Rebranding is one of the tools of marketing strategy. It consists in changing the company or organization, regardless of the direction of their activities. Usually rebranding is expressed in the change of name or logo design, ideology of a company. It can be a change in the visual design of the brand, its corporate identity.
Note that rebranding is a labor-intensive process that includes two components. These are restyling and positioning. Besides the fact that rebranding is a time-consuming activity, it is also very costly in its financial component. In certain situations, it is much more convenient and, most importantly, financially more profitable for companies to create a new brand instead of the old one.
When is it necessary to rebrand?
If companies make a willful decision to rebrand, it is usually done in the following situations:
- financial rehabilitation of a company (including a banking organization);
- weakening the strength of the brand’s impact on consumers;
- the loss of the company’s brand of unique data;
- Strengthening an existing brand – rebranding a company at the peak of its development;
- incorrect initial reflection by the brand of the company’s or organization’s activities;
- emphasizing the uniqueness and identity of the brand;
- attracting new consumers and increasing the loyalty of existing customers to the brand;
- creation of new business directions, as a consequence – change of target audience.
Bank rebranding: the main point
Rebranding of such organizations as banks is most often performed when a foreign bank acquires a domestic financial (banking, credit) institution or in the course of their merger with each other. As an example, let us mention the following situation:
After Nordea acquired shares in Ogresbank, the latter was renamed Nordea Bank. The organization’s logo was borrowed from the parent Nordea. As well as the corporate style.
In the last quarter of 2005, Alfa-Bank was rebranded. As a result of this activity, the Alfa-Bank Express and Alfa-Bank brands were merged. Today there is a new logo of the credit institution in the form of a large letter “A” bright red shade. The horizontal line under this letter and the inscription “Alfa-Bank” are clearly visible.
Sometimes the reason for rebranding is the negative information background that has arisen around a particular credit institution. Naturally, the bank does not need this. For illustration let us consider the following situation:
Financial company Otkritie in the process of rebranding transferred under its personal brand Russian Development Bank, which was undergoing rehabilitation. The reason for this procedure was the threat of bankruptcy of the bank.
Rebranding to change the image of the bank
Rebranding can be carried out for the purpose of image change and redesign. It is a natural desire of banks to become closer to the consumer and to arouse interest of users to their credit and other banking products. In terms of working with their customers, many banks are trying to change for the better. The most striking example of such an action is the rebranding of Sberbank of Russia in 2009. Sberbank of Russia. It was some time ago that it gradually began to change for the better. It cannot be said that these innovations broke into the everyday life of the consumer.
The change ofSberbank’s image was carried out in stages as part of the implementation of the strategy named in the article until this year. Sberbank declared the change of its old brand as a transition to a new quality of service for its customers. Its logo was slightly changed: it became a little clearer and slightly changed its shape. At the same time, the bank announced that it was changing the format of customer service and updating its branches. According to experts’ calculations, Sberbank’s costs for this process amount to at least 22 billion rubles.
Stages of bank rebranding
1. Marketing Audit. Its main purpose is to analyze the brand awareness, as well as to find out the consumer’s attitude towards it. In addition, to study the data related to the answers to the questions:
- – What challenges exist for brand perception;
- – Evaluating brand image for different target audiences;
- – An understanding and awareness of the pros and cons of the brand;
- – Evaluating the competitive advantages of a brand;
- – how retail branding affects the consumer.
2. Brand repositioning. It consists in changing its main characteristics and fixing them in the minds of mass consumers.
3. Restyling of visual components of the brand. It consists in changing the design of the brand in accordance with its new characteristics.
4. Communication (internal and external). Its main task is to convey new brand characteristics to consumers and competitors.
Summary
Rebranding is the change of a brand in order to change the attitude of consumers towards it. The purpose of such a change is to keep the brand on the consumer market for a long time. This process is based on a complex concept of positioning and promotion of the company and the products it produces. When promoting, each organization or company proceeds from the target markets (planned), the structure of their dynamics, the peculiarities of demand, as well as the motivations of individual customer groups.
Rebranding should be distinguished from re-styling. In the first case, there is a fundamental change in brand values. In the second case, there is a change in corporate identity or brand label, while the values of the brand itself remain unchanged. Re-styling and rebranding have only one thing in common. It is a difficult job, both in the first and in the second case, and such work should be entrusted only to professionals!
Rebranding includes a set of works – reworking and improving previously created visual elements of the brand. Re-branding activities should be based on a thorough analysis of the brand being changed. But its competitors cannot be left out of consideration. Only with an in-depth analysis of the competitive environment it is possible to understand what the re-styling should be.
KOLORO company offers you to use ready-made solutions and apply to us for rebranding of a financial institution (bank)! We carry out a complete study of competitors and the existing situation of the company, and based on the results we offer you the best solutions for positioning, redesign, restyling.
To inquire about bank rebranding pricing, call 057-760-26-05, 099-618-87-50 or email info@koloro.com.цасwith the appropriate notation.
