How to Rebrand an Unsuccessful Company

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There is a reason why Old Spice, a deodorant that has been seen as “old man deodorant”, is now a hit among teenagers and young adults. It’s all in their advertisements and how they have chosen to re-brand themselves. Judith Aquino, an economist that writes for the Business Insider, a highly respected business magazine, explains in her article "The Ten Most Successful Re-branding Campaigns Ever" that highly successful ways to re-brand a company and gives real word examples to back them up. Re-branding is done when the “feeling” a company gives off is purposefully and effectively changed, and giving people a new feeling is an incentive for people to begin to become a customer of the brand. Re-branding can be done through sponsorships, listening to customers and advertising campaigns.

One of the biggest ways to change the feeling of your company is getting the right people to sponsor your brand. For example, J. Crew used to be seen as cheap clothing. In 2003 when their new CEO Millard Drexler was hired, sales were plummeting. Drexler decided what the brand needed was simplicity. So they began selling basics, like tank tops and sweaters, and focused a lot more on their advertising. They got the Obamas, at the time the first family, to sponsor the brand. This automatically made their brand seem classy and timeless because the Obamas have that connotation about them. Simplifying the brand and getting the right people to sponsor them lead to Crew rebounding dramatically, earning $3.8 million in 2005, its first profit in five years and between 2003 and 2008 revenues rose 107 percent, according to the Wall St. Journal. In 2009, revenues exceeded pre-recession levels and same-store sales climbed 11 percent. So the people they got to sponsor the brand really helped them begin to make a profit again.

Adding to that, another big way companies rebrand is by listening to what their customers have to say and responding to that. For example, McDonald’s for a long time was seen as the main reason for why Americans are fat. After the documentary “Supersize Me” by Morgan Spurlock, many people wanted to see change with McDonald’s. So they listened. They began serving salads, offering apple slices as a kid’s meal side, and began to sell smoothies. They heard what their customer base was saying, and they changed themselves in order to fit their needs. This allowed for their customer base to grow, and their prior customers to feel like they were listened to.

Finally, another way to successfully re-brand is to have a very clever ad campaign. The biggest example of this is the brand Old Spice. For a long time they were seen as an “old man deodorant”, and their sales were plummeting. But, after they made a viral campaign featuring former NFL player Isaiah Mustafa telling men to "smell like a man, man" their sales went on an upward trend. This started the brand’s viral ad campaign that is still going on today. They used odd things, like slicing a basketball and a watermelon being inside, to catch the reader’s attention. That made their brand more “fun”, and therefore rose profits.

Further research question: How do influencers, ( politicians, actors, singers, bloggers, youtubers, etc.) affect brands?