To brand or to rebrand: Investigating the effects of rebranding on brand equity and consumer attitudes

Abstract

Subhadip Royis a faculty of Marketing at Indian Institute of Management Udaipur (India) since 2013, with an overall teaching experience of more than 7 years. He is interested in research areas like brand management, celebrity endorsements and qualitative research. Soumya Sarkaris a faculty of Marketing at Indian Institute of Management Ranchi (India) before which he has taught in IIM Udaipur. A Fellow of Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, he has worked in the industry as a marketing practitioner for around 14 years. He is interested in research areas like B2B branding, strategic marketing, popular Indian culture.ABSTRACT In the present study, we intend to contribute to the rebranding literature by investigating: (a) the relative change in customer based brand equity (CBBE) of a brand before and post an evolutionary rebranding announcement; (b) the relative change in CBBE with respect to the market position of the brand (leader/follower) in case of evolutionary rebranding; and (c) the relative effect of a specific type of change in brand element (logo and/or slogan) on the consumer attitudes and CBBE. We use cue utilization theory and information integration theory along with rebranding literature to establish our hypotheses. We test our hypotheses using a 2×2 (with repeat measures) and a 2×3 full factorial design in succession. We find the CBBE of an established brand to diminish following rebranding news while that of a less-established brand to be enhanced. We also find a differential effect of the rebranding types on the consumer attitudes and CBBE that is subject to the relative brand position in the market. The academic implications of the study lie in the exploration of the effects of rebranding on consumers. The practitioner implications include suggestions for the effective use of rebranding as a strategy.

The impact of corporate rebranding on brand equity and firm performance

“…However, the relationship between rebranding and brand equity is not supported (p> 0.208). This assertion is supported by extant literature which posits that there is a negative relationship between rebranding and brand equity (Petburikul, 2009;Roy & Sarkar, 2015). Notably too, the relationship between brand attributes and associations and brand equity is not supported (p> 0.115).…”

Does Rebranding As Name Change Rebuild Or Destroy Brand Equity (Customer Loyalty And Brand Reputation) After Brand Crisis?: The Case of Malaysian Airline System (MAS)

“…This research findings is in accordance with Makasi et al (2014) claim, by positing that a good rebrand move will rebuild brand reputation and reinstates customer loyalty. However, it contradicts other claims which state that rebrand destroys the brand reputation and customer loyalty Collange, 2014;Roy & Sarkar, 2015). Based on the achieved findings and discussion, contributions were made.…”

“…Potentially, this study addresses the argument raised within few scholars, which states that rebranding rebuilds brand reputation and customer loyalty by Makasi, et al (2014) and the clime that rebranding destroys the brand reputation and customer loyalty Collange, 2014;Roy & Sarkar, 2015). Though, there were crisis effects on MAB last 2 years ago, due to the incidents that happened in 2013-2014 which resulted in the competition among the airline service companies (ASEAN Briefing, 2015); slowdown of public use of the Malaysia airline system to travel (Adapa, & Roy, 2017); drop of group revenue (MAS, 2014) that result to rebrand as name change.…”

“…On the contrary, researcher like Collange, (2014) believed that rebranding involving name change will destroy the reputation of the organization. This claim has been supported by Roy and Sarkar (2015) study which relates the negative effect of rebranding on the brand associations among the stakeholders. The practice of rebranding is classified in three different stages, small change as aesthetics, medium change as repositioning and full change as rebranding (Daly & Moloney, 2004).…”

Journal of Brand Management – Year end review 2015

“…In Issue 4, Roy and Sarkar (2015) used experimental design to study the effects of evolutionary rebranding for mobile phones on brand equity and consumer attitudes, in an emerging market and developing nation context. Calling upon cue utilization theory and information integration theory, along with the rebranding literature, one of the findings concluded that a market leader or an established brand may face a negative effect of rebranding from the consumers' perspective.…”