Rebranding: Yes or no?

Abstract

Marketing managers have to keep their brands relevant for consumers, and they do this in a variety of ways. Two popular ways are: constantly developing new products that are relevant for consumers; and refreshing the corporate visual identity (CVI) from time to time. Both strategies have their own pluses and minuses. As students of marketing usually study topics in isolation, they usually fail to appreciate the intricacies that marketing managers face in real-time when the topics interact with each other and create complex decision-making scenarios. This case study has been developed with the objective of sensitising students of marketing towards the finer nuances of marketing decision making that top managers face in real organisations. The case concerns a situation where a top car brand from India is facing an identity crisis. The brand is handled by a young manager, Raghav, who is the protagonist of the story. As expected, he uses a copy-book approach towards handling the problem but finds himself in a very tough situation. The case allows readers to become well-versed in the techniques of critical analysis of the situation as well as of the information available. It will also help readers dig deeper into the domains of new product development and brand repositioning. The case study will aid in triggering debate because it touches upon an area of particular interest to marketers. Furthermore, readers (being consumers themselves) have first-hand experience of brand repositioning. As this is a very interesting area, the business press and academic research allocate generous space to covering cases whenever and wherever they occur. Thus, students will not lack material to analyse and on which build their point of view.