especially in the case of PR disasters a company might have faced? Or is a complete restructuring of the management, operations and structure required to make an impactful comeback? Ratan Lal Bhagat investigates the india connection
“Just a change in the name cannot be significant enough to undo the past deeds. The new name has to accomplish a noticeable and significant change in the ways the business entity under the new brand name would function,” Anand Halve, Co Founder, Chlorophyll, a brand consulting firm, enters the war room with all guns blazing. Does that mean that a name change is not enough, but is still a necessary factor to change the perceptions prevalent in the various stakeholders? Then why is it that Cadbury India, when it was hit by the biggest controversy some years back [monikered the worm controversy: some consumers found a few chocolates of Cadbury non palatable and some, even worms in those chocolates] and registered a gut wrenching decline in its sales, never changed its name but came up with a new marketing strategy [it roped in Amitabh Bachhan as a symbol of trust] to regain its customer base while revamping critical touchpoints in the packaging process of its chocolates?
“That’s because an organisation’s name carries value; it’s monetised globally and it’s called brand value,” says all India head of ICMR, Namita Chhetri, “For example, a globally top ranked Superbrand like Coca Cola would never change its name despite pesticide issue because though controversies scrape off brand value, if at the end of the tunnel the brand value remains significantly positive. That’s the case with Cadbury too!”
It is true that the Mahindra-Satyam management is undertaking tactical restructuring steps to make the most out of the situation and to win back the faith of its existing stakeholders and prospective investors. “With the current initiative, we will witness steps by the management to adopt and inculcate the values of performance, ‘customer first’, good corporate governance and citizenship, which are drawn from the Mahindra Group,” envisions Vineet Nayyar, Executive Vice-Chairman, Mahindra-Satyam Board. But still, many experts do comment that the Mahindra Satyam name change is actually not a perfectly positioned move as the name Satyam, after the controversy, has acquired too much of a negative value [Disagrees Nayyar, “This is a significant milestone towards the recovery of the company. We are optimistic that this new brand will re-energise the organisation and will be well received by all our stakeholders”]
Accenture’s initial public offering in July 2001 got a heartwarming response as on the very first day, it raised a record $1.7 billion approximately. And much of it perchance thanks to the new name. Axis Bank, with its great marketing strategy, has evolved as a renowned brand in itself and has made considerable financial advances (an increase of 69.4% in its net profits for FY09 at Rs.1,814 crores) since it rebranded itself. In this case, although branding helped considerably, it is true that even restructuring contributed at large to the increase in profits.
In the case of AIU and Mahindra Satyam, it’s yet early days to gauge the aftermath of their recent re-jig. But if one were to take away the biggest learning, from this exercise, it would surely be that there is ‘much ado about something’, and that’s the name. A name change does go a long way in reorienting a corporation’s positioning within stakeholders; but only in the case when a corporation’s past name has negative brand value... Think about it; if I were to change my name, would you still read my articles? Hey, do you even know my name in the first place?
For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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IIPM Admission Detail
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON
“Just a change in the name cannot be significant enough to undo the past deeds. The new name has to accomplish a noticeable and significant change in the ways the business entity under the new brand name would function,” Anand Halve, Co Founder, Chlorophyll, a brand consulting firm, enters the war room with all guns blazing. Does that mean that a name change is not enough, but is still a necessary factor to change the perceptions prevalent in the various stakeholders? Then why is it that Cadbury India, when it was hit by the biggest controversy some years back [monikered the worm controversy: some consumers found a few chocolates of Cadbury non palatable and some, even worms in those chocolates] and registered a gut wrenching decline in its sales, never changed its name but came up with a new marketing strategy [it roped in Amitabh Bachhan as a symbol of trust] to regain its customer base while revamping critical touchpoints in the packaging process of its chocolates?
“That’s because an organisation’s name carries value; it’s monetised globally and it’s called brand value,” says all India head of ICMR, Namita Chhetri, “For example, a globally top ranked Superbrand like Coca Cola would never change its name despite pesticide issue because though controversies scrape off brand value, if at the end of the tunnel the brand value remains significantly positive. That’s the case with Cadbury too!”
It is true that the Mahindra-Satyam management is undertaking tactical restructuring steps to make the most out of the situation and to win back the faith of its existing stakeholders and prospective investors. “With the current initiative, we will witness steps by the management to adopt and inculcate the values of performance, ‘customer first’, good corporate governance and citizenship, which are drawn from the Mahindra Group,” envisions Vineet Nayyar, Executive Vice-Chairman, Mahindra-Satyam Board. But still, many experts do comment that the Mahindra Satyam name change is actually not a perfectly positioned move as the name Satyam, after the controversy, has acquired too much of a negative value [Disagrees Nayyar, “This is a significant milestone towards the recovery of the company. We are optimistic that this new brand will re-energise the organisation and will be well received by all our stakeholders”]
Accenture’s initial public offering in July 2001 got a heartwarming response as on the very first day, it raised a record $1.7 billion approximately. And much of it perchance thanks to the new name. Axis Bank, with its great marketing strategy, has evolved as a renowned brand in itself and has made considerable financial advances (an increase of 69.4% in its net profits for FY09 at Rs.1,814 crores) since it rebranded itself. In this case, although branding helped considerably, it is true that even restructuring contributed at large to the increase in profits.
In the case of AIU and Mahindra Satyam, it’s yet early days to gauge the aftermath of their recent re-jig. But if one were to take away the biggest learning, from this exercise, it would surely be that there is ‘much ado about something’, and that’s the name. A name change does go a long way in reorienting a corporation’s positioning within stakeholders; but only in the case when a corporation’s past name has negative brand value... Think about it; if I were to change my name, would you still read my articles? Hey, do you even know my name in the first place?
For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM fights meltdown, places 2300 students By Education Mail Bureau
Delhi/ NCR B- Schools get better By Swati Sharma
Detail of all IIPM branches
IIPM set to beat economic slowdown
IIPM Admission Detail
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON
