What is rebranding?

he struggled with his game up to early 2010. Despite these setbacks; he never looked backwards or feels discouraged. He religiously played his game once a week.

We were ahead of him in such a way that he would always jokingly say that he would never fish close to “n’angas”. He implied that we had the ability to predict where fish was and at the same time our magic would discourage the fish from biting his bait. To him it was a waste of time fishing close by.

Though he could not prove that we were indeed n’angas he fostered this looser mentality for a long time until one day he boldly declared his new found self-belief.

“Guys I am now a new creation. All the things of the past are gone. All my fears of anything have melted like snow             . . . I can do all things that my mind sets itself to accomplish. I am on top of my game and not below . . . From now onwards I am a lion not an owl . . .’’

On and on he said these words which we were not used to hearing from such a pessimist. We were looking at each other in amazement.

Our colleague Alan thought Brighton is slowly losing his mind. He murmured this to us.
Our more courageous fishing partner, Newton, then asked what Brighton had had for breakfast.

Brighton replied: “It is not about breakfast, it is about me the new person. It is about my transfiguration. It’s about my mind’s reconfiguration.

“It’s about my rebirth. I am a totally new person. My life is already getting better with passing of each second. Oh I am better, better, and better. Behold my future is brighter so is my fishing prowess. I don’t fear you n’angas anymore . . .”

For the first time in many years he started fishing close to his former n’angas.
We mistook Brighton’s statements to be mere intimidatory words but from that minute onwards Brighton started challenging for top honours and winning some of the times.
He used to over respect our abilities but now he no longer underrates himself.

His striking techniques changed for the better, so was his line management, so was his patience, so were his hunting skills. Indeed, he was a new person. He had turned a new leaf.
His mind, his game plan, his personal life management and general life outlook had changed. Even his body shape and the colour of his skin responded to this transformation.

Everything got better for him. The only thing that could be identified with the old Brighton was only his name.

Brighton transformed from a “challenged fisherman” to a master angler. A company or product which undergoes transformation would have rebranded.

What is rebranding?

It is the creation of a new look, feel, name, term, symbol, design or a combination thereof for an established brand with the intention of developing a new differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors and competitors (Wikipedia).

Both corporate identity and products can be rebranded.
Rebranding can be for new products, mature products, or for products still underdevelopment. Examples of companies that have rebranded recently are Capital Bank, Lifestyle Holdings, CBZ Bank,

ZABG Bank, Afre, African Sun, NetOne, Telecel and Africom.
The local washing powder, Surf, was rebranded to Omo. Toyota changed its logo in the past few years.

Reasons for rebranding

Rebranding can be imposed on the company or can be a deliberate action to reposition the company corporate identity or its product. This implies that rebranding can be intentional or unintentional.
Unintentional rebranding is a reaction to unplanned emergence situations such as corporate restructuring, union busting, judicial management or bankruptcy.

These changes are aimed at repositioning the brand sometimes in an effort to distance itself from negative connotations of previous branding or move the brand upmarket.
Rebranding is also done to communicate a new message for the company on something that has evolved.

Effective rebranding
Brighton is now excelling in his sport because of the total transformation he went through. He changed his thought process, his self-belief, his attitude and his fishing techniques.

Likewise changing just the logo or symbol or company colours or orphan  initialism sometimes is just a waste of money if that is not accompanied by corresponding changes in the value chain of the whole business.

The same can be said about most companies that rebranded in Zimbabwe over the past 10 years.
Their rebranding exercise just resulted in the changes to their logos and stationery letterheads without a corresponding complete overhaul of the business operating systems and its value chain.
The rebranding exercise which approximates the total overhaul of company’s practices and image is the rebranding of some of the local TM outlets into Pick n’ Pay.

The shopping experience we had at the previous TM Supermarkets has changed with the new rebranding exercise so is the ambiance in the shop.

The shop outlay has greatly improved so is the customer service level and the dressing of the shop employees. Pick n’ Pay is a place to be for a hassle-free shopping experience in Harare.
Effective rebranding is achieved when the company overhauls the whole value chain in an effort to serve their customers better.

The writer is a managing consultant at CLC Training International. E-mail [email protected]