What's Going on With Rebranding?

The trendy retailer giant, Target, has made some big changes in its marketing by going warehouse. Alongside their fashionable items, in the part of the store normally used for seasonal merchandise, the retailer has stacked hulking packages of bottled water and paper towels on pallets. Shelves are lined with supersize jugs of laundry detergent and bulk-size packages of batteries. Shoppers can dig through bins of $1 neon-colored flip flops and packs of athletic socks for $7.

Target believes that right now consumers are focused more on the price of toothpaste than buying a new bedroom lamp. The marketing plan is all part of a seven-week promotion, "The Great Save," started showing up in stores over the weekend. It's one of the retailer's boldest moves yet to signal to recession-battered consumers. Recently, Target's profits have plunged and they want to compete with warehouse stores like Costco and Sam's Club, which they believe have taken a lot of shopper's wallets in the past year. This just may work for them because they can differentiate themselves by not charging membership fees. I just know that Target walks a thin line. They need to be careful they don't change their stylish brand too much otherwise it could hurt them the other way.

When I read this story, I found it very funny because of the marketing changes their large competitor, Walmart made this summer. July 1st, 2009 Walmart recreated their very dry, hard logo and image into something that looks more organic and friendly. Their logo and name traditionally was all in capital letters and hyphenated with a star. Now, the name is capitalized, but the rest is lower case letters, no hyphen and there is a sunburst at the end of the name. Inside the store, changes have been made to make Walmart stores look less 'warehousey' and more department storish. There was no real reason for the change, but it coincided nicely with complaints about their environmental policies and court cases involving their labor laws.

Does rebranding work? I guess time will tell. As a marketer I believe that when you create a brand, you should stay true to it in order to properly 'build' it. However, if you can't survive as is, you must make a change. It's interesting that both of these similar retailers are taking on traits of the other to make more profit. This may cause concern for both of their traditional customers because they may not feel as comfortable going to something that 'feels' different than what they're use to. The coming year(s) will tell which company markets better; stays true to who they are and is able to pick up the other's customers along the way.