How to Keep Your Brand Fresh

Some brands are timeless, some are of the moment and others evolve with the times. After going through the often rigorous branding process, selecting just the right logo and building the perfect website, when’s the right time to say “that’s not working anymore?” “The first sign would certainly be in the bottom line of that brand’s business,” explained Liberty Harper, director of Business Development for Aviatech, a creative agency with a portfolio that includes some of the most prominent franchises in the market. “A quite famous and current example is the Wheaties Brand of cereals.  Recently, General Mills reported that Wheaties, which once owned 6.5% market share, now accounts for less than 1%. We all certainly want to feel like a champion after breakfast, but it’s likely this cereal brand has gone stale (pardon the pun) and it’s time to kick things up a notch to 2012 standards.” Dawn Kane, president of Minneapolis-based Hot Dish Advertising, agrees. “Losing market share is the biggest indicator that the brand is suffering.” Even after you recognize that your branding is not working for your business’ bottom line anymore, performing a cyclical redesign isn’t the key to continued success, and may in fact weaken the bond your business has been trying to establish between the brand and the consumer. “Rebranding too often can create brand confusion,” says Harper. “There has to be a balance between re-branding and simply creating new advertising looks and feel for a brand.” Kane explains that sometimes just evolving the brand, rather than a complete redesign, is enough to keep this bond growing with the consumer. “Often, we look at the brand and approach it as an evolution of the brand. In many cases, brands get stuck doing the same they have always done because that is simply what they have always done,” explains Kane. “You need to remain relevant to your customer.” An example of this is the recent evolution of the Wing Zone brand, an Atlanta-based restaurant franchise. As international franchise developers started to show interest in the concept, it became clear that it was time to evolve the brand to fit a diversifying audience. The franchise brought in Design Coup to help evolve its brand – the result being a new logo, one that retained the brand’s signature spiral but featuring an updated typeface, as well as new restaurant interiors and a new color pallet. To remain relevant in the restaurant space, Design Coup recognized Wing Zone’s biggest assets were the multitude of flavors offered to customers. “It takes more than a great product to connect to consumers,” says Michael Higgins, president of Design Coup. “We turned Wing Zone’s fabulous Flavor into the 10-story superhero of the brand. If you’re mad about flavor, like I am – Wing Zone is your brand.” When the new Wing Zone identity was tested in Panama City, stores in that area immediately became the highest-grossing stores in the franchise’s system. Even with the success Wing Zone found with its new identity, Harper says franchises need to pay close attention to how a new brand identity will affect franchisees. “The question is always asked, ‘will this rebranding truly represent who we are as a product and/or service and the feeling we are looking to create for our customers?’” If the answer is a resounding “yes,” and the work is an improvement of what is already in place, it may be the perfect time to refresh your brand.