Brand France: Where smart money will hopefully go.

                                   

When I think of France the following images come up first: Men and women dressed to the nines with berets, riding on bicycles and acting haughty all the while surrounded by beautiful medieval architecture. While some of the generalisations of the French might be exaggerated, it is easy for one to accept them as true since the country is the fashion capital of the world. It is also home to world renowned luxurious brands such as Louis Vuitton, Dior, L’OREAL, Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Cartier, LACOSTE, Givenchy, Garnier and LANCOME.

One of the country’s most well known landmarks is the Eiffel Tower located on the Champ de Mars in the city of Paris erected in 1889. The iron lattice structure has proven to be a favourite among foreign visitors looking to propose marriage to their partners at the top of the tower. There is even a case of an American woman with a fetish for inanimate objects who so loved the structure that she decided to marry it in a commitment ceremony in 2007. Now if you couple the country’s world famous brands with the love inducing Eiffel Tower you get a country known for opulence and romance. This would be a good formula for branding a country and making a stereotype work in your favour right? Well the French government doesn't think so, or at least not anymore.

As of the 28^th  June 2013 the French government has been in talks to rebrand the country. They are apparently doing so because they believe that the brand is suffering from the aforementioned stereotypes. They are also hoping it will improve the country’s global competitiveness globally while promoting the “Made in France” label. To kickoff the rebranding effort they launched a nationwide competition where professionals could submit new logos for the future French brand. The unveiling of the new brand identity is expected to be done sometime during 2014.

In my opinion France did not need to go on an effort to rebrand itself. These stereotypes its trying to run away from actually made it unique from other countries. I hope that the rebranding works in their favour and actually brings in more business and investment into the country, since this is the primary reason for the rebranding. What do you think, is rebranding to seem more business minded a wise route for France?

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower
http://www.countryreports.org/country/France.htm
http://cruciblebookii.com/2013/09/france-the-brand/
http://www.france.fr/en/news/french-invited-promote-french-excellence-france-brand
http://www.rankingthebrands.com/The-Brand-Rankings.aspx?rankingID=172&year=340
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2074301/Woman-with-objects-fetish-marries-Eiffel-Tower.html

Rebranding a Company

Every now and then companies seek out the assistance of a graphic Designer with their brand image, to either elevate it or change it completely. When a company rebrands it is either because their brand is is failing to succeed or it is ready evolve in the business world and gain further recognition. Rebranding is a strategy undergone by a company to change its name, term, symbol or design thereof. The intention is to re-establish the brand in the minds of the consumer, Investors and competitors. These changes are aimed at dispelling any negative connotations which were previously associated with the brand. In rebranding a company is able to reposition itself and communicate effectively.

A company may also want to rebrand if it is entering into a new line of business that is not in line with its current brand identity e.g. Apple changing from being Apple Computers so simple being known as Apple. Relevancy is also a cause for change as the identity must reflect the company’s current positioning of itself. And sometimes competition can serve as a catalyst for change; a competitor’s image can render your company’s as old outdated. Rebranding may be the only way for a company to regain its foothold in the market. A shining example of this is Microsoft, a company which has undergone a gradual rebranding of its products between 2011 and 2012 following the release of the Windows Phone 7. It also changed its logo, services and website to adapt to the market and compete with frontrunners like Apple and Google in its sector. It is considered wise for a company to inform its customers of its rebranding so that they won’t be completely shocked when it does happen.

For a past school project I had the opportunity to pick a company I thought needed a new identity and rebrand it completely. The company I chose is Retrofontein, a street wear brand characterised by its use of bright bold patterns in its clothing designs. The company started in 2012 and is based in Johannesburg. The target market is 16 to 25 year old males and females living in urban areas attending high school and tertiary. The problem I found with the company is that its previous logo did not reflect its products and neither did the brand extension (of which there was very little). So I was tasked with the creation of a brand identity which would stand out amongst the competition and reflect their offering to the market. I came up with a logotype for them with a repetitive pattern in movement and then I abstracted an element from it to create a pattern for the brand extension. The new logo and brand extension I created for them reflects who they are what they do and it gives them a new competitive advantage.  So what do you think of the new brand identity?

Old logo.

New Logo.

Business card.

Letterhead

Flyer.

Poster/Magazine advert.

Billboard.

References:
http://aytm.com/blog/research-junction/rebranding-essentials-why-rebrand/
http://www.pencilscoop.com/2013/04/5-amazing-examples-of-successful-rebranding/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebranding

kulula’s controversial rebranding

Figure 1: kulula airline


Figure 2: South African Airways airline

To recap on past branding events you might have missed, in March 0f 2013 kulula revealed their new branding strategy. This branding was primarily focused on rebranding their line of fleets with the slogan ‘The Most South African Airways’. Now if you happen to ignore the first two words in the phrase you might notice the distinct resemblance it bears to the brand name of another well known airline. At the official press conference Nadine Damen, kulula’s Marketing Manager spoke of how proud they were of the slogan and hoped it would be received well by their target audience. It goes without mention that the company being copied, South African Airways was pretty peeved about the move.

Now since its inception in 2001 khulula prides itself in being the only privately owned airline in the country, now South African Airways on the other hand was founded in 1934 after the South African Government acquired Union Airways. South African Airways has higher brand recognition because of how long it has been with the country. The re-branding proposed by kulula boasted the phrase “The Most South African Airways” written on the side of the planes in a font suspiciously similar to  the one used by South African Airways to brand their planes. To put the last nail in the coffin the back tail of their planes utilised the South African flag in graphic representation similar to the South African Airways logo.

A few days after the unveiling of the “new” branding strategy kulula held yet another awkward press conference promising to review their proposed branding. This came after a number of people voiced their concerns over the company’s proposed rebranding of their fleet and South African Airways having lodged a complaint with The Advertising Standards Authority.

This was not a wise move for kulula as they went through all that trouble to be labelled as copycats at the end of the day. One out of plain curiosity is compelled to try and decipher why they would go through so much trouble to rebrand themselves in a way which would make them  similar to their biggest competitor. The last time I checked company’s re/branded in order to stand apart from their competitors. This little stunt they pulled is akin to Nandos advertising, its hilarious.

Reference: 

http://www.news24.com/Travel/Flights/kulula-launches-controversial-rebranding-20130306

http://wallstreet.platinumdeplus.com/south-african-airways-against-kulula/

http://www.flightsforafrica.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/9.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Airways