Are You Getting Typecast?

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And is that good for your branding efforts? Getting typecast is an interesting problem in business, especially when you're looking to grow in new directions. In the beginning, you're thrilled to break through, and make an impression (hopefully, you measure beyond that). Alas, when you evolve, you'd like to take on new roles.

If you're feeling a little like Ray Liotta's after he worked on Goodfellas, you may be the norm. Most brands have a hard time evolving, because they tend to do such a good job in one role that they become very successful at what was, get stuck, and don't communicate how they've changed. People do that, too.

Having worked with mature brands in need to re-energize communications for the next level of growth, I can tell you that the hardest part of the process is that of letting go of old habits -- thinking or taking for granted that what the brand stood for is all it can even be to its customers and become to itself.

While positioning happens in the minds of the people who do business with you, there is a lot you can do to reconnect with a changed value proposition. Slapping a coat of new logo or style guide paint may put you on life support, but may not give you new life. Instead, identify what has become core to you/your business in its evolution, and propose it differently.

Think Lady Gaga: the loyalty lessons, and the art of brand reinvention. An incredibly talented singer, she broke through mainstream after music producer Rob Fusari involuntarily gave her the moniker "Lady Gaga". At that point, the brand persona that connects with so many was truly unleashed.

Consistency is good. Even better is mixing it up a little, or moving along the connection motivation ladder.

Are you getting typecast? What do you think are your biggest obstacles?

[image courtesy of GDS Digital]

© 2010 Valeria Maltoni. All rights reserved.

Comments

[Ivan Walsh]

Hi Valeria,

We need to be very careful here. Many years back, the BBC rebranded itself. It spent over 1m stg on re-branding and changed the logo (that logo!) to italics. That didn’t work. So, it did more focus groups etc and changed it back.

Nothing really changed in the way it did business.

The point is that the novelty factor – and the urge to keep up with the Jones – will persuade sensible people to make foolish decisions.

Was Time Warner smart to get AOL?
Is Sony smart buying into the movie industry?
Did anyone enjoy a Stallone ‘comedy’?

Sometimes it’s easier to look for change/novelty/fads rather than buckle down and fix what’s broken.

PS – Al Ries book on Positioning is worth reading en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Ries

[Online Reputation Management]

Branding and re-branding can be a very touchy subject. Sometimes you may think a re branding can bring you benefits, but it is so difficult to get it right, that your reputation might actually get heavily damaged.

[Case Ernsting]

It seems like the process of rebranding is being affected by the use of social media in a big way. Do you even need to hold focus groups anymore? Through a bit of crowdsourcing and statistical analysis, I bet you can get a good idea of what's working inside an industry straight from consumers' mouths/profiles.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Ivan - in some cases, you don't need to change logo or style at all. Yet, you would be well served by communicating differently with your customers, opening new channels back to you where you customers are. The change I'm talking about is more how you articulate your value prop than the props that often are used instead of value, if that makes sense.

@Online Reputation Management - I would so prefer to talk to a person.

@Case - it depends on how deep you want to go, and where your customers are. Integration of new tools or media does not always mean replacement of old ones.