A brand accent or device is an image associated with a brand that needn't appear every time the brand is used, but nevertheless represents the brand - for example, the meerkat character Aleksandr Orlov is a device of CompareTheMeerkat.com or ‘Tetley Tea Folk’ is a representation of Tetley tea.
Initially, the first accent used will establish corporate identity, brand identity and brand image, creating a loyal consumer base for brand extension. However, brand extension must be tackled carefully in order to retain loyal consumers.
As brands develop they begin the process of evolving their marketing campaign through the use of an accent, while retaining a consistent brand experience through logo, colour, typography and visual style. However, recent trends show that some well-known brands are starting to return to former accents, retrospectively engineering their brand experience to move forward.
There is a conflict in opinion as to whether returning to a brand’s former accent is a shrewd strategic plan, a confusing backward step, a cost-cutting method or just pure laziness. If it forms part of a strategic plan then the question must be asked: why?
Tetley received more than 10,000 requests for the familiar faces to return through social media including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
At Cre8ive Wisdom HQ we know some of the reasons for brand backtracking:
- Nostalgic feelings evoked
- Reminder of life pre-recession
- Restoration of trust and recognition (that may have been lost on accent transition) through product familiarity
- Restatement of brand experience or status
This can be clearly seen when taking Tetley Tea as a case study. Tetley Tea was represented for 20 years by the ‘Tetley Tea Folk’, which in 2001 was replaced with a campaign to target a generation of young tea drinkers.
However, after 10 years off screen the ‘Tetley Tea Folk’ were relaunched, albeit with a new concept and a modern, ‘blinged up’ image, as Tetley’s advertising accent. We assume that as a brand progresses the accent must maintain a modern look if it wishes to sustain and advance its market position and consumer base, so why did Tetley backtrack?
Tetley received more than 10,000 requests for the familiar faces to return through social media including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. How could a company, with clearly so many loyal customers, create a new campaign that goes against what the revenue generating consumers want?
If Tetley ignored their main source of revenue then the brand could create a negative identity and potentially lose a large proportion of its customer base. This campaign, along with others such as ‘Compare the Meerkat’, show just how great an impact social media alone can have on the exploitation of characters and decisions of a brand.
Iconic
Also from a product angle, Campbell’s soup is to relaunch after being absent from the shop shelves for over two years. However, the brand is to return with a new image where the iconic soup tins (immortalised by Andy Warhol as a subject for his pop-art) will be rendered redundant and replaced with packets and boxes.
There are plenty of naysayers who believe the revival of former accent identities is a lazy, unimaginative and cost-saving approach to garnering publicity.
Whether supposed experts adjudge the approach insipid, the campaigns often work in the truest sense, buttressing brand recognition and goodwill among customers. Additionally, a campaign that worked decades ago stands a reasonable chance of working once again with a new generation if the concept is adapted to modern ways.
Other recent back-tracking brands include Thomas Cook, which returned to the ‘Don’t just book it, Thomas Cook it’ slogan, the return of the OXO family and Milky Way rerunning an animated TV advert campaign that originally aired in the 1980s, but with a new strapline.
