Article
Four common retail rebranding mistakes to avoid
Most major retailers undertake a rebranding initiative once every seven to 10 years, ranging from creating and installing new signage to a comprehensive overhaul of the physical premises.
January 7, 2015
By Steve Pollard, managing director, JLL
On average, most major retailers undertake a rebranding initiative once every seven to 10 years, ranging from creating and installing new signage to a comprehensive overhaul of the physical premises.
A rebranding initiative gives retailers the opportunity to modernize their brand by updating an outdated or tired image, look and color palate. At the same time, a rebranding initiative allows retailers to connect with their target audience and ultimately encourage consumer loyalty and sales.
While altering a brand’s image and story is designed to deliver significant rewards, that substantial investment also comes with a certain amount of risk, if not orchestrated properly. To enhance investment returns, retailers should avoid four common mistakes that are commonly made when undergoing a rebrand:
1. Lack an overarching comprehensive plan:Brand implementation can be very complicated, with lots of moving parts. The initiative is all about building one overarching strategic plan, setting clear objectives, developing a realistic schedule and getting the right people involved at the right time — all heading in the same direction. From start to finish, the process ranges from determining the brand rollout strategy to launching a brand identity audit to measuring the overall program. Without one comprehensive plan in place, a rebranding effort can easily derail.
2. Not having one overall brand champion:On its own, a rebranding initiative can be extremely complex. Having too many cooks in the kitchen without one clear project manager will only to add to that complexity. With one set of experts working on the design aspects of the brand and another managing the construction and implementation, it’s critical that a single brand champion owns the overall initiative. This typically will ensure there’s open and ongoing communication and the project is implemented consistently across every market. Most brand champions belong to the company’s Marketing, Real Estate or Facilities groups.
3. Lack of a centralized process: An effective rebranding effort needs to be managed centrally to ensure consistencies and efficiencies across the board. When decentralized, there are too many variables that can’t be controlled. For instance, if different vendors are being used in different geographic areas to produce new signage without a centralized process in place, the signage in one location may appear different from the signage in another. Such a deviation will only dilute the brand.
4. Not having full support and buy-in from executive level:Securing buy-in from key executives is critical to a successful rebranding initiative. Without it, it’s not only more difficult to get cooperation from the various business units, it’s also harder to rally and engage employees around the new brand. A strong rebranding initiative has to be embraced by everyone in the company — from the CEO to the interns — in order for it to succeed.
A company rebranding typically represents a significant investment of time and capital; an investment that is intended to at least maintain and ideally strengthen the positioning and public perception of a company. Mistakes made at any point in the rebranding process, especially having an overarching plan, a brand champion, a centralized process and executive level buy-in, come with significant costs, in money already spent and in lost future sales.
(Photo by Erica Zabowski.)
