It is usually employed when an existing brand is viewed as lacking vitality, appearing tired or, in the most extreme cases, even a liability.
When used cynically, the exercise can be seen as a con trick. Fortunately, shoppers are not easily fooled and will recognise a new set of clothes as only serving to alter outward appearance. At heart, things are likely to remain pretty much the same.
It was interesting, therefore, to hear a representative from a large retail property developer saying last week that the scheme he was promoting had succeeded in “rebranding a London suburb”. As a piece of corporate hubris, even said in jest, this takes some beating and the notion that someone is likely to say that they come from Westfield London rather than White City still looks like a stretch.
At the same time, we were informed that the same company no longer creates shopping centres, it builds “lifestyle environments”. A quick examination of the facts will serve to show that, if a very large structure contains a lot of shops, a number of restaurants and cafés and a few information points, it is likely to be a shopping centre.
It may seem unfair to single out one organisation as an example of how branding or rebranding may run counter to commercial commonsense, but the scale of the statement and indeed the project was hard to overlook.
By contrast, on an equally broad canvas – albeit one that is spread across the country – the decision to rebadge Virgin Megastores in the UK as Zavvi might do no harm. This name change is the outcome of the original brand no longer being available for use. In this instance, as any reference to Virgin has been expunged, it probably won’t be long before people start referring to these stores as Zavvi.
It isn’t long since Dixons left our high streets and the Currys.digital name that followed, which seemed odd at the time, now appears (almost) perfectly natural. The point is that no exaggerated claim about what was being done was made and it therefore proved acceptable.
Property folk are not famously shy, but too much hyperbole runs the danger of working counter to their interests and the retailers that set up shop in their schemes.
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