Not so many years ago, in any Catalan household, it would have been possible to find families who mopped the floor with Mr. Proper, adults drinking Estrella Dorada and sharing a Comtessa dessert, while the little ones ate (two) Petit Suisse and Natillas. Today, that same family would clean the floor with Don Limpio, drink Estrella Damm and enjoy Viennetta for dessert while the kids topped off their meal with a Danonino or a Danet. These are just some examples of established products that at one time or another had the name of the brand that had been so successful changed. In marketing terms, what they did was rebrand.
There are different reasons for doing this, from a possible crisis that forces a change in the mental framework of consumers, to the desire to consolidate a superior brand, or even due to disputes over registered patents and trademarks. However, the most common reason today is the intention of becoming global.
Globality, the common motive
The concept of rebranding is seen mostly in consumption. "Distribution is increasingly powerful, we are seeing how brands are looking for economy of scale and synergies on all levels," Andrés Cuneo, professor of Esade's marketing department tells Via Empresa.
"The fact of having different brands in different markets with the same products, which at one time made sense so as to be close to local consumers, today is not the case," says the professor. Especially in Europe, where there is a lot of consumer mobility from one market to another, "it makes little sense for the same product to have different names if I am buying it in one country or another. Unifying it all aids brand recognition among countries," says Cuneo.
This is the argument used by Frigo to explain the change of name of the mythic Comtessa to Viennetta, which happened in the 1990s. "It was an issue of globalisation," sources from the company in the Unilever group told Via Empresa. In fact, internationally the product was always called Viennetta, but registering problems meant the name could not be used when the product came to Spain at the start of the 1980s. When it was finally possible to update the brand, in Spain the Comtessa name had stuck.
"Having the same name in Europe creates efficiencies in communication, packaging and a lot of other things. You need to be operationally very efficient to be able to survive in today's consumption," insists Andrés Cuneo. Therefore, despite the fact in Spain it would today be more profitable to call its wavy cream and chocolate ice cream Comtessa, economies of scale mean that Frigo has to market it as Viennetta.
Renewing values
From 1921 to 1991, the insignia beer of the Damm group was Estrella Dorada. Just before the Olympic Games in Barcelona, the company decided it was the moment to renew its image by changing the name. "We historically had Estrella Verde, Estrella Roja and Estrella Dorada. For reasons of consistency in the portfolio, as we already had Voll Damm and to strengthen the company brand, it was decided to give it the name Estrella Damm," says Fede Segarra, the brewery's director of communications.
Without doubt this was a significant change. However, for Segarra, "both the distributors and the consumers accepted it very well." It was a good reception that helped in the redefinition of the product's branding, making it more modern. "We have gone on to change the bottles and a strong presence of gold colouring changed to red, which is the corporate colour," says the Damm executive. The idea, he says, was "to gain personality, to differentiate it and little by little position the brand as premium and quality."
In the end, the brand remains "the interface between the product and the consumer," says the Esade professor. "Rebranding tries to get the consumer to associate the brand with different concepts. Coca-Cola is doing it now, trying to go back to its origins by reducing the number of sub-brands it had," he says.
This evolution of the product's image in the mind of the consumers through the brand has also been used by Damm for its alcohol free beer. This year it will be 10 years since the rebranding of Damm Bier as Free Damm. "The previous one was a name that distanced us from the consumer, according to the studies we had," admits Fede Segarra. Moreover, he insists that they wanted to change from a product that was under 1% volume of alcohol (which legislation allowed to be called alcohol free) to it having 0% alcohol. "We took advantage of this change to call it Free Damm," he recalls.
It is a name that helped the consistency of the group's portfolio. Moreover, for the brewery's comunications director, "the concept of Free Damm also served to position it with an image of perceived higher quality and a point of sophistication, the same as with Estrella."
Global, but distanced from the consumer?
When in 1996 Spanish television broadcast the ad announcing the change of name from Mr. Proper to Don Limpio, the idea of the heads of Procter & Gamble (P&G) was to achieve "greater acceptance," as sources in the company confirm to VIA Empresa. In other words, translating the brand's main concept into Spanish so that its target would retain it more easily.
Twenty years later and with a population much more used to concepts in English, who knows if the P&G rebranding will go into reverse in search of greater global efficiency. "The major unresolved issue is knowing what the balance between closeness to the consumer and cost efficiency is," says Andrés Cuneo.
It is an issue in which different models coexist. "Generally American companies are more aggressive in unification; while European ones tend to show more sensitivity to regional differences," says the Esade marketing professor.
The strategy so as not to lose one's way
Whatever the reason might be, changing the name of a product is always risky. "The strategy and the final aim has to be very clear. One thing is the idea of what you want to achieve, but another is the implementation of this strategy," says Cuneo. "From the moment I begin the change until I complete it, the important thing is not to lose consumers along the way," he says.
To achieve this, work is basically done with "measurement models to see how the associations with the brand have evolved in regard to the consumers over time," he points out. As is logical, the brands with deeper associations will be more difficult to move into other areas. A dilemma is that it is proposed by the marketing people, but must be approved higher up the chain. In Damm, for example, a management board's approval was required in the case of the alcohol free beer. And for Estrella it went even higher, to the board itself.
There are different reasons for doing this, from a possible crisis that forces a change in the mental framework of consumers, to the desire to consolidate a superior brand, or even due to disputes over registered patents and trademarks. However, the most common reason today is the intention of becoming global.
Globality, the common motive
The concept of rebranding is seen mostly in consumption. "Distribution is increasingly powerful, we are seeing how brands are looking for economy of scale and synergies on all levels," Andrés Cuneo, professor of Esade's marketing department tells Via Empresa.
"The fact of having different brands in different markets with the same products, which at one time made sense so as to be close to local consumers, today is not the case," says the professor. Especially in Europe, where there is a lot of consumer mobility from one market to another, "it makes little sense for the same product to have different names if I am buying it in one country or another. Unifying it all aids brand recognition among countries," says Cuneo.
This is the argument used by Frigo to explain the change of name of the mythic Comtessa to Viennetta, which happened in the 1990s. "It was an issue of globalisation," sources from the company in the Unilever group told Via Empresa. In fact, internationally the product was always called Viennetta, but registering problems meant the name could not be used when the product came to Spain at the start of the 1980s. When it was finally possible to update the brand, in Spain the Comtessa name had stuck.
"Having the same name in Europe creates efficiencies in communication, packaging and a lot of other things. You need to be operationally very efficient to be able to survive in today's consumption," insists Andrés Cuneo. Therefore, despite the fact in Spain it would today be more profitable to call its wavy cream and chocolate ice cream Comtessa, economies of scale mean that Frigo has to market it as Viennetta.
Renewing values
From 1921 to 1991, the insignia beer of the Damm group was Estrella Dorada. Just before the Olympic Games in Barcelona, the company decided it was the moment to renew its image by changing the name. "We historically had Estrella Verde, Estrella Roja and Estrella Dorada. For reasons of consistency in the portfolio, as we already had Voll Damm and to strengthen the company brand, it was decided to give it the name Estrella Damm," says Fede Segarra, the brewery's director of communications.
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| The most popular beer in Catalonia has evolved since its rebranding. Ceded |
Without doubt this was a significant change. However, for Segarra, "both the distributors and the consumers accepted it very well." It was a good reception that helped in the redefinition of the product's branding, making it more modern. "We have gone on to change the bottles and a strong presence of gold colouring changed to red, which is the corporate colour," says the Damm executive. The idea, he says, was "to gain personality, to differentiate it and little by little position the brand as premium and quality."
In the end, the brand remains "the interface between the product and the consumer," says the Esade professor. "Rebranding tries to get the consumer to associate the brand with different concepts. Coca-Cola is doing it now, trying to go back to its origins by reducing the number of sub-brands it had," he says.
This evolution of the product's image in the mind of the consumers through the brand has also been used by Damm for its alcohol free beer. This year it will be 10 years since the rebranding of Damm Bier as Free Damm. "The previous one was a name that distanced us from the consumer, according to the studies we had," admits Fede Segarra. Moreover, he insists that they wanted to change from a product that was under 1% volume of alcohol (which legislation allowed to be called alcohol free) to it having 0% alcohol. "We took advantage of this change to call it Free Damm," he recalls.
 |
| This is how Damm's alcohol free beer has changed. Ceded |
It is a name that helped the consistency of the group's portfolio. Moreover, for the brewery's comunications director, "the concept of Free Damm also served to position it with an image of perceived higher quality and a point of sophistication, the same as with Estrella."
Global, but distanced from the consumer?
When in 1996 Spanish television broadcast the ad announcing the change of name from Mr. Proper to Don Limpio, the idea of the heads of Procter & Gamble (P&G) was to achieve "greater acceptance," as sources in the company confirm to VIA Empresa. In other words, translating the brand's main concept into Spanish so that its target would retain it more easily.
| An aggressive television campaign announced the change of name of Mr. Proper in 1996 |
Twenty years later and with a population much more used to concepts in English, who knows if the P&G rebranding will go into reverse in search of greater global efficiency. "The major unresolved issue is knowing what the balance between closeness to the consumer and cost efficiency is," says Andrés Cuneo.
It is an issue in which different models coexist. "Generally American companies are more aggressive in unification; while European ones tend to show more sensitivity to regional differences," says the Esade marketing professor.
The strategy so as not to lose one's way
Whatever the reason might be, changing the name of a product is always risky. "The strategy and the final aim has to be very clear. One thing is the idea of what you want to achieve, but another is the implementation of this strategy," says Cuneo. "From the moment I begin the change until I complete it, the important thing is not to lose consumers along the way," he says.
| Sports people like Luis Figo or Àlex Crivillé were regulars in the famous Natillas ads |
To achieve this, work is basically done with "measurement models to see how the associations with the brand have evolved in regard to the consumers over time," he points out. As is logical, the brands with deeper associations will be more difficult to move into other areas. A dilemma is that it is proposed by the marketing people, but must be approved higher up the chain. In Damm, for example, a management board's approval was required in the case of the alcohol free beer. And for Estrella it went even higher, to the board itself.
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