Rebranding
Rebranding is the process by which a
product or
service developed with one
brand or company or
product line affiliation is marketed or distributed with a different identity. This involves radical changes to the brand's logo, brand name, image,
marketing strategy, and
advertising themes. It usually results in the
repositioning of the brand / company. It may just involve merely superficial changes. Rebranding can be applied to either new products, mature products, or even unfinished products. The process can be done purposely (for example as a result of a deliberate change in strategy), or result from unplanned, emergent, or reactive dynamics (for example out of necessity following corporate restructuring).
Often, rebranding is necessary when one company acquires another, along with its products. For example,
Norton CleanSweep, now a part of the Norton SystemWorks product was originally
Quarterdeck CleanSweep prior to
Symantec's acquisition of Quarterdeck in November
1998. Much of
Microsoft's product line consists of rebranded products, including
MS-DOS,
FoxPro and
Visio.
When a product offering is marketed separately to several
target markets this is called
market segmentation. When part of a market segmentation strategy involves offering significantly different products in each market, this is called
product differentiation. This market segmentation/product differentiation process can be thought of as a form of rebranding. What distinguishes it from other forms of rebranding is that the process does not entail the elimination of the original brand image.
Dexxa computer mice are rebranded
Logitech devices sold at a lower price by Logitech in the low-end market segment without undercutting their mid-range products. Rebranding in this manner allows one set of engineering and
QA to be used to create multiple products with minimal modifications and additional expense.
New Coke and
British Airways ethnic liveries are both attempts at rebranding that had to be aborted due to a poor reception from the public. BA's world art tailfins were well received abroad, but failed to please the carrier's key customers, British and North American travellers.
Rebranding has become something of a fad in the last decade, with some companies rebranding several times. Other rebrandings, such as the British Post Office's attempt to rebrand itself as Consignia, have proved such a failure that millions more had to be spent going back to square one.
Rebranding has proven to be a boon for small media consultancy businesses who find that the heads of major corporations are more likely to part with a huge amount of money in return for a contrived word, than admit they can't manage their business competently.
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List of rebranded products*
Product naming
