Why Research for Rebranding

Brands should be evolved over time to maintain their relevance, no matter how big or small your company is. Rebranding may become a necessity, when two companies merge to operate under one brand.  Recent examples of company mergers such as law firms Norton Rose with Deacons Lawyers, Primus Telecom with M2 Telecommunications, beg the question of how they will be “known” or branded in the future.  Aside from mergers, groups of companies may simply choose to rebrand to a new, central…

Dimensions of Strategy Implementation

Strategy is defined as the design and execution of plans in order to attain a particular goal. Strategy is considered successful if it shows adaptability given that forces interact and often conflict (Heuser, 2010, p 27). For a business it is the careful calculation of how you will achieve your business goals. Businesses often spend a lot of time deciding on what their business goals are. Businesses also thereby spend a lot of time and resources in deciding how to achieve their…

Internal Branding – the Key to reconnecting your Customers and Employees

Customers drive sales and profitability. So how do your employees interact with and engage customers? How would your customers describe their experience? Do your customers have an expectation on how your employee will represent your brand?   

So how does an organisation manage its customer experience to ensure its people, processes and culture are reinforcing customer expectations? A key foundation of customer experience management is internal branding.

Internal branding in…

Brand is Image and Image is Brand….

For those that believe brand and image are separate and in no way linked may need to rethink their position. In the media recently have been two prime examples of how brand and image are closely interrelated, albeit almost the same thing. Brand in its simplest context are those attributes that makes one product or company stand apart from another. Image is how products and companies present themselves, through logos, colours and artefacts.

The definition of brand needs to go one…

Is the Qantas brand still well-liked?

Well, does it matter? Do we have a real choice? After all, the latest IBISWorld report indicates that Qantas (along with its subsidiary Jetstar) is the clear leader with a 74% market share of domestic passenger travel. Virgin Blue’s shift away from the ‘No-Frills’ image and business model is still in transition: its point of differentiation does not command the price premium that Qantas does, while its price (and cost structure) is similar to that of Jetstar, a rising star to whom it…

Data or Analysis: What gives the greater edge? The debate continues…

In part two of this debate, the question of what truly gives a competitive edge is explored through looking at the types of data captured, and poses a further conundrum of what is the better type of data, quantitative or qualitative?

In the previous blog (posted 12^th August, 2011), the position was taken that it is the uniqueness of data that can provide quality insights that help establish a sustainable competitive advantage; but in saying this, the unique data needs to be matched…

Getting Paid NOT to use a Brand!

Creative agencies have long used “personification” as a technique to develop and describe a brand. Describing inanimate products as people allows consumers to understand and relate more closely with the product.

Taking this further many organisations appoint brand ambassadors or spokespeople that represent the attributes that they would like consumers to associate with their product or organisation. A good example of this was Gillette who associated themselves with the world’s best…

The Tale of Two Visions

A recent article in The Australian entitled, “Volvo’s fork in road as owners vie for future” (08/06/2011) posed an interesting dilemma currently being faced by the automaker. Having been acquired by Geely Holding Group, a Chinese car manufacturer, from Ford Motor last year, the new owners have been working tirelessly to transform Volvo and revitalise the brand. It is at this point that the “fork in the road” presents itself.

The question is whether Volvo is appropriately…

What does your Political party really stand for?

Political parties traditionally are the embodiment of a set of strongly held beliefs about the way a country and economy should be managed.  Sadly, most political leaders now spend more time thinking and worrying about their public image than they do about what they and their party really stands for.

In his recently published book “The Dumbing Down of Politics” Lindsay Tanner explains that political leaders are now obsessed with achieving media exposure. He goes on to explain…

How to Turn Your Customers into Promoters?

We are living in a time now where customers can voice their opinions that will be heard by masses of other people around the globe. This may be a concern for some organisations as they increasingly lose control of their brand message. However, there is a very strong opportunity for organisations to foster advocates that will promote your brand. The same platform that customers used to voice their opinions is the same channel organisations should target to create a positive buzz…