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From transforming struggling brands into household names to bewildering customers and investors alike, company rebrandings can make or break a business’s future. We’re diving into some of the most dramatic corporate reinventions — the brilliant moves that revived iconic companies and the baffling missteps that left everyone scratching their heads.
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00:00All of our competitors, what they're not targeting is a younger consumer.
00:04So we'll go after the millennial consumer.
00:07Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:09And today, we're counting down our picks for the 10 times a company rebranding either worked a charm
00:14or turned into nothing but a waste of money.
00:16Over half of those polled by Ad Age magazine feel big companies should get public input
00:22before changing logos or packaging or products at all.
00:26Number 5. Abercrombie & Fitch Saved
00:31And I would walk past Abercrombie and be like, what is so special about this store?
00:35It is so thin and white.
00:39This clothing brand was founded in 1892 and has since been through a variety of unique phases.
00:45Initially, it sold mainly outdoor apparel.
00:47But in the 80s and 90s, CEO Mike Jeffries changed their target audience.
00:51They began tailoring to the elite but used some controversial methods to do so,
00:56causing a ton of backlash.
00:58And I read this quote.
00:59It says,
01:00In every school, there are the cool kids.
01:03And then there are the not-so-cool kids.
01:06Candidly, we go after the cool kids.
01:08We go after the attractive, all-American kid with a lot of friends.
01:12Are we exclusionary?
01:14Absolutely.
01:16Eventually, Jeffries resigned in 2014.
01:18And a few years later, they underwent a major rebrand.
01:21In 2016, it was considered America's worst retailer.
01:25Now, they've become adored again, after targeting people from all walks of life.
01:30It proved to be a lucrative decision, with the company's shares climbing high during the 2020s.
01:35Abercrombie also revamped its supply chain and stopped relying on promotions to drive sales.
01:40It's now seeing its highest profits in more than a decade.
01:43And beating rivals, like Urban Outfitters, Gap, and American Eagle.
01:49Confused.
01:50This video streaming service is so successful, it's strange to think that it could have ever failed.
01:55Well, back in its early days, its main priority was DVD-by-mail rental.
01:59A few months ago, when we looked forward at our business, we realized, over time, DVD and streaming were becoming more and more different.
02:08And that we could do a better job for both services if we separated them.
02:13In 2011, they opted to split rental and streaming into two separate units.
02:18Netflix did the streaming, while Quickster did the rentals.
02:21Rather than paying $10 for the whole package, customers had to pay $7.99 for each service.
02:27Netflix lost half of its value in only two months after the change.
02:30We raised our rates from $10 a month to $16 a month.
02:34But that's not all.
02:35We knew you loved Netflix because it was an easy-to-use website for all your movie needs.
02:41To make it better, we split it into two separate, slightly more confusing sites.
02:45They lost roughly 800,000 U.S. subscribers, leaving them with no decision but to keep failing or undo their change.
02:52Needless to say, they picked the latter.
02:54And as we all know, it was the better business decision.
02:58Netflix spokesman says the company underestimated the appeal of a single website and single service,
03:03and it's scrapping the Quickster deal.
03:06Netflix CEO Reed Hastings says there is a difference between moving quickly and moving too fast,
03:11which is what we did in this case.
03:14Number four, Petco, saved.
03:16This pet supplies retailer began in 1965, and in the decades since,
03:21it's become one of America's largest pet stores.
03:23As your trusted partner in pet health and wellness,
03:27we understand that maintaining supplies for your entire family includes your pets.
03:33And for more than 50 years, we've served as a vital one-stop shop
03:38in serving the needs of millions of pets and their families.
03:42In 2020, during the pandemic, they changed their tagline and logo.
03:47The tagline went from Petco Animal Supplies to Petco, the health and wellness company.
03:51This was appreciated, but their logo change had more mixed reviews,
03:55since at first, the dog and cat were removed.
03:58People liked their decision to focus on health, though.
04:01I am able to provide a comprehensive medical plan combined with health and wellness for pets,
04:07while creating a really seamless experience for pet parents.
04:10The rebrand worked wonders for a few years,
04:12but they've unfortunately since started struggling again.
04:15One reason is that they stopped the sale of all foods with artificial ingredients.
04:19Their hearts were in the right place,
04:21but it cost them a lot of customers who preferred the cheaper items.
04:25We have mega bags and other solutions for them,
04:29but the pet industry has been relatively resilient to any macros.
04:33Number four, Royal Mail. Confused.
04:36I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it.
04:39I mean, I meant it, but I was so stupid that I didn't mean what I meant.
04:46If you live in Britain, you're certainly familiar with the Royal Mail.
04:49They're the UK's primary postal service and have been for decades.
04:53Their dominance was challenged in 2001,
04:56after historically poor business decisions.
04:58It became Consignia.
05:03Consignia.
05:04They decided they'd rather be named Consignia,
05:06to reflect to customers that they do things other than deliver post.
05:10It's estimated that it cost them about $2 million in total.
05:13After roughly a year of people detesting the new name,
05:17they caved and returned to their roots.
05:19This took them about another $1 million,
05:21making it one of the most expensive blunders in postal history.
05:25I imagine if you were the stupidest person you've ever met.
05:28Are you doing that?
05:30Yes, sir. I have them in my mind.
05:32Right, and now double it.
05:33And that is the, um, what can I say?
05:36The git that I am living with.
05:38Number 3. Dunkin' Donuts Saved
05:41Time to make the doughnuts.
05:46It isn't easy owning a Dunkin' Donut.
05:49This coffee and donut store chain was founded in 1950.
05:52For decades, they were known for their doughnuts,
05:54but people slowly became more interested in the coffee.
05:57The public also began shortening their name,
06:00simply calling it Dunkin'.
06:01So they decided to ditch the doughnuts and double down on their coffee.
06:05It's been called Dunkin' Donuts for 68 years,
06:07but in January, there are some big changes coming for the popular coffee chain,
06:11and that includes a new name.
06:13They rebranded in 2019 to simply Dunkin',
06:16creating a simple logo that was even easier to recognize.
06:20It has since proven to have been a wonderful business decision.
06:23It helped attract a younger audience,
06:25plus it made them a major player in the more competitive beverage industry.
06:30You see me?
06:33Number 3. Radio Shack. Confused.
06:37The 80s called.
06:38They want their store back.
06:40Over a century since it was founded in 1921,
06:43electronics retailer Radio Shack has been almost completely forgotten.
06:47A lot of its failures are attributed to its disastrous 2009 rebrand.
06:52They decided to rename themselves to simply The Shack.
06:55Are you going to call it that?
06:57Probably not.
06:58No.
06:59Radio Shack should be called Radio Shack.
07:00A new logo was also created,
07:02but it confusingly said Radio Shack, The Shack.
07:05This did immense harm to the business.
07:07A downward spiral began,
07:09leading them to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2015.
07:12It was purchased by General Wireless,
07:14which filed for bankruptcy itself in 2017.
07:17Radio Shack still exists,
07:19but it's primarily online,
07:20with few physical stores remaining.
07:22If you must know, Paradise had the last Radio Shack in the state,
07:26and it had a big going-out-of-business sale.
07:29Not the Shack!
07:30Who's going to service my Tandy voice-sampling keyboard?
07:33Number 2. Lego. Saved.
07:36Our next entry didn't rebrand the same way as the others on our list.
07:39Instead of simply changing their logo or name,
07:42they overhauled their entire business over the course of a few years.
07:46I call this Emmett's plan to get inside the tower,
07:49put the piece of resistance on the craggle,
07:51and save the world.
07:52It's hard to believe now,
07:54but around the turn of the century,
07:55Lego was declining in popularity.
07:58Jürgen Wig-Numstorp is the primary figure attributed to saving Lego.
08:01He became CEO in 2004,
08:04while they were on the verge of bankruptcy.
08:06For me, you know,
08:07a major paradigm shift is
08:09the core business is what is the most exciting,
08:12and what we need to continue to reinvent
08:14every year and make sure we build our business on in the future.
08:19Almost all unprofitable ventures were cancelled,
08:22and they began solely focusing on their core products.
08:25Now, Lego is widely successful,
08:27leading some people to jokingly claim
08:29Lego maintains its value better than actual money.
08:32They are really a striking example
08:34of basically a single product company
08:36that has grown dramatically
08:38in many different directions,
08:40while still staying focused on that single product,
08:43generally without acquisitions.
08:45Number two,
08:46Meta.
08:47Confused.
08:48Mark Zuckerberg is famous for founding
08:49the social media platform Facebook,
08:51alongside its respective company,
08:53Facebook Inc.
08:54It kept this name until 2021,
08:56when it decided to rename itself
08:58to Meta Platforms Inc.
09:00This was to reflect their new business focus,
09:02the metaverse.
09:03The next platform and medium
09:04will be even more immersive,
09:07an embodied internet
09:08where you're in the experience,
09:09not just looking at it.
09:11And we call this the metaverse.
09:13For those unaware,
09:14this is an online 3D virtual hangout world.
09:17Most people consider the platform
09:18to be a massive failure.
09:20Medic pitched the metaverse
09:21as a place to both work and play.
09:23Companies could host a virtual meeting.
09:25You could socialize with friends
09:27and play games in Horizon Worlds.
09:29Shopping and e-commerce
09:29were also part of that early vision.
09:31We're promised all these amazing experiences
09:33like Ready Player One,
09:35that it could be a wider difference
09:36than what we're actually seeing
09:38when we get in the device.
09:39A lot of false promises were made,
09:41pushing away fans.
09:43Alongside this,
09:44VR headsets were encouraged,
09:46with Meta's own costing hundreds of dollars.
09:48While it was a poor business decision,
09:51Meta seems way too big to fall,
09:52as their platforms are so popular.
09:55But the key thing is that
09:56investors just don't know for sure.
09:58And that uncertainty
09:59means they're punishing the share price.
10:01Before we unveil our top pick,
10:03here are a few honorable mentions.
10:05GoDaddy, Saved.
10:07People took them more seriously
10:08after removing the logo's
10:09strangely designed man.
10:11Your logo has to be about your brand
10:14and your business,
10:15and it has to really represent you.
10:17So that's why it's super important
10:18to be intentional with what your logo is,
10:20because at the end of the day,
10:22that's what people remember.
10:23MailChimp, Saved.
10:25A mascot redesign proved incredibly successful.
10:28Guess less with your marketing.
10:30Sell more with your MailChimp.
10:32Capital One, Confused.
10:34This bank's new logo looks like a design
10:36pulled from Star Trek,
10:37but not in a good way.
10:38It was logical to cultivate multiple options.
10:41Logical, but unnecessary.
10:43Gap, Confused.
10:45$100 million was spent on this rebrand,
10:47which lasted only six days.
10:50It turns out the graphic arts community
10:52on the web is a tough vocal crowd.
10:55One of them posted their own graphic opinion
10:58of the Gap logo.
10:59Others said of the new design,
11:01a child using a clip art gallery
11:03would have done a better job.
11:05Before we continue,
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11:21Number one, Burberry, Saved.
11:23We're the underdog.
11:24We weren't performing.
11:26You know, we weren't hugely profitable.
11:28So what do we have that they don't?
11:30What can we exploit that, you know,
11:32that they can't possibly compete with us on?
11:35In the present day,
11:36Burberry is a luxury fashion brand.
11:38During the 2000s,
11:39they were the complete opposite.
11:41In the UK,
11:42they were overwhelmingly associated
11:43with football hooligan culture.
11:45This was because their clothes
11:46were relatively cheap.
11:48Plus, there were tons
11:49of affordable fakes available.
11:50Eventually, along came Christopher Bailey,
11:52who became their creative director.
11:54Of course, we've got all the fashion
11:56and all the events,
11:57and we've got, you know,
11:58the clothes and the bags
11:59and the eyewear,
12:00but many, many different experiences.
12:02Bailey put his heart and soul
12:04into changing the brand identity.
12:06This included hiring star Emma Watson
12:08to model for them.
12:09Bailey's efforts were so adored
12:10that when he announced
12:11he was stepping down in 2018,
12:13the company's shares dropped by 2%.
12:16Everything is changing,
12:18and our industry is not immune
12:21to that change.
12:22And our customers are not immune
12:24to those changes.
12:26Number one,
12:27X, confused.
12:28The most scandalous rebrand
12:30of a social media platform
12:31is easily Twitter's.
12:33The website was known as Twitter
12:34from 2006 until 2023,
12:37when billionaire Elon Musk
12:38bought it for $44 billion.
12:41We got a little bit
12:42of a teaser last year.
12:43He tweeted about X
12:44becoming the everything app,
12:46more than just social media.
12:47And then over this weekend,
12:48we see a series of tweets from him,
12:50basically debuting the new logo,
12:53the new platform,
12:54and we have more detail, actually.
12:56It's been contentious for many reasons,
12:58with one main one being
12:59the terrible name change.
13:01Instead of retaining its old
13:02and catchy name,
13:04he renamed it X.
13:05Full rebranding.
13:06The company formerly known as Twitter,
13:08now X,
13:09is eventually expanding
13:10into audio, video,
13:11and banking.
13:13The giant X was projected
13:14onto the San Francisco headquarters
13:16last night.
13:17It's not the first time
13:18he's used the letter in a name.
13:19He's obsessed with it.
13:20This can be seen in his companies
13:22SpaceX,
13:23X.com,
13:24XAI,
13:25and even his child.
13:27But it's a mystery
13:27why he's so fond of it.
13:29Despite his efforts,
13:30people are still calling it Twitter,
13:32and will probably continue
13:33to do so indefinitely.
13:34He certainly does not seem
13:36to value his core users,
13:39and I think that
13:40it would be hard to see this
13:42as anything but another example
13:45of extraordinary arrogance
13:47wrapped in a bit of marketing,
13:49more than a bit of marketing ignorance.
13:51Do you have a favorite company
13:52rebranding of all time?
13:54And did it prove successful?
13:55Let us know in the comments below.
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