Brand rejuvenation strategies

By James Last updated Oct 2, 2022

There are no quick ways to revive a successful brand, and it doesn’t happen overnight.
Only through strategic, creative, and operational decisions (if regularly implemented) can a brand be on the path to cultural interests, customer preferences, and business success. Retelling the story isn’t very interesting, but it will likely make a big impact in the long run.
If you want to be successful in reinventing your brand, you need to rethink your approach to your products, story, culture, and customers.

Brand rejuvenation strategies

When branding is taught in business school classes or discussed in the media, it is often seen as a simple, logical, and unavoidable problem.

In most cases, these brand revitalization efforts rarely lead to success, and in rare cases, it usually takes years or decades to achieve meaningful results.

Famous brands like Apple, Gucci, and McDonald‘s have renewed and updated their marketing and customer focus strategies.

The success of each of these companies is based on the analysis of new production methods, issues, cultures, and customers.

These four elements have become stable pillars of brand rotation with the help of organizational and operational changes.

Brand rejuvenation strategies

The first step in a brand rejuvenation strategies: focus on the product

Throughout Gucci’s 101-year history, the fashion retailer’s popularity has waxed and waned, arguably altering its business results.

Today, Gucci is considered the number two luxury brand in the world.

The most recent revival of this brand took place in 2015 with the appointment of “Marco Bizzarri” as CEO and “Alessandro Michele” as creative director.

The changes made by these people in the first year (mainly introducing new creative ideas, and redesigning stores and online services) led to a 7.8% increase in annual revenue, a 21.7% increase in annual operating income, and an 86% increase in online sales in the first quarter.

When Michel was appointed creative director of Gucci, he created the Gucci Look: a renaissance mix of masculinity and femininity, hippie, floral and glitter, sparkling, seductive and sensual, with the power to destroy and it was a creative expression, of equestrian motifs accessories and prints.

Today, this ultimate and new romantic look can be identified as Gucci on the street and the fashion platform, so expressions like: “I feel Gucci” and “It’s Gucci” are part of our cultural lexicon.

Apple has seen similar changes in its manufacturing sector.

Shortly after returning to Apple in 1997, Steve Jobs held a meeting and criticized his employees.
He described the company’s only problem as the quality of its products and said that its products no longer have gender.

It was later rumored that Steve Jobs’ criticism at this meeting led to the invention of the iMac, which allowed Apple to sell 800,000 units of the iMac in its first five months, bringing sales to $309 million in 1998. Profit in dollars. and $601 million in 1999.

The iMac marked Apple’s return to profitability.

Apple and Gucci realized that a recognizable brand aesthetic was key to their brand’s resurgence.

The more the quality of the brand is defined, the more accurate it is in design, business, and style, and it gives more opportunities for these functions to adapt to provide new and shared experiences. the brand.

The brand’s distinctive aesthetic is interpreted in genuine products that are the purest extract of the brand’s essence.
For Gucci, this includes Marmont GG and Soho bags, Princetown sandals and slippers, GG belts, GG canvas prints, and 1970s-inspired dresses and coats.

And those products for Apple (part of the production) are the Mac, iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods.

These brand building blocks (or key products) help you focus on brand renewal, and every brand (regardless of the product they sell) must create these structures when trying to renew their brand.
Even fast food restaurants have specialties.

McDonald’s, for example, has specialties like the Big Mac, McNuggets, and French fries, but ran into problems in the early 2010s when it tried to expand its menu to attract a larger audience.

In 2015, McDonald’s reduced its menu items and focused more on value and quality.

This decision, which means “less quality but better“, helped McDonald’s sales in 2019 by over $100 billion, and its operating margin increased by 43% compared to last year.

Because McDonald’s focused more on its flagship products, its market value nearly doubled and reached $160 billion.

The second step in the brand rejuvenation strategies: improving the brand story

A specific and attractive brand story creates a background and story for your products that can lead to increased desire.

Selling the brand’s products is selling the brand’s story.
When consumers buy a product, they are buying its story.
This story connects the organization internally and helps in decision-making.

It also can connect important brand content to your product portfolio, guide design to include narrative anchors (such as distinctive pattern, color, or stitching), and facilitate merchandising, styling, and marketing.

In addition to increasing brand value, brand storytelling is vital to customer appeal and loyalty.
When consumers buy into a brand’s story, they are less likely to leave or switch, whereas if they buy only the product, they are more likely to switch or leave.