The Importance Of Branding And Rebranding In Strategic Marketing

Research

Branding

“Marketing is about identifying and meeting human and social needs” (Kotler, Keller, 2016, p.26). In order to compete in this fast-changing environment, companies need to think strategically. Their marketing needs to be dynamic; therefore, strategic marketing is about continuously identifying and meeting human and social needs differently from competitors in an effective and efficient way. One of the elements of strategic marketing is branding.

As stated in Dania-Raluca Todor’s article “The Importance of Branding and Rebranding for Strategic Marketing”, branding has become an important component in Strategic Marketing (Todor 2014). Branding is “the process of endowing products and services with the power of a brand...

The end result of some branding are unsuccessful due to various reasons: “the brand has a confusing image or the image is nonexistent,..., the company alters...the direction that was planned; the company is entering a new business and current position is no longer adequate, the renewal of organizational culture requires at least a review of the brand personality, the company wants to widen the action area of the brand, but the current position does not allow addressing new target segments (can intervene diluting brand image)” (Todor, 2014). For these reasons, rebranding can be necessary. However, difficulties in successfully rebranding (elaborated below) makes it uncommon in the corporate world.

The primary difficulty in rebranding is the confusion that emerges as a result of the new brand. For instance, when a company changes its values, they might be in contrast with its preceding values, resulting in consumers experiencing cognitive dissonance. This confusion can also be experienced by company employees because most employees search for person-organization fit (companies that have the same values as they do). When companies change values, it might not align with their personal values, leading them to not be as motivated in accomplishing their

To successfully rebrand (especially in the case that a company enters a new market/segment), a company has to invest resources to ensure that employees fully understand the reasoning for rebranding and are in full support of it. This is important because if employees are in opposition to a corporation decision, they become either rebellious or frustrated . In addition, market research must be conducted in order for a company to confirm its standing in the market and to have an environmental analysis of the new market they are about to embark in: this enables the company to better estimate the level of acceptance from the market and to have a clear view of its new competitors. Internal analysis is necessary for a company to check if its resources and capabilities match the new brand. “It seems clear that firms undergoing rebranding need to seriously consider which elements of its existing identities they will aim to retain in the new corporate brand and which will be alienated.” (Todor, 2014) As Todor stated, “corporate rebranding is not only an expensive exercise but also risks the danger of potentially nullifying years of marketing effort in building the equity of the corporate brand”. Through brand equity , consumers and competitors have a set perception of the corporation: this perception is traditionally enforced by logos, names, etc. When a corporation opts to rebrand, sometimes they are faced with backlash