A great product or service will speak for itself – to an extent. But sectors evolve, and a brand that was relevant and thriving five or 10 years ago may not fit as neatly into today’s market. Targeting a new audience with your offering, or honing your brand identity, could be the catalyst your business needs.
Needless to say, falling revenue is one indication that your brand may need a new position. But even if your growth curve is going in the right direction, talking to customers can produce some valuable insights. What do they really think of your brand? Is your image what you want it to be? Repositioning involves some tough decisions and is not an exercise to be undertaken lightly, so you need to ensure that any realignment of your brand really is a change for the better.
Growing Business spoke to three entrepreneurs who each held onto their brand’s name but changed identity – with impressive results. Here they tell us how and why they took the plunge and about the impact it had on the business. Is it time for a brand overhaul?
Best Western
Standing out in the marketplace
Best Western In brief
The Problem:
Lacking a unique identity, the company needed to differentiate its brand from other large hotel groups with chain propositions
The Solution:
A relaunch campaign with the message ‘Hotels with Personality’, celebrating individuality of each member hotel and targeting ‘independently minded’ people
For hotel group Best Western, repositioning followed the realisation that the brand needed to differentiate itself. The rise of boutique, independent hotels in the UK suggested that Brits were increasingly seeking out places with a bit of character. The senior management team realised that Best Western’s structure made it possible to tap into this.
Each hotel in the group is independently owned, and hotels range from 12th century castles to those that grow their own produce, those with deer parks and golf courses. This enabled them to celebrate the independence and variety of hotels within the group with a new position and strapline: ‘Hotels with Personality’.
“Because every hotel is independent, every hotel has its own personality, and we had a real opportunity to stand out against the formulaic hotel chains and say something very different about ourselves,” says Tim Wade, head of marketing at Best Western. “I think the position appeals to a British mindset; we like our independent retailers and restaurants, so it was really tapping into that.”
Rather than going for traditional demographic segmentation, the new position targeted “independent-minded people, who don’t want the same experience everywhere”, adds Wade. “We already had the product; it was really about getting people to take notice or look at it from a different perspective.”
The relaunch was supported by an integrated marketing strategy, kicking off with Best Western’s first ever TV ad campaign in the UK, which was supported by experiential activity. “We took a roadshow called ‘Britain’s Got Personality’ around five UK cities. People got on stage and sang and danced and did whatever they wanted to celebrate their personalities.”
Entries were filmed and uploaded onto YouTube, where they attracted 50,000 hits. Viewers then voted for their favourite and the winning act will perform at the Best Western sales and marketing conference in September. “This was the first time we’d done something of this scale and integrated it into social media, and got press coverage around that,” says Wade.
Additionally, much work was done to get the hotel owners more engaged with the brand – one of the biggest challenges. New toiletries branded with ‘Hotels with Personality’ were made available for hotels to buy and a new website was launched. “I think the brand’s really got into our entire business,” says Wade. “Everything we’re doing now involves thinking about how we deliver it with the brand in mind.”
Sales have increased by nearly 30% year-on-year, with corporate sales also up significantly. “The repositioning campaign has surpassed our expectations on a number of levels,” says Wade. “We’ve had real growth – and we can time it to when the campaign launched on 15 April on TV.”
However, he warns that the brand repositioning was a “huge project”, which should not be undertaken without thorough planning and research: “You’ve got to make sure your positioning is right and really get the people in the business behind what you’re doing.”
Once the strategy was devised, it was tested with consumers at focus groups to establish whether the new positioning was really relevant and appealing to customers. “This repositioning campaign has had great resonance with our target audience as our sales have increased the most year-on-year in our 30-year history,” adds David Clarke, CEO of Best Western. “It has been a highly successful campaign and ensured that Best Western is a group that stands apart from our competitors.”