When new names mean survival

Jan 16 2008 by Alistair Houghton, Liverpool Daily Post

Rebranding is more than simply a change of name, as Alistair Houghton finds out with his look at two Merseyside companies

REBRANDING is one of those business buzz words that tends to spark groans of derision. But beneath the corporate speak lies a deeper truth: often companies and brands need to reinvent themselves to survive.

The latest local brands to be given new identities are the Littlewoods, Vernons and Zetters football pools games, which are now being badged under the title New Football Pools.

Meanwhile, Liverpool’s new superquango has revealed its new brand, Liverpool Vision, the same name as one of the bodies to be merged into it.

It is rare for a month to go by without a branding or rebranding story appearing in the newspapers.

So what has led these two organisations to rebrand, and why are branding and rebranding seen as so important?

Merseyside plays host to many leading brands, from Vimto, in Newton-le-Willows, to Princes Foods.

Last year, Liverpool law firm Hill Dickinson teamed up with the CBI and the Chartered Institute of Marketing to launch a survey to find the North West’s top 100 brands.

Speke-based Littlewoods was named the top North West retail and mail order brand, while St Helens-based glassmaker Pilkington was the region’s leading brand in the manufacturing and industrial sector.

Tony Wilson, senior partner at Hill Dickinson, said: “Put simply, there is more to branding than just logos. It means achieving consistency in values and behaviours across an organisation at all levels and in all activities. Your target audience will have certain expectations. A coherent branding strategy should work to ensure these external expectations are the same as those set by the organisation.

“Similarly, a rebranding exercise is much more than simply changing the look of an organisation’s promotional material, it is a strategic opportunity to review and change the messages you are communicating, to restate or amend your position and to set new expectations to your chosen markets.

“A quick look at the list of winners from the survey, including Urban Splash and Littlewoods, shows the North West is home to a great number of brands who have effectively implemented branding strategies and in doing so have become household names.”

Sportech was always aware it had to plan for the future as its licence to use the Littlewoods name on its pools expires in 2010.

So, once Sportech sealed the deal to buy Vernons Pools, it was time to unleash a new brand. The name it has chosen is the New Football Pools.

It may not sound like a dramatic change but, for Sportech chief executive Ian Penrose, that is precisely the point.

He said: “Launching a new brand in today’s marketplace is challenging and therefore for us we wanted to evolve the brand because people play ‘the pools’. The media refer to ‘the pools’.

“This is a gradual evolution of our business.

“It’s a brand new brand for us, but in reality football pools is a brand that nearly everybody in the UK already knows.”

Penrose, who joined Sportech in 2005, said branding had been delayed as Sportech’s planned acquisition of Vernons from Ladbrokes was referred to the Competition Commission.

The deal was finally confirmed in November.

Penrose said Sportech had recruited external branding consultants to help them find ideas.

“It’s always a good discipline to take soundings from outside even though we all think sometimes we know best,” he said.