The Man Maker: De-flowering a Brand.

In this blog post , I posted an article about the how the game was changing and how, no matter what we knew or said, things and forces way out of our control were at play shifting the tectonic plates of the  media industry.

A couple of weeks ago some of the most powerful people in the world, at least the 5^th richest man in Europe and all the Executives from the Zain Africa and Bharti Airtel Business came to the Kampala Serena to have their Leadership meeting. What a lot of people did not know was that they were also discussing the re-brand strategy of the business. The new single-minded look of the telco across Asia, the Middle East, and Africa!

In some markets like Uganda or Nigeria, the telco will be going through its 5^th or 6^th re-brand! What does this say about the brand?! But more importantly we should ask what does it say about any brand?!

An age-old brand building tenet is that “a brand that lasts is one that is loved”; anything that is loved seldom changes, especially where brands and consumer identification, adoption and conversion are concerned.  This is because in developing markets like Africa, it takes such a long time to build any semblance of brand loyalty and markets are very price sensitive. The resources it takes to build any decent brand loyalty mean any brand with a sense of self respect or humility won’t squander its consumer loyalty or recognition. Therefore if any brand were to consistently shape shift with its image, position, and proposition it must stand to answer the ominous question of why it has no grounding.

In the last decade, Proctor and Gamble tried to enter the East African market through their flagship brand; Ariel washing powder. In a classic case that has now been notarized in advertising and marketing history and strategy, they were repelled and sent packing. It would be another 10 years before they would broach the idea of a market breach again. Now they are back, albeit with a superior product and a different market entry strategy, but still wary of what people know and love; OMO. 

 But what does this have to do with a brand that originally came as celtel, changed to CELTEL, then Celtel,  then Zain. Now Bharti Airtel. It says the brand was well positioned, un-thoroughly thought through and has consistently been taken advantage of, similar to the “man-maker” in any village; the girl who is not a virgin and therefore all the boys who need to learn how to do it right go to her to try out their technique – and get it right! Any company that wants to enter Uganda’s projected young, westernized market goes, buys it and when it doesn’t work sells it off to the company wanting to try out their luck.

 

This is to hoping they get it right, one more time!