In business, it’s obviously important to develop an amazing brand. A positive public perception is vital. Many a business has been crushed by a failing brand image.
But here’s the thing: your brand image will need to change and adapt.
It’ll need to be tweaked when your business grows, when your market changes and when your target audience shifts. If you don’t pay close attention to your brand positioning, the little details soon become big details.
Even the biggest companies have to address their brand. Sometimes, they even need reviving. Take Habitat, for instance.
Habitat used to have a very strong position in the home furnishings market, but at one stage, the general perception of Habitat was that it sold overpriced design pieces.
As a brand, that’s a dangerous place to be.
Habitat went into administration in 2011 and was bought out by the Home Retail Group. Since then, the company has been busy working on its brand image.
For starters, Habitat re-examined its approach to designing products. In its heyday, it was a well-loved and respected brand, so that was an advantage.
As a business, it went back to basics and started designing products that were truly unique and stood out from the crowd.
In addition, it looked carefully at its pricing and positioning (the way they communicated). Remember that it’s often not what you’re saying that counts, by they way you’re talking that matters.
The hard work seems to be paying off and the future looks good.
There are drastically less stores in existence, but its online business is thriving. Sainsbury’s bought the business and there are plans to incorporate plenty of mini Habitat stores within its supermarkets.
Nowadays, Habitat offers affordable luxury items of furniture across a wide range of on and offline channels. It is a successful and versatile business.
Habitat will face a number of challenges because the online retail space is notoriously tough, but thanks to a carefully planned out and long-lasting rebranding exercise, it’s looking positive.
Does your brand need some TLC? Perhaps you were in a good position but things have changed? Maybe your competition has caught up?
If that’s the case, we’d love to talk to you about your brand. We have a number of creative strategies that could revive your business in double-quick time.
Hotcow is a non-traditional creative agency that specialises in experiential marketing that goes viral. Our campaigns generate buzz through crowd participation, PR and content sharing. Contact us on 0207 5030442 or email us on info@hotcow.co.uk.
