The Risks of Rebranding

Are you considering a refresh of your brand? Roger Martin says you should probably rethink that.

“When you rebrand, the [consumer’s] subconscious is saying ‘whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, where's that thing we were comfortable with?’ And in some sense, it puts you back to square one. You're now competing to establish a new habit,” he explains.

Martin is the former dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto — and one of the world’s leading thinkers on strategy.

In this episode, he explains how customer habits build “cumulative advantage” for brands — and why that’s so important, yet fragile. Martin also offers real-world examples of brand updates gone wrong (and right) —from laundry detergents to social media platforms and even the iPhone.

Key episode topics include: strategy, brand management, marketing, consumer behavior, cumulative advantage, Tide, Instagram.

HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week.

· Watch the original HBR Quick Study episode: Think Twice Before Updating Your Brand (2022)

· Find more episodes of the HBR Quick Study series on YouTube

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