Brand New?

In this follow up article to Branding Me I would like to expound a little further on the matter of brands and why they are so important.

Brand loyalty is phrase that carries a lot of clout. The reason for this is that people are visually-driven creatures. Consumer behavior, just like any other human trait, is habitual. The image surrounding a company's brand distinguishes them from the competitors' in a memorable and positive manner. A brand needs more than identity; it needs a personality. Just like a person without any unique characteristics, a brand with no personality can easily be passed right over. A strong symbol or company logo can also help to generate brand loyalty by making it quickly identifiable.

The recent rebranding of the Tropicana orange juice product packaging is a prime example of what not to do. In my opinion it was totally unnecessary and obviously I'm not the only one who feels this way.


As one Designer's Couch member said, "I always rather enjoyed the orange skin cap. However, this fiasco reminds us that when something isn't broken, don't try to fix it. Also it's a reminder of how good design really does matter to consumers, whether or not they realize it." Indeed. Just goes to show that certain people have no taste (pun intended).

Why does all this matter? Because it all goes back to brand loyalty. When companies or individuals decide to make a major change to an already well-established image they better make sure their reasoning is sound. When considering a rebrand people would do well to recall one of the key Product Management Axioms: Change is a process, not an event.

From the design of a new product to the extension of a mature brand, effective marketing strategies depend on a thorough understanding of the motivation, learning, memory, and decision processes that influence what consumers buy. Branding is by far one of the most important factors influencing an item's success or failure in the marketplace, and can have a dramatic impact on how the "company behind the brand" is perceived by the buying public. In other words, the brand is not just a representation of a company's product; it is a symbol of the company itself, and that is where the core of brand loyalty lies.

Gopal Shenoy, product management leader and proprietor of Product Management Tips, had some very keen insight into the Tropicana debacle. Given the Tropicana disaster, Shenoy said, the questions that occur to my mind are:

1) How much testing did they do with their new packaging to get reactions from consumers before they completely changed it?

2) Did they selectively test the new packaging in select markets?

3) Did they selectively test in select markets using a mixture of old and new packaging and see if the old packaging was selling more of it?

Hence, I think it is their methodology that needs to be questioned as opposed to the product manager not having asked the question of is it ok to change the design? This could have been the case of a company hiring a designer and then being too afraid to speak up when nobody understood what he had created.

Moral of the story – just because someone is great does not necessarily mean that they always make the right decision.

I believe Mr. Shenoy has hit the nail on the head here (or straw, in Tropicana's case).

Bob Jones of Old York had an insight of his own to share, "Pepsi (and Coke) have had a solid family of brands for more than several years and this was due in part to the fact that they held a solid image that reinforced identity in the public eye."

I agree, Bob. Pepsi paid $1 million for its new logo and that was not very well-received, either. It's amazing to think that they paid that much for such a simple uninspiring design. You have to wonder sometimes how some product designers become so renowned when they produce such crappy work. Heck, I could have done a better job myself, especially for a million bucks.

So how do you feel about brand loyalty? Does it influence your decisions with your own brand designs? Do you feel it is vital to the creation and marketing process? Let us hear about it in the comments section.