It's a no brainer that it takes years to build a brand. Why, then, are companies rebranding themselves -- sometimes after decades of holding on the logo and name? These rebranding exercises could provide a cue.
Take the case of the BPO subsidiary of Infosys, Progeon, which, this August, was renamed to Infosys BPO to be "known us to be an integral part of the Infosys group".
For Infosys, this was a logical move which followed Infosys buying out Citicorp's 23 per cent stake in Progeon for $115 million in April.
A single integrated brand for consulting, technology, and process outsourcing, made sense, according to Nandan Nilekani, CEO & MD, Infosys.
Last September, another BPO, Gecis, changed its name to Genpact and outlined a strategy to cross $1 billion in revenues by 2007-08.
Its rebranding followed the sale of 60 per cent stake by General Electric to private equity companies. Commenting on the new branding, Pramod Bhasin, President and CEO, had told the media that the name, Genpact, reflected brand promise -- generating value, commitment, partnership and impact.
The company's tagline is now Global Business Impact. The Genpact logo, "conveys pushing the envelope, aiming higher, and, of course, business impact," reasons the management.
On a smaller scale, just a couple of days back, Induslogic renamed itself to Globallogic, ostensibly "to better symbolise our expanded worldwide presence resulting from this merger (with Bonus Technologies)". But why did it wait so long? "We were looking at the right footprint before laying claims to being a global company," said Mukul Jain, COO.
Big brands, too, have reinvented themselves. Take the case of nearly $12 billion Kodak followed which replaced its 70-year old logo that does away with the graphic "K" and simply shifted to the word Kodak in a new typeface.
The company's distinctive red has been retained, though, but not the box that has contained the word 'Kodak' for the past 70 years. The logo change was designed to reflect Kodak's varied businesses -- from digital cameras, computer software, health imaging, pre-press and document imaging, reasoned the management.
Even the $28.5 billion networking equipment major, Cisco Systems, is planning a global rebranding campaign to gell with the consumer segment. Cisco has always been perceived as a boring networking company -- with bridges (its current logo has that) and routers.
The company hopes it can gain success in the consumer electronics and entertainment market with this rebranding exercise. The campaign which will include a new logo and new advertisements, is expected to be unveiled sometime in October this year.
And who can ignore the case of the nearly $40 billion technology major Intel. Among the most famous rebranding to be done this year (January) was getting the "Intel inside" brand reworked completely after 37 years - a move to "align the brand strategy with the platform".
Do you want to discuss stock tips? Do you know a hot one? Join the Stock Market Investments Discussion Group
© 2025 Rediff.com -