Rebranding… Let’s hope it’s more than cosmetic
Is it just me or is 2009 going to be the Year of the Rebrand? From political parties to Pepsi, from banks to bailout programs - every day companies, countries and entire industries are trying to transform themselves. Some rebranding efforts, like those coming from beverage giant PepsiCo seem purely cosmetic with not much changed besides the exterior package.
More interesting to watch will be those coming from the troubled financial industry where Wall Street and Main Street banks must rebuild trust in their brands while simultaneously grappling with how to integrate acquisitions or spin off once powerful brands. These financial industry rebrands will be challenging which makes them fun to watch. Here are a few rebrand moves that brand marketers will find interesting.
Bank of America deals with the Bull
Over the years, Bank America has abandoned dozens of acquired institutions brand names opting to bring them into the B of A fold. Now the bank is breaking with tradition as it combines operations with its latest $24 billion dollar purchase - Merrill Lynch. This time, both the Merrill Lynch name and iconic bull logo will survive.
Here’s how they plan to manage the two brands:Bank of America Merrill Lynch will be the name of the new corporate and investor bank. It will fly under the Bank of America flag identity. Merrill Lynch Wealth Management will be the combined firms’ financial advisory, brokerage business – this group will retain the iconic bull logo.I’ll be curious to see how this dual brand strategy plays out over time - provided B of A gets through its latest public relations disaster. AIG subsidiary runs away from homeAIG Financial Advisors, a subsidiary of bailout poster child AIG is changing its name in an effort to distance itself from its continually troubled parent. But rebranding itself as SagePoint Financial – seems a bit hard to swallow. I have a hard time associating wisdom and knowledge to anything ever connected with AIG. Perhaps this rebrand should be put on pause – allowing the company to rethink how it should move forward – keeping in mind that a brand is not what you say it is – it’s what customers say it is. They’ve got a difficult and maybe impossible task ahead – but this rebrand went too far.Watch for more posts coming on the financial industry’s rebranding efforts - I’ve got to think this is only the beginning.
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Thanks for contributing to our blog, Martha.
Here’s another observation:
I’ve been watching the Citi brand and it’s variations on their slogan. Over the last few years Citi has enticed us to “Live Richly”…and perhaps that has worked all too well…since now our debt is enormous….and we’re much poorer.
So, Citi embarked on a re-evaluation of its message and after spending approx. $30M on a new campaign slogan (Let’s get it done) it found that it did not “resonate with customers”…so it changed the tagline to “Citi never sleeps”….which is a variation of the tagline “The Citi Never Sleeps” that was first introduced 30 years ago.
Now…I am a believer that in difficult times it’s best to keep things simple. But I am still a bit confused by all of this…and I will be curious to see how this sleepless approach will play out.
That said, I imagine the branding team at Citi (and other financial institutions) are not getting much sleep these days.
Ciao.
Alfredo Muccino
Chief Creative Officer
Liquid Agency
Will 2009 be the Year of the Rebrand? In the financial industry? Yes. Colossal shifts.
One thing is for sure, it’s not going to be the Year of the Bull (no matter what the Chinese calendar says).
Alfredo, maybe financial institutions facing a decision about their slogan should consider dropping any slogan altogether for a little while. Maybe consumers are savvy enough to be sick of “shallow promises” taking the form of taglines. On the subject, here is the Biggest List of Financial Taglines Ever:
http://thefinancialbrand.com/2008/09/03/financial-slogans/