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The merits of change
 
The Brand Reporter met three analysts for their opinions on: changing a successful brand, the issues that a brand migration needs to address, the implications and the Hutch-to-Vodafone transition. Here�s what they said.
 
Meeta Malhotra
(Director, Brand Identity, Ray + Keshavan)

� In today�s globalised world, it makes no sense to have different brands in different geographies unless there are compelling cultural reasons.

Vodafone�s decision to re-brand Hutch makes perfect sense. It allows the company to put all

its muscle behind one brand globally and maximize the return on investment from brand building efforts.

� The first and most obvious one, of course, is to retain customers and migrate equity from the old brand to the new one.

Moreover, it is critical to create awareness and ensure that no customers are lost because of confusion. Next, the new brand needs to build salience for itself as rapidly as possible so that it retains customers and redirects their loyalty.

� Brand migration would differ depending on the category. The wider the consumer base, the more effort the migration initiative demands.

Again, when you have hard-to-reach audiences, say in rural or remote areas, you need to ensure you have taken cognizance of the best ways to make them aware of the change. Traditional mass media may not work. Migration of a product to another brand also requires information at point of purchase level.

� The use of the pug to maintain continuity with Hutch is an excellent strategy.

When you are making a switch-on, switch-off kind of transition as Vodafone has, a big splash is the only way to go.

   

Samit Sinha
(Founder, Alchemist Brand Consulting)

� Once in a while, a company may decide to adopt a new name (UTI Bank to Axis Bank, for instance) when it feels that the old brand name has more undesirable associations than desirable ones.

� If the intention is to distance itself from the erstwhile name and most of its associations, nothing brand-related should be considered sacred.

The real strength and value of a brand is its ability to occupy a unique space in the minds of its stakeholders. For this, all the key relevant associations need to transfer to the new name.

� In a service business, ensuring continuance in the quality of service and the consumers� interactions with the brand is vital. In a product business, both functional and psychological benefits delivered by the product will need to be maintained to quell anxieties.

� The Hutch-to-Vodafone exercise has been a great example of how to manage a transition as opposed to, say, Indian Airlines� abortive transition to Indian before merging with Air India.

What has been impressive about the Hutch-Vodaphone transition has been the speed and scale. Not just the media blitz for the change but the replacement of the old with the new at almost all consumer touch-points.

The lesson that one learns from here is that once change is inevitable, it should be executed quickly, decisively and fully.
   

Francis Xavier
(MD, Francis Kanoi Marketing & Planning)

� Wise or otherwise, in this case, the brand Hutch was changed to Vodafone for compelling reasons. Vodafone bought a majority stake in Hutch and they had to re-brand it to be in line with its global standards. Hutch belongs to somebody else.

� Any brand migration has to be dealt with in the same way as a brand launch. Creating a brand identity, reaching the target segment, creativity, persistence is crucial.

� Brand migration becomes complicated when it is a mass brand such as �Lifebuoy� or any other low involvement brand. The audience in this case is resistant towards change.

In the case of Hutch, the audience is receptive to communication and Hutch has a higher profile of customers who are more aware. Hence, it is relatively less complex.

The brand may have undergone a number of changes but who remembers the other changes? Less than 10 per cent people actually recollect the series of changes that this brand has undergone. In fact, that is the case with any brand. It is because these changes are spread across time and nobody really remembers them after a point.

� What Vodafone made was a �nice� campaign. Although, I believe many other creative and strategic ways could have been employed. But they made a good effort. The deal they struck with STAR was news-making, but I doubt how much of a difference one day would have made.

 

   
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