Is There a Time to Reinvent a Brand?


The most successful brands in the world are those whose messages have stayed in touch with the needs and desires of their target markets. I think there has been too much emphasis on reinventing brands. There have been times when brands tried to invent themselves as a solution to sagging sales when the solution was really to be found elsewhere.

New Coke is a good example. Here was a case of Coca-Cola (no pun intended) trying to compete with Pepsi by emulating it. The result was a fiasco. Instead of attracting Pepsi drinkers to a new Coke brand that tasted more like Pepsi, Coke lost part of its own customer base.

Nike established the foremost advertising campaign in our industry, “Just do it,” then abruptly changed the campaign to something else when the existing campaign was just hitting its stride.

I think individual egos get involved: “This is a great success story, but if I do something new and different I’ll make an even better success and it will have my name on it.” Too often we try to reinvent something instead of reinventing ways to expound on a brand and develop a fresher way to keep it going as it has been.

The Energizer Bunny is a great example of how to maintain a solid campaign. That campaign has been in force for 15 years. Instead of reinventing the brand, they reinvented the creative for the campaign and have remained the leader in that category.




The Art of Advertising. CEOs from BBDO, Mullin Advertising & More on Generating Creative Campaigns & Building Successful Brands
The Art of Advertising: CEOs from Mullen Advertising, Marc USA, Euro RSCG & More on Generating Creative Campaigns & Building Successful Brands (Inside the Minds Series)
ISBN: 1587622319
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2002
Pages: 68

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