It's all about perception

Informative videos really aren't my thing, they tend to be long, boring and don't mesh well with my usual routine of 'watching' MST3K while screwing around with something else.  Then along came Mr. Sutherland and spoke some true words of wisdom.  Well not so much wisdom as it is a rarely acknowledged truth.

Now before the whole two of you that read my blog tab down and forget about this, hear me(him) out for a moment.  In the video I linked, he describes a precarious 'olde tyme' situation where Fredrick the Great of Prusia rebranded the potato.

To summarize, Fredrick wanted the Germanic population to take up potato farming along with wheat farming in order to help lower the possibility of famine.  The Prussian populace at the time didn't eat many vegetables so no one was really wanting to eat them, much less grow them.  So what he did, was that he declared the potato a royal food (meaning only royalty could eat it) and planted an exclusive crop of it and had it guarded (poorly).
Not long after there where 'illegal' underground potato growing operations.  he had successfully rebranded the potato as a luxury food by changing peoples perception on it.

Now what exactly does this story tell us?  Well a few things, the most important being that advertising any product, be it a rebranding or a new one, creating an atmosphere and aura about it to affect peoples perception of your product in a positive light is really the only way you're going to do business.

To put things in a better perspective, lets look at this scenario: there are quite a few companies out there that have changed their name due to bad publicity or public image.  For instance, Computer Associates Inc. ran into some pretty bad press in the late 90's concerning some fraud.  So do you close up shop for good? Heck no, you get yourself a name change, a new logo and update your branding to give the illusion of being a completely different company to the average joe.  Same cereal, different box.

Just keep in mind that: rebranding = fresh perception

It's how Old Spice can go from being a product for older men to a product designed for a younger, less serious market.  Perception is rebranding and rebranding is evolution.

Seems pretty obvious.  And it is.

Posted in: branding, old spice