Tuesday, October 4, 2016

On the pitfalls of rebranding

Not sure how many times I have to say it, and I admit I had to pass through it myself - I am speaking of the dangers of rebranding. As a blogger I have been associated with a certain acronym in the minds of people, and no wonder as I have used it for 9 years (notice I did not even mention what the acronym was?), and since the beginning of last year I executed a swift digital re-positioning to emphasize the mother-brand which is Tarek Chemaly which is currently displayed on all my digital presence online.
It is no wonder then that many, many brands do rebranding only to keep an old logo with a new one - the photo above seen in Beirut is but one example. Zaatar w Zeit took around three years to rebrand, Roadster Diner might take forever considering its many branches (both owned and franchised), and the list goes on.
Sometimes it is the small details - napkins or uniforms of waiters which get left out of the rebranding, sometimes it is the huge logo on the delivery truck, or the take away menu which remain unchanged. Whatever it is, it is almost impossible for corporations to do a rebranding without a glitch Even digital brands with very little printed matter such as mine took forever to do a swift transition, and despite all the effort, some people still call me by the now defunkt acronym.