisis should not be the reasons to start rebranding.

Also Read: Branding and Marketing Strategies for Indian business after COVID-19

Successful Indian Rebranding Case Studies

1.SBI

State Bank of India, known as the nation’s largest and iconic Bank, decided to rebrand. The purpose was to cope up with developing digital products and services, a paradigm shift from its traditional methods to one more fitting towards current times. The task lay in improvising upon its identity alongside to reflect the needs of an increasingly digitised world.

It developed a new identity that built on the brand’s legacy and trust, yet imbibed a uniquely energetic and dynamic nature. The brand now retains its core values, representing its blue brand colour which reflects trust and promise while harvesting a new look and feel. It is entirely new in characteristic yet recognisable by its’ original individuality hence perceived as more open and approachable.

2.Britannia

One of the most profitable brands and India’s biscuit leader Britannia once had major brand issues due to massive categories such as unclear brand identity, local competition, diversity in portfolio, and distinct identity of each product.

Rebranding process included inclination towards innovation which helped to differentiate products from the competition. They ventured into Health and Nutrition brands and Lifestyle and Delight brands which justified their tagline which says “Eat Healthy, Think Healthy”. Improved communication about quality standards, consumer quality index covered the entire Britannia’s portfolio.

They also focussed on introducing new convenience packs and affordable prices. Their new brand centred on premium identity, luxury and high brand value.

3.Bajaj

Bajaj Scooters and Bikes connect very emotionally with its Indian identity for itself over the years. ‘Buland Bharat Ki Buland Tasveer’ is how it positioned itself, But Bajaj changed its image to be a global brand and not only an Indian brand.

Bajaj focused on building its image as a global market leader with various creative ad campaigns. The rebranding exercise included the removal of the brand name of Hamara Bajaj to Bajaj Auto. The company has decided to rebuild its distribution set-up and rename all its consumer touch-points and establish them as strong individual brands such as Pulsar or Discover and many more.

The emotional essence is still there; Bajaj is looking at a more significant global connect and changing the brand imagery.

4.Hutch – Vodaphone

Vodafone is the leading brand which is a mobile telecommunication company, done with the acquisition of Hutchison Essar in the year 2007 and the company was formally renamed Vodafone Essar in July 2007.

The migration from brand Hutch to Vodafone was one of the fastest transitions in the history of the Vodafone Group, with 400,000 multi-brand outlets, over 350 Vodafone stores, over 1,000 mini-stores, over 35 mobile stores and over 3,000 touch-points rebranded in two months, with 60% completed within 48 hours of the launch.

Vodafone’s new advertising campaign in India carried on with the same popular pug that has become a brand ambassador for Hutch. ‘Where ever you go, our network follows,’ was the previous slogan with the pug following the child wherever he goes.

5.Hero

It is a case of demerger where both the brand separated and formed their brands such as “Honda” and “Hero Moto-Corp”. People preferred Honda bikes it was a manufacturer of cars also compared to bicycle manufacturer Hero.

In the year 2011, the launch of the new Anthem by A.R. Rahman called ‘Hum Mein Hai HERO’ catapulted the already overflowing Indian emotions and received huge applause.

6.Axis Bank

UTI Bank is known as Axis Bank today as it happened in the year 2007 and the intention behind it was to make the brand more contemporary in terms of its visual appeal. The brand that could transcend geographical boundaries hence planned to rebrand.

They also changed their logo and came up with an integrated marketing programme to make sure that the customers remember the name, Axis.

7.Mc Donald’s

In initial long years, Mc Donald’s had increasingly known as unhealthy and junk chain. It was said that the brand was responsible for increasing obesity and unhealthy culture everywhere. McDonald’s then opted a route of rebranding and hence established a health-conscious brand image.

They now publish their nutritional facts and calories count. It has poured tons of investment and effort into changing its image. Chain hanged it’s all marketing campaigns and promoted salads, healthier options and fresh food along with more cleaner and hygienic environment.

8.Apple

Here is the clear example of rebranding due to the new CEO; he was Steve Jobs. Apple planned to venture with simple way while trying to change its positioning in 1998. They went for a clean, fresh, grey-coloured logo, moving away from the rainbow-coloured logo.

These changes were made by CEO Steve Jobs as soon as he became Apple’s CEO. He ensured productive changed in the corporate identity with its “Think Different Campaign” in the year 1997. The brand created products and apps consistent with its personality, which resulted in higher recognition among consumers.

9.Aditya Birla

A brand new journey of the Aditya Birla Group was marked by revamping the company branding. VGC lead and anchored this transformation across print and digital media. Keeping the original concept of the logo, they made the modifications and gave a new life to the logo, which then aligned with all collaterals.

Fresh bolder, vibrant collaterals are designed to complement the new step for the brand. The idea behind the brand rebranding came into existence with the tagline ‘A new mark for new milestones’.

The concept with this form was to make it simpler, experiment with shapes without moving too far away from the old logo form. Once the logo form was decided upon, the brand language also extended to collaterals, digital and print platforms. The logo was utilised, and the brand architecture refreshed across all the various industries.

CONCLUSION:

Rebranding activities must have the objective of changing the mental associations and emotional associations consumers have with a company along with many individual experiences. No logo change, name change or redesign will be able to accomplish that.

Do you think your organization needs to devise a rebranding strategy? If you are still not sure, why not ask your customers and clients? Ask them if they believe your brand and logo are still relevant and reflect your values and offerings. Do they still feel attracted to it?

You can also visit your competitors’ sites to see if they’ve rebranded recently. Take all these factors into consideration, talk to all types of clients, and you will surely find out if it is indeed time to rebrand. DesignerPeople have done many successful rebranding projects. We understand the importance and risk associated with it, so we ensure our every step is taken with strategic decisions. Connect us today; we are always there to help you to understand your strengths and hidden opportunities in your brand.

Author: Anush Malik

Being a strategist’s head and a long term visionary personality aims to achieve excellence in branding, packaging and digital marketing field. My 15 years of design experience and masters degree ais my strength which keeps me motivated and keep me going positively. I have participated in extensive branding design conquests in India, USA, Australia and New Zealand with winning zeal. My objective is to encourage start-ups and hence involves actively in the articles which will act as a productive intake of knowledge for them. Do connect me personally via my LinkedIn and I love to share my expertise with you.