By Abdullah Niazi
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hy do companies rebrand? Sometimes, it is a matter as simple as updating an outdated image or wanting a new logo to get some much-needed marketing momentum. On other occasions, it is a much more complicated affair. International growth, new management, a PR nightmare, or a bad reputation could all prompt a corporate rebranding. This rebranding can be proactive or reactive, which means a company can either choose to undergo one to actively try and change course or they could have been forced to do so by public pressure or bad press over some incident. Whatever the case might be, a company going through a rebranding is trying to say one thing - something is about
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to change. A new logo can indicate a change in values and ethos or a change in direction and outlook. Daraz, the multinational e-commerce and logistics technology company based in Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, has recently gone through a rebranding that has resulted in a lot of chatter within marketing and advertising circles. With a shiny new logo designed by a London-based creative brand agency, Daraz is pushing their rebranding efforts by supplementing it with a new website and a large marketing campaign. The only question is, will the changes that come with the rebranding make any difference?
Why rebrand?
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hether the rebranding is proactive or reactive makes all the difference in the world. Most companies have to rebrand in response to something. Take, for
example, Subway. The American multinational fast-food chain released a new logo after the 2016 Olympics to try and draw attention away from sexual misconduct allegations against their former spokesperson Jared Fogle. This is the kind of situation where a company undergoes a rebranding to symbolise change in the wake of bad press. A more locally relevant example of this would be the pivot made by skin-care cream Fair and Lovely, which in September 2020 announced that they would be changing their product’s name to ‘Glow and Lovely’ and removing all references to “skin lightening” and “skin whitening” on their product. Fair and Lovely had been under criticism for promoting colourism for years, but were forced to make the change due to public pressure. On the other hand, a company could also go through a rebranding like Airlift did in Pakistan when they made their pivot from mass transit startup to grocery delivery.
