2021-03-21
Everyone knows who José Mourinho is. The coach, the born winner, the provocateur, the seducer, the excellent communicator. Every time he left home, he risked winning a trophy. Or almost, come on. He was influential, for everything he did and said. But the world never stays the same, the wind changes, rivals grow and learn and discover and invent and do things differently, other values are peeled, compasses are shaken, the sun changes places, and the magic of man has been changing its finesse. He even declared war on social networks, because they supposedly did something undesirable to the footballers' soul. A few years later, there he is, ladies and gentlemen, one of the best Instagram pages in world sports. There are shined shoes, ham and warnings to the crew. There is more truth, the charismatic and ruthless leader shows that he is like ordinary mortals. It's called rebranding. Micro, admittedly, personal, but rebranding. Mourinho reinvented himself, tweaked his image, wanted to give himself in a different way. He innovated. And the consensus is: it was a success.
It's not much different from what companies do, be it for their values, new business, ideas, or even design and lettering, to distinguish themselves from other competitors. But the times, there it is, are a constant challenge: McKinsey revealed that more than 60% of consumers changed brands and even habits during the covid-19 pandemic. In other words, this ill-fated period was and continues to be a tremendous opportunity, which can also wound to death those who don't keep up with the new trends and demands. In a scenario where products were missing from the shelves or deliveries were late and frustrated customers, three reasons were identified for consumers to try a new or different brand:
- cost
- availability
- quality
The world of business and sales is also like that: it never stays the same, the wind changes, there are unforeseen events, the competition grows and learns and discovers and invents and does different, other values are peeled, compasses are shaken, the sun changes places, and the once fine magic no longer works so well. And now what? You have to hit the right key, to be sure. We have changed, haven't we? Why plan and apply a rebranding? What is the goal? What is going to change? How? Are there risks? It is necessary to know how to answer these questions.
Too much change can affect the brand. Too little will be insignificant or useless, burning a cardboard in vain. Basically, it is about repositioning, it is like fine-tuning the rifle scope. The world and the markets change too fast. The trends are the same. The consumer is flooded with information, stimuli, and tempting offers. Innovation, evolution, communication and even the company's vision must coincide with the product and the values that govern it. During the health crisis it became clear how important it is to talk to people, from people to people, with emotion and empathy at the center of the message. And the key point of a rebranding is really the message: if it is flawed or ineffective, it can damage what has been built so far. Of course, behind it there has to be a plan and a lot of certainty.
Ideally, a rebranding should offer something fresh without losing the credibility that sets the company apart. In other words, it is imperative to make a change, a shake-up, without losing the stability of the brand that the consumer trusts and recognizes value in. Whoever masters the art of balancing these forces is closer to succeeding in the new strategy.
McKinsey has identified five trends in changing consumer behavior during this health crisis:
- Focus on product value and essentials (spending more budget money on essential goods)
- Digital and omnichannel (consumers play on all boards: they may see product in store and buy online or vice versa; they are omnipresent, there it is, and buy everywhere)
- Less loyal (in the absence of available products or slowing home deliveries, for example, many consumers have tried different brands)
- Sensitivity to health and the 'care economy' (the choice of brand or company where you buy a product or service has become closely linked to demonstrating safety; the consumer has become even more attentive to the condition and its cleanliness of the product and packaging, to care on the part of the brand)
- More 'homebody economics' (there are pre-pandemic studies that show, for example, that millennials are foregoing evening programs and other social activities outside the home to stay more at home; the pandemic and successive confinements has further reinforced this reality, making it somewhat cross-population, and this causes more money to be spent in different economics and markets)
These five points demonstrate how voraciously the world and markets can change, how unpredictable they can be. And it has always been that way. Rebranding, which may or may not respond to the challenges of these times, promotes the restructuring of the company's potential, new strategies are adopted to enrich business performance, aiming to create a closer relationship with the customer. It all depends on the message, on where we want to go and who we are, if it has changed, if it hasn't, or how we can evolve and innovate. It is key to be clear about the objective of the rebranding - some examples: overcoming a crisis, new business mission or vision, repositioning in the market, different location, change in management, acquisition of another brand, or merger. Values matter, so does the mission, so it is crucial to fine-tune what the brand stands for, because it like the world can also be changeable. Basically, the brand and those who make it up seek or should seek evolution to never stop being connected with the community and the consumers.
