Rebranding RWE to innogy
Assignment
Find out what visual, word or sound signals customers associate exclusively with the RWE brand and use them for rebranding to innogy. This will increase the acceptance of the new brand and help build on the positive perceptions of the original brand.
Solution
In the research that preceded RWE’s rebranding to innogy, we used the new Brand WIN methodology based on the findings of behavioral economics. It moves research closer to the way we decide in real life. It helped us quantify the so-called “distinctive brand assets” of RWE and its competitors at a subconscious level, and thus map out the key elements and visual, word, and sound signals that customers associate with the brand and that really differentiate it from others.
As part of the test, elements that function as signals of RWE and several selected competitors were tested. How does it work? Most questions have a time limit in seconds, which is much closer to real life decision making, for example, when shopping, you do not read the packaging of all foods in detail, but you respond to the brand, color of the packaging, or just the words “SPECIAL PRICE” without doing the math. Similarly, there is a system of questions that need to be answered quickly without a long thought.
Another element is the removal of traditional quantitative scales and their complete replacement by emotional cards (faces that express different emotional states). In real life, we can quite well read the reaction expressed in the other person’s face, so we use the same approach in research. Instead of choosing on a scale, “I’m very interested”, the respondent clicks on the smiling face and his/her reaction is clear. The set of eight emotions we use is based on the findings of psychology.
So what was the benefit of all this?
Research showed several times where not to go. Originally the brand team considered using for the rebranding the fact that it was a strong German (or global) brand, but research showed that this link in relation to RWE did not work subconsciously. Another consideration was to link the rebranding to the supply of both energies (electricity + gas) at one time, but we found that electricity had not been a strong part of the RWE world yet, so it did not make sense to focus on it in the initial phase of rebranding.
On the contrary, the elements that formed the DNA of the RWE brand worked very well during the rebranding and that sped up people’s sense of innogy being their brand. When we subsequently Neuro tested two TV commercials from the innogy rebranding campaign, we were surprised how positive the reaction of the brain was, triggered specifically by the new brand innogy. People generally tend to reject changes of established brands, but in this case, it seemed no to “hurt” at all.
If you want to know more about how to identify the key benefits of your brand against your competitors and significantly increase your market share, please contact Hana Kloučková at +420 603 523 484 or e-mail: klouckova@confess.cz.
