The rebrand

In interesting rebrand took place in Utah this week, it was completely subtle and honestly doesn't make a huge difference to many people. When I saw this I started to think about the rebrands around the world and what differences they make. Just to give you an idea, Utah holds a Shakespeare festival every year. The festival renamed the venue from the "Utah Shakespearean Festival" to the "Utah Shakespeare Festival." The difference was just to drop the "an" on the end and leave it as just a name.

I had to double check to see if there was a name change at all and sure enough there was but when I considered it and looked at the changes it brought, they were almost nill. The festival changed the logo a bit and made it look a little more modern but at the end of the day, it was the same thing.

This goes a long way in talking about rebranding. This even says more about the product when considering how important it is to hit the nail on the head so to speak when doing an initial launch with a brand. Rebranding can take years to accomplish. One example of this is with Puma shoes. Initially launched as a low budget, "affordable" brand, it took years to change the perception of the shoes when even the image had completely changed. I personally remember Puma as a cheap brand which is why it is so impressive to see the changes that they have made since the early 2000's to move the brand into an upper-mid brand.

The thing that Puma has done is changed it to a global fashion brand with an athletic twist. This must have been a huge undertaking for the fellas there but my hats off. Puma has carved a nice little niche with sporty fashionable footwear along with some European style athletic clothing. I assume that Puma will stay in this niche and not try to go head to head with up and coming giant Under Armour. (more about Under Armour in another post).

The rebrand can be long and hard and it should be noted how important it is to launch correctly the first time. That being said, if you are looking to rebrand, you have to do it right and have patience, it's not going to happen overnight. See Puma for that example.