I've seen two changes for well-known brands taking place in recent weeks -- one local, one global -- that have made me think about the good/bad in changing your brand. I believe one brand came through the change in a positive manner. I'm afraid, however, the other brand may have made a move they'll regret.
Overstock.com is changing and/or co-mingling their brand to be known as O.co. As an online company, their domain name is crucial to their brand (duh). I think this will work, however, because the updated brand is shorter, catchier, easier to remember and is supported by their branding history.
How so? You may recall their series of television ads in recent years promoting "The Big O." These ads often featured an attractive woman and succeeded (with intended sexual overtones) in associating the Overstock.com brand with the letter O. Overstock.com's recent branding efforts have also included specific branding/logo references to O. As a result, it appears to me that they've made a well-planned change and transition.
On the other hand, St. John's Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis, Mo., is changing its name to Mercy Hospital St. Louis. This is a branding change I do not understand. St. John's is a well-respected institution with decades of invested brand history. Why throw that away?
The hospital is a baby factory -- both of my kids were born there -- and they will have generations of St. Louisans still referring to their (or their children's) place of birth as St. John's. The name isn't going to go away for many, many years. In addition, the hospital has the area's most respected burn treatment unit. If you hear of someone being seriously burned, you assume they'll be treated at St. John's because that's how it has been for decades.
Those are just two examples of the hospital's strong brand recognition. So why make the change? Is it to avoid confusion with other hospitals also named St. John's? If that's the case, changing the brand to Mercy Hospital isn't a novel solution in my mind. You can't swing a stick in the medical community without encountering the word Mercy. It also causes additional confusion with the myriad of health care networks in St. Louis that seemingly have the word Mercy in their name.
In short, I still like the hospital but don't like their change. They've spent years building their brand and have nothing to show for what had been a worthwhile investment. What do you think?
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
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2 comments:
I'm very surprised to hear about St. John's name change. I have been calling it "St. John's" for years in short...making the change really confusing.
The "St. John's" portion of their brand certainly has been key, Gabby. It would have been nice to include at least some reference to that term in the new brand.
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