rebranding

[victor steinbok]

The OED only has the plain meaning that is rather equivalent to the earlier
ranchers' use:

Marketing. The application of a new brand identity to an existing product or
> service. Also in extended use.



This is a bit heavy-handed. There is a variation of "rebranding" that
implies more than mere change of label. It's the change of identity of a
/company/ in the wake of adverse publicity. The classics:

Archer Daniels Midland --> ADM (following several scandals of chemicals in
food)
Kentucky Fried Chicken --> KFC (to avoid the reference to "fried" food)
Blackwater --> XE (following a number of scandals involving killing of Iraqi
civilians)
Diebold Election Systems --> Premiere Election Solutions (following a
prolonged argument and subsequent demand for verifiable paper trail on
electronic voting machines)
US Air --> USAirways (following a crash)
AirTran --> ATA (following a series of crashes and a merger with a
charter-flight company ATA)
Southwestern Bell Corporation--> SBC Communications --> AT&T Inc. (following
separate acquisitions of the previously AT&T branded long-distance and
wireless telephone companies--AT&T Corporation and Cingular Wireless which
held rights to AT&T Wireless, as well as AT&T Broadband; Cingular had
previously eliminated the AT&T Wireless brand as it's original owners
BellSouth AT&T Corp had been successively absorbed into SBC.)

In each case, except the last one, rebranding was an attempt to run away
from a negative image that had become associated with the original corporate
brand (one could also add Esso --> Exxon). The SBC name change was less an
admission of a negative image (the company, despite its size, had one of the
lowest customer service ratings of all telecoms), then a result of a belief
in substantial good will still being associated with the AT&T brand.

The OED examples show examples of products being stripped of one kind of
label and getting slapped with another. These are not the same thing. And
the "extend use", such as the one Jon cites, is closer to the changing image
kind of rebranding than merely changing the label on some product (e.g.,
Cisco's change from Linksys to iPhone brand on some of their internet phones
in an attempt to prevent Apple from claiming the traidmark).

VS-)

On Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 4:46 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

>
> "Rebranding" was mentioned here in 2005 as it related to dreaming up new
> municipal slogans.
>
> CNN today has been talking at length about Saran Palin's "rebranding," her
> presumed attempt to "rebrand (herself)," and her "rebranding (bus) tour."
>
> It refers to improving one's public image in an obvious and profound way.
>
> JL

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