Why It’s Important to Re-Imagine Your Brand

Not all chickens are alike. If you don’t think there’s a lesson there, well, you’re not listening. You have your chicken on the bone. Your chicken sandwiches. Tenders. Nuggets. Boneless. You can have it as a meal or a snack. The choices, it seems, are endless.

It was a situation that became the source of scores of internal studies for Yum Brands’ KFC team. Whether anybody wanted to admit it or not, consumer preferences about their chicken were changing. If you think this is another song about millennial tastes and behaviors, you’re half right. The other half is a tune about how important it is for a brand to recharge itself. Being able to evolve—be it a menu, a logo, a brand personality, whatever—is critical to staying relevant. For the KFC brand, just having the chicken wasn’t enough.

So, to get aligned with ever-changing millennial tastes (and everyone else), the quick-service giant went on an epic rebranding campaign in 2015. The first step was reviving the face of KFC, Colonel Harland David Sanders, the real-life honorary Kentucky Colonel (the title that was bestowed upon him in 1935 by the governor). The savvy entrepreneur built his chicken empire into a national force by the 1960’s before cashing out in 1964 and into semi-retirement. And while his image drove the brand, introducing a new one into the mix would take some doing.

How about 13 of them? That’s how many Colonel Sanders rolled out since 2015, including personalities like Rob Lowe, George Hamilton, Ray Liotta, Rob Riggle, Reba McEntire, Billy Zane, Norm Macdonald, Jim Gaffigan and Darrell Hammond. It also unveiled a unique strategy that turned every occasion into a chicken selling holiday, with ads boasting events like “National Kale Day” and “Mother’s Day” — the best-selling day of the year for the company.

“The only constant we can count on is change,” says Michael Solomon, Ph.D., professor of Marketing at Saint Joseph’s University, whose textbook on consumer behavior, “Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, and Being” is the most widely used in the world and has been translated into more than 10 languages. “A brand strategy that works well now may not work tomorrow. Consumers’ needs change, and of course, so does our ability to meet those needs.”

If there is anybody who knows how brands think, it’s Solomon, who has spent decades working with companies like BMW, Campbell’s, Intel, Progressive, Levi Strauss, Under Armour, Calvin Klein and DuPont, among others. In his latest book, “Marketers, Tear Down These Walls! Liberating the Postmodern Consumer,” Solomon examines how today’s postmodern revolution requires marketers to revisit the walls they’ve erected over many years—an effort he says is not an easy thing to do.

“You start by doing a little soul-searching,” Solomon says. “Who are you, and who do you want to be? How do you define what you sell? You don’t sell attributes, you sell benefits. Re-imagining who you are should involve everyone, from your most senior to your most junior employee and, of course, your customers.” When you get to the point of recharging your brand, remember that people don’t buy brands because of what they do, they buy them because of what they mean.

“The sad truth is that in many cases consumers believe that almost every brand in a category is comparable in terms of function,” Solomon says. Yet market leaders typically attract exponentially higher market share than also-rans. The reason is they provide a narrative that enables buyers to know if the brand fits into their own life stories.

“There’s no longer a wall between the consumer’s body and his important possessions,” he adds. “We rely upon the deep meanings in the brands we choose to help us define who we are to ourselves and others.”

This article appears in the new September/October 2018 issue of Connect magazine published by NextPage, which can be found online here. If you would like a free print subscription to Connect, please click here.

Admin

Recent Posts

Folding Cartons and Sustainability for Brands

Have you ever considered how your brand's packaging choices impact the environment? With growing awareness…

3 days ago

Direct Mail Tips to Really Stand Out

Have you ever wondered why some direct mail pieces catch your eye while others end…

1 week ago

Guide to Print Finishing Options for Banks

High-quality print, material and finishing plays a critical role in bank marketing today. The right…

2 weeks ago

Maximizing Alumni Giving: What Colleges and Universities Need to Know

Discover how direct mail and variable data printing enhance fundraising success for colleges and universities.…

3 weeks ago

Must Have Sustainable & Eco-Friendly Promo Products

Today, consumers and businesses alike are becoming more mindful of their ecological footprint. For companies…

1 month ago