Revitalizing your brand

Key Action Points

Take a process-based approach, and revisit each stage in the branding process:

1. Getting the buy-in of your organization and of others who help build and deliver your brand
2. Assessing the market opportunity
3. Articulating your brand as a compelling customer experience
4. Delivering your brand consistently through customer relationship marketing (CRM)
5. Tracking performance and the value of your brand
6. Identifying opportunities for obtaining additional revenue by exploiting the equity of your intellectual property to the full

Ask:

• What are the STEEP (social, technological, economic, environmental and political) trends?
• What are the strengths/weaknesses of your current approach in the light of these trends?
• What are other options and their strengths/weaknesses?

Use:

• Scenario planning techniques
• Brainstorming techniques
• Research and analysis

In More Detail

How do you rejuvenate a tired brand? The surest answer is to re-visit each step of the branding process - internal buy-in, segmentation, brand definition, brand identity, CRM, and licensing - using a mixture of analysis and creativity.
For instance, it may be that your brand has exactly the right profile, but it is not being delivered properly. Margaret Thatcher used to argue in the 1980s that the government was not failing in its policies but in its PR - this is therefore a question of internal buy-in and CRM.
Or it may be that your message is out-of-date - the problem Levi's are facing at the moment (who wears their parents' clothes?). In Levi's case, their answer was to develop complementary brands, like Dockers. Whether or not to update your brand is the old story of whether it is better to have a stopped clock that is absolutely accurate twice a day or a slow clock that is always 5 minutes late. If Levi's wait, the Levi brand will come back (as Habitat did). If they try to update the Levi brand, they may destroy all equity in it - therefore, it is better to build complementary brands.
It could be that your brand is targeted on the wrong market segment. For instance, the Intel brand was tired when it was focused on computer manufacturers, but awoke when it was refocused on computer users.
You can also rejuvenate the brand by association/the company you keep. You could therefore consider co-branding with a livelier brand (or person), or licensing it in surprising/challenging areas. However, this is the most risky route - think of Marks & Spencer and sexy underwear. No? Nor did anyone else. Rebranding by association always runs the risk of being perceived as gimmicky as you are only really addressing the surface issues.
Revisiting the branding process
For a process-based approach, revisit each stage in the branding process:

• Getting the buy-in of your organization and of others who help build and deliver your brand
• Assessing the market opportunity
• Articulating your brand as a compelling customer experience
• Delivering your brand consistently through customer relationship marketing (CRM)
• Tracking performance and the value of your brand
• Identifying opportunities for obtaining additional revenue by exploiting the equity of your intellectual property to the full