A Brand is certainly an Idea

There are several simple truths to begin with…

A brand is certainly an idea. One brand is one idea or value. If a consumer cannot feel the key value of the brand, as he might do with, for example, Volvo, which is associated with safety, or Mercedes which is associated with status, then, alas, such a brand is far from being real.

Thus, we can draw the conclusion that the process of rebranding is nothing more than changing the existing idea and choosing new values. Rebranding implies focusing attention on a different target group of customers, i.e. repositioning. However, this is not always the case. Like repositioning does not always mean changing values, rebranding does not always mean choosing a new group of consumers: the level of consumer culture grows – values alter, and these values can sometimes coincide amongst different consumer groups.

If a consumer does not change, and his values remain unaltered, then it can still happen that his tastes and aesthetics can change. And a brand, in order to be up-to-date, has to change its image. This process has a modern name – redesign. There is also restyling, which is the modification of image.

There are many examples of similar marketing procedures. McDonalds has recently carried out repositioning and is now aimed at its new victims – teenagers. Tekhnosila can serve as another example of redesign. It is hard now to recollect Tekhnosila’s image prior to its current yellow sign. With regards to restyling many big companies, for example Coca Cola and Nivea, regularly alter their image. Sometimes their restyling is so subtle and ingenious that the consumers do not even notice any changes…

You might expect me here to give as an example of rebranding the aggressive and unbridled Beeline campaign, which was called “the most prominent advertising event in 2005” throughout the mass media. But instead of imitating the top-managers of Beeline, and repeating words about “ this bright and successful rebranding”, I want us, my dear reader, to ask ourselves a question: ”What kind of new values inhabit the trade mark of Beeline?”, “And what was it before?”- “You feel comfortable with us?” If comfort was the brand value, what was wrong with it? Or did they reject this slogan because it was more suitable for toilet seats producers?

In order to find the answers to these questions we do not have to carry out a large-scale market research when we already know its results. It would be enough to find a client of Beeline who became one just because he shares the ideology.

Actually, in all fairness, we must admit that many teenagers like the unexpected, childish and yellow-striped sincerity. I assume that a lot of them have become Beeline subscribers as a result of their unaccountable desire to stand out (according to Freud), in the same way they use wild hairstyles, tattoos, or piercing. Consequently, we did not have anything like rebranding here. It was just an aggressive change of image, which reminded me of the red terror of the Soviet times.

It may seem that the Beeline example could convince everybody in the wisdom of the idea, but it did not happen to MTS. This company appears not to be able to tell a real gem from a forgery.

Consequently, rebranding is a processof reproducing ideas. Marketing scientists should create, develop and adjust ideas, as it is ideas that rule the world.