Opinion: Is This Really A Rebrand?

We meet again, dear fellow marketers and brand managers!

In the previous edition of The Marketing Love Letters, I had shared my strongly worded opinion about a famous direct response ad copy example and had sought your views on what made a good copy.

Today's edition too is an opinion sharing one (albeit much less fiery).

In my daily readings, I came across the following headline from The Drum:

Aston Martin rebrands to prove it is more than just ‘British and James Bond’

Of course, this intrigued me! Who doesn't have a special fondness for the favorite Bond vehicle?

Like any normal curious marketer, before checking the new identity, I let my imagination soar as to what the new rebrand would be like.

I imagined it to be thus:

• Have a completely different logo, nothing to do with wings. More modern with some subtle nod to digital/ futuristic upgrades.
• A different name or even a sub brand to show that the 109 year old brand has most definitively entered the modern era. Something to connote Aston Martin v.2
• A clear shift in the tone of voice while retaining some of its old world charm i.e. retaining the suave, stylish, sophisticated elements while proving without a doubt that it's the younger, modern suave gentleman, walking in step with the times, not just an aristocrat of yore.

After these expectations finished zooming around in my imagination, I opened the article to find out how many of my musings matched with that of the brand team.

My overall opinion? Felt it was a let down! Anticlimatic even!

According to me and this wonderful article , good rebranding means:

• A clear visual difference that represents not just the current changes but gives an inkling of future changes to come
• If the name is being changed, then yet again, it needs to signal the present and the future changes in the offering. Not cosmetic but substantial changes.
• The rebrand is borne out by appropriate changes in mindset/ behavior/ communication/ approach of everyone in the company, especially customer facing teams.
• If the rebrand is done to completely get away from the old identity, then there has to be a clear cut break between the old and the new identity and that change has to reflect EVERYWHERE internally and externally, overnight.
• If the rebrand is done to simply bring the brand into the new century, then personally, I think it should not be a rebrand but a modern makeover so that people still connect with the values and emotions of the erstwhile brand.

With my definition of rebranding listed out, let's now go back to the Aston Martin rebrand.

While you can read the entire article at the link shared above, let me share some snippets along with my commentary.

Snippets and my commentary

"Two years in the making, the strategic repositioning is the largest investment in Aston Martin for more than a decade."

(Raising my expectations by the minute of a dramatically revised brand)

“The wing itself is a massive journey to reinvent.”

(It was only made more 'bold' like a bold font vs regular font (speaking completely as a viewer). Even the right TG would not find any difference in the logo unless they see the old and new logos next to each other, which cannot happen outside of marketing articles, right?)

"A fundamental part of Aston Martin’s long-term repositioning was its?return to Formula 1 in 2021. Reichman said being absent from F1 meant “missing out on 500 million eyeballs every week.” Its return after a 60-year hiatus “tells people we exist, and it tells people we are a performance-orientated brand,” Reichman concluded."

(Yes!!! This can definitely be called 'rebranding' !! Because it is not just a cosmetic change but an opening up of new doors to PROVE the new brand positioning).

My conundrum and your opinion:

• Is this entire exercise a rebranding exercise or just minor logo change? Did they even need to do 'change' the logo?
• Couldn't a repositioning have been enough? What was the logo change really achieving with regards to the new positioning of 'performance orientated'?

Let me know what you think....

For more such opinions and thoughts on marketing, you may want to visit www.ifiweremarketing.com