Future of MNC

CORPORATE BRAND REJUVENATION
YANIC SMIT
Research report presented in partial fulfilment

of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Business Administration
at the University of Stellenbosch
Supervisor: Prof F.J. Herbst
Degree of confidentiality: C December 2011

Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za
ii
Declaration
By submitting this research report electronically, I, Yanic Smit, declare that the entirety of the work
contained therein is my own, original work, that I am the owner of the copyright thereof (unless to
the extent explicitly otherwise stated) and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part
submitted it for obtaining any qualification.
Y. Smit 31 October 2011
Copyright © 2011 Stellenbosch University

All rights reserved
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Acknowledgements
Thank you to my mom, Elizabeth Lyell, and sister, Jeanne Oets, who walked this journey with me
for the past two years. Thank you for your support and hours and hours of listening. Heloise, thank
you for your support by always trying to take off the extra load. Prof Frikkie Herbst, thank you for
always making the time to listen to my discoveries and ideas. To my fellow class mates of the Full-
Time MBA class of 2010, thank you for sharing this journey with me.
There are also not enough words to thank Eric Lyell and Christa and Fred Whelpton. Without them
this would not have been possible.
Thank you Frits for being by my side every single minute and word typed.
Blood, sweat and tears, it was all worth it! Thank you!
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Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate why and when corporate brands in the retail
environment rejuvenate, with the aim to determine the key components that plays a role in the
corporate brand rejuvenation process. Furthermore, the study aims to investigate the impact that
the brand rejuvenation has on the four components of Aaker’s brand equity model (brand loyalty,
brand awareness, perceived quality and brand association).
The study used Woolworths as a case study and is divided into three sections. The first section
aims to study the principles and concepts of corporate brand rejuvenation. Secondly, the study
aims to investigate the process of brand rejuvenation in Woolworths. The last section will
investigate the impact that brand rejuvenation has on the four components of Aaker’s brand equity
model (brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality and brand association).
A qualitative research design was selected with a single case study at Woolworths South Africa.
The case study examines the thought process of the decision makers during the brand
rejuvenation process and the effect that the business model had on the corporate brand
rejuvenation. The study also aims to investigate if the life cycle of the brand plays a vital role in the
rejuvenation process of the corporate brand.
The study will go into more depth on the effect that the world recession had on the corporate brand
rejuvenation process and determine whether the corporate brand rejuvenation had a positive effect
on the bottom line of the business.
The study found that Woolworths mostly went against the principles and theory of corporate brand
rejuvenation, yet the organisation still showed good growth after the brand rejuvenation process.
Furthermore, even though Woolworths did not use theory as a guideline for brand rejuvenation, the
strategic decisions made within the business model had a very positive effect on the bottom line of
the business. It is clear from this study that the brand strategy needs to be aligned with the
business strategy.
The principles of brand rejuvenation will differ from industry to industry and therefore it is
recommended that theory needs to be written on corporate brand rejuvenation, specifically for the
retail environment. The processes and principles of brand rejuvenation that work for a service
brand such as a bank, will not necessarily work for a retail brand. The study suggests that
organisations that decide to rejuvenate brands should have a strong and integrated brand strategy
that is aligned with the business model of the organisation.
Key words:
Corporate brand name, corporate brand, product brand, corporate brand identity, brand values,
corporate brand image, corporate brand rejuvenation, corporate rebranding, corporate brand life
cycle, brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality, brand association.
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Table of contents
Declaration ii
Acknowledgements iii
Abstract iv
List of figures xvi
List of acronyms and abbreviations xvii
CHAPTER 1 ORIENTATION 1
1.1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.2 BACKGROUND 2
1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT 3
1.3.1 Research questions 3
1.3.2 Research objectives 3
1.4 LITERATURE REVIEW 4
1.4.1 Branding 4
1.4.2 Brand life cycle 6
1.4.3 Corporate rebranding 7
1.4.4 Corporate brand rejuvenation 7
1.4.5 Brand equity 9
1.5 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY 9
1.5.1 Qualitative research versus quantitative research 9
1.5.2 Questionnaire design 10
1.5.3 Data collection and analysis 10
1.6 CHAPTER OUTLINE 11
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 12
2.1 INTRODUCTION 12
2.2 CORPORATE BRANDING 12
2.2.1 Corporate brands versus product brands 12
2.2.2 Value of the corporate brand name 13
2.2.3 Corporate visual brand identity 14
2.2.4 Role of corporate visual brand identity in the brand rejuvenation process 15
2.2.5 Corporate brand image 15
2.3 CORPORATE REBRANDING VERSUS BRAND REJUVENATION 16
2.3.1 Corporate rebranding 16
2.3.2 Corporate brand rejuvenation 19
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2.4 AAKER BRAND EQUITY MODEL 25

2.4.1 Five categories of a brands assets 26
2.5 CHAPTER SUMMARY 36
CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 37
3.1 INTRODUCTION 37
3.2 UNIT OF ANALYSIS 37
3.3 THE DISCUSSION GUIDE 37
3.4 DATA COLLECTION method 38
3.5 DATA ANALYSIS 38
CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS 40
4.1 INTRODUCTION 40
4.2 THE PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS 40
4.3 PART A: TO STUDY THE PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS OF BRAND
REJUVENATION 40
4.4 QUESTION 1: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS 41
4.4.1 Question 1: Similarities in the discussion guide answers 41
4.4.2 Question 1: Differences in the discussion guide answers 41
4.4.3 Question 1: Similarities in comparison with theory 41
4.4.4 Question 1: Differences in comparison with theory 41
4.4.5 Question 1: Interpretations 41
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4.8.2 Question 5: differences in the discussion guide answers 48
ix

4.18 QUESTION 15: COMPARaTIVE ANALYSIS 56

4.22 PART B: TO INVESTIGATE THE PROCESS OF BRAND REJUVENATION THAT
WOOLWORTHS USED 60
xi

4.28 QUESTION 24: COMPARative ANALYSIS 65
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4.34 Question 30: comparative analysis 73
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4.40 PART C: TO INVESTIGATE THE IMPACT THAT BRAND REJUVENATION HAS ON THE
FOUR COMPONENTS OF AAKER’s BRAND EQUITY MODEL (BRAND LOYALTY,
BRAND AWARENESS, PERCEIVED QUALITY AND BRAND ASSOCIATION) 77
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4.49 QUESTION 44: COMparative ANALYSIS 84
xv
CHAPTER 5 SUMMARY, LESSONS LEARNED, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 88
5.1 INTRODUCTION 88
5.2 SUMMARY OF MAIN FINDING IN SECTION A 88
5.3 SUMMARY OF MAIN FINDING IN SECTION B 91
5.4 SUMMARY OF MAIN FINDING IN SECTION C 93
5.4.1 Brand loyalty 93
5.4.2 Brand awareness 94
5.4.3 Perceived quality 94
5.4.4 Brand association 94
5.5 LESSONS LEARNED FROM SECTION A: TO STUDY THE PRINCIPLES AND
CONCEPTS OF BRAND REJUVENATION 94
5.6 LESSONS LEARNED FROM SECTION B 96
5.7 LESSONS LEARNED FROM SECTION C 97
5.7.1 Brand loyalty 97
5.7.2 Brand awareness 98
5.7.3 Perceived quality 98
5.8 RECOMMENDATIONS 99
5.9 FURTHER RESEARCH 99
APPENDIX A: DISCUSSION GUIDE 103
APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW MARKETING DIRECTOR 110
APPENDIX C: INTERVIEW HEAD OF CREATIVE STUDIO 120
APPENDIX D: INTERVIEW CEO SIMON SUZMAN 125

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List of figures
Figure 1.1: Woolworths’ old and new logo design 2
Figure 1.2: Brand life cycle 6
Figure 1.3: Life cycle of the rejuvenated brand 8
Figure 2.1: Life cycle of the rejuvenated brand 24
Figure 2.2: Measuring brand loyalty 28
Figure 2.3: The awareness pyramid 30

xvii
List of acronyms and abbreviations
AMA American Marketing Association
CEO chief executive officer
DA Democratic Alliance
FMCG fast moving consumer goods
i.e. id est
LSM living standards measure
PR public relations
Ps people, product, place, price, promotion
SKUs stock-keeping units
UK United Kingdom
CHAPTER 1
ORIENTATION
1.1 INTRODUCTION
During the last decade most of South Africa’s leading food retailers repositioned themselves in the
South African market and rebranded their corporate brands. The leading grocery retail brands in
South Africa are Pick ‘n Pay (33% market share), Shoprite Checkers (30% market share), Spar
(26% market share) and Woolworths with a total market share of 10 percent (Fin24, 2010).
Since early 2000, Pick ‘n Pay, Checkers, Spar and Woolworths started to compete for market
share in the living standards measure (LSM) 8-10 group. This is also when the rebranding period
started for the specific food retail brands. In 2007 Pick ‘n Pay rebranded to refresh its image and to
take on its rivals to secure the LSM 8–10 group. Shortly afterwards, in November 2009 the
Woolworths brand was also rejuvenated and now has a fresher and modern look and feel. Shoprite
Checkers repositioned their Checkers brand, also to target the wealthier market. The Checkers
brand was repositioned to be the market leader in the cheese and wine category.
In the South African context, there is no literature study on the rebranding and brand rejuvenation
phenomenon that South Africa has seen over the last decade in the food retailer industry. The
study will give a clear indication why brands decide to rejuvenate and on what they base the brand
rejuvenation decision. The study will also do in depth research on a corporate brand’s life cycle
and when it is a good time for a corporate brand to rebrand or rather follow a brand rejuvenation
strategy. It will then investigate the principles, and main differences between corporate rebranding
and corporate brand rejuvenation. Once the theory is understood, analysis will be done on the
latest brand rejuvenation of Woolworths. In depth interviews will be held to gain knowledge of the
brand rejuvenation process and determine whether the brand was in the decline stage of the
brand’s life cycle. The research will also give the reader a clear indication if the theory of corporate
brand rejuvenation can be implemented in the South African context.
Secondly, the study will investigate Aaker’s brand equity model and how brand rejuvenation has an
impact on the four components of Aaker’s model (i.e. brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived
quality and brand associations). The study will not measure brand equity, but rather look into why
Woolworths has decided to rejuvenate their brand and how the way of brand rejuvenation had an
effect on the four components of Aaker’s brand equity model. The research will not cover the effect
that brand rejuvenation has on Aaker’s model, but rather how brand rejuvenation has an impact on
the four main components of the Aaker model, i.e. brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived
quality and brand association
1.2 BACKGROUND
Woolworths represents an organisation that stands for quality and quality features in all of its sub
product brands. The Woolworths brand also works on an emotional level by building a trust
relationship with its customers and it has been in the South African retail environment since
October 1931. Since its inception, the essence of the brand was built around quality. In 2007
Woolworths was voted as South Africa’s most trusted brand in the annual 2004 Business Trust
Barometer, a national survey rating (MarketingX, 2004).
In 2009 Vince Frost was appointed as Woolworths’ creative director and has led the repositioning
of the retail chain since. In November 2009 Woolworths changed their logo from using its full name
to only a W. The rebranding was not done with any promotional support, but rather a phase in
approach was used.
Figure 1.1: Woolworths’ old and new logo design
It is evident from the Figure 1.1 that the new Woolworths logo is more contemporary and modern
than its predecessor. The predecessor logo had a more conservative and stylish feel to it.
1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT
Every brand moves through a life cycle. During the life cycle of the brand, managers keep on
reinforcing the brand by means of different marketing activities and promotions. By reinforcing a
brand continuously, the brand grows and the brand equity increases. At some stage in the life
cycle of the brand, the brand reaches maturity and goes into a declining stage. When a brand
reaches maturity, brand managers need to decide whether to rebrand the brand and give it a new
life, or to sell the brand, or they can even decide to let the brand fade away and die eventually
(Lehu, 2008:19).
As time changes, new trends enter the market and the brand needs to adapt to the new
environment or it will lose its competitiveness. Therefore brands continuously need to reposition
themselves to fit the market needs. As discussed earlier, all brands reach a maturity stage and
move into the decline stage. When a brand reaches the decline stage, theory shows that a brand
should be rejuvenated and move into the growth stage again (Lehu, 2008:19).
The study will look into the principles of corporate rebranding and brand rejuvenation and when
and how a corporate brand should rejuvenate. To understand if the brand rejuvenation process
was successful one needs to look at the impact that the corporate brand rejuvenation had on brand
loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality and brand associations (four components of Aaker’s
brand equity model).
This study will also investigate if Woolworths followed the life cycle theory, before rejuvenating their
brand in 2010.
1.3.1 Research questions
Primary research question:
Why and when do brands decide to rejuvenate?
1.3.2 Research objectives
1.3.2.1 Primary research objective
The primary research objective is to study the reasons for brand rejuvenation.
1.3.2.2 Secondary objectives
 To study the principles and concepts of brand rejuvenation.

 To investigate the process of brand rejuvenation in Woolworths.

 To investigate the impact that brand rejuvenation has on the four components of Aaker’s
brand equity model (brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality and brand
association).
1.4 LITERATURE REVIEW
The literature review consists of two parts. The first part will give a theoretical background on
branding and corporate branding. The second part of the literature review will look at the concepts
and principles of corporate rebranding and corporate brand rejuvenation and the reasons why
corporate companies rejuvenate their brands. Lastly, the study will investigate what impact the
corporate brand rejuvenation had on the four components of Aaker’s brand equity model (i.e. brand
loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality and brand associations). Other propriety brand assets
will not be discussed in this paper.
1.4.1 Branding
The American Marketing Association (AMA) describes a brand as a “name, term, symbol or design
or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of
sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition” (Van Auken, 2001:5). According to van
Auken (2001:xi), a brand is so much more; it is becoming the differentiator that influences the
customers’ decision-making. It is the focal point around which an organisation defines its the
unique product/service offered to the customer. A brand will grow and prosper if the brand is well
conceived by the consumer.
Organisations are starting to realise that their brand is one of their most important assets. There is
increasing evidence that if an organisation has a strong brand, it will have the following benefits
(Van Auken, 2003:xii):
 Increase revenue and market share.

 Decrease the price sensitivity of the consumer.
 Increase customer loyalty.
 Increase profitability.
 Increase the stock price and the shareholder value.
 Increase clarity of vision.
 Increase the ability to expand into new products and service categories.
 Increase ability to attract and retain high quality employees.
Brands can be divided into different categories, namely a corporate brand, product brand, service
brand and personal brand. Each one of these will be discussed in more detail below.
1.4.1.1 Corporate brand
Aaker (2004:7) defined corporate brand as “As the brand that defines the organisation that delivers
and stands behind the offering, the corporate is defined primarily by organisational associations. In
particular, a corporate brand will potentially have a rich heritage, assets and capabilities, people,
values and priorities, a local or global frame of reference, and a performance record”. A corporate
brand has the highest level of the hierarchy, followed by the product or service brand. A corporate
brand name may entice associations between values and programmes, corporate credibility,
common products, social responsibility and people. The above-mentioned associations can have
an effect on the brand equity of the individual products of the corporate brand.
In a study done by Merrilees and Miller (2008:538) corporate brands were compared to product
brands and the following was proven: Firstly, the organisation features more strongly in corporate
brands and internal branding is more emphasised. Secondly, corporate brands are more likely to
be controlled by top management, because it is more strategic and central. Thirdly, product brands
are more functional based, while corporate brands are more abstract. Lastly, corporate brands are
more complex than product brands, because they usually have different brands under the
corporate brand.
Corporate branding needs to be carefully built and be more open with public information sharing.
Therefore organisations need to invest in their corporate brand, to build strong corporate brand
equity and in return their product brand equity will follow. Consumers place their trust in brands. As
soon as the consumer trusts the corporate brand, product trust will follow.
1.4.1.2 Product brands
“A product brand is something that you use by one of your five senses. “A product brand is a
name, term, symbol or design (or a combination of them) that identifies a product and distinguishes
it from competitor product” (MarketED, 2009).
1.4.1.3 Service brands
A service brand consists of intangible values. This type of brand is something that you can buy or
sell, but you cannot touch it (Global Brands, 2011). A service brand is created in the mind of the
consumer and can only be judged through experience or word of mouth. A service brand can also
be defined as an invisible thread of communication and it is highly customised to meet a specific
target market’s need. A successful service brand provides support to the target market and lets the
customer engage rather transact (Blue Wisdom, 2011b).
1.4.1.4 Personal brands
A personal brand is nothing other than a product and service brand. The brand must communicate
and connect with the target market and or audience by citing similarities in values, beliefs and
personalities (Blue Wisdom, 2011a). A personal brand is not what you think about your own brand,
but is what other people think about you. It is vital for personal brands to create a strong
association in the mind’s eye of the consumer and then the person should establish good
connections with the audience or target market (Blue Wisdom, 2011a).
1.4.2 Brand life cycle
As with a product, a brand ages over time and loses its appeal and relevance to the customer. This
is ultimately the phenomenon of ageing. Therefore the concept of a product life cycle can be
applied to a brand as well (Lehu, 2008:19). The study will investigate the life cycle of a corporate
brand and tools that can revive the brand and make sure that the brand does not have a slow
death. The study will investigate two tools that any corporate brand can use to revive the brand,
namely corporate rebranding and corporate brand rejuvenation (primary research objective).
Emphasis is placed on and in depth research done on corporate brand rejuvenation to understand
why Woolworths followed a corporate brand rejuvenation angle (secondary research objective)?
Figure 1.2: Brand life cycle

Source: Lehu, 2008:19.
1.4.3 Corporate rebranding
“Corporate rebranding can be identified as the creation of a new name, term, symbol, design or
combination of them for an established brand with the intention of developing differentiated (new)
positioning in the mind of the stakeholders or competitors” (Muzellec & Lambkin, 2006:804). The
rationale behind this process is for the corporate organisation to communicate to the target market
that something about the organisation has changed. Reasons for corporate companies to rebrand
might be mergers and acquisitions, new competitors in the market place that have changed the
market environment, to introduce a new global image into the market and lastly, organisations
might rebrand because of an outdated image.
Corporate rebranding is expensive and according to Stuart (2003:178) there appear to be more
failures than success.
1.4.4 Corporate brand rejuvenation
To extend the life cycle of the brand, marketers need to reinforce brands by means of marketing
activities or business strategic activities. This will help to keep the brand alive and maintain or even
increase brand equity. When a brand starts to decline in its life cycle and is struggling to hold
market share, it should be revitalised or it will eventually die. Renovating the face of the brand by
changing its logo, logo and slogan, slogan only, name plus logo or name plus logo plus slogan can
rejuvenate a brand. By changing only one of these elements, the brand is evolutionised, however,
when the logo, slogan and name are being changed the change will be a revolutionary change
(Muzellec & Stuart, 2004:474).
This paper will focus on corporate rebranding as a brand rejuvenation tool that can be identified as
many facets of brand renewal, such as a makeover, refreshment, reinvention, repositioning
and/renaming (Merrilees & Miller, 2008:537).
1.4.4.1 Describing brand rejuvenation
According to Lehu (2008:71), a brand needs to be rejuvenated when the audit of the brand reveals
two things:
 The brand is ageing (decline stage in life cycle).

 Sufficient residual potential to justify brand rejuvenation.
When the brand is ready to be rejuvenated, the repositioning of the brand must be investigated first
so that it will entice the target market. Brand rejuvenation can be seen as an injection of new life
into a brand. The figure below shows that a brand should be rejuvenated as soon as it reaches the
decline stage of the life cycle.
Figure 1.3: Life cycle of the rejuvenated brand

1.4.4.2 Principles of brand rejuvenation
According to Lehu (2008:72), for a rejuvenation plan to be successful, the brand should have a
long history and heritage, which created loyal customers and empathy for the brand. Secondly, the
brand should have a strong competitive advantage, because of its product, style, advertising and
packaging. Thirdly, the brand’s product range should be in the medium to premium product range
When a corporate brand reaches the rejuvenation stage, it is important that all the departments in
the company change their culture and their mindset to suit the “new” brand.
The most important factor for any brand to be successfully rebranded is for the whole organisation
to make a shift in their culture and mindset.
1.4.4.3 Process of brand rejuvenation
At this stage, organisations need to look at the internal business strategy and decide if only the
corporate brand should be rejuvenated or if they should rejuvenate the corporate brand and the
sub brands. As soon as the organisation has made this strategic decision, brand rejuvenation can
take place (Lehu, 2008:72).
1.4.5 Brand equity
Strong brands are being built over time and measured as brand equity. Lasser, Mittal and Sharma
(1995:12) define brand equity as trust that consumers place in a specific brand, more than they do
in its competitors. This confidence translates into consumers’ loyalty and their willingness to pay a
premium price for the brand.
Brand equity is an intangible asset and therefore organisations find it difficult to measure.
Marketers have identified measurable factors that contribute to brand equity, namely market
behaviour, brand awareness, brand association and differentiation, quality and loyalty (Aaker,
2004:5). Keller (2008:56) explains that brand equity is the favourable, strong and unique brand
association that a consumer has with a specific brand and if this occurs a consumer has a high
level of awareness and a unique association with the brand.
Corporate brand equity differs from product brand equity in the sense that the consumers’ range of
associations is so much wider (Keller, 2008:449). He also defines brand equity as the differential
responses of consumers, employees, customers and other firms to the actions, communication
and products provided by the firm.
1.5 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
A research design provides a research framework for the researcher and it also guides the
researcher in which methodology to use. The research design will act as a research framework
and the methodology will be used to test the theory. Qualitative research and quantitative research
will be discussed below.
1.5.1 Qualitative research versus quantitative research
Gordon and Langmaid (1988:3) are of the opinion that qualitative research is best used to solve
problems where the result will be to increase understanding, clarify issues and expand knowledge
within a certain field, explore and explain consumer motivations and to provide input for future
research. In-depth interviews and projective techniques are qualitative techniques used by
marketing researchers when direct questioning is not practical (Tull & Hawkins, 1993). Denzin and
Lincoln (2007:2) define qualitative research as a naturalistic approach to its subject matter.
Therefore it can be implied that the qualitative researcher is studying the theory in its natural
setting where people can bring meaning to certain phenomena.
Quantitative research is the gathering of numerical data and then generalising it across groups.
This data is always in the form of numbers and statistics and the data will answer to a defined
research question (Sibanda, 2009).
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This research paper will make use of qualitative research.
1.5.2 Questionnaire design
According to Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2009:374), the design of each question in the
questionnaire should be determined by the data that the researcher needs to collect. When a
researcher designs questions it can be done in one of three ways:
 adopt question used in another questionnaire;

 adopt question used in other questionnaires;
 develop own questionnaire.
The questionnaire design made use of open ended questions that allowed the respondents to
answer the question in their own way. In the document the questionnaire will be referred to the
discussion guide. The decision to interview with open ended questions was because of the
objective of the research study. The objective of the research study is to gain in-depth knowledge
of the processes and thoughts behind decisions made by the key decision makers. It will also help
the researcher to get a better understanding of the business processes and the market
environment.
In conclusion, the researcher did semi-structured interviews with open ended questions.
1.5.3 Data collection and analysis
The data collection for qualitative data can use multiple sources such as observations and in-depth
interviews and documentation thereof. Data for this research report was collected by doing in-
depth one on one interviews with the key decision makers in the business, i.e. chief executive
officer, marketing director and the head of creative. In depth interviews can involve one respondent
and one interview (one on one interview) or multiple respondents which are known as a “Focus
group” (Tull & Hawkins, 1993:442). Interviews were digitally recorded. After the in-depth interviews,
recordings of the interviews were analysed (see Appendix B, C, and D). The analysis of this data
included the following steps:
 Finding the similarities in discussion guide answers

 Finding the differences in discussion guide answers
 Finding the similarities in comparison with theory
 Finding the differences in comparison with theory.
Once the data from the different interviews had been divided into similarities and differences
between interviewees and theory, the researcher interpreted the findings and drew a conclusion.
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1.6 CHAPTER OUTLINE
The research project has been structured as follows:
Chapter 2 provides a literature review, with specifically defining the principles of corporate
rebranding and brand rejuvenation. In depth knowledge is then built around brand rejuvenation and
the key objectives of it. The reader will then get to understand when brands should rejuvenate and
the objectives of brand rejuvenation. The reader will also gain an understanding of the importance
of the life cycle of the corporate brand and how it plays a role in brand rejuvenation.
Chapter 3 outlines the specific methodology employed in the study. It provides the reader with
detail on qualitative research and the methodology followed.
Chapter 4 summarises the data into four categories, namely:
 The similarities in discussion guide answers

 The differences in discussion guide answers
 The similarities in comparison with theory
 The differences in comparison with theory.
Chapter 5 gives a summary of the findings and highlights the similarities and differences between
theory and the results of the case study. A conclusion will then be drawn and recommendations will
be offered for future research.
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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter will do in-depth research on the corporate branding and how corporate brands differ
from product brands. It then provides a deeper understanding of corporate brand rejuvenation and
how it differs from corporate rebranding. The principles of corporate brand rejuvenation and
corporate rebranding will then be discussed. The researcher then delves into corporate rebranding
and where in the lifecycle a corporate brand should be rejuvenated.
The researcher then investigates Aaker’s four components of brand equity, namely brand loyalty,
brand awareness, perceived quality and brand associations. This is done to understand the impact
of brand rejuvenation on the four components of brand equity.
2.2 CORPORATE BRANDING
According to Muzellec and Lambkin (2006:805), corporate branding is “a systematically planned

and implemented process of creating and maintaining a favourable image and consequently a
favourable reputation for the company as a whole by sending signals to all stakeholders and by
managing behaviour, communication and symbolism”. They are also of the opinion that company
names can be seen in some degree as corporate brands and can be managed similar to product
brands. To understand the corporate brand literature, it is vital to contrast corporate brands with
product brand and get a clear definition of each.
2.2.1 Corporate brands versus product brands
The organisation features more strongly in corporate brands than in product brands and the culture
of the corporate brand is crucial as it plays a vital role in the essence of the brand. Secondly, for
any corporate brand to be successful, internal processes and/or internal branding should be part of
the branding process. Thirdly, the corporate brand is more central and managed by higher
management such as the chief executive officer (CEO) and marketing director. The product brand
is mostly managed by lower management such brand managers and/or marketing managers.
Fourthly, according to Merrilees and Miller (2008:538), corporate brands are more abstract and
communicate higher order values, while product brands communicate functional advantages.
Lastly, corporate brands are more complex than product brands and can have more than one
brand meaning (depends on amount of sub-brands).
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It is important to know that corporate brands with a portfolio of brands (e.g. Tiger Brands) are less
known by consumers than corporate brands that sell their products under the corporate brand (e.g.
Woolworths). Corporate organisations with a strong portfolio of product brands are not actually
recognised by their consumers for their portfolio of brands. Think of Tiger Brands, their All Gold
tomato sauce is a well-known brand in South Africa, but few consumers will be aware that the
brand falls under the Tiger Brands umbrella. In both instances, products of corporate brand are
associated to the corporate brand (Kay, 2006:753).
It is only possible to build strong corporate brands when the organisation mirrors its product and/ or
service proposition with the values of the organisation, and therefore the corporate organisation
should create meaningful associations with the products/service on offer (Kay, 2006:754).
Corporate brands needs to be distinctive, while the organisation must have unique and trustworthy
goals. Only then will the organisation be a trusted brand to consumers. Corporate organisations
need to make a clear decision if they want to brand the corporate brand as a “branded house” or “a
house of brands”. The branding strategy for these options will differ immensely. To use Woolworths
as an example: If Woolworths had decided to promote their product offering i.e. “W-Collection”,
“Distraction Lingerie collection” or “Twist” their corporate brand would have been branded in a
totally different way. Consumers would not have associated with the corporate brand, but more
with the different sub-brands.
Heritage, power, credibility, people of the organisation, the values, priority, perceived quality and
social responsibility define the image and perception of the corporate brand (Aaker, 2004:1).
In conclusion, the corporate brand can be seen as a monetary asset to any organisation, because
of brand equity and consumer equity. The corporate brand can be defined as the glue between the
organisation and the consumer’s trust and credibility. The corporate brand creates the opportunity
for the organisation to differentiate itself from its competitor and to communicate with its internal
and external environment (Rindell & Strandvik, 2010:276).
2.2.2 Value of the corporate brand name
Lehu (2008:87) is of the opinion that a brand’s name is the primary component of any brand and
therefore it acts as a point of reference. The brand name is therefore the core of the brand identity
and the building block for the rest of the brand’s identity. A brand name has the ability to evoke
emotions in consumers as well as a certain perception of the brand. Think of the following two car
brands, Porsche and Citroen. The two different brands don’t evoke the same emotions and
consumers have different perceptions of the two brands. These two brands don’t carry the same
14
symbolism and therefore we can draw the conclusion that a brand’s name is the main
distinguishable component of the brand’s identity (Lehu, 2008:88).
A well-perceived corporate brand by consumers can add value to the organisation’s product and/or
service and will result in an increase of customer awareness of the organisation and its product
and/or service. A positive brand name in the eye of the consumer is crucial for the success of any
business, as the brand name strongly affects the corporate image (Souiden, Kassim & Hong,
2006:830).
It was found in a study done by Souiden et al. (2006:838) that the corporate brand name has a
significant effect on the corporate image. This is due to the uncontrollable nature of what the public
perceives the brand image to be. Therefore it is vital that every organisation uses their brand name
(under full control of the brand) to influence the brand image.
2.2.3 Corporate visual brand identity
Corporate visual identity plays a significant role in the way that any organisation presents itself to
the external and internal environment (Van den Bosch, Elving & de Jong, 2006:870). According to
van den Bosch et al. (2006:871), the concept of corporate brand identity has changed significantly
over the years. Primarily the corporate visual brand identity was perceived as the logo and all other
visual identity, but over the years the concept of corporate visual identity has changed to not only
the visual components of the brand, but it also comprises of intangible characteristics of the
corporate brand, such as corporate culture and the behaviours of the employees.
The key elements of corporate visual identity can be summarised as follow: name, logo and font
type, slogan, corporate colours, tagline, stationary, website, advertising material, vehicles, the
interior and exterior of the building, corporate clothing and the architecture of the building. In
conclusion, the key elements of the corporate identity are everything that are in relation to the
corporate brand and that the public/consumer can see, feel, smell, hear and taste about the brand.
It is vital to note that the corporate brand identity expresses the values, beliefs and characteristics
of the organisation. Van den Bosch et al. (2006:871) are of the opinion that the visual identity of a
brand can effect perception and behaviour of consumers and have a direct influence on the
corporate reputation. Therefore, corporate visual identity should play a vital role in the strategy of
the organisation as it is a powerful strategic instrument in the communication process with
consumers, stakeholders, shareholders and the broader population (Van den Bosch et al.,
2006:871).
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2.2.4 Role of corporate visual brand identity in the brand rejuvenation process
As seen before, the brand’s visual identity plays a vital role in the identity and perception of the
brand and therefore a slight change in the design of the logo can give the brand an entirely new
image (Lehu, 2008:112). The question is when do corporate organisations change their corporate
visual identity?
The corporate visual identity plays an important role in the strategic decisions of the organisation,
since the visual identity of the organisation symbolises the change in the organisation.
Secondly, as people, trends and time change, the corporate visual identity needs to adapt to these
changes to stay current and relevant in the minds of the consumer. These changes can include
brand rejuvenation or a whole new corporate brand identity.
Interestingly enough, according to an article, “Design to beat the downturn” (2009:30), design is
critical for companies to survive downturn economic times, future growth and the success of the
company. Companies can beat their competition by knowing and targeting their target market and
by bettering their logo and product design. The Design Council’s National Survey of Firms (UK)
revealed in 2008 that instead of cutting costs in an economic downturn, organisations are using
design to overcome difficult economic times. The survey revealed that 15–30 percent of companies
who decided to follow this strategy had shown an increase in revenue during the economic
downturn (using “Design to beat the downturn”, 2009:30).
2.2.5 Corporate brand image
The corporate brand image can be defined as the overall impression that the public has about an
organisation. It can be described as the picture that the consumer paints in its mind’s eye about an
organisation and feeling that it arouses in the consumer (Souiden et al., 2006:830). According to
Souiden et al. (2006:830), a positive brand image can have a positive effect on sales, because of a
trusted and loyal relationship between the organisation and the customer. It is vital to realise that
consumers use the corporate brand image of an organisation to judge the credibility and perceived
quality of the organisation.
2.2.5.1 Corporate brand image in relation to consumer loyalty
In a study done by Souiden et al. (2006:825), it is evident that there is a direct positive effect
between the corporate image and the corporate reputation in relation to consumers’ loyalty towards
the corporate brand. It is important to note that there is a clear distinction between corporate loyalty
and brand loyalty. When a consumer is loyal towards the organisation it can lead to loyalty towards
16
all the products or services of the organisation. The opposite of the abovementioned is not always
true.
The study has also shown that there is a strong correlation between customer loyalty and the
share purchase of the organisation. Therefore customer satisfaction and a positive brand image
will result in customer retention and increased sales.
The consumer’s perception of a corporate brand changes continuously as the relationship between
the corporate brand and the consumer emerges through the different relationship phases (start,
development and end).
A relevant question to ask is who controls the image of the brand? Is it the consumer or is it the
organisation? (Rindell & Strandvik, 2010:278). This study has also shown that the corporate brand
image evolves in the consumer’s everyday life over time.
2.3 CORPORATE REBRANDING VERSUS BRAND REJUVENATION
Corporate rebranding and corporate brand rejuvenation will be defined in the paragraphs below.
Even though these are two different concepts, they have the following in common:
1. Can damage the corporate reputation in the mind of the consumer.

2. Can have an impact on brand equity. According to Aaker (1991), brand equity is a set of
assets and liabilities that is linked to a brand.
3. A very costly marketing exercise for the organisation.
Even though corporate rebranding is not applicable to this study, it is vital to understand the
concepts and differences between corporate rebranding and brand rejuvenation.
2.3.1 Corporate rebranding
According to Muzellec and Lambkin (2006:803), corporate rebranding is well known in the world
press when companies change their names due to a merger and acquisition or a strategic
business decision.
Merrilees and Miller (2008:538) refer to corporate rebranding as the distinction or change between
the initial formulation of the corporate brand and a new formulation. The brand vision is changed
and the rebranding process entitles a lot of change management internally in the organisation. In
conclusion, corporate branding is when all units of the organisation need to move from one
mindset to another.
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The question can be asked why companies rebrand? According to Muzellec and Lambkin
(2006:803), a name change gives an organisation the opportunity to communicate their
distinctiveness through the entire marketing mix (i.e. press releases, advertising and press
conferences). Corporate rebranding is usually a very costly expense and very risky to the
reputation of the customer. Organisations needs to be sensitive to their existing customer base and
the new brand values of the brand still need to communicate the culture of their existing customers.
Therefore the organisation should still maintain their cultural heritage, while exploring new markets
(Merrilees & Miller, 2008:539). Organisations that decide to rebrand must do in-depth research of
the external environment in which they operate and determine how consumers might respond to
the name change.
Merrilees and Miller (2008:539) summarised a theoretical framework for corporate rebranding. The
framework has been divided into three main themes:
 Theme 1: Re-vision the brand, based on solid understanding of the target market and
customer needs.
 Theme 2: Use internal marketing and internal branding to receive commitment from the
employees and other stakeholders.
 Theme 3: Implement advertising and other marketing mix elements into the implementation
phase.
2.3.1.1 Corporate rebranding principles
Merrilees and Miller (2008:540) introduced six corporate branding principles, which allow scope for
discretionary decisions due to the lack of literature about corporate rebranding. Principles 1 to 3
focuses on revising the vision, principle 4 focuses on attaining support for the new vision, while
principles 5 and 6 focus on the implementation of the new corporate brand strategy.
 Principle 1
A suitable brand vision should be identified that will support the core essence of the brand and yet
satisfy the new contemporary conditions. To successfully execute principle 1, rebranded corporate
brands should balance the existing core values of the firm by moving forwards (innovation). The
objective of Principle 1 is to create a relationship between a strong brand and innovation.
 Principle 2
Successful corporate branding requires that at least one core value of the brand needs to be
carried over to the rebranded brand to build a “bridge” between the original corporate brand and
the rebranded corporate brand (Merrilees & Miller, 2008:540). This transfer is vital so that the
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corporate brand memory that was built over years is utilised and not abandoned during the
rebranding process. The transfer also helps to build legitimacy under consumers and helps them to
accept the new corporate brand.
 Principle 3
The new corporate brand needs to tap into new markets and therefore the organisation needs to
identify new attributes that will suit the market needs. To grow the brand, it might require of the
brand to tap into new markets with different needs. These new markets might even be their original
customer base.
 Principle 4
Internal marketing and training are vital for any brand to rebrand effectively. The internal marketing
and training process helps employees and stakeholders to buy into the rebranding and to support
the process. Merrilees and Miller (2008:541) highlight the importance of strong leadership during
the internal branding, as stakeholders might resist change and therefore change management
needs to be implemented and led by strong leadership. The internal branding exercise will also
help the employees and stakeholders to live the new brand with pride and excitement. For the
success of the rebranded brand it is vital that the employees and stakeholders believe in the new
brand and what it stands for.
 Principle 5
Before the implementation of the new rebranding can take place, the organisation needs to
implement a corporate rebrand strategy and all the different parts of the strategy must be
integrated. Effective corporate rebranding depends on the level of integration and coordination of
the marketing mix. Each brand element should be linked to the new corporate brand concept and
be communicated within the same “tone of voice”.
 Principle 6
Public relations (PR) play a vital role in the rebranding process, as PR will help to change the
attitude of the public. Joachimsthaler and Aaker (1999) are of the opinion that customer
involvement in brand building exercises using non mass media can be very successful and
effective to rebrand a brand. Principal 6 accentuates the need of effective communication to the
stakeholders and employees, as their involvement will speed up the rebranding process. With
effective communication and great attributes, consumers might even lead the rebranding process.
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2.3.2 Corporate brand rejuvenation
According to Lehu (2008:64), rejuvenation of a brand entitles activities that will make the brand
more modern and contemporary, but the brand should not lose its identity in the process. Lehu
(2008:64) is also of the opinion that brand rejuvenation should not be at the expense of
theorganisation’s history and that the rejuvenation process should reinvigorate the brands image,
rather than losing the current positive perception of loyal customers.
Brand rejuvenation must be considered when a brand is old in spirit, but has plenty of breath left to
start a new life. The rejuvenation process is not only implemented to increase sales, but also to
enhance brand equity, increase perceived quality and change associations that the customer has
with the brand. However, not all brands can be rejuvenated, especially if the brand is operating in a
sinking market or when the organisation has too many liabilities. Any brand that needs to be
revitalised must have a workable concept to help the brand be rejuvenated.
It is vital to understand that brand rejuvenation is the process where an old brand is relaunched,
but not launched as a completely new brand. The newly launched identity should still communicate
the original values of the brand.
In conclusion, the rejuvenation process of a brand should strengthen the brand, add value and help
to prevent it from ageing. Brand managers should avoid choices in the rejuvenation process that
are inconsistent with the history and identity of the original brand.
2.3.2.1 Corporate brand rejuvenation principles
Brand rejuvenation increases the life expectancy of the brand by repositioning the brand to the
innovation stage in the life cycle line. Two main activities need to be present to rejuvenate a brand
effectively, namely innovation and repositioning of the brand (Butterfield, 2007:11).
To recap the definition of brand rejuvenation: Brand rejuvenation entitles activities that will make
the brand more modern and contemporary, but the brand should not lose its identity in the process
(Lehu, 2008:64). Therefore the brand must keep its core values, but the brand attributes will
change to meet the needs of the consumer. The innovation process doesn’t necessarily mean
radical changes, but the brand needs to have something different and contemporary to it after the
brand rejuvenation process.
According to Groucutt (2006:102), the innovation process does not mean that the brand should
make radical changes, but the process of rejuvenation should rather be a “refreshment” exercise
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on product, service or image of the brand. Innovation of one of the below categories can be done
to help to rejuvenate the brand:
 Logo
 Codes of expression
 Positioning – The brand should be repositioned to meet the desired target market. The
repositioning of the brand will have an impact on the customer’s purchasing behaviour and
consideration set.
 Status
 Personality
 Everyday behaviour
 Projected image
 Attitude of the brand towards its consumers.
Even though brands should be innovative when being rejuvenated, they must still focus on
leveraging the rich heritage of the brand. With the rejuvenation process, customers should be
reminded that the brand kept to its promises in the past and will continue to do so (Groucutt,
2006:102).
A brand can be repositioned in two different ways:
 The physical reposition of the brand in comparison with its competitors.

 The repositioning of the brand in the mind of the consumer.
Through effective brand repositioning the life expectancy of the brand can increase. When a brand
can no longer be resuscitated, it has reached the end of its life cycle.
First (2009) identified five rules that a organisation needs to adhere to when revitalising a brand.
The first rule is that organisations should “refocus the organisation”. This will define the direction
that the organisation must be focused on when starting the innovative and repositioning process. In
this process the purpose of the brand and the goals need to be clearly communicated internally
and to all the stakeholders, while budgets and financial discipline are put in place. During this
process it is vital that employers are led effectively and excellent operations are driven.
Secondly, the market segment that the organisation is positioning in, must be known so as to
restore the brand relevance. After the target market has been identified, the organisation should
focus on meeting the needs of the target market. The organisation should focus on the
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product/service range offered to the target market and the cost to deliver the product/service. The
brand should then create a brand promises that will suite the identified target market.
The third rule that First (2009) identified is that the brand experience should be reinvented. The five
Ps (people, product, place, price and promotion) play a vital role in this rule to create the desired
brand experience. The people should be well trained and equipped to deliver the brand
experience, the product should be innovated and meet the expectations of the desired target
market, the place should be inspiring and well allocated, while the price should be based on
perceived value and the promotion should communicate the experience of the new brand promise
and therefore help to create a need for the brand.
The fourth rule stresses the importance of putting measures in place to measure the performance
of the five Ps (discussed above), while rule number five focuses on building trust of the rejuvenated
brand. It is vital for the longevity of any brand to build trust relationships with its consumers and the
public; this includes social responsibility, corporate sincerity and responsibility towards the
organisation’s customers.
The fifth and last rule emphasises the importance for the organisation to align globally. Global
alignment will offer relevant experiences of the brand around the world.
In conclusion, the rejuvenation process should help the corporate brand to gain competitive
advantage in the market, by reminding the consumers that the brand is right for them.
2.3.2.2 Seven avenues for corporate brand rejuvenation
The organisation should continuously monitor the health of the corporate brand in relation to the
ever-changing external environment. The corporate brand should be relevant in the mind of the
consumer and as soon as it becomes irrelevant it needs to be rejuvenated or repositioned.
Aaker (1991:243) identified seven avenues for organisations to rejuvenate their brands, namely
increase usage, finding new uses, entering new uses, entering new markets, repositioning the
brand, augmenting product service, extending the brand. Each one of these avenues will be
discussed in detail below.
2.3.2.2.1 Increase usage
Brand rejuvenation is a tool for organisations to increase market share and get the consumer’s
attention focused on the organisation. Competitors feel threatened when an organisation wants to
rejuvenate its brand to increase market share, especially when the organisation supports the
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rejuvenation process with a lot of marketing. When a brand effectively rejuvenates itself in a
specific target market, the consumer’s frequency of use and their level of use will increase (Aaker,
1991:244).
For a brand to get increased frequency of use after the brand rejuvenation stage, it must
continuously remind the consumer of the brand through reminder communication. This will
increase awareness to the rejuvenated brand and also create excitement. Another way for brands
to increase the frequency of use is to make the use of the brand easier. Woolworths has done this
brilliantly with their forecourt stores. These stores make it easier for the consumer to shop at
Woolworths, while they are filling their cars.
Another effective way for organisations to gain market share is to increase the quantity of use.
Loyalty cards, membership, cash back and a points system are a few incentives that organisations
can use to increase quantity usage. It is advisable for organisations to launch these programmes
during the same time of the rejuvenation process. The reason for this is that while the attention is
focused on the rejuvenated organisation, the new user is hooked and probed the use to use the
brand more. This is effective, because the acquisition strategy flows over into the retention
strategy.
2.3.2.2.2 Finding new uses
The identification of the new uses of a brand can rejuvenate the brand immediately. By knowing
the new positioning of the brand or by doing in-depth market research, the identity and the needs
and wants of the target market can be identified and will result in identifying new uses of the
brand. Organisations also need to be on top of the latest trends to stay ahead of competitors and
be the first with innovative products.
2.3.2.2.3 Entering new markets
One avenue to generate growth is to enter new markets. Before any organisation can enter new
markets it is vital that thorough market research is done in order for the organisation to know if
product modification should be done (Aaker, 1991:249). Once market research has been done the
organisation should position itself competitively and uniquely in the market.
2.3.2.2.4 Reposition the brand
A brand needs to reposition as soon as it becomes outdated in the mind’s eye of the consumer. A
brand that repositions itself, finds new associations that suit it and fit the behaviour of the target
market (Aaker, 1991:251). For any brand to reposition effectively, the organisation needs to review
the differentiating factor of the brand and what added value the brand provides to the consumer.
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2.3.2.2.5 Augmenting the product
An organisation needs to make a strategic decision when a brand reaches maturity. As seen in the
theory of the life cycle of a brand, when a brand reaches maturity it has one of three decisions to
increase growth. Firstly the brand can rejuvenate itself. Secondly the brand can rebrand itself and
lastly the organisation can decide to kill the brand and start a new brand. In the case of brand
rejuvenation and rebranding it is vital that the brand offers a differentiating extra that will stimulate
the new look (Aaker, 1991:254).
When the rejuvenated brand is introduced into the market, the key is to get the customer involved
to augment the product. Customer involvement helps to find ways to augment the brand and it
helps to implement the augmented solution (Aaker, 1991:255).
2.3.2.2.6 Obsolete existing products with new-generation technologies
To launch a new generation technology product into the market is expensive and in-depth research
needs to be done not only on the product, but also on the needs of the customer. When a brand
moves into new technologies it needs to educate the consumer on the new technology and then it
will automatically create a need for the product. This is a very expensive revitalisation process, as
research needs to be done on the product and on the customers. Then the new product needs to
be supported by an effective marketing campaign that acts as the educator of the product to the
consumer. The marketing campaign needs to create the need with the consumer to buy the
product. Even though it is very costly for brands to move into new technologies, the return on
investment can be very high.
2.3.2.3 Alternatives to revitalisation
The future growth of any brand depends on brand awareness, brand equity, intensity of the
competition and the demand for the brand. According to Aaker (1991:256), when one of the above
mentioned becomes unfavourable the organisation has one of two options:
 Milking option
This strategy involves avoiding any investment into the brand and harvest of what is left of the
brand to generate additional sales. This will result in a decline in sales and might end up in the
brand going under.
Another strategy in the milking option is to put just enough effort into the brand to ensure that it
doesn’t go under and to help it maintain its position in the market. This will usually be done with old
trustworthy products that have enough customer loyalty to keep the brand alive and show a steady
income without doing any marketing.
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 Exit strategy
When the future of the brand is bleak and the milking strategy isn’t feasible then the final
alternative of the brand is divestment or liquidation (Aaker, 1991:259). This strategy should be
followed when there is a rapid decrease in sales, the price pressures make the brand not
competitive and the position of the brand in the market is weak.
2.3.2.4 Brand rejuvenation step in the life cycle of the brand (perceived age of the brand)
The perceived age of a brand in the minds of the consumer is crucial for the growth of the
business.
All products and services have lifecycles and according to Lehu (2008:71), a brand needs to be
rejuvenated when the audit of the brand reveals two things in the lifecycle:
 The audit shows that the brand is ageing (decline stage in life cycle).
 There is sufficient residual potential to justify brand rejuvenation.
When the brand is ready to be rejuvenated, the repositioning of the brand must be investigated first
so that it will entice the target market. Brand rejuvenation can be seen as an injection of new life
into a brand. The figure below shows that a brand should be rejuvenated as soon as it reaches the
decline stage of the life cycle.
Figure 2.1: Life cycle of the rejuvenated brand

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2.3.2.5 Brand rejuvenation channels
Organisations can use different channels and avenues to promote the rejuvenated brand. It is vital
that the organisation chooses the right channel to market their product to the target market. If the
wrong channel is chosen it can hurt the identity of the rejuvenated brand and therefore the
demographics and geographics of the rejuvenated brand’s target market need to be known inside
out. Lehu (2008:125) identified six brand rejuvenation channels:
 Using celebrities to rejuvenate a brand.

 Using education to combat ageing attributable to competitor’s dynamism.
 Co branding.
 Rejuvenation by modernising the brand’s visual identity.
 Distribution: a lever that naturally complements advertising.
 Renewing the target market.
2.4 AAKER BRAND EQUITY MODEL
As mentioned in Chapter 1, brand equity is a set of assets and liabilities linked to an organisation’s
name and symbol (Aaker, 1991:807). These assets and liabilities need to be linked to the name or
symbol of the brand to be linked to brand equity. According to Aaker (1991:16), a brand’s assets
and liabilities can be grouped in five categories, namely:
1. Brand loyalty
2. Name awareness
3. Perceived quality
4. Brand associations in addition to perceived quality
5. Other proprietary brand assets, i.e. trademarks, patents and channel relationships (will not
be discussed in this research paper as they have a very small effect on the objective of this
study of Woolworths).
The categories (brand loyalty, name awareness, perceived quality and brand associations) form
the basis of Aaker’s brand equity model and will be mentioned to in this research as the four
components of Aaker’s model.
The brand equity model designed by Aaker creates value for both the consumer and the
organisation (Aaker, 1991:16).
26
Brand equity adds or subtracts the value of the brand in the mind’s eye of the consumer and
therefore has a big influence on the confidence of the consumer’s purchasing decision (Aaker,
1991:16).
A well-known and trusted brand has the potential to acquire and retain customers and therefore
provides value to the organisation. Brand equity has the potential to add marginal cash flow to the
organisation when increasing customer loyalty. As soon as a consumer is brand loyal repeat
purchases will take place and the bottom line of the organisation will be affected. Brand loyalty of
consumers can be enhanced by increasing the brand awareness, focusing on the image that the
brand projects about the perceived quality of the product or service, managing brand associations
and last but not least, affectively managing brand assets (Aaker, 1991:18).
Secondly, Aaker is of the opinion that brand equity supports premium pricing and that
organisations can allow higher margins (Aaker, 1991:18). It is well known that the consumer will
pay a higher price for a trusted brand.
Thirdly, brand equity can also be viewed as the platform for growth through introducing brand
extensions into the market (Aaker, 1991:18). This allows the organisation to enter new markets
easier than a product that is not known by consumers. The current brand awareness will help to
sell the new product extension and will provide a form of leverage in the distribution channel. A
strong brand will have the advantage to enter the market effectively with a new product because of
positive brand awareness, good perceived quality and the consumer already trusting the mother
brand. According to Aaker (1991:18), a strong perceived quality of a brand is not easily overcome
by competitors and it will be very expensive for competitors to convince the consumer to change
brands. The competitive advantage of any brand must be maintained by the organisation and the
organisation needs to adapt their competitive advantage to changing times. What might be a
competitive advantage now might not be a competitive advantage in the years to come due to
changing technology, new innovations and therefore the consumer’s needs change over time.
2.4.1 Five categories of a brands assets
2.4.1.1 Brand loyalty
According to Aaker (1991:39), brand loyalty is at the core of a brand’s equity. Customer loyalty can
be defined as the relationship and attachment that the customer has with the brand. A loyal
customer to a brand will not easily switch to the competitor even if the competitor’s attributes are
more attractive. A high level of brand loyalty has a direct positive effect on brand equity and the
marginal cost of the business.
27
For any organisation it is more expensive to attract new customers than to retain existing ones.
Brands spend millions of rands every year to attract new customers, but it is vital for organisations
to retain each and every existing customer. Aaker (1991:19) is of the opinion that even though a
brand has low customer commitment or low switching cost, there is still a substantial inertia among
customers.
There are five different levels of brand loyalty and each one of these levels probes its own
marketing challenges and issues. As seen in Figure 2.2, the bottom loyalty level can be defined as
the non-loyal buyer. This buyer only buy’s what is convenient to him and adequate for the purpose
that he is buying the product for. This buyer can be categorised as a bargain hunter or switcher.
The second level from the bottom user is defined as a user that is satisfied with the product, but
definitely not dissatisfied. It is convenient for the customer to make use of the product/service and
there is not enough dissatisfaction to go through the effort to change the product/service. These
buyers can be defined as habitual buyers. Because the customer is satisfied with the
product/service they don’t feel the need to shop around to get something better. This customer
level is vulnerable to competitors. Even though they are not on the look out to change the
product/service, they can be easily switched by the competitors. The third level is a satisfied
customer (as with level two), but they come with switching cost. The switching cost can be in the
form of time, performance risk or money. To switch this customer, competitors need to bridge the
switching cost by compensating the customer’s concern with something that is more of value to
them than the switching cost. Aaker (1991:40) defines this customer as Switching-cost loyal. The
fourth level customer truly likes the brand. They feel comfortable with the brand and the brand
projects their personality and need. Their liking of the brand might be because of an association
with the brand, such as the symbol, perceived quality or the experience when using the brand.
These customers usually have a long-term relationship with the brand and a change in the brand’s
identity i.e. symbol or other identifiable attributes can result in discomfort and change in the
relationship. These customers have more of an emotional connotation with the brand.
The top-level customers are committed buyers, because they trust the brand and have a strong
relationship with the brand. They are proud users of the brand and the brand reflects their
personality. These customers are confident in the brand and they will recommend it to anyone.
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Figure 2.2: Measuring brand loyalty

Source: Aaker, 1991:62.
2.4.1.2 Measuring brand loyalty
It is useful for the reader to understand how to measure brand loyalty in order to link brand loyalty
to profitability. The measuring approaches are discussed below:
 Behaviour measures
Organisations need to look at the buying patterns of consumers and then compare the repurchase
rate with the initial amounts of purchases. Within the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG)
environment this is difficult to measure, but programmes such as loyalty programmes can support
organisations to measure repurchases and frequency.
Another behaviour measurement is to look at the different brands being purchased by a customer
and then compare which percent of the total basket went to which brand.
The last measurement that FMCG organisations can use is to measure the number of brands
purchased by a single customer in the same category (Aaker, 1991:44).
Loyalty of brands can differ widely among different industries and products and it depends on the
amount of competing brands. As an example, a consumer might be very loyal towards a specific
car (very brand loyal), but he will fill his car at the first petrol station (not brand loyal at all).
29
 Switching costs
Switching cost is one of the biggest factors of brand loyalty. If it is expensive or risky for suppliers
to change suppliers, then it becomes more challenging for competitors to compete with the
supplier.
According to Aaker (1991:44), there are two types of switching cost. Firstly it is the investment in a
product or service. People need to be trained on how the product works and the different
components of the product. If the organisation decides to switch the product, then people need to
be trained again on the new product. This is timely and productivity of employees will decline
during the training process. The second form of switching cost is called risk of change. If an
organisation decides to change a supplier there is always the chance that the new supplier will be
even worse than the current supplier. If customers have built a strong relationship with the supplier
they might be reluctant to change even though they are not a 100 percent happy. Aaker (1991:45)
is of the opinion that organisations should strive to increase the customer’s dependence of its
product.
 Measuring satisfaction
Measuring satisfaction is important for an organisation to know how well it looks after the needs of
customers, but it is even more important to measure the level of dissatisfaction of customers.
When an organisation is aware of its weaknesses it can change the weakness into sa trength by
strengthening the product offering and outperforming its competitor. Organisations should strive to
have an open relationship with their customers and be accessible for negative feedback. A
customer appreciates it to be heard and when this is done, brand loyalty will increase.
 Liking of the brand
When consumers trust and like the organisation and the offerings, they will be resistant to
competitors that enter the market. Yet, an organisation should still fulfil customers’ needs, as it is
difficult to compete the liking of a brand with the specific features of the brand. Even though a
customer might prefer your organisation to another, you should keep your organisation current and
follow the trends in the industry. Aaker (1991:45) has scaled liking into four categories, namely:
o Liking
o Respect
o Friendship
o Trust
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 Commitment
Brand with high equity will have a fast majority of committed customers. A committed customer is
someone who has a lot of interaction with the brand. He or she talks about the brand, uses the
brand, recommends the brand, keep up to date with new product ranges and follows the product
on social media. A committed customer sees the brand as part of their personality and an
extension of themselves.
2.4.1.3 Brand awareness
According to Aaker (1991:61), brand awareness is the potential of buyers to recognise a brand in a
certain category. Brands should aspire to be recognised as the only product/service in their
category. Aaker (1991:62) designed three levels of brand awareness, namely:
 Brand recognition – is the minimum level of recognition and is identified by a buyer that
chooses the product/service at point of purchase.
 Brand recall – when asking a consumer if he is aware of the brand and consumer can recall
it, the brand can be perceived as brand awareness.
 Top of mind - When a consumer thinks of a category and a specific brand comes to mind, the
awareness level can be defined as a top of mind. When a brand is top of mind buyers see
the brand as synonymous with the category.
Figure 2.3: The awareness pyramid

31
Source: Aaker, 1991:62.
Consumers will purchase a brand that they feel comfortable and familiar with. Therefore brand
recognition is crucial for any brand to survive and also the first step in the communication task. A
brand’s name plays a vital role in the recognition stage. Buyers link different attributes to specific
brand names, therefore brands can’t communicate the attributes of the brand if they are not linked
to a brand name. Recognition creates a sense of familiarity and familiarity creates a kind of
relationship and understanding between the brand and the customer. According to Aaker
(1991:65), the logic is that if a customer recognises a name, there must be a reason for it. The
organisation might have advertised a lot, or the brand has been in business for a very long time.
The other reason might be that the brand is successful and a category leader. Consumers trust the
brand and the brand grows via word of mouth.
Brand awareness walks hand in hand with perceived quality. Aaker (1991:18) states that brand
awareness is crucial when a consumer is still in the consideration stage and that a known and
trusted brand will usually be chosen over an unknown brand. The first step in the buying process of
the consumer is to evaluate a group of brands and then fit the need to a specific attribute of a
brand in the chosen group of brands. Brand recall plays a crucial role in this stage of the buying
process, as a brand needs to be recalled to get into the group being evaluated. Studies have
shown that if a brand was not recalled initially in the buying process, it would not be in the
consideration set (Aaker, 1991:66).
2.4.1.3.1 The power of old brand names
For any brand there is a decay factor of the brand name over time, especially if top of mind
recognition is involved, but when a brand becomes well established, brand recognition tends to
stay high (Aaker, 1991:69). A well-established brand name combined with high brand recognition
creates an enormous asset to any organisation. This asset grows over the years as brand
recognition and exposure to the brand grow.
Aaker (1991:71) is of the opinion that if a brand name becomes mature, the brand should rather be
revitalised in the current product category than to create a new entry into the market (refer to brand
revitalisation).
2.4.1.3.2 Ways to achieve brand awareness
For any brand to achieve brand awareness, it is necessary to successfully gain a positive brand
identity and then link the brand identity to the category in which the brand operates. Brands must
identify whether their brand awareness needs to be achieved, maintained or improved. When a
32
brand has identified the awareness need only then the organisation will be able to maintain the
awareness level. Brand awareness can be achieved, maintained or improved in the following ways.
2.4.1.3.3 Be different
The message that the brand communicates to the public should be memorable and unusually
different from the competitors in the market. This is the only way that an organisation can break out
of the clutter and be noticed. Still it is vital for the brand to create a link between brand, the industry
and the needs of the targeted customer.
2.4.1.3.4 Involve slogan or jingle
A slogan can help customers to recall the brand and creates a strong link between the brand and
the industry in which it operates. A slogan or jingle creates awareness and repetition increases
recall of the brand. It is vital that the brand’s slogan or jingle communicates the attributes of the
brand.
2.4.1.3.5 Symbol exposure
Aaker (1991:73) is of the opinion that a symbol is much easier to recall than a slogan or a jingle.
The symbol involves a visual image and this visual image should communicate the quality and
brand personality of the brand. The font and the visuals of the slogan will influence the customer
and industry perception of the brand.
2.4.1.3.6 Publicity
If publicity is used wisely it can be viewed as a very effective tool to increase brand awareness.
The channels being used for publicity play a vital role for any organisation and different channels
will be effective foro different organisations. What works for one industry and organisation will not
necessarily work for another. The reason for this is that customers differ in different industries and
are targeted in different ways. The brand needs to know who the customers are (characteristics,
demographics, personality and geographic) and only then the channels can be identified for
publicity. If publicity is not managed effectively it can hurt the organisaiton’s image or decrease
brand awareness.
2.4.1.3.7 Brand extensions
A very effective way for brands to increase brand recall is to extend the product lines or brand
offering. This will increase recall and make the brand more salient (Aaker, 1991:75). It is vital that if
a brand decides to increase its offering the new offering will suit the brand image and attributes of
the brand. For example, if the brand stands for quality, the extended product offering cannot
33
involve low cost, unreliable products. The product extension still needs to fit the perception of the
brand. If this is not done effectively the consumers’ trust in the brand will decrease.
2.4.1.3.8 Event sponsorship
Aaker (1991:75) is of the opinion that the main role of sponsorship is to create awareness and to
associate the brand with different events. Brand managers need to be very careful who they
sponsor. If the sponsored event doesn’t fit the brand identity and what it stands for, it can do more
harm than good.
2.4.1.3.9 Brand repetition
Brand repetition helps to increase brand recall. As brand recall is more difficult to develop than
brand recognition, brand recall can be strengthened by creating a strong link from the brand to the
industry and product category. Recall decays through time, therefore brand managers need to
increase top of mind recall by communicating the brand repeatedly to the target market.
2.4.1.4 Perceived quality
Each brand is being associated with a certain level of quality and the quality perception of products
will differ from industry to industry. Perceived quality in every industry will directly influence
purchase decisions and consumer loyalty to the brand. The higher perceived quality of a brand
also supports the organisation to ask a premium price and create higher gross margins, which then
can be reinvested into brand equity (Aaker, 1991:19). Perceived quality also empowers the
organisation to expand the product range i.e. brand extension.
It is crucial to understand that perceived quality differs from satisfaction of the brand. Perceived
quality is intangible and an overall perception of the brand exists in the mind’s eye of the
consumer. It is based on the performance of the brand and the characteristics and qualities of the
product or service of the brand. Perceived quality of a brand provides value in the following ways
(Aaker, 1991:86):
2.4.1.4.1 Provides reason to buy
According to Aaker (1991:87), perceived quality is directly linked to purchase decision and to
effective marketing campaigns.
 Differentiate finding the similarities in the discussion guide answers

 Finding the differences in the discussion guide answers
 Finding the similarities in comparison with theory
34
 Finding the differences in comparison with theory.
2.4.1.4.2 Brand category
Brands are always positioned in different quality categories, namely superior premium, premium,
value or economy (Aaker, 1991:86). It doesn’t matter in which quality category the brand finds
itself, as long as the brand positions itself differently than the competitors. The category in which
the brand finds itself also needs to be synonymous with the envisioned identity and perception of
the brand created by the organisation.
2.4.1.4.3 Premium price
The advantage of high-perceived quality is that companies can charge a premium price for the
product or service (Aaker, 1991:88). The premium price will increase profit and the organisation
can reinvest into brand awareness. An increase in brand awareness and satisfied customers will
result in loyal customers that will affect the bottom line of the organisation. Loyal customers will
also build a trust relationship with the brand and will be willing to pay premium prices for the
products that they trust.
2.4.1.4.4 Brand extension
Brands can exploit perceived quality by introducing new products/services into the market under
the same brand umbrella. Aaker (1991:88) is of the opinion that strong brands associated with
high-perceived quality have the ability to extend further and have a higher success rate than
weaker brands.
2.4.1.5 Brand associations
According to Aaker (1991:20), the perceived value of a brand name is mostly linked to different
associations with a brand. An association with a brand is strength to any company if the
association is based on many experiences.
It is important that the brand association is well thought through and communicates the personality
of the brand effectively; therefore, brands need to clearly position themselves before they make
any brand associations. If the brand is well positioned and associated with a key attribute,
competitors will find it difficult to compete in the same category.
Positive and relevant associations with a brand is a clever way of brands to attract customers and
give consumers a reason to buy into the brand, it also is great barrier to competitors (Aaker,
1991:19).
35
Still the question might be asked how brand associations create value to a brand. First of all an
association can help a brand to summarise a set of facts and or experiences which makes
communication with the consumer easier. Secondly, the association can help the brand to
influence the interpretation of facts by the consumer (Aaker, 1991:110). When a brand makes an
effective association the desired association will be achieved. Thirdly, brand associations can help
consumers to easily recall information during the decision making process (Aaker, 1991:111).
Aaker (1991:115) has identified eleven types of associations which will be discussed briefly below:
 Product attributes – Product attribute association is very effective when the attribute is
meaningful to the brand, as this influences the buyer to buy or not to buy. Woolworths, for
example, associates their brand with quality. The challenge of any organisation when trying
to find a product attribute is to find an attribute that is important to the majority of market
segment and something that has not been claimed by any other competitor. It is advisable
that companies don’t use too many associations, as it will result in a fuzzy message.
 Intangibles – Aaker is of the opinion that intangible associations are more effective than
specific attributes. An intangible attribute summarises a set of objectives built over time. The
perceived quality of a brand can be used as the intangible association. As an example: LG
the technology leader.
 Customer benefits – The customer benefit association is psychological association. Instead
of making an association with the product, an association is made with a psychological
concept. As an example: Miller doesn’t make an association with the calories and amount of
sugar in the beer, but an association is rather made with something to drink after a day of
hard work – “ Miller Time”.
 Relative price
 Use/Application
 User/Customer
 Celebrity/Person
 Life style/Personality
 Product class
 Competitors
 Country/Geographic area
2.4.1.6 Other proprietary brand assets
The brand assets are a powerful tool for any organisation to differentiate themself from their
competitors. The brand assets must always be tied to the brand in order to increase brand equity.
This component of Aaker’s equity model will not be discussed in detail in this retail report.
36
2.5 CHAPTER SUMMARY
The chapter summarised the principles of corporate brand rejuvenation and corporate brand
rebranding to give the reader a clear understanding of the differentiating factors. Corporate brand
rejuvenation is vital for any organisation to increase the longevity of the corporate brand. It was
also clear from the theory that corporate brand rejuvenation entails more than just changing the
logo of the organisation The organisation also needs to make sure that their marketing and
branding strategy is aligned with the business strategy.
The chapter also investigated the four main components of Aaker’s brand equity model i.e. brand
loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality and brand association.
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CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 INTRODUCTION
The research made use of three in-depth interviews with the key decision makers at Woolworths
during the brand rejuvenation process of Woolworths in 2009. The discussion guide was
categorised into three categories to ensure that secondary objectives will be answered. The
discussion guide was used as a guideline for the interviewer.
3.2 UNIT OF ANALYSIS
The key decision makers in Woolworths who were the drive behind the brand rejuvenation process
were interviewed to get an in depth knowledge of their train of thought before, during and after the
3.3 THE DISCUSSION GUIDE
The objective of the research is to understand why and when corporate companies rejuvenate their
brands and the roles that corporate brand rejuvenation plays within a business strategy and the
success of the business model. The distinguishing characteristic of a case study is that it examines
a contemporary phenomenon in its real life context, using different sources of evidence (Saunders
et al., 2009:145). It is evident that a case study will give a rich understanding of a specific topic, the
content of the research and the processes being performed.
Before the focus of the study can be pin pointed, the researcher needs to decide which framework
is going to be used, namely a qualitative or a quantitative framework.
A quantitative research approach studies and analyses the relationships between variables and is
based on meanings and derived from numbers. The analysis is then conducted through the use of
statistics (Saunders et al., 2009:482).
A qualitative approach studies studies things as they are in their natural environment and to get an
in depth understanding of certain fields. Saunders et al. (2009:482) explain that qualitative data is
based on different meanings expressed in words. This data then needs to be classified into
different categories and only then can analysis be conducted through conceptualisation.
The questionnaire design was a qualitative method and had an open ended questions structure
(personal one to one interviews). This helped to gain extensive knowledge not only on brand
38
rejuvenation, but also on the business model of the organisation and the retail environment
currently and during the recession period.
3.4 DATA COLLECTION METHOD
Interviews can be categorised into structured, semi-structured and unstructured interviews

(Saunders et al., 2009:320).
Structured interviews are based on predetermined and an identical set of questions. Each question
is read out and recorded in a standardised manner. While initially there is social interaction
between the interviewer and the interviewee, the questions should be read out exactly as written
(Saunders et al., 2009:320).
With a semi structured interview the interviewer will have a list of questions to be covered, but the
questions will not always be in chronological order. During a semi structured interview additional
questions might be asked to explore the research question. The nature of the questions means
that data needs to be recorded by audio-recording or by taking notes (Saunders et al., 2009:320).
Unstructured interviews are informal and are used to explore an in-depth general area. These
interviews are also referred to by most literature as in-depth interviews (Saunders et al., 2009:321).
During an unstructured interview, there are no predetermined questions and the interviewer is
given the opportunity to talk freely about the specific subject.
For this research paper, a semi-structured interview process was the only source of data collection
(see Appendix A). An interview was held with each of the main decision makers of the whole
rejuvenation process of Woolworths. The interviews were held with the CEO, marketing director
and the creative director of Woolworths at the Woolworths head office in Cape Town. Voice
recordings were done and are recorded in Annexures B, C, and D.
3.5 DATA ANALYSIS
Data analysis can be very extensive and can be done through documentation, interviews or
observation and it can be approached in two different ways, namely a deductive approach or an
inductive approach.
When taking on a deductive approach Yin (2003:45) recommends that the researcher should make
use of existing theory to formulate the research questions and the objectives of each question. The
main variables or relationships need to be identified in the research and how they might link into
39
each other. Once that is done a set of questions is identified to see if the research links back to
theory.
When using an inductive approach (Saunders et al., 2009:490) the researcher will first start to
collect data, explore the data and then build up theory from the data.
This research paper made use of a deductive approach. Once the theory was understood and
summarised a set of questions was drawn up to be covered in the interview process. Once the
interviews had taken place, the data was summarised in a table and the content analysis technique
was used to interpret the data in Chapter 4. The content analysis approach was used to refine and
interpret the data. Each question was interpreted in the following steps:
 Similarities in the discussion guide answers

 Differences in the discussion guide answers
 Similarities in comparison with theory
 Differences in comparison with theory.
This approach helped the researcher to draw comparisons and differences between what theory
says and what the case study shows.
The researcher was very conscious not be biased as it is human nature to have predisposition to a
certain paradigm (Belk, 2006:323).
3.6 CHAPTER SUMMARY
This chapter explored the rationale behind using the qualitative research approach. The case study
research approach worked well in getting a better understanding of the current retail environment,
the business model and the effect that brand rejuvenation had on the business strategy. The
chapter also included step by step information on how data collection and analysis was done.
40
CHAPTER 4
FINDINGS
4.1 INTRODUCTION
The interviewer interviewed three key decision makers during the corporate brand rejuvenation
process at Woolworths in 2009. This chapter will conclude the similarities and differences in
answers given by the interviewees. It will also conclude similarities and differences with answers
given and theory per question. An interpretation will be given after the similarities and differences
recorded.
4.2 THE PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS
Charmaine Huet, the marketing director, was interviewed first, followed by Steve Andrews, Head of
Creative studio. Simon Suzman, CEO at the time of the brand rejuvenation and now non-
executive, was interviewed last.
The interviewees will be referred to in this chapter as Charmaine, Steve and Simon.
4.3 PART A: TO STUDY THE PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS OF BRAND

REJUVENATION
Question 1–2 will investigate if there is a direct link between the characteristics of the corporate
brand and the consumers’ trust and credibility?
Question 3–8 will investigate if corporate brand rejuvenation had an impact on the corporate
brand’s image and the identity of the corporate brand.
Question 9–12 will investigate the role that corporate visual identity plays in the brand rejuvenation
process.
Question 13–16 will investigate the role that corporate visual identity plays in the brand
rejuvenation process.
Question 17–18 will investigate if a new corporate image has an effect on customer loyalty.
41
4.4 QUESTION 1: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
“Why did Woolworths decide to rejuvenate the brand?” The objective of the question was to
evaluate if the key decision makers made the decision to rejuvenate the brand based on the same
key factors.
The question was also a nice introduction to the interview process and to focus their minds on the
main reason for the interview.
4.4.1 Question 1: Similarities in the discussion guide answers
It was very clear from the answers given, that the decision was made to rejuvenate because of the
business strategy. The brand was not where it needed to be in terms of business strategy. The
CEO made a very good point in answering this question. Brands don’t get stale because of time,
but because of market shifts, market migration and new customers entering the market. The brand
wasn’t rejuvenated because the brand didn’t deliver anymore, but because of the changing market
and retail environment. It was clear from the CEO’s interview that big shifts happened within the
Woolworths Business Strategy before and during the recession of 2008 and 2009 and this
supported the answers from all the interviewers. The brand rejuvenation was done to bring the
brand more in line with the business strategy.
4.4.2 Question 1: Differences in the discussion guide answers
There were no differences regarding the decision to rejuvenate the brand.
4.4.3 Question 1: Similarities in comparison with theory
The rest of the discussion guide will answer the primary question: ”When and why do brands
decide to rejuvenate?”
4.4.4 Question 1: Differences in comparison with theory
The rest of the discussion guide will answer the primary question: ”When and why do brands
decide to rejuvenate?”
4.4.5 Question 1: Interpretations
The question was asked to get the interviewer into the right framework. This was a directional
question intended to remind the interviewer what the interview was all about.
42
“In your opinion what characteristics of the corporate brand can be defined as the “glue” between
the organisation and the consumer’s trust and credibility?”
It was clear from all the answers that the seven values of Woolworths form the glue between the
organisation and the consumers’ trust. Also that Woolworths focuses on selling great products to
the market that are built on these seven values.
There was also a very clear focus on the trust factor that Woolworths has with their consumers.
This trust (one of the seven values) is based on what Woolworths stands for. Woolworths strives to
deliver what they promise their customers (seven values). The “glue” in this organisation is the
essence of the brand based on the seven corporate values.
It was very clear from the three interviews that the values of Woolworths form an essential part of
the corporate organisation and in everything that they sell and communicate to the customer. It
was clear that top management believe in the seven values and that organisation values were the
primary glue between the organisation and the consumers’ trust as discussed above.
The differences in the answers were that the respondents had secondary reasons for the glue
between organisation and consumers’ trust. The marketing director was quite clear that the brand
personality is also the “glue” between Woolworths and their customers. The creative director
motivated the product as the secondary glue between the organisation and the CEO was very
clear that he believes the values are the only glue between the organisation and their customers.
It is clear from the theory (2.2 Corporate Brand vs. Product Brand) that the corporate brand can be
defined as the glue between the organisation and the consumer’s trust and credibility, because the
corporate brand was built on seven values. From the answers given in question 2, it is clear that
the values of the organisation played a primary role in building trust with the consumer. It is also
clear that Woolworths build their business model, internal branding and product development on
the seven values of the organisation and that the customer trusts the corporate brand and
therefore purchases follow.
Secondly, Aaker identified that heritage, power, credibility, people of the organisation, the values,
priority, perceived quality and social responsibility define the image and perception of the corporate
43
brand (Aaker, 2004:1). It is clear that Woolworths built a successful, trusted and credible corporate
brand through the organisation values and infiltrating the values into all facets of the business.
No differences.
Woolworths built their corporate brand on seven values and not on the functionality of their
products. This correlates to theory as theory says that corporate brands should be the glue
between the organisation and customer. Woolworths successfully built a well known and trusted
branded house on the organisation’s corporate values. Woolworths live and breathe their values as
their values set them apart from their competitors. Product development, internal and external
processes are built around these values and this creates continuity and trust between the
organisation and consumer. The consumers trust the product, because they believe and trust in
the corporate brand.
As seen later in the research paper, the business strategy and brand rejuvenation were built on
these seven values.
Would you say that the corporate brand name is the core of your brand identity and the building
block for growth?
Two out of the three respondents answered the question and there were no similarities between
the answers.
The marketing director strongly believes that if you take away the corporate brand name, you don’t
have much, while the CEO believes that the values of the organisation are the core of the
corporate brand identity and the building block for growth.
The marketing director’s answer is parallel with theory in that if you take away the brand name
“Woolworths”, there is not much left of the brand identity. Her answer is also parallel to Souiden et
al. (2006:838) in that the corporate brand name has an effect on the corporate image.
44
The CEO was of the opinion that the core of the brand identity and building blocks for the growth is
the values of the organisation and not the brand name. He believes that the values of the brand
create the identity of the brand in mind’s eye of the consumer.
When interpreting the answers given by the interviewees, it is advisable that theory expands on the
factors that help the brand name to be the building block for the brand identity. The corporate
brand name Woolworths is synonymous with quality, innovation, service, value for money, energy,
sustainability and integrity, and therefore the brand identity is built around these seven values.
It is therefore safe to say that the brand name Woolworths means nothing without the values that
support it through good service, great product and the energy of the organisation internally and
externally. The brand name Woolworths evokes emotions and perceptions of quality, innovation,
service, value for money, energy, sustainability and integrity.
As seen later in the research, Woolworths the brand name doesn’t mean anything, but values of
the brand give life to the corporate brand name.
In Woolworths’ case, the values of the organisation have a ripple effect on the business as they are
the building blocks for the business strategy and the health of the brand identity.
In conclusion, I would suggest that organisations see the corporate brand name as part of the
brand identity and that the organisation’s values, beliefs etc will be seen as part of the business
strategy, which is more a strategic building block than a brand building exercise.
What effect does the corporate brand name have on the corporate image?
The marketing director and the CEO communicated very clearly that the name Woolworths is just a
collection of letters and if the brand name doesn’t personify the brand essence, which is “The
Difference”, the corporate brand does not carry any value.
Throughout the conversations with the three interviewees it was very clear that the name
Woolworths doesn’t have a specific meaning, but the brand name and its offering has been
45
entrenched into their customers minds. Their customers know what the brand name stands for and
know that the brand sells quality products.
As the CEO said, the consumer doesn’t see the word Woolworths, but they see a set of values and
what the brand stands for.
No differences.
Only one similarity was drawn between theory and the answers given. Souiden et al. (2006) is of
the opinion that a positive brand name has a crucial effect on the business. As the creative director
said, the name Woolworths and what it stands for is entrenched in minds of the consumer.
The brand name doesn’t affect the corporate image, but more the values behind and what the
brand stands for in the mind’s eye of the consumer. It is important to know that Woolworths the
brand name holds no meaning, but a set of values and brand promises, product and customer
experiences have created a wealthy corporate brand and corporate image.
Differences found from this research paper and theory are that brand name does not affect the
corporate image as stated by Souiden et al. (2006:830). It is the values and brand promise that the
corporate brand is developed out of that affects the corporate image.
To give an example: The essence of the Woolworths brand is “The difference” and good quality
product. The brand image will be affected as soon as you get the same range of clothing (by the
same supplier) in a Mr Price or Pick ‘n Pay. Only then the corporate image will be affected,
because the consumer can’t believe the essence of the corporate brand anymore.
As the creative director said, the name Woolworths and what it stands for is entrenched in the
minds of the consumer. From the findings it is important to note that it is not the word Woolworths
that affects the corporate image, but what the word Woolworths means in the minds of the
consumers.
The following example can motivate this: The first day Woolworths opened its doors for retail, the
consumers didn’t know what to expect until they walked into the stores because the word
46
Woolworths did mean anything to them at that stage. Up until the point that the consumer walked
into the store and experienced it, the corporate brand name had no effect on the corporate image
of the brand. Throughout the years Woolworths has built its business and brand on a set of values,
good innovative quality products. The consumer started to link these values and brand promises to
the corporate brand name and only now after 80 years the brand promise and values have an
effect on the corporate image.
Brand names, where consumers can draw a conclusion before having any experience with the
brand, such as Mr Price, can affect the corporate image beforehand, because the corporate brand
name communicates that the brand focuses on pricing and that it might be a brand for price
sensitive consumers.
Through this question it was possible to see what holds value, is it the corporate brand name, or is
it the set of values that is synonymous with the corporate brand? The corporate brand name
Woolworths doesn’t support the theory in the sense that the brand name Woolworths has an effect
on the corporate image and the values that the corporate brand communicates affect the corporate
image.
This research paper would support Lehu’s (2006:87) opinion that the brand name is the primary
point of reference, but it doesn’t support the statement that the brand name is the building block for
the rest of the brand’s identity. It was clear from the answers that Woolworths means nothing and
the word itself can’t be a building block, but its values and the brand promise are the building block
between the corporate brand name and corporate image.
What effect did the brand rejuvenation process have on the corporate image?
All interviewees were of the opinion that the brand rejuvenation process gave the brand more
energy and made it look and feel more modern and younger. As mentioned before, Woolworths
decided to rejuvenate the brand so that the brand is in line with its business strategy. The brand
rejuvenation was an integrated strategy to modernise the business internally and externally
throughout all the touch points. The brand rejuvenation included the following steps and business
decision that had an effect on the brand image as it is today:
 Sales floor: First of all Woolworths looked at the sales floor, particularly on the clothing side.
Woolworths consulted international people to advise on bringing in different brands,
textures and different experiences in store.
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 Pricing architecture: As Simon said, the product offering was changed to look more like the
structure of the Eiffel Tower. The top part of the pricing structure considered customers that
like and can afford superior quality. This is a smaller group of people for whom Country
Road was brought into the store. According to the CEO, it has been a great success and
has repositioned the clothing business for Woolworths quite significantly. Secondly,
Woolworths pulled down the two legs of the Eiffel tower (pricing structure metaphor) to look
at being price competitive with commodity products, which the customer can get elsewhere,
perhaps not the same quality standard but still a necessity for daily living. These products
included T-shirt pricing, sugar, milk etc. In conclusion, Woolworths sorted out their core
opening prices and also bought in a more luxury tier at the top.
 Customer analysis: Since 2008 Woolworths has done a lot of customer analysis to
understand the two to three million customers that they have in store weekly. They realised
that they needed to modernise the brand, because the brand had become too old even in
the mind’s eye of their older shoppers. Woolworths then changed the merchandise that
they sent to the store and made the offerings more targeted to the customer profile of each
store.
 Suppliers and margins: Woolworths is renowned for one word and that is quality. The
supply base in South Africa became less and less productive and wasn’t competing with
the investments that were going on in China. In China it is easier to get higher quality
products at better prices. Woolworths encouraged the local suppliers to put new
investments in Lesotho, where they can get better labour rates and therefore better prices.
Woolworths moved away from the suppliers that couldn’t meet the requirement and took
their sourcing offshore to China, which is cheaper. This enabled Woolworths to shift their
home-ware, clothing and footwear to more modern investment factories and cheaper
production. They have thus been able to bring their prices down relative to the market,
improve their margin and still keep their quality and in some cases even better quality.
Woolworths therefore got better quality products cheaper off shore than locally.
In conclusion, the big rejuvenation shifts that Woolworths made were the following - they sorted out
their pricing architecture, differentiated the sales floor, did more customer research and customer
analysis and moved their sourcing offshore.
According to the interviewees, after the rejuvenation process their customers experience them in a
different way, but with the same brand values. All of this has given the business a fresh energy and
helped to increase sales from 2009 to 2011.
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4.8.2 Question 5: differences in the discussion guide answers
All the interviewees were of the opinion that the brand rejuvenation process gave the corporate
brand a more modern look and gave the brand more energy. No differences in the answers given.
There were two key similarities in comparison to theory.
 First similarity: Brand needs to stay current
Theory: As people, trends and time change, the corporate visual identity needs to adapt to these
changes to stay current and relevant in the minds of the consumer.
Simon Suzman is of the opinion that every year that a person gets older the brand must get a year
younger. The marketing director stated that research showed that times have changed and that
people perceive the once trend setting retailer Woolworths no longer as modern as they want it to
be.
 Second similarity
Theory: The corporate visual identity plays an important role in the strategic decisions of the
organisation, since the visual identity of the organisation symbolises the change in the
organisation.
All three interviewees said that brand rejuvenation was done because of a strategic change in the
business model as explained above, it wasn’t just a change of the typeface. All the touch points
that the Woolworths customer has after the brand rejuvenation process, symbolise the change and
customers now experience a Woolworths that is more modern internally (business processes) and
externally (product offering).
After the research the author still feels that there is a lack of communicating that although a brand
might change its corporate brand, the brand promise stays the same. When an organisation
rebrands, it tries to enforce and support the brand promise even more. Brand rejuvenation blows
energy into a brand and it doesn’t change the brand completely as with corporate re-branding.
After the brand rejuvenation process, the values still need to be the same or even better. The
essence and core of the brand therefore still needs to be the same after the brand rejuvenation
process, in the Woolworths case…”The Difference”.
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The brand rejuvenation was not just only a type face change, but a strategic change internally with
the business model.
Even though the business made strategic changes within the business and visual changes, the
values of the brand are still the same as they were before the brand rejuvenation. The brand
rejuvenation was done to increase support of their values, the essence of the brand and their
brand promise to the customer.
In conclusion, the brand rejuvenation had a very positive effect on the brand image as Woolworths
now deliver even more on their values and the essence of the brand. The change of the business
model helps to create the difference in every single touch point with the consumer.
What was the image and consumer perception of the corporate brand before the brand
rejuvenation process in 2009?
The interviewees were of the opinion that the brand was not modern enough and that the
consumers perceived the brand as snobbish, distant and aloof. It all boiled down to the fact that the
brand before the brand rejuvenation was too “smart” and that consumers felt that they did not fit
the brand.
The CEO added that consumers perceived the brand as expensive and the creative director was of
the opinion that the brand was more targeted towards the older market.
As seen in Chapter Two, brand rejuvenation must be considered when a brand is old in spirit, but
has plenty of breath left to start a new life. This is exactly what happened with the Woolworths
brand.
Theory says that brands should be rejuvenated when they are going into the declining stage of
their life cycle.
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It was clear from the answers of the CEO that Woolworths was not in its decline stage as a
business. The brand was just not current anymore and consumers perceived the brand as aloof
and distant. Therefore, the main reason for the brand rejuvenation was not based on where the
business was in the brand’s life cycle, but more because of the consumer’s perception of the
brand.
Before the brand rejuvenation process, the Woolworths brand was distant from its consumers and
the brand had a very old and “stuck up” image. As a business the brand was still doing very well
and showed good profits, but the brand had to rejuvenate itself to become more modern and
timeless. Woolworths also had to rejuvenate the brand so that the brand could become closer to
the consumer and “touchable” in a sense.
What is the image of the corporate brand name now after the brand rejuvenation process?
All three interviewers were of the opinion that the brand is more modern after the brand
rejuvenation process and that the brand is more human than before the brand rejuvenation
process.
The CEO was also of the opinion that the consumers perceive the brand as more value for money
after the brand rejuvenation process.
As seen in the literature review, theory says that the rejuvenation process of a brand should
strengthen and add value to the brand and help it to prevent from ageing. This is exactly what the
brand rejuvenation did for Woolworths. It is clear from the answers above that the brand
rejuvenation process injected new life into the Woolworths brand and made it more modern and
touchable to the consumer. The brand is more relevant and the consumer can relate to the brand.
Secondly, Lehu (2008:64) is of the opinion that brand rejuvenation entitles activities that will make
the brand more modern and contemporary, but the brand should not lose its identity in the process.
This was exactly the outcome for Woolworths as after the brand rejuvenation the brand is more
modern and contemporary but has still kept the core of its identity and still lives the same values as
before the brand rejuvenation process.
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No differences in comparison to theory.
After the brand rejuvenation process the Woolworths brand is more modern and timeless, even the
though it still has the same values and core identity. This outcome runs parallel to theory.
What is the consumer’s perception of the corporate brand after the brand rejuvenation process?
There were more positive reactions than negative reactions. The marketing director was of the
opinion that the ratio was 80 percent positive and 20 percent negative and gradually the negative
feedback diminished.
The marketing director stated that the feedback was not based on age or gender. It was very
random who liked it and who didn’t like it. The CEO, though, was of the opinion that the older and
more conservative generation didn’t like the new identity initially.
Not applicable.
Theory states that the brand rejuvenation process can damage the corporate reputation in the
mind of the consumer. It is clear from statements by the interviewees that the brand rejuvenation
process did not damage the corporate brand. For some consumers it was a mind shift and for other
consumers the brand rejuvenation created excitement.
Woolworths was very fortunate in the sense that they did not experience the GAP experience
(consumers rejected the GAP retailers brand rejuvenation). Eighty percent of the consumers
accepted the new brand identity and the consumers who showed negativity turned out to love the
brand. Woolworths also did not see a decline in sales after the brand rejuvenation process and this
is an indication that the consumers are in favour of the new brand experience.
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Before the brand rejuvenation in 2009 what values, beliefs and characteristics did the brand
identity express?
 The seven values of Woolworths

 The essence of the brand = “The difference”
 Core of brand identity = Quality
No differences.
Not applicable as question 9 is a comparison for question 10.
Not applicable as question 9 is a comparison for question 10.
Over the past 80 years, Woolworths’ main objective was to be synonymous with the word quality
and from this the seven values of the corporate brand was born. The corporate organisation lives
and breathes these values to achieve the essence of the brand, which is “The difference”.
After the brand rejuvenation process how did the values, beliefs and characteristics of the brand
identity change?
Nothing has changed; the brand values, beliefs and the characteristics of the brand stayed the
same. The brand is just more modern.
No differences.
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Lehu (2008) stated that the corporate brand values should stay the same as before the brand
No differences.
The brand rejuvenation process reinforced the values and beliefs of Woolworths internally and
externally. After the brand rejuvenation process it was clear that the brand still holds the same
values, but it is now perceived as a trendsetter for being current.
What was the major change in the brand identity (old logo to new logo?)
The marketing director and creative director said that the brand is modern and timeless.
Through the conversation with the marketing director and the creative director it was clear that
Woolworths moved away from a logo design to more of a brand identity system.
None. The marketing director and the creative director worked closely together on the brand
identity.
Question was for reference use only.
Question was for reference use only.
Woolworths moved away from an old aspiring brand to a more modern, timeless and aspiring
brand. They also modernised the brand identity from just a logo design to a brand identity system.
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How did the brand rejuvenation affect brand loyalty and trust?
All the interviewees were of the opinion that the brand rejuvenation did not affect the brand loyalty
and trust of the consumer.
No differences.
Groucutt (2006:102) is of the opinion that brands should stay true to their heritage and leverage it
when the brand rejuvenates. Customers should also be reminded of the organisation’s values and
that they will keep on delivering on their promises as in the past.
The author is of the opinion that the reason why the Woolworths customer accepted the new brand
identity and stayed loyal to it is because the brand values were reinforced in all the communication
and product development throughout the brand rejuvenation process. All the business decisions
were also built on the brand values, the brand promise and the essence of the brand, which is “The
difference”.
No differences.
In the author’s opinion the new brand identity did not have an effect on the loyalty of the consumer,
because the corporate brand stayed true to its values throughout the brand rejuvenation process
and during business decisions.
Why did you decide to change the corporate brand identity of Woolworths?
Woolworths realised that their corporate brand strategy and image was not in line with their
business strategy. It was very clear throughout all three interviews that Woolworths restructured
their business model during the past three years. Management focused a lot on the values of the
55
brand and built business strategies and business processes around the seven values. As an
example, the selling of innovative products at an affordable price, but still keeping the good quality
of the product (brand promise). The business model became “new world”, while the corporate
brand did not suit the new innovative modern way of thinking.
No differences.
 First similarity: The corporate visual identity plays an important role in the strategic decisions
of the organisation, since the visual identity of the organisation symbolises the change in the
organisation. Woolworths based their decision to rejuvenate the brand to be in line with
business strategy. Woolworths changed as an organisation and became more modern;
therefore Woolworths had to change their corporate visual identity to become more modern.
 Second similarity: Design is critical for companies to survive downturn economic times, future
growth and the success of the organisation. Woolworths rejuvenated their brand in the
middle of the recession. Blebe (2011:13) reported that Woolworths expected headline
earnings per share for the year 2011 to 26 June 2011. The article also states the Woolworths
food sales rose 10.7 percent in 2011 and all of this is an indication that Woolworths survived
the downturn and that the redesign had a positive effect on the business during the
recession.
No differences.
The market and the shopping behaviour of consumers changed during the past three years and
Woolworths knew that they had to adapt to these changes or they would lose market share. As
mentioned before, Woolworths focused on four key areas, namely the sales floor, pricing
architecture, consumer analysis and margins and suppliers. These four focus areas combined with
a changing economic environment, changed the business strategy and business model.
Woolworths as a business became smart and more innovative, looking at different options to stay
the market leader in quality products, but selling them at a good price. This resulted in more
innovative products and innovative thinking. The business as a whole became more “new world” in
its thinking and the current brand identity did not suit the new business model and strategy. The
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organisation is also on top of the latest trends and knows exactly what their consumers think of
them. Through thorough market research it became clear that consumers saw the brand as old
and distant and then the decision was made to bring the corporate brand strategy more in line with
the business strategy.
In your opinion when is a good time for corporate organisations to change their visual identity?
Management needs to ensure that the brand strategy is aligned with the business strategy.
None.
See question 13.
None.
See interpretation of question 13.
What change does your new visual identity symbolise and how is it different from your old visual
identity?
 Similarities in the discussion guide answers
The corporate brand is more modern and simpler after the brand rejuvenation process.
Steven added that the brand is more constant, bolder and simpler than the previous corporate
brand identity. He also added that even though the brand has changed, the quality of photography
is still good and communicates good quality product.
Simon was of the opinion that the product of the brand is now more in line with the brand values.
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The corporate brand is more in line with the business strategy and business model.
None.
During the interview with Simon, it was clear that consumers go into a retailer to buy product. Even
though the entertainment is good or the service excellent, if the product doesn’t meet the
expectations of the customer, the customer will walk out and purchase at another retailer.
It is was evident from the three interviews that the Woolworths corporate brand is more in line with
the business strategy and the values of the organisation. It was also clear from all three interviews
that the brand is a trendsetter which its strives to be through the way they do business, to product
innovation and customer satisfaction. The new modern corporate brand is a reflection of this.
Did the new identity helpe to boost sales during the recession in 2010?
The marketing director and CEO confirmed that Woolworths had an increase in sales the during
the recession.
None.
Research “Design to beat the downturn” (2009:30), has shown that design is critical for
organisations to survive downturn economic times, future growth and the success of the
organisation. Companies need to beat their competition by bettering their logo and product design.
The Design Council’s National Survey of Firms (UK) revealed in 2008 that instead of cutting costs
in an economic downturn, companies are using design to overcome difficult economic times. The
survey revealed that 15–30 percent of companies who decided to follow this strategy had shown
an increase in revenue during the economic times (Using design to beat the downturn, 2009:30).
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As mentioned before, Michael Blebe (2011:13) reported that Woolworths expected headline
earnings per share for the year 2011 to 26 June 2011. The article also states that Woolworths food
sales rose 10.7 percent in 2011 and all of this is an indication that Woolworths survived the
downturn and that the redesign had a positive effect on the business during the recession.
In a study done by Souiden, Kassim and Hong (2006:825), it is evident that there is a direct
positive effect between the corporate image and the corporate reputation in relation to consumer’s
loyalty towards the corporate brand.
The study has also shown that there is a strong correlation between customer loyalty and the
share purchase of the organisation. Therefore customer satisfaction and a positive brand image
will result in customer retention and increased sales.
The marketing director was of the opinion that there is no direct link between the sales figures and
the corporate brand identity.
In Woolworthss case the Design to beat the downturn theory was proven as Woolworths showed
an increase in their headline earnings per share for the year 2011. To support the theory, Simon
was of the opinion that whole exercise (repositioning business strategy and align brand strategy
with business strategy) helped to boost sales during the recession. By repositioning the business
as a whole, the brand has rebuilt its credibility during the recession around price, innovative
product and internal systems and therefore when the consumer buys the core product from
Woolworths, it is real good value for money.
Therefore the business structuring as a whole, the brand support and the aligned business boosted
sales during the recession. In this case the author concludes that there is a direct link between the
sales figures and the brand identity, but product plays a vital role in this. If the consumer is not
happy with the product offering and brand promise and identity, the consumer will move to another
retailer.
Woolworths has a very loyal customer base, how do they feel about the new corporate image?
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The overall feedback was that their loyal customer base like I the new corporate brand image and
that they feel the brand is more modern. Their loyal customer base did not change their perception
of the brand and they feel that the brand is still an aspiring brand. All three interviewees were of the
opinion that the consumers feel that the brand is closer to them and more touchable.
Simon’s answers were parallel to those of the marketing director and the creative director. Simon
just felt that the consumers had the above reaction to the brand not only because of the brand
rejuvenation from a creative side, but also due to a better product offering.
 The study has shown that there is a strong correlation between customer loyalty and the
share purchase of the organisation. Therefore customer satisfaction and a positive brand
image will result in customer retention and increased sales. This was the case for
Woolworths as the organisation has seen an increase share price and sales from 2009 to
2010.
 This study has shown that the corporate brand image evolves in the consumer’s everyday
life over time. Simon said that you need to think of Woolworths as my world. So that
Woolworths touches you in every part of your world. You buy your food there, you buy your
clothing there, you get you credit there, you can get your insurance there. He also said “We
were thinking in going into the travel business, we sell your home products there etc. So
Woolworths surrounds you and every time Woolies touches you, it should feel the same”.
With the rejuvenated corporate identity and business model, the values of the brand were
reinforced in the minds of the consumer and this resulted in a stronger bond between the
consumer and the corporate brand, hence the increase in share price and earnings year on
year during the brand rejuvenation period.
No comparison in relation to theory.
From this one can conclude that the Woolworths loyal consumers accepted the rejuvenated brand,
because the brand stayed true to its original values. Even though the brand is more modern and
simplistic, the product offering and service are still of high standards. The increase in sales and
share price is an indication that the Woolworths customers stayed loyal to the brand during its
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rejuvenation stage. It is also an indication that the consumer still sees the brand as an inspirational
brand, but more touchable for the consumer.
The increase in sales was also a very good indication that the new business model was effective in
selling really good value for money products. This also could have had a big impact on the loyalty
of their customers, because customers now see Woolworths as “My world”, because they can buy
general commodities of a good value at a good price and the customer can also buy luxury
products in the same store. For once the Woolworths experience is encapsulated around good
quality products at a competitive price and real value for money. The Woolworths customer can
now buy everything from his /her T-Shirt and sugar to a leather bag at competitive prices. The
customer no longer has to divide shopping between Woolworths and other retailers such as
Checkers and Pick n Pay on the food side and Truworths and Edgars on the clothing side. The
customer can buy everything in one store.
In your opinion, what effect did the corporate brand rejuvenation have on brand loyalty?
See question 17.
See question 17.
See question 17.
See question17.
See question 17.
4.22 PART B: TO INVESTIGATE THE PROCESS OF BRAND REJUVENATION THAT

WOOLWORTHS USED
Questions 19–22 will give a clear understanding on why the brand rejuvenated.
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Questions 23–24 will investigate whether the essence of the brand has changed after the brand
Questions 25–27 investigate whether Woolworths has adhered to the principles of corporate brand
rejuvenation.
Questions 28–32 identify the chosen corporate brand rejuvenation avenue used by Woolworths,
referred back to Aaker (1001:243)
Questions 33–34 identify where in the life cycle of the brand Woolworths rejuvenated its brand.
Before the 2009 brand rejuvenation process, do you think your brand was old of spirit?
All the interviewees thought the brand was old of spirit before the brand rejuvenation process.
No differences.
As seen in Chapter 2, brand rejuvenation must be considered when a brand is old in spirit, but has
plenty of breath left to start a new life. All three interviewees were of the opinion that the brand
rejuvenation has blown fresh life into the brand. Before the brand rejuvenation it was old of spirit
and the brand rejuvenation gave the brand new energy.
No differences.
Before the brand rejuvenation the brand was old of spirit and the brand rejuvenation gave the
brand new energy.
If no….why then decide to rejuvenate the brand?

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Question is not applicable.
Why did Woolworths decide to rejuvenate their corporate brand?
All the interviewees were very clear that it was a business decision to rejuvenate the brand. The
organisation was changing and the brand wasn’t aligned with the business strategy.
Steven also added that people started to perceive the brand as old and distant.
The rejuvenation process is not only implemented to increase sales, but also to enhance brand
equity, increase perceive quality and change associations that the customer has with the brand.
No differences.
The brand was becoming old in the mind of the consumer, not necessarily the visual identity of the
brand, but the business as a whole. For this reason Woolworths decided to look at its brand and
review not only the visual identity, but the product offering, their service, location etc. As Simon
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said, when the recession struck, Woolworths knew that they had to change the business model to
stay current and to meet the market’s needs. The industry changed, the consumers’ spending
power changed and Woolworths knew that they had to adapt to these changes or they would
become followers and not be leaders in their field anymore. According to Simon, the marketing
director was of the opinion to aim younger, to come out with more modern and snazzy design and
adverts. The focus was also to rejuvenate the product range and focus on younger merchandise
for younger customers. Woolworths was aware of the fact that they can’t drop their older
customers, but they knew that they had to focus on the slightly younger customers to maintain or
increase their market share.
According to Simon, consumer research showed that the consumer space in South Africa has
changed over the past few years, because of the growth of the “new consumer”. This consumer is
mostly black and behaves differently to the old white consumer. The white consumer earning R100
000 is conservative in its lifestyle, while the black consumer earning R100 000 feels more positive
and confident and in a sense that they “have arrived”. The market research showed that the yuppie
35 year old black consumer more likely shops at Woolworths than the 35 year old white consumer.
When looking at a trend curve it is obvious that there will be a lot more 35 year old black diamond
consumers within the next ten years than 35 year old white consumers. Woolworths realised that
they need to capture this market and keep on doing what they do best, namely sell good quality
products at good prices. It would have been a disaster if Woolworths had decided to sell targeted
black products such as “Black like me”.
In conclusion, Woolworths rejuvenated their corporate brand to stay current and on top of the
changing retail environment, but even though the business environment changed, the business
stayed true to its unique business model. In Simon’s own words” If Woolworths decided during the
recession to go cheap, because people don’t have any money, we would have killed this
business”.
How did Woolworths innovate its product or corporate brand during the brand rejuvenation
process?
Woolworths made a conscious decision to keep the brand relevant in the mind’s eye of the
consumer. This involved launching products that are more modern and funky. All the interviewees
thought that the product is the most important thing in rejuvenating the brand and then only the
window dressing starts by creating the corporate identity that is aligned with the product and image
of the brand. Woolworths took initiative in developing a wide product range that appeals to a wide
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spread market, but still the focus was on good quality products. Woolworths went offshore and
sourced value for money products such as T-shirts and bottom of the range design clothing to
higher end design clothing such as Country Road, Trinity and W-Collection.
It was clear that management was on the same page and the business strategy was clear on how
to grow the business during the recession. They decided on good quality product at a good price,
but still there were luxury products for those who could afford it. Even though pricing was the name
of the game, Woolworths never sacrificed the essence of the brand, which is the difference.
As seen in Chapter 2, there are two main activities that need to be present when rejuvenating a
brand effectively, namely innovation and repositioning of the brand.
Woolworths repositioned the brand to be more modern and timeless. Innovation is one of the
seven values of Woolworths around which the organisation restructured the business strategy and
product development.
It was clear that Woolworths followed theory unknowingly, because innovation is one of their seven
values, which the company will never deviate from and secondly, because the business changed
to meet the markets needs, the brand had to change to meet the business strategy.
From the similarities mentioned above it is very clear that Woolworths focused on product and
business processes to rejuvenate the brand and then only came the creative identity side. The
focus was on keeping the brand relevant in a changing market environment and selling quality
products and commodities at good prices.
To investigate whether the essence of the brand has changed after the brand rejuvenation.
Did the core values of the corporate brand change after the brand rejuvenation process?
All three interviewees said that the brand values stayed exactly the same before and after the
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No differences. It was very clear that the rejuvenation brief was built around the seven values of
the brand.
As seen in Chapter 2, Lehu (2009) is of the opinion that the brand must keep its core values, but
the brand attributes will change to meet the needs of the consumer.
Woolworths built the rejuvenation of the brand on the values of the corporate brand. The values
stayed the same throughout the brand rejuvenation process, but the attributes of the brand
changed to meet the markets needs.
No differences.
The rejuvenated brand was built on the seven corporate values of the organisation. The seven
values were reinforced in the mind of the consumer after the brand rejuvenation process.
As you know, brand rejuvenation is a brand-repositioning process. Was the objective of the
repositioning of Woolworths a
 physical repositioning of the brand in comparison to its competitors; or

 repositioning of the brand in the mind of the consumer?
The CEO and marketing director were of the opinion that both are important when rejuvenating a
brand, the one just comes after the other. In Woolworths’ case the brand was repositioned in the
mind of the consumer and then the focus was for the organisation to be relevant in comparison to
the market and competitor activities.
The question wasn’t asked to the creative director.

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As seen in the literature review, First (2009) identified five rules that are vital when an organisation
rejuvenates
First (2009) identified five rules that a company needs to adhere to when revitalising a brand. The
first rule is that organisation should “refocus the organisation”. It was very clear in Simon’s
interview that when the global economy and markets started to change, Woolworths knew that they
had to refocus their business model in order to survive the recession.
Secondly, the market segment that the organisation is positioning it in, must be known in order to
focus on meeting the needs of the target market. In this case, Woolworths refocused the
organisation re: Pricing architecture, consumer analysis and product offering.
The third rule that First (2009) identified is that the brand experience should be reinvented. The five
Ps (people, product, place, price and promotion) play a vital role in this rule to create the desired
brand experience. After the research in step two Woolworths started to implement and source new
suppliers and products.
of the five Ps (discussed above). Woolworths continuously does market research with their three to
four million consumers walking through their doors weekly.
The fifth and last rule emphasises the importance for the organisation to align globally. Global
alignment will offer relevant experiences of the brand around the world. This is not valid in
Woolworths’ case as Woolworths ensured that their business model is a trendsetter for retailers
internationally.
In conclusion, theory states that the rejuvenation process of the brand should help the corporate
brand to gain competitive advantage in the market, by reminding the consumers that the brand is
right for them. Woolworths has done this with flying colours.
None.
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When the recession struck, Woolworths’ competitors were doing better than them, particularly in
the clothing side of the business. Initially Woolworths thought that people would walk away from
their food category during the recession. However, they were not too concerned as they modified
the pricing structure of food slightly and they knew that the recession would end and that the
products are convenient for the customers and of good quality. The conclusion is that Woolworths
decided not to change the product offering to the customer, but decided to rather do what they do
better. Woolworths decided to focus on what the customer expects from them as a brand and not
to focus on what the competitor is doing during the recession period, which turned out to be the
rejuvenation period for Woolworths.
Therefore the main reason for Woolworths making any decision (not just brand rejuvenation
decisions) is their focus on the customer and what the customer wants. In Simon’s own words:
“The consumer must react to you and say that you have changed and that you are more relevant
to me and I’ll come back to you”.
During the rejuvenation process did Woolworths refocus the organisation internally, and if so, how?
It was clear from all the interviewees that a lot of processes changed internally before the new
rejuvenated brand was launched. These internal processes started after the refocusing of the
business as a whole.
Secondly it came across from all three interviewees that the internal processes were clearly built
on the seven values of the organisation.
Even though it was clear from all three interviewees that Woolworths refocused the organisation
internally, it wasn’t clear how it had been done.
As seen in question 24:
First (2009) is of the opinion that the organisations should “refocus the organisation”. It was very
clear in Simon’s interview that when the global economy and markets started to change,
Woolworths knew that they had to refocus their business model in order to survive the recession.
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None.
It was clear that Woolworths knows how to reinvent itself, because the first step in the rejuvenation
process had been followed. Simon led the organisation into thinking strategically where the it was
going and how it fits into the economy and market. With the brand essence and values in mind, the
business was restructured and the vision was clear.
During the rejuvenation process did Woolworths rethink the target market and product offering? If
so, how did the target market and product offering change?
Evidently the target market did not change, the product offering just became better (see Eiffel
Tower effect, question 5).
The marketing director and CEO were very clear that Woolworths as a business just became more
clear and focused on the brand and what their customers want now and in the future.
All three interviewees were very adamant that the seven values of the organisation played a vital
part in rethinking what the customer expects from Woolworths and what products to offer them.
Simon made an interesting point on customer analysis. Research has shown that the target market
for Woolworths is 8, 9 and 10. This is not to say that the lower LSMs don’t shop at Woolworths, but
Woolworths target LSM 9 and 10 in particular.
See question 23:
Secondly, the market segment that the organisation is positioning in, must be known therefore,
focus on meeting the needs of the target market. In this case, Woolworths refocused the
organisation re: Pricing architecture, consumer analysis and product offering.
69
None. Woolworths has done thorough market research on their target market.
The target market wasn’t changed at all, the business just became more clear on what the target
market wants and more modern and innovative in product offering.
The seven values of Woolworths played a vital role in the experience that Woolworths wants to
create for the customer and the range of the product offering.
What measurements did you put in place to measure the performance of the new brand
experience internally and externally?
Charmaine, Steve and Simon explained that market research and the measurement of brand
health plays a vital role in measuring the performance of the brand.
The author lacks a deeper explanation from Charmaine and Steve in measuring the performance
of the brand externally. Simon explained that any organisation needs to deliver profit to its
shareholders and gaining or loosing shares is a good indication on the performance of the new
brand experience internally and externally. The essence is in the fact that any organisation needs
to gain market share and profit growth needs to be sustainable.
See question 23:
of the five Ps ((people, product, place, price and promotion)). Woolworths continuously does
market research with their three to four million consumers walking through their doors weekly.
With all the measurement tools that Woolworths has in place, it is clear that Woolworths takes the
importance of the fifth rule seriously.
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Woolworths does a lot of market research to analyse the market, the brand health of the
organisation and their customers’ needs and wants. Measurements include: longitudinal study
monthly, customer studies that Woolworths undertake and this goes out to a 100 000 Woolworths’
customers online. Woolworths also has a corporate scorecard, where they measure all the different
attributes of business performance, which equates to brand performance. Charmaine is of the
opinion that brand health is the biggest measurement in the organisation.
But still any business boils down to profits and market share. Simon explained that the
shareholders want to grow and gaining or loosing shares is a good measurement of how the
business is perceived in the market.
After the brand rejuvenation process, was there a continuous reminder communication to the target
market?
Woolworths wanted a slow and gentle introduction for the rejuvenated brand into the market. No
direct email was sent out to communicate the new more modern brand.
No differences.
When a brand effectively rejuvenates itself in a specific target market, the consumers’ frequency of
use and their level of use will increase, because brand rejuvenation is a tool for any organisation to
increase market share and to get the consumers’ attention on the organisation (Aaker, 1991:244).
This was exactly what happened with Woolworths after the brand rejuvenation process as
Woolworths expects to report a 20–30 percent increase in basis and headline earnings per share
for the year of 2011 to 26 June. Analysts are also of the opinion that the earnings growth indicated
an increase in market share (Bleby, 2011:13).
Aaker (1991:244) is also of the opinion that for a brand to get increased frequency of use after the
brand rejuvenation stage, the brand must continuously remind the consumer of the brand through
reminder communication. This will increase awareness to the rejuvenated brand and also create
excitement. This is exactly what Woolworths haven’t done. The organisation made a conscious
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decision not to launch the new brand into the market and focus the attention on themself. This is
what Pick ‘n Pay did and they were slaughtered in the media and their customers felt confused with
all the bad publicity.
Another way for brands to increase the frequency of use is to make the use of the brand easier.
Woolworths has done this brilliantly with their forecourt stores. These stores made it easier for the
consumer to shop at Woolworths, while they are filling their cars.
Woolworths went against theory and they haven’t used the brand rejuvenation process as a tool to
get market share. The brand rejuvenation was not introduced into the market with a bang, because
of the following reasons:
 Just not how Woolworths is an organisation. Woolworths is sophisticated and gentle.

 Woolworths did not want to communicate the new “modern” look to the consumer with an
introduction to the brand. It would have said that they knew the brand is a bit old and now
they want to fix it by modernising the brand. This will show defeat and Woolworths would
rather just say “We are right”. Simon explained it well: “Why would the DA say: “No
corruption, the DA”. Well the answer is then that you associate the word corruption with the
DA. The message was “We are here, we are relevant”. Rather than “come and look at our
new brand that we have fixed to suit the changing market environment. This shows that
Woolworths can classify as a trendsetter in the industry. Woolworths does not follow, but it
leads and is a trendsetter.
 Too expensive to do a national relaunch of the brand. Woolworths decided to phase it into
the market over the next three to five years.
As seen in question 28, Woolworths has shown that you don’t have to communicate and advertise
your brand rejuvenation to the world to gain market share or to increase sales. Woolworths did it
gently and through the subtle launch Woolworths has modernised itself and become a trendsetter
instead of being an advertisement to their own brand. This worked for the brand as market share
increased and research has shown that the consumer accepted the changes.
After the brand rejuvenation process, did Woolworths introduce a new loyalty programme or any
other programme to increase usage?
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Question was only asked to the CEO.
Question was only asked to the CEO.
Another effective way for organisations to gain market share is to increase the quantity of use.
Loyalty cards, membership, cash back and a points system are a few incentives that organisations
can use to increase quantity usage Woolworths introduced the new loyalty programme at the end
of the brand rejuvenation process and it has been successful according to Simon.
The loyalty programme was: If you take out a Woolworths card, it enables Woolworths to
communicate and sell directly to you. You get discounts on certain products. Therefore it was an
invitation to get the customer’s name and address, so that Woolworths can market relevant
products to the consumer.
Theory states that it is advisable for organisations to launch these programmes during the same
time of the rejuvenation process. The reason for this is that while the attention is focused on the
rejuvenated organisation, it hooks the new user and probes the user to use the brand more. This is
effective because the acquisition strategy flows over into the retention strategy (Aaker, 1991).
Simon is of the opinion that the loyalty programme comes in a later stage of the brand rejuvenation
process because the purpose of the loyalty programme is direct marketing, not to get the
customers’ loyalty. It is to sell the right product to the right customer.
Yet again, Woolworths had a different view on the reasons of a loyalty programme and when it
should be launched. The main differences between theory and answers given are:
 Time: Woolworths is of the opinion that the loyalty programme comes in the later stage of the
rejuvenation process, while theory advises to launch these programmes during the same
time.
 Objective for loyalty programme: Aaker (1991) states that a loyalty programme plays a vital
role in the rejuvenation process to grab the attention of the customers and to attract and
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retain the customer. It acts as a hook to get the customer. Simon is of the opinion that
Woolworths introduced a loyalty programme for the purpose of direct marketing.
During brand rejuvenation process, did Woolworths introduce new uses of the brand and if so what
uses?
All the three interviewees agreed that Woolworths did not introduce new uses to the brand; they
have just deepened the brand experience.
None.
As seen in Chapter 2, an organisation also needs to be on top of the latest trends to stay ahead of
its competitors and be the first with innovative products. This is a direct reflection of Woolworths.
Even though Woolworths did not find new uses for the brand, they are always the first to introduce
innovative products.
Theory states that new uses of a brand can rejuvenate the brand immediately. By knowing the new
positioning of the brand or by doing in-depth market research, the identity and the needs and
wants of the target market can be identified and will result in identifying new uses of the brand. As
mentioned above, no new uses were identified by Woolworths
Woolworths did not find new uses for the brand during the brand rejuvenation process, instead
Woolworths took their values and just reinforced them in their business model and product offering.
Did Woolworths enter new markets after the brand rejuvenation process and if so which markets?
Woolworths did enter new markets. Their current offering to their target market was deepened.
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See question 21.
Theory: One avenue to generate growth is to enter new markets. Before any organisation can
enter new markets it is vital that thorough market research is done in order for the organisation to
know if product modification should be done (Aaker, 1991:249). Once market research has been
done the organisation should position itself competitively and uniquely in the market.
Woolworths positioned themselves within the black diamond market. It is vital that the reader
knows that Woolworths did not change any of its product offerings to this market; direct marketing
was just more focused and the store layout in areas where affluent black people stay was
equipped with products that suit their needs.
Woolworths did not change their product offering to suit the black affluent target markets needs. It
made use of clever direct marketing to get to this market to a specific store. No product offering
was changed.
See question 21 interpretation.
Was the main aim of the brand rejuvenation to reposition the brand, and if so, what was the new
positioning?
To modernise the brand and make it more relevant.
None.
Theory: A brand needs to reposition as soon as it becomes outdated in the mind’s eye of the
consumer. Brands that reposition themselves find new associations that suit the brand and fit the
75
behaviour of the target market (Aaker, 1991:251). For any brand to reposition effectively, the
organisation needs to review the differentiating factor of the brand and what added value the brand
provides to the consumer.
None.
See question 1.
In which phase of the brand's life cycle was the corporate brand when Woolworths decided to
rejuvenate the brand? (Birth, growth, maturity, decline)
There were no similarities in this question.
The marketing director made it very clear that they did not base their decision on rejuvenating the
brand on where the brand was in its life cycle. Steven said that the brand is still gaining market
share and therefore not even in the maturity stage. Simon was direct in his answer and clearer. He
said the organisation was in its maturity to decline stage when the brand was rejuvenated.
As discussed in the corporate brand life cycle, Lehu (2008:71) states that a brand needs to be
rejuvenated when the brand’s lifecycle reveals one of the following:
 The audit shows that the brand is ageing (decline stage in life cycle).
 Sufficient residual potential to justify brand rejuvenation.
Brand rejuvenation can be seen as an injection of new life into a brand.
Lehu (2008:71) is of the opinion that brands should be rejuvenated when in the decline stage. This
is not always the truth as old, mature brands such as Woolworths go into the decline stage often
because of market trends, economy that changes or consumer spending.
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Old, mature brands such as Woolworths that have been in the market very long often go into the
decline stage because of market trends, economy that changes or consumer spending. As Simon
said, mature brands live on the upper curve of the lifecycle curve. Sometimes the organisation
goes into the decline stage because of a changing market or strong strategic moves from
competitors, and then it is the responsibility of management to pull the organisation back to the
opposite side of the curve (beginning of maturity stage). On the other side, mature brands such as
Woolworths can introduce a new product line or department such as Country Road as an example
and then the organisation gets pulled back into the upper side of the growth stage.
Do you think that there was new life injected into the brand after the brand rejuvenation process?
All the respondents answered yes to the question.
None.
Theory states that brand rejuvenation injects new life and energy into a brand.
None.
It was clear from this case study that brand rejuvenation injected new life into the brand.
Who are your loyal customers?
All three the respondents were very clear that Woolworths don’t only have one type of loyal
customer. Their loyal customers differ from category to category. One thing that all of these
different demographic shoppers have in common is that they want quality.
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None.
It is clear from theory that the Woolworths shopper can be categorised as a top-level customer and
committed buyer (see Brand loyalty), because they trust the brand and have a strong relationship
with the brand. The Woolworths customer in all categories is a proud user of the brand and the
brand reflects the user’s personality. These customers are confident in the brand and they will
recommend the brand to anyone.
None.
It was clear that from the interviewees that Woolworths has many different kinds of loyal
customers. The first set of customers is called finest cross shoppers. These customers shop many
different types of things regularly. Woolworths also then have another type of customer that shops
only one or two things from them regularly, but are also loyal. Even though these are two different
type of shoppers, the customers in each category believe that Woolworths can offer them a value
system that matches their value system.
4.40 PART C: TO INVESTIGATE THE IMPACT THAT BRAND REJUVENATION HAS ON

THE FOUR COMPONENTS OF AAKER’s BRAND EQUITY MODEL (BRAND
LOYALTY, BRAND AWARENESS, PERCEIVED QUALITY AND BRAND
ASSOCIATION)
Questions 35–40 investigate the effect that the corporate brand rejuvenation had on the brand
loyalty of consumers.
Questions 41–43 assess what influence that the corporate brand rejuvenation had on the brand
awareness levels of the customers.
Questions 44–45 assess the influence that brand rejuvenation had on perceived quality.
Question 46 assess what influence the brand rejuvenation had on the brand awareness levels of
the customer.
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What ages are your brand loyal employees and why?
There were no similarities.
Charmaine was very clear in her argument that Woolworths don’t segment their customers into
age, but they rather divide them into lifestyle segments. Steve and Simon were of the opinion that
that their customers are between the ages of 18–65 (Steve) and 35–65 (Simon).
The question was asked to understand the age profile of the customer. Theory shows that
customers can be segmented into age.
In Woolworths’ case, they don’t segment their customers into age.
Even though Simon was of the opinion that their customers range from 35–65 he was very clear
during the interview that this is not the only way in which they profile their customers. Woolworths
looks at what the shopper buy frequently and then segment the shopper in a specific segment. As
seen in the interviews, a 30 year old single female customer is a totally different shopper than a 35
year old female that is married.
(Older generation): The brand rejuvenation process, did it influence the loyal customers that grew
up with the brand?
All the three interviewees confirmed that the brand rejuvenation process did not influence the
loyalty of their older shoppers
None.
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Author could not find any. The question must be seen in context to segmentation. See
interpretation.
Theory states that committed buyers are being build through people using the brand over a period
of time and that brand rejuvenation might influence the customers respect and trust. In
Woolworths case, the committed buyers was not influenced by the brand rejuvenation process.
Theory states that top-level customers are committed buyers, because they trust the brand and
have a strong relationship with the brand. The question was based on the following thought. If a
customer has been using the brand for a long time and is a committed buyer then a brand
rejuvenation process might influence their respect and trust of the brand. As theory states, people
become very brand loyal when a brand reflects their personality. With this in mind the question was
asked to determine whether the loyal consumer will withdraw from the brand because it is a new
rejuvenated brand and does not reflect the personality of the customer anymore. The answers to
this question showed that this is not the case.
The only conclusion that could be drawn from this is the following:
 The brand stayed true to its values and the values of the brand still reflect the values and
personality of their loyal customer. To draw a comparison with this - it is the same as when
people get a makeover. It is still the same person, with the same beliefs and values, the only
thing that has changed is the physical.
How did the younger generation react to the rejuvenation of the brand?
All the interviewees agreed that there was no negativity from the younger generation to the brand
rejuvenation process. It wasn’t age specific as such.
None.
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The question was asked to support the previous question so as to get an understanding if there
was an age specific issue. Theory states that you can segment your customers in many different
ways and age is just one of them.
None.
The question was more of a supportive question to the previous question.
During the rejuvenation process, did you lose customers? And if so, which age group?
All the respondents were very confident that they did not lose any customers due to the brand
None.
The top-level customers are committed buyers, because they trust the brand and have a strong
relationship with the brand. They are proud users of the brand and the brand reflects their
personality. These customers are confident in the brand and they will recommend the brand to
anyone.
Please note that this question was not a theory based question. The question was asked to
support questions 38 and 39.
This question was a theory based question.

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It is common knowledge that the Woolworths shopper is mostly a committed buyer. The consumer
trusts the brand and has a strong relationship with it. This question was asked to understand
whether a brand’s facelift will still reflect the personality of the customer and whether the customer
will still be loyal to the brand. From the answers it is clear that the customers stayed loyal to the
brand. This ties nicely in with questions 37 and 38. The brand got a facelift, but it stayed true to its
values. The conclusion drawn from this can be that if a brand has a new facelift, but still lives and
breathe the same values, the customer will stay loyal to the brand.
You did not launch the new identity. Did you lose loyalty from customers as they were not part of
the process?
All the respondents agreed that they did not launch the new identity into the market.
None.
No similarities.
As seen in Chapter Two. Theory states then when a brand rejuvenates it should go out and tell the
consumer about it. Theory also states that the objective for brand rejuvenation is to inject new
energy into the brand. The logical thing when one spends a lot of money on brand rejuvenation will
be to introduce it to the market and show the world what the new rejuvenated brand looks like. This
is exactly what Pick n Pick has done.
Woolworths went against theory and did not launch the rejuvenated brand with a bang in the
market as Pick ‘n Pay did. Simon admitted that when a brand wants to communicate the new
rejuvenated brand – it needs to do a big national launch. This is very expensive and Charmaine
said that this is not Woolworths’ approach. Woolworths has a more gentle approach and not a big
mouth brand. Although Woolworths is a trendsetter, it doesn’t throw it in the face of the consumer,
the consumer automatically follows due to solid brand values that are reflected in products and all
82
aspects of the Woolworths business. In comparison to Pick ‘n Pay, Woolworths did not get
slaughtered in the market with negative publicity about the rejuvenated brand. Instead, it was more
of a talking point and excitement about what the brand will do next and what is currently
happening. It created a talking point among consumers and retailers.
Did the new branding affect the recognition of the brand?
All the interviewees were of the opinion that the new branding did not affect the recognition of the
brand, because the corporate identity is based around a very strong Woolworths’ brand.
Steve also added to this that the brand is much more visible after the brand rejuvenation process
No differences. All the respondents agreed that the brand rejuvenation was built along a very
strong Woolworths’ brand.
For any brand there is a decay factor of the brand name over time, especially if top of mind
recognition is involved, but when a brand becomes well established, brand recognition tends to
stay high (Aaker, 1991:69). From this question it was clear that the brand rejuvenation does not
affect brand awareness in a negative way with well established brands and the brand recognition
stayed the same.
None.
Even though Steve felt the brand is more visible, all the responses boil down to one thing and that
is that Woolworths stayed true to its values and essence of the brand and that the brand
rejuvenation process did not affect brand awareness negatively at all. The visual rejuvenated brand
did not affect brand recognition at all. The brand was rejuvenated and not rebranded. Simon made
a very good comment. He was very clear that Woolworths has done the rejuvenation as
complementary to its repositioning, whereas Pick ‘n Pay have done it as essential to their
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repositioning. Brand rejuvenation does not affect brand awareness in a negative way with well
established brands and the brand recognition stayed the same.
The brand rejuvenation of the Woolworths brand wasn’t communicated to the public. Weren’t your
customers confused?
All three interviewees agreed that the customers weren’t confused at all.
None.
As seen in 4.3 in Chapter 2, brands can build brand awareness in different ways and as such
create a jingle or slogan, be different, and do PR, etc. It was very clear from this study that
Woolworths built their brand awareness through being different and having great products in the
market. The brand creates a different and positive experience for their shoppers in comparison to
their competitors. The brand successfully created brand awareness through not doing a big
campaign on the rejuvenated brand.
Theory states in 4.3 in Chapter 2 that PR can be used to increase brand awareness. If publicity is
not managed effectively it can hurt the organisation’s image or decrease brand awareness. This
was the case on Pick ‘n Pay when they did their brand rejuvenation and used PR to increase brand
awareness.
Woolworths did not use PR as a tool to increase brand awareness during the rejuvenation process.
This worked very well for the brand as it wasn’t scrutinised by the press and the consumers could
make up their own minds whether they like the new brand through experiencing it.
Woolworths is a trusted house brand. Do you think that your loyal customers took offence because
they were not part of the process?
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Not at all.
No.
Theory states that very loyal customers trust their brand and feel like the personality and values
reflect theirs.
None.
Woolworths wanted the consumer to experience the new rejuvenated brand for itself and not get
indoctrinated by the media. The rejuvenated experience is so good to the consumer that they don’t
care that they were not part of the progress, because the brand is truly now a luxury and inspiring
brand and it suits their lifestyle and personality even more.
How do you measure perceived quality of the brand and product?
All three interviewees replied that they do tracking studies to monitor what the people think of the
brand and product in the trade
None.
The advantage of high-perceived quality is that companies can charge a premium price for the
product or service (Aaker, 1991:88). The premium price will increase profit and the organisation
can reinvest into brand awareness. An increase in brand awareness and satisfied customers will
result in loyal customers that will affect the bottom line of the organisation. Loyal customers will
also build a trust relationship with the brand and will be willing to pay premium prices for the
85
products that they trust. This theory is based on Woolworths’ business model. Getting the
customer to experience the brand and increase perceived quality, then ask premium price, retain
loyal customers and increase brand awareness.
None.
Woolworths is perceived as a brand that sells high quality products and therefore the brand can
sell at premium price. The perceived quality is also directly linked to the previous experiences that
the consumer had with the brand. Positive experiences with a brand result in loyal customers and
as an end result it will have an effect on the bottom line of the business. Loyal customers will also
build a trust relationship with the brand and will be willing to pay premium prices for the products
that they trust. This theory is based on Woolworths’ business model. Getting the customer to
experience the brand and increase perceived quality, then ask premium price, retain loyal
customers and increase brand awareness.
How did perceived quality of the brand change since the brand rejuvenation?
This question was only asked to Charmaine, and Simon touched on it during the interview. They
haven’t seen a decline in the perceived quality attribute after the brand rejuvenation
None.
Same as question 44: The advantage of high-perceived quality is that companies can charge a
premium price for the product or service (Aaker, 1991:88). The premium price will increase profit
and the organisation can reinvest into brand awareness. An increase in brand awareness and
satisfied customers will result in loyal customers that will affect the bottom line of the organisation.
Loyal customers will also build a trust relationship with the brand and will be willing to pay premium
prices for the products that they trust. This theory is based on Woolworths’ business model.
Getting the customer to experience the brand and increase perceived quality, then ask premium
price, retain loyal customers and increase brand awareness.
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None.
It was a business decision not to compromise on the values for brand rejuvenation. Quality is one
of the seven values of Woolworths and therefore the perceived quality perception of the customer
did not change.
Before the brand rejuvenation, what did the customers associate the brand with and what they
associate the brand with after the rejuvenation process?
All three interviewees were very clear that first and foremost association with brand is quality - now
and before the brand rejuvenation process.
None.
According to Groucutt (2006:102), the innovation process does not mean that the brand should
make radical changes, but the process of rejuvenation should rather be a “refreshment” exercise
on product, service or image of the brand. This question was asked to see if Woolworths followed
the Groucutt theory on brand rejuvenation. It is quite clear through this question that the essence
and quality of the brand and its products stayed the same. The brand rejuvenation process was
just a refresher.
None.
As seen in question 46 and the interpretations given, Woolworths followed Groucutt’s (2006:102)
theory on the brand rejuvenation. He is of the opinion that the brand should not make radical
changes, but that the rejuvenation process should rather be a refresher. Quality is the main focus
for Woolworths in their business. They provide good quality service with good quality products in a
87
quality shopping environment. The interviewees were very clear that the essence of the brand
which is quality products with a difference was still the case in the mind’s eye of the consumer.
4.52 CHAPTER SUMMARY
In summary, it was clear from the findings that Woolworths deviated from the theory of corporate
brand rejuvenation and that it had a very positive effect on the business. It is also clear from the
findings that the corporate rejuvenation was very successful and that customers welcomed the new
rejuvenated brand.
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CHAPTER 5
SUMMARY, LESSONS LEARNED, CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 INTRODUCTION
Woolworths built their corporate brand on their seven values and not on the functionality of their
products. Woolworths live and breathe the essence of the brand which is “the difference” and the
essence and the values of the brand are visible in all contact points with the consumer.
The corporate brand rejuvenation was a strategic decision for Woolworths. The organisation
realised that times had changed and that shoppers shop differently than a few years ago, due to a
changing economic environment and shifts within cultures in South Africa. The organisation knew
they had to change to stay current in the market and therefore re-looked their business model.
First of all Woolworths re-looked their sales floor and decided to bring in different brands, with
different textures to provide a different shopping experience for different kinds of customers.
Secondly, Woolworths focused on their pricing strategy and realised that even though they are an
upmarket retailer, they are still a mass retailer that does not focus enough attention on their
opening/lowering price points and immediately started to re-look pricing on commodity products. At
the same time Woolworths said “Hang on, some of our customers like really beautiful things”, so
they brought in Country Road for the upper end of the market. Once this was done the pricing
strategy of Woolworths looked like the Eiffel Tower, stretching the top with higher end products, of
which less sell and pulling the legs down to come in at competitive pricing for commodity products
and products such as children’s wear, t-shirts and bread. Lastly Woolworths re-looked its supply
chain and realised that China had started to sell higher quality products at better prices. Therefore
Woolworths moved some of its suppliers offshore.
The chapter will explain why the brand life cycle had no impact on the decision of corporate brand
rejuvenation.
Woolworths rejuvenated its brand during the recession period and the chapter will discuss the
lessons learned when a brand rejuvenates during a recession period.
5.2 SUMMARY OF MAIN FINDING IN SECTION A
Woolworths built their corporate brand on seven values and not on the functionality of their
products. This correlates to theory as theory says that corporate brands should be the glue
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between the organisation and the customer and that corporate brands should never divert from
their corporate values during the brand rejuvenation process (Lehu, 2008). Woolworths live and
breathe their values as their values set them apart from their competitors. Product development,
internal and external processes are built around these values which creates continuity and trust
between the organisation and the consumer. The consumer trusts the product of Woolworths
because of the trust in the corporate brand and the values that it holds. Theory states that as
people, trends and time change, the corporate visual identity needs to adapt to these changes to
stay current and relevant in the minds of the consumer. Woolworths was very aware that their
business strategy was moving into a new direction and that their brand strategy wasn’t aligned to
this.
The corporate brand name Woolworths is synonymous with quality, innovation, service, value for
money, energy, sustainability and integrity, and therefore the brand identity is built around these
seven values. It is therefore safe to say that the brand name Woolworths means nothing without
the values that support it through good service, great product and the energy of the organisation
internally and externally. The brand name Woolworths evokes emotions and perceptions of quality,
innovation, service, and value for money, energy, sustainability and integrity and therefore the
brand values give meaning to the meaningless word Woolworths. In conclusion it was clear from
the study that organisations must see the corporate brand name as part of the brand identity and
that the organisation’s values and beliefs will be seen as part of the business strategy, which is
more a strategic building block than a brand building exercise. Therefore, the corporate brand
name Woolworths doesn’t support theory in the sense that the brand name Woolworths has an
effect on the corporate image; the values that the corporate brand communicates affect the
corporate image.
This research paper supports Lehu’s (2006:87) opinion that the brand name is the primary point of
reference, but it doesn’t support the statement that the brand name is the building block for the rest
of the brand’s identity. It was clear from the answers given that Woolworths means nothing and the
word itself can’t be a building block, but its values and the brand promise are the building blocks
between the corporate brand name and corporate image.
Brand rejuvenation injects energy into a brand and it doesn’t change the brand completely as with
corporate re-branding. After the brand rejuvenation process, the values still need to be the same or
even better. The essence and core of the brand therefore still needs to be the same after the brand
rejuvenation process, in Woolworths case…”The Difference”. This supports Lehu’s (2009) theory.
Secondly, Lehu (2008:64) is of the opinion that brand rejuvenation entitles activities that will make
the brand more modern and contemporary, but the brand should not lose its identity in the process.
This was exactly the outcome for Woolworths as after the brand rejuvenation the brand is more
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modern and contemporary and still retains the core of its identity and still lives the same values as
before the brand rejuvenation process.
Groucutt (2006:102) is of the opinion that brands should stay true to their heritage and leverage off
it when a brand rejuvenates. Customers should also be reminded of the organisation’s values and
that the brand will keep on delivering on its promises as in the past. The conclusion can be
reached that the Woolworths customer accepted the new brand identity and stayed loyal to it,
because the brand values were reinforced in all the communication and product development
throughout the brand rejuvenation process. All the business decisions were also built on the brand
values, the brand promise and the essence of the brand, which is “The difference”.
Another similarity to theory is that the corporate visual identity plays an important role in the
strategic decisions of the organisation, since the visual identity of the organisation symbolises the
change in the organisation. All three interviewees said that brand rejuvenation was done because
of a strategic change in the business model as explained above; it wasn’t just the change of the
typeface. Through all the touch points that the Woolworths customer have after the brand
rejuvenation process, it symbolises the change and that Woolworths is more modern internally
(business processes) and externally (product offering). Woolworths used design, product
development and expanding its product range to adapt to the changing market.
Design is critical for organisations to survive downturn economic times, future growth and the
success of the organisation. In Woolworths’ case the design to beat the downturn theory was
proven as Woolworths have shown an increase in their headline earnings per share for the year
2011. To support the theory, Simon was of the opinion that whole exercise (repositioning business
strategy and align brand strategy with business strategy) helped to boost sales during the
recession. Therefore the business structuring as a whole and brand support and aligned business
boosted sales during the recession. In this case the conclusion can be made that there is a direct
link between the sales figures and the brand identity, but product plays a vital role in this. If the
consumer is not happy with the product offering and brand promise and identity, the consumer will
move to another retailer.
Woolworths’ loyal customers accepted the rejuvenated brand, because the brand stayed true to its
original values. Even though the brand is more modern and simplistic, the product offering and
service still have high standards and what the customer is used to. The increase in sales and
share price is an indication that the Woolworths customers stayed loyal to the brand during its
rejuvenation stage. It is also an indication that the consumer still sees the brand as an inspirational
brand, but more touchable for the consumer.
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5.3 SUMMARY OF MAIN FINDING IN SECTION B
It was clear from the interviews that the Woolworths brand was old of spirit before the brand
rejuvenation and that the brand rejuvenation process injected new energy into the perception of the
brand. Before the brand rejuvenation, the brand was becoming old in the mind of the consumer;
not necessarily the visual identity of the brand, but the business as a whole. For this reason
Woolworths decided to look at its brand and review not only the visual identity, but the product
offering, their service, location etc. As Simon said, when the recession struck, Woolworths knew
that they had to change the business model to stay current and to meet the market needs. The
industry changed, the consumer’s spending power changed and Woolworths knew that they had to
adapt to these changes or they will become followers and will not be leaders in their field anymore.
According to Simon, Charmaine was of the opinion to aim younger, to come out with more modern
and snazzy design and adverts. The focus was also to rejuvenate the product range and focus on
younger merchandise for younger customers. Woolworths was aware of the fact that they can’t
drop their older customers, but they knew that they had to focus on the slightly younger customers
to maintain or increase their market share.
According to Simon, consumer research showed that the consumer space in South Africa has
changed over the past few years, because of the growth of the “new consumer”. This consumer is
mostly black and behaves differently to the old white consumer. The white consumer earning R100
000 is conservative in its lifestyle, while the black consumer earning R100 000 feels more positive
and confident and in a sense that they “have arrived”. The market research showed that the yuppie
35 year old black consumer shops more at Woolworths than the 35 year old white consumer.
When looking at a trend curve it is obvious that there will be a lot more 35 year old black diamond
consumers within the next ten years than 35 year old white consumers. Woolworths realised that
they need to capture this market and keep on doing what they do best - sell good quality products
at good prices. It would have been a disaster if Woolworths had decided to sell targeted black
products such as “Black like me”.
Woolworths focused on product and business processes to rejuvenate the brand and then only
came the creative identity side. The focus was on keeping the brand relevant in a changing market
environment and selling quality products and commodities and good prices. As seen in Chapter 2,
Lehu (2009) is of the opinion that the brand must keep its core values, but the brand attributes will
change to meet the needs of the consumer. Woolworths built the rejuvenation of the brand on the
values of the corporate brand and not around its visual identity. The values stayed the same
throughout the brand rejuvenation process, but the attributes of the brand changed to meet the
market needs.
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Woolworths decided to focus on what the customer expects from them as a brand and not to focus
on what the competitor is doing during the recession period, which turned out to be the
rejuvenation period for Woolworths. It was clear that Woolworths knows how to reinvent itself,
because the first step in the rejuvenation process was followed, namely to think strategically.
Simon led the organisation into thinking strategically to where the organisation is heading and how
it fits into the economy and market. With the brand’s essence and values in mind, the business
was restructured and the vision was clear in the business model.
Woolworths did not change their target market during the brand rejuvenation process. Woolworths
focused on the world economy and what the needs of their consumers wouldl be during a
recession period. A strategic decision was made to change the business model and firstly look at
the pricing architecture of the business, secondly in depth consumer analysis was done to
understand how their market is thinking and how they are behaving in this changing environment.
Then only did Woolworths look at the product offering and how they can bring the best product with
a difference to their customers. The target market wasn’t changed at all, the business just became
more clear on what the target market wants and more modern and innovative in product offering.
It was clear from the research that the life cycle curve did not have an effect on the decision to
rejuvenate the brand. Lehu (2008:71) is of the opinion that brands should be rejuvenated when
they are in the decline stage. This is not always the truth as old, mature brands such as
Woolworths go into the decline stage often because of market trends, economy that changes or
consumer spending. As Simon said, mature brands live on the upper curve of the lifecycle curve.
Sometimes the organisation goes into the decline stage because of a changing market or strong
strategic moves from competitors. It is then the responsibility of management to pull the
organisation back to the opposite side of the curve (beginning of maturity stage). On the other side,
mature brands such as Woolworths can introduce a new product line or department such as
Country Road for example and then the organisation gets pulled back into the upper side of the
growth stage.
Once the rejuvenated brand is introduced into the market, frequency of the brand should be
increased, through continuously reminding the consumer of the rejuvenated brand. This can be
done by reminder communication (Aaker, 1991:244). This is exactly what Woolworths did not do.
The organisation made a conscious decision not to launch the new brand into the market and
focus the attention of the market on them. Pick ‘n Pay introduced the new rejuvenated brand into
the market and the retailer got slaughtered in the media with negative press. This resulted in
confused customers being indoctrinated through media.
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In conclusion, Woolworths rejuvenated their corporate brand to stay current and in the forefront of
the changing retail environment, but even though the business environment changed, the business
stayed true to its unique business model. In Simon’s own words, ” If Woolworths decided during
the recession to go cheap, because people don’t have any money we would killed this business”.
5.4 SUMMARY OF MAIN FINDING IN SECTION C
5.4.1 Brand loyalty
As seen in the theory, a trusted brand has the potential to acquire and retain customers. Secondly,
brand equity has the potential to add marginal cash flow as brand loyalty results in repeat business
and therefore has an effect on the bottom line of the organisation. Lastly, it is easier for brands to
introduce new product ranges as their loyal customers trust the brand and therefore they would be
interested to see what the new product is about (Aaker, 1991:18). The following key summaries
were made in the research.
Theory states that a trusted brand has the potential to acquire and retain customers (Aaker,
1991:18): From interpretations drawn in Chapter 4, Woolworths acquired and retained customers
and converted them to loyal customers, because they don’t segment their customers into age
groups, but rather into lifestyle segments. Even though Simon was of the opinion that their
customers range from 35–65 he was very clear during the interview that this is not the only way in
which they profile their customers. Woolworths looks at what the shopper buys frequently and then
segments the shopper in a specific segment. As seen in the interviews, a 30 year old single female
customer is a totally different shopper than a 35 year old female who is married. By doing a
lifestyle segmentation, Woolworths knows what the consumer wants and what the needs of the
consumer are. This resulted in Woolworths being a one stop shop where the consumers can buy
everything that meets their individual demands. Shopping became easier and more satisfying to
the Woolworths customer and this resulted in loyal customers.
Even though Woolworths has different groups of loyal customers with different needs, they have
one thing in common and that is that they share the same values as the Woolworths brand. This
resulted in Woolworths meeting the level of expectations of the consumer which resulted in
satisfied and loyal customers.
have a strong relationship with the brand. If a customer has used a brand for a long time and is a
committed buyer then a brand rejuvenation process might influence their respect and trust of the
brand (Aaker, 1991:18)). As summarised in the theory, people become very brand loyal when a
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brand reflects their personality. The issue was raised in the discussion guide that the older
generation might become less loyal when a brand rejuvenates, but this was not the case due to the
fact that the brand stayed loyal to its values. The conclusion from this can be drawn that if a brand
has a new facelift, but still lives and breathes the same values, the customer will stay loyal to the
brand. Brand loyalty of consumers can be enhanced by increasing the brand awareness (Aaker,
1991:18).
5.4.2 Brand awareness
From the research done it is clear that brand rejuvenation does not affect brand awareness in a
negative way with well established brands. In this case the brand recognition stayed the same or
even increased. Woolworths did not use PR as a tool to increase brand awareness during the
rejuvenation process as it is advised by theory. This worked very well for the brand as it wasn’t
scrutinised by the press and the consumers could make up their own mind whether they like the
new brand through experiencing it.
Another conclusion that can be drawn from the research paper is that brand rejuvenation might
have had an impact on brand awareness which resulted in brand usage as Woolworths expects to
see a 20–30 percent increase in basic and headline earnings per share for the year (Woolworths
predicts leap in earnings, 2011:13).
5.4.3 Perceived quality
It was a business decision not to compromise on the values for brand rejuvenation. Quality is one
of the seven values of Woolworths and therefore the perceived quality perception of the customer
did not change during the brand rejuvenation process.
5.4.4 Brand association
As seen in Question 46 and the interpretations given, Woolworths followed Groucutt’s (2006:102)
theory on the brand rejuvenation. He is of the opinion that the brand should not make radical
changes, but that the rejuvenation process should rather be a refresher. Quality is the main focus
for Woolworths in their business – providing good quality service with good quality products in a
quality shopping environment. The interviewees were very clear that the essence of the brand
which is quality products with a difference was still the case in the mind’s eye of the consumer.
5.5 LESSONS LEARNED FROM SECTION A: TO STUDY THE PRINCIPLES AND

CONCEPTS OF BRAND REJUVENATION
Where a corporate brand name holds no value and meaning, the values of the organisation play a
vital role in the brand rejuvenation process. Brand names, such as Mr Price, hold a lot of meaning
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and the brand name is the primary value of the brand. Brand names, such as Woolworths, Foschini
and Truworths, where the name does not carry any value, rely 100 percent on the brand values of
the organisation to create and maintain the brand identity.
Corporate brands should rejuvenate their brands as soon as the brand strategy doesn’t fit the
business strategy anymore and not only when the brand becomes old and outdated in the mind of
the consumer and in comparison to trends in the market. It is vital from lessons learned in this
theory that the business strategy needs to be in place before the brand rejuvenation starts.
Companies need to restructure and rethink the business model before the visual rejuvenation
starts. The brand rejuvenation process acts as a tool to align the objective of the business strategy
and what the consumer experiences of the corporate brand and its products. It is vital that an
organisation who decides to rejuvenate, does not only use visual identity to symbolise the change
in the organisation, but that the organisation should be rejuvenated internally and externally.
A lessoned learned and one of its kind in South African retail research is that design is critical for
companies to survive downturn economic times as the Design Council’s National Survey of Firms
in the United Kingdom (UK) has shown (Using design to beat the downturn, 2009:30). The Design
Council’s National Survey of Firms revealed in 2008 that instead of cutting costs in an economic
downturn organisations should use design to overcome difficult economic times. The survey
revealed that 15–30 percent of organisations who decided to follow this strategy showed an
increase in revenue during the economic times (Using design to beat the downturn, 2009:30).
Interestingly enough, Woolworths has shown its best market share gains in 2011 since it started
trading in 1997 (Gunnion, 2011). The world recession had started in 2008, Woolworths rejuvenated
its brand in the middle of the recession in November 2009 and in June 2011 the organisation
reports a 20–30 percent increase in basic and headline earnings per share for the year. In
September 2011, Woolworths showed its highest share trading price since it started trading in
1997. To support the theory, Simon was of the opinion that the whole exercise (repositioning
business strategy and align brand strategy with business strategy) helped to boost sales during the
recession. Therefore, the aligned business structuring and the brand support boosted sales during
the recession. In this case the conclusion can be made that there is a direct link between the sales
figures and the brand identity, but product plays a vital role in this. If the consumer is not happy
with the product offering, brand promise and identity, the consumer will move to another retailer.
Lastly, the values of the brand create the identity of the brand in the mind’s eye of the consumer
and not the brand name itself. Therefore, the core of the brand identity and building blocks for
brand growth are the values of the organisation and not the brand name.
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5.6 LESSONS LEARNED FROM SECTION B
Woolworths rejuvenated its corporate brand to stay current and on top of the changing retail
environment, but even though the business environment changed, the business stayed true to its
unique positioning model. The consumer space in South Africa has changed over the past few
years, because of the growth of the “new consumer”. Still Woolworths decided to stay true to its
brand promise and sell good quality products at good prices.
Not only the visual identity of the organisation should symbolise the change in the organisation
during the brand rejuvenation process, but also the product offering should be aligned with the
business strategy and reflect the change in the business strategy.
Woolworths did not change its target market during the brand rejuvenation process. New
consumers came into the market, such as the black diamonds. Even though their black consumers
increased, Woolworths decided to stay true to their unique product offering and not sell products
targeted to culture behaviour, but products targeted to LSM income group behaviour. This worked
for them, because the black diamonds were drawn to the initial Woolworths product offering. If
Woolworths had decided to change their product offering (such as selling only black like me
products) to meet the new market needs it wouldn’t have been so successful. Instead, Woolworths
decided to do what they do best and see if they can sell good quality, innovative products at better
prices.
The brand rejuvenation of Woolworths started with a strategic business decision. This was firstly to
look at the pricing architecture of the business, secondly in-depth consumer analysis was done to
understand how their market is thinking and how they are behaving in this changing environment.
Then only did Woolworths look at the product offering and how they can bring the best product with
a difference to their customers.
Another way for brands to increase the frequency of use is to make the use of the brand easier.
Woolworths has done this brilliantly with their forecourt stores. These stores made it easier for the
consumer to shop at Woolworths, while they are filling their cars.
Old organisations such as Woolworths (70 years old) move around from “the upper growth stage”
of the lifecycle curve to the beginning of the decline stage of the curve. It is the responsibility of
management to pull the brand back when it goes into the decline stage. This can be done by
introducing new products into the market, a fresh marketing campaign or adding a new product
range. It is not strange for mature brands such as Woolworths which is almost a 100 years old to
move into the decline stage and it will be silly for brands such as these to rejuvenate their brand
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every time the organisation goes into the decline stage. It is suggested that brands should evaluate
two things before the decision is made to re-brand:
 Are the organisation sales figures showing a decrease in sales?

 Is the brand health neglected and does the consumer see the brand as old?
If the reason for a decline in sales figures is because of consumers that lose interest in the brand,
then the brand should consider brand rejuvenation.
5.7 LESSONS LEARNED FROM SECTION C
The researcher had the objective to understand and investigate the impact that brand rejuvenation
has on the four main components of Aaker’s brand equity model (i.e. brand loyalty, brand
awareness, perceived quality and brand associations). During the literature review it was clear that
theory had a “recipe” for corporate brand rejuvenation and how and when it should be done. From
the research and knowledge gained from the interviews it was clear that Woolworths did not follow
the theory for corporate brand rejuvenation and it turned out that that their way of brand
rejuvenation had a very positive effect on the four components of Aaker’s model (i.e. brand loyalty,
brand awareness, perceived quality and brand association). The valuable lessons learned from
Woolworths’ way of thinking during the brand rejuvenation process and how it had an impact on
the four components of Aaker’s equity model will be summarised below.
5.7.1 Brand loyalty
have a strong relationship with the brand; it also states that consumers become loyal to a brand
when the brand reflects their personality (Aaker, 1991:81) During the interview process the
question was asked if the brand rejuvenation process had an effect on their loyal customers,
because the researcher wanted to identify if a rejuvenated brand that looks more modern and
timeless will have an effect on the loyal consumer as it might not reflect the personality of the
consumer anymore. From the interpretation of the interviews it was clear that Woolworths did not
lose any loyal customers and therefore the conclusion can be made that then when a brand
rejuvenates it should never change its values, because the consumer relates to the values. This
supports Lehu’s (2008:80) theory that brands should stay true to their values during brand
rejuvenation. To summarise, a rejuvenated brand is the same as a person that gets a face lift. It is
still the same person, with the same beliefs and values, the only thing that has changed is the
physical.
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The way that Woolworths phased the new rejuvenated brand into the market was one of the
highlights of this research project. Woolworths went against theory in the sense that they did not
launch the rejuvenated brand with a bang in the market as their competitor Pick ‘n Pay did in 2008.
Woolworths followed a gentleman’s approach on this, not only because of a strategic decision, but
also from a financial point of view. Although Woolworths is a trendsetter, they don’t throw
themselves in the face of the consumer. The consumer automatically follows due to solid brand
values that are reflected in products and all aspects of the Woolworths business. In comparison to
Pick ‘n Pay, Woolworths did not get slaughtered in the market with negative publicity about the
rejuvenated brand. Instead, it was more of a talking point and excitement about what the brand
would do next and what is currently happening. It created a talking point under consumers and
retailers and consumers stayed loyal to the brand.
5.7.2 Brand awareness
One of the biggest lessons learned in this study was that a rejuvenated brand does not have to
communicate the rejuvenated brand to consumer to increase awareness and inject energy into the
brand. A subtle gentleman style approach works well, where the brand leads the rejuvenation
process by good products and gives the customer a great experience speaking louder than words.
Another very valuable lesson learned was that PR is not always a good thing to use when you
want to increase brand awareness. Woolworths did not use PR as a tool to increase brand
awareness during the rejuvenation process. This worked very well for the brand as it wasn’t
scrutinised by the press and the consumers could make up their own mind whether they like the
new brand through experiencing it. In contrast to this, Pick ‘n Pay used PR to introduce the new
rejuvenated brand into the market and create brand awareness and the organisation got
scrutinised by the media and it had an influence on the consumer. It was a big talking point and the
public was influenced by press. It was very brave of Woolworths not to communicate the new
rejuvenated brand to the consumer as the consumer could have felt excluded from their trusted
brand, but the experience was that the new rejuvenated brand spoke louder than words.
5.7.3 Perceived quality
Woolworths is perceived as a brand that sells high quality products and therefore the brand can
sell at a premium price. The perceived quality is also directly linked to the previous experiences
that the consumer had with the brand. This statement is built around Woolworths’ business model,
getting the customer to experience the brand and this will result in an increase of perceived quality,
because of the essence and values of the brand. Once the perceived quality has been increased,
the brand can then ask premium prices, increase brand awareness, retain loyal customers and as
a result increase brand loyalty.
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As seen throughout the study, Woolworths rejuvenated its brand during the recession period,
which made it difficult for them to compete with competitors that offer the same product (maybe
less quality) at a competing price. The biggest lesson learned from this study was that Woolworths
realised that it had to re-look its business model to still provide the best quality product but at a
competitive price. Woolworths decided to re-look their supplier chain, to get the same quality
product at more competitive pricing. Another objective of Woolworths was to re-look the pricing
strategy of commodity products. Woolworths wanted to give the customer the opportunity to buy all
their luxury products and commodity products at Woolworths, to increase convenience to the
consumer. The Eiffel Tower pricing architecture (see Chapter 2) was successful as Woolworths’
shareholding price increased as much as 4.2 percent to 38.55 rands in September 2011 (Gunnion,
2011). This is the highest price since Woolworths started trading in October 1997.
Lastly Woolworths did not compromise on quality during the whole rejuvenation process and
therefore the perceived quality of the brand stayed the same after the rejuvenation process.
5.8 RECOMMENDATIONS
It is recommended that richer theory focussing only on retail corporate brand rejuvenation should
be written.
5.9 FURTHER RESEARCH
Woolworths did not use theory as a guideline for corporate brand rejuvenation and in many
instances they went against theory. It is suggested that future research should use the same
research model and investigate how well the brand rejuvenation process worked for Pick ‘n Pay,
who followed theory.
Secondly, it is suggested that future research should be done on corporate brand rejuvenation and
corporate rebranding in the retail environment to see how it differs from the norm.
5.10 CHAPTER SUMMARY
It is clear from this chapter that Woolworths did not follow the theory in all the different stages of
the brand rejuvenation process. Woolworths also rejuvenated its brand which made the
rejuvenation process more volatile, because Woolworths is focused on the higher income group
that likes quality products. Woolworths focused on three objectives. One, to re-look the sales floor
and expand the category range; two, they re-looked the pricing structure, and three, they came in
as a store that is competitive with commodity products. This strategy turned out to be a great
success for Woolworths.
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APPENDIX A:
DISCUSSION GUIDE
Part A: Discussion guide
1. Link between the characteristics of the brand and consumer trust.
1. Why did Woolworths decide to rejuvenate the brand?
2. In your opinion, what characteristics of the corporate brand can be defined as the
“glue” between the organisation and the consumer’s trust and credibility?
3. How does the above answer differ before and after the brand rejuvenation process?
2. To investigate if corporate brand rejuvenation had an impact on the corporate

brand image and the identity of the corporate brand.
1. Would you say that the corporate brand name is the core of your brand identity and
the building block for growth?
2. What effect does the corporate brand name have on the corporate image?
3. What effect did the brand rejuvenation process have on the corporate image?
4. What was the image and consumer perception of the corporate brand before the
brand rejuvenation process in 2009?
5. What is the image of the corporate brand name now after the brand rejuvenation
process?
6. What is the consumers’ perception of the corporate brand now after the brand
rejuvenation process?
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3. To investigate the role that corporate visual identity plays in the brand
1. Before the brand rejuvenation in 2009, what values, beliefs and characteristics did
the brand identity express?
2. After the brand rejuvenation process, how did the values, beliefs and characteristics
change the brand identity?
3. What was the major change in the brand identity (old logo to new logo)?
4. How did consumers act to the change?
5. How did it affect brand loyalty and trust?
4. To investigate the role that corporate visual identity plays in the brand
1. Why did you decide to change the corporate brand identity of Woolworths?
2. In your opinion, when is a good time for a corporate organisation to change its visual
identity?
3. What change does your new visual identity symbolise and how is it different to your
old visual identity?
4. Did the new identity help to boost sales during the recession in 2010?
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5. To investigate if a new corporate image have an effect on customer loyalty.
1. Woolworths has a very loyal customer base. How do they feel about the new
corporate image?
2. In your opinion what effect did the corporate brand rejuvenation had on brand
loyalty?
Part B: Principles and concepts of brand rejuvenation
6. To understand why corporate brands rejuvenate.
1. Before the 2009 brand rejuvenation process, do you think your brand was old of
spirit?
2. If no….why then decide to rejuvenate the brand?
3. Why did Woolworths decide to rejuvenate their corporate brand?
4. How did Woolworths innovate its product or corporate brand during the brand
7. To investigate whether the essence of the brand has changed after the brand
rejuvenation.
1. Did the core values of the corporate brand change after the brand rejuvenation
process?
2. Did the brand attributes of the corporate brand change after the brand rejuvenation
process?
3. As you know, brand rejuvenation is brand-repositioning process. What was the

objective of the repositioning of Woolworths? Was it a: *physical repositioning of the
brand in comparison to its competitors or repositioning of the brand in the mind of the
consumer.
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8. To investigate if Woolworths adhered to the five principles of corporate brand

rejuvenation (First, 2009)
1. During the rejuvenation process, did Woolworths refocused the organisation

internally? If so, how?
2. During the rejuvenation process, did Woolworths rethink the target market and
product offering? If so, how did the target market and product offering change?
3. What measurements did you put in place to measure the performance of the new
brand experience internally and externally?
9. To investigate the chosen corporate brand rejuvenation avenue identified by Aaker

(1991:243)
1. After the brand rejuvenation process, was there a continuous reminder

communication to the target market?
2. After the brand rejuvenation process, did Woolworths introduce a new loyalty
programme or any other programme to increase usage?
3. During brand rejuvenation process, did Woolworths introduced new uses of the brand
and if so what uses?
4. Did Woolworths entered new markets after the brand rejuvenation process and if so
which markets?
5. Was the main of the brand rejuvenation to reposition the brand and if so , what was
the new positioning?
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10. To investigate where in the corporate brand life cycle Woolworths had rejuvenated
its brand?
1. In which phase of the brand's life cycle was the corporate brand when Woolworths
decided to rejuvenate the brand (birth, growth, maturity, decline)?
2. Do you think that there was new life injected into the brand after the brand
Part C: Aaker equity model
11. Brand loyalty
1. Who are your loyal customers?
2. What ages are your brand loyal employees and why?
3. (Older generation): The brand rejuvenation process, did it influence the loyal
customers that grew up with the brand?
4. How did the younger generation react to the rejuvenation of the brand?
5. During the rejuvenation process, did you loose customers?” And if so, which age
group?
6. You did not launch the new identity. Did you loose loyalty from customers as they
were not part of the process?
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12. Brand awareness
1. Woolworths is synonym to quality. How did the new branding affect the recognition of
the brand?
2. Woolworths has high brand recognition and brand recall. Did Woolies have any
problems with brand recognition with new or existing customers after the brand
rejuvenation?
3. The new brand identity wasn’t communicated to the customers in November 2009
when the brand was changed. After the brand rejuvenation, please evaluate your
new branding communication programme design.
 Why wasn’t the new brand identity communicated?
 How did the non-communication of the new identity damage the brand
awareness?
 Weren’t customers confused?
 Woolworths is a trusted house brand, do you think that your loyal customers
took a fence in the fact that they wasn’t part of the process?
4. Woolworths have changed their packaging during the brand rejuvenation stage. Do
you think the new identity is consistent with the perceived brand association of
customers?
5. Why didn’t Woolworths launch the new identity? And why didn’t they use the different
avenues of PR to introduce the new brand into the market?
6. According to the research done, a logo is much easier recognisable than slogan or
jingle. Woolworths have decided not to launch their new logo into the market. How
did it affect the customers’ perceived quality of the brand?
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13. Perceived quality
1. How do you measure perceived quality of the brand and product?
2. How did perceived quality of the brand changed since the brand rejuvenation?
14. Brand association
1. Before the brand rejuvenation, with what did the customer associate the brand?
2. How did this brand association changed after the brand rejuvenation process?
3. What was the association with the old brand identity?
4. What is the association with the new brand identity?

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APPENDIX B:
INTERVIEW MARKETING DIRECTOR
1. Why did Woolworths rejuvenate their corporate brand?
It goes all back to the brand strategy and what are you trying to accomplish as a brand. What the
brand looks like in the market effects everything. The brand was not where it needed to be in terms
of our desire of the business strategy. We wanted Woolworths to be a modern South Africa brand
and we felt that the external personification of the brand was not modern. For example, some of
the type faces that we were using were quite an old font and it didn’t really bring the life what the
brand stands for. So, decision went back to a strategy and we didn’t wake up one morning and
decided to rejuvenate the brand. It is also not only about a logo, it is about al whole corporate
identity that goes beyond a logo.
2. In your opinion, what can be defined as the glue between the corporate organisation and the
consumer.
There is no such thing as a tangible brand in the mind of the consumer. Everything that a brand
does, forms in the customers mind an image of what the company stands for. Even if it is a small
as the way you are greeted when you walk into the store. So it is everything that the brand stands
for, brand values, brand personality, the translation of the brand is essence is the glue that you
want to cement in the customers mind. So, when they take out a perception of the Woolworths
brand, it equals to what you trying to set the brand up as.
3. Therefore, what is the essence of the Woolworths brand?
Difference, Woolworths the difference. The glue in this organisation is the essence, the values and
the brand personality.
4. Would you say that the corporate brand name is the core of the brand identity and the
building block for growth?
Yes, if you take away that you don’t have much.
5. Therefore, did you build the Woolworths brand on the name and the essence which is
quality?
Yes.
6. What effect does the corporate brand has on the corporate image?
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A name is just a collection of letters. It is not about the name, it is about what the name stands for
in terms of in the mind of the customer, which I came back to. My job is to build Woolworths as a
brand that personifies the brand essence which is “the difference”. Woolworths has very clear
values and a very clear brand personality and that behaviour is what the customer experiences
and then forms an opinion about Woolworths. So actually, the name without anything is just a
collection of words.
7. What effect did the brand rejuvenation process have on the corporate image? (5:21)
It had a huge effect on the brand. A few years ago research had shown that customers perceive
the Woolworths brand as not as modern as we wanted it to be and we needed to tackle that. It
wasn’t only about the external corporate identity, we had to do a whole lot more than that. So you
can’t only put out what this brands stands for and only modernise the face and there is no back up.
Therefore it was a whole strategy to modernise the business throughout our garments, through
innovation of the business, through foods, throughout a whole lot of things. So it wasn’t just about
the name or the typeface you use.
8. So what was the image of Woolworths before the rejuvenation in 2009 and what is the image
now? (6:19)
I think that Woolworths always stood for quality, so when you say the word Woolworths, people say
quality, but I think where we had some work to do, was around the perception, as Woolworths was
a modern brand. Woolworths has always been innovative, but innovation is not necessary the
same as being modern. It was about dialling up that modern and being relevant and being up to
date. I think that was really what started us on this journey.
9. To recap: Before the rejuvenation and after the rejuvenation, the essence of the brand
(quality) and the difference stayed the same before and after the brand rejuvenation
process? The only thing that changed of the image was to modernise the brand (7:04)
Yes, I think that people are saying that the brand is more modern. It started to look more modern.
You also don’t ever get from here to there. You don’t change people’s perception that quickly. It is
a journey and every single thing that you do, every single range that you put out, either cements
the belief in the mind of the customer that Woolworths is a modern brand or it actually takes away
from it. It is about the total – that is why they talk about a corporate identity system, it is not about a
logo. A logo is just a thing that you plunk on a piece of communication in the corner, but there is
much more behind it. A corporate communication system is the translation of your brand and it
encompasses everything that you do.
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10. If we look at the corporate visual identity, what was the major change in the brand identity?
(8:00)
It was huge. Number one, it was moved from a logo to a corporate identity system, which is more
flexible. A corporate identity system is a system of parts that you can use in different ways, so it is
far more flexible. So what we aimed to achieve, was a corporate identity system and for that, we
have different elements. We have different type faces – we use them in different ways.
11. And how did the consumer act to the change?(9:15)
We were following it very closely on Facebook and twitter and a few people were horrified. How
can you change this brand and others; younger people were saying fantastic, well done, looks
modern and then I arranged to go live on a live talk on Facebook and we just felt that all the
negative comment died down and the positive just started to taking over. So, initially I would say
that 80 percent were positive and the rest negative and now the negative comments died down.
12. How did it affect brand loyalty and trust of the consumer? (10:11)
It didn’t at all. It is still the same.
13. If we look at the visual identity, when in your opinion is it a good time for an organisation to
change its visual identity? (10:30)
As I said to you, it goes back to the business strategy and if the business strategy and the brand
strategy is “x” and the personification of your brand is “Y” then it is the time to reconcile the two.
14. So your marketing strategy supports your business strategy (11:00)
Absolutely. It is more about a brand strategy, so if your brand strategy is to be a modern South
African brand and your visual identity is about old fashioned and out of date, it is about reconciling
those.
15. Woolworths has a very loyal customer base and how did they felt about the new corporate
image (11:07)
They loved it, they felt that it was more modern; they started to perceive Woolworths as a more
modern brand, so we are seeing an uptick on modern.
16. Did you see it in the sale figures? (11:45)
Yes, absolutely, but you can’t make a direct link between sales figures to a corporate identity.
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17. Before the 2009 brand rejuvenation process, do you think that the brand was old of spirit?
(12:29)
Absolutely.
18. How did Woolworths innovate its product and the corporate brand during the brand
rejuvenation process? (12:35)
I think that is the critical point. Otherwise you will have this schizophrenic brand that has a beautiful
image and typeface and there is nothing behind it. A part of our business strategy has been to
modernise and keep our brand relevant, through a lot of different product launches, product
initiatives. Going back we have launched Country Road, we have launched Triniry, new Twisp
brand, we re-launching our Studio.W rebrand. Therefore we are trying to get all our ranges relevant
and modern.
19. Am I right when I say there was a lot of focus on the food side as well?
Absolutely. Foods never had a problem with being modern, because the food brand is not as old
as the clothing brand and doesn’t have that same history as the clothing brand. So, the food
business is newer and never had a modern problem. Food has always been innovative. To give an
example if you have Woolworths’ food product in your fridge you will gladly open your fridge when
you have guests over, whereas if you had Woolworths clothing in your cupboard you’ll keep it
closed. With the new clothing products like Countryroad or Twisp, you will gladly leave your
cupboard open.
20. What was the objective of the repositioning of Woolworths, was it a physical repositioning of
the brand in comparison to its competitors or repositioning of the brand in the mind of the
consumer?
It is both, but the one comes after the other one. So first the brand was repositioned in the mind of
the customer and then to be relevant in comparison to the market place in which you trade.
21. How did you rejuvenate the brand internally?
It isn’t a once off intervention, this is an ongoing thing, for example next week, I will do travel
around the country and I will talk about the brand and how we compete in the market place. So first
of all I start to explain what the market place looks like, what our customer looks like and what do
we as a brand needs to be in order to compete in this world that we live in and how the world is
changing and explain our 2020 view. Then I explain what our brand stands for and I go through
every aspect of the brand. What is the essence? What is the value of the brand? What is the
personality of the brand? I have also got a video that I take with me. We also do a big thing in
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head office next week, where the voyeur will change into the brand, we have session in the
auditorium and then one off my colleagues will talk about what the behaviour of Woolworths’
employee needs to be internally in order to live the values of the brand. This we will do on an
ongoing basis, so it is not a once of intervention. Every time somebody joins the business, they
need to understand the brand. We use stories to educate our staff internally on what a day of
Woolworths’ employee looks like.
22. When the brand rejuvenated, where did you start first in the educating process? Did you
educate your employees first on the brand rejuvenation process or did you start with the
customer?
We educated the employees first.
23. When you rejuvenated the brand, did you rethink the target market?
No.
24. Therefore am I right when I say the target market stayed the same, you just changed the
product offering?
Yes, we know exactly who our customer is and who we want to target. I think we just became more
clear and more focused as a business on what our brand stands for, who our customer is now and
into the future and therefore what do we need to do as a brand.
25. What measurements did you put in place to measure the new performance of the new brand
experience of the rejuvenated brand, internally and externally?
It is your business strategy. We measure our brand health. We have a brand health measure,
which is our own study that we do once a year. We also have a longitudinal study that goes into
the trade every single month. We also have customer study that we do and it goes out to a 100
000 Woolworths customers online. We also have a corporate scorecard, where we measure all the
different attributes of business performance, which equates to brand performance. I would say that
brand health is the biggest measurements.
26. After the brand rejuvenation process, was there a continuous reminder communication to the
target market and if so, how did you do it? (18:56)
It is in everything you do. What I have done was to educate the staff internally and in everything
that they do they will convey the message. Also, our style of communication becomes more
modern. We are introducing in August yet another range to stay current.
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27. Are you then introducing the new brand into the trade in segments?
No I don’t believe in what Pick ‘n Pay has done in a one hit wonder. It is not, for me it is more about
a process delivering your business strategy. We keep on trying to improve what we do, every
single time and become more modern.
28. What was the first date that you went live with the new brand? (20:33)
We have used one of our stores in Constantia, a new Constantia food market and we have used
that to be the first personification of the brand.
29. Did you ever sent out communication such as an email to the consumer to introduce the
rejuvenated brand? (20:54)
No.
30. Therefore, was the brand just phased into the market?
Yes, the focus on the new store. I keep on saying it, but it is something that I am quite passionate
about. A logo is just a set of letter and nothing more. So what are you going to say? “We have
changed our typeface?” It is more about the experience, how the customer experiences the brand
that is the important part. Therefore we have changed the Constantia food market totally, with a
new offer and then we relaunched the Woolworths brand on the back of that. The rejuvenation
process wasn’t a big event.
31. As mentioned the new rejuvenated brand wasn’t introduced to the market. Don’t you think
that the market felt betrayed that they weren’t part of the rejuvenation process? (21:57)
No. As I said, it is an 80/20 principle. At first there were a couple of people that was quite against it
and then loved it. Luckily we didn’t have the GAP (clothing) experience. If I look back in our brand
history, the original company typeface and the current one are very similar. Throughout the history
of Woolworths people changed the logo, but it didn’t last, because none of the brands was timeless
and actually the font now and the original font is very much the same.
32. I am I right when I said that you didn’t base your decision to rejuvenate the brand or not on
the lifecycle of the brand? (24:24)
No, there wasn’t a huge burning platform. It was during the time of the recession, so the burning
platform was there for us, but it was because we track and listen to our customers through our
tracking study. We understand what our customers are saying about the brand and the moment
that we see we are a little bit old fashion – that is the time when we do something.
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33. Would you say that there was new life injected into the brand after the brand rejuvenation
process? (25:21)
Yes, absolutely.
34. Who are your most loyal customers?
There are a whole lot of them, but we don’t look at the customers demographics. So we have a
lifestyle segmentation model, where we look mainly at psychographics. Our most loyal customer is
obviously in our desired target market that is part of the business strategy. A significant amount off
Woolworths income, come from our loyal customers. We have the most committed types of
shopper in South African retail. (27:10)
35. Interestingly enough, you said that you don’t segment your customers into age, but rather
lifestyle.
We track four million people on a daily basis, so we know exactly who our customers are and
everything about them. They also don’t look the same. You can live next door to someone your
age who has 20 children, earns the same amount money, but your lifestyle is completely different.
What you buy and who you are to Woolworths are totally different.
36. If you think of your older shopper (people who grew up with the brand), how did they react to
the brand rejuvenation? (28:15)
It was very positive. We have seen an increase in loyalty and the amount of revenue attached to
loyalty. We have seen a significant increase in loyalty. Since the brand rejuvenation, our loyal
shoppers are shopping more, buying more and spending more with Woolworths. And this is fact
that our loyal customers are growing. This was mainly due to the innovation of our products. Just to
get back to the age group of our shoppers. They are from the age of 25 upwards.
37. Woolworths is synonymous to quality. How did the new branding affect the recognition of the
brand? (29:38)
As a brand we are 100 percent recognisable and our committed loyal shoppers are shopping more,
buying more every time they in store. To come back to your question, Woolworths is a very well
known brand and awareness wasn’t affected, as the brand has a 100 percent recognition in the
country.
38. Did Woolworths have a problem with brand recognition after the brand rejuvenation process?
(30:18)
No, because the corporate identity is based around a very strong Woolworths brand.
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39. As you mentioned, the new brand identity wasn’t communicated to the customer in
November 2009. After the brand rejuvenation process, please evaluate your brand
communication strategy and why wasn’t the new brand identity communicated? (31:15)
What are you going to communicate? “Dear customer, we have changed our new corporate
identity system, I hope you enjoy it”. I am over exaggerating now, but I believe that the customer
must experience the new feel, you can’t tell them. Therefore the customer must experience
Woolworths as the modern, innovative, happening brand and that I think we have done
successfully. But the corporate identity is one component of it. The fact that we have changed all
our packaging, communicates how we believe in the experience. Also, we haven’t rejuvenated all
of our products at once as PnP has done. We didn’t go big bank, but we have done rejuvenation of
our packaging after each cycle. As things come up for renewal, we have changed it into the new
corporate identity. Plus minus 4 000 stock-keeping units (SKUs) has been rejuvenated thus far.
40. Were the customers not confused? (32:39)
Not at all.
41. Surely there was a lot of buzz around the brand rejuvenation of Woolworths? (32:43)
Yes, I have not picked that up as much with our corporate identity, but definitely with the
rejuvenation of our brand as a whole.
42. Do you think that customers took offence that they were not involved in the brand
No, not at all. We were listening to what our customers was saying and that was that the brand
was getting old and out dated and therefore we have done the brand rejuvenation.
43. Woolworths have changed the packaging during the brand rejuvenation stage. Do you think
the new identity is consistent with the perceived brand association of the customer?
Yes.
44. Why didn’t Woolworths launched the new identity and why didn’t use the different avenues of
PR to introduce the new brand into the market? (34:04)
As I said we did it through a store as I don’t believe that it is relevant to a customer if you changed
your logo. We have used every single avenue to launch the brand, but not in a sense where we
have said to the customer we have changed our brand. I go back to my philosophy, “What is a
brand?” A brand is nothing, it is not a tangible thing, and it is a collection of experiences. So
walking into a store and the doorman doesn’t greet you or the store is dirty, by the time that you
118
leave the store you have a perception of that brand and we are in the job of trying to change
customer perception about the brand to be more in fitting with what we are trying to do. So that is
why I don’t really understand what you will say, other then getting the customer to experience it
what you saying.
45. How do you measure perceived quality of the brand and the product? (36:14)
We measure what our customers say about the brand and quality. We have tracking study, where
we go into the field with a set of questions and then we monitor what people think of the brand and
quality. We do face to face interviews with customers and non-customers.
46. How did the perceived quality of the brand changed since the brand rejuvenation?
We haven’t seen a decline in perceived quality attribute at all after the brand rejuvenation.
47. In your opinion what are important keys that signal quality to the Woolworths customer?
(37:35)
It is everything; it is about the quality of the product. It is about the service, the store experience
and experience of the brand.
48. How did the new logo brand identity effect the perceptions of the brand, especially with the
older generation? (38:15)
Not at all. It is still the same.
49. Before the brand rejuvenation process, with what did the customer associate the brand with?
Quality. The only thing that bothered us was that Woolworths was less relevant when it came to
modern attribute in perspective of what we would have liked.
50. How did it change after the brand rejuvenation process?
Still quality, but the brand is more modern and relevant.
51. What does your brand mean to each major segment?
We segmented our customer in lifestyle segments. We will look at your basket and then we will put
you in a specific psychographic segment. Woolworths reflects convenience and quality to most of
the segments.
52. What does your new brand mean to each major segment?
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It depends on what they are looking to get out of the Woolworths experience. Most of our
customers experience Woolworths still as convenient and quality. Our customers are mostly
women and convenience is probably number one for this market.
53. What was the association with the old identity and what is the association with the new
identity? (41:58)
Exactly the same.

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APPENDIX C:
INTERVIEW HEAD OF CREATIVE STUDIO
1. How did you launch the new brand identity?
To test the new brand identity and to get comfortable with it, we have introduced it into our coffee
shops nine months before we went live. We only used the new W in all the coffee shops.
2. How did the consumers react to it?
I don’t believe that they noticed it, because I believed that it just felt like something that Woolworths
will do. So we didn’t launch the new identity when we have initially planned, because we wanted to
wait and asses it and make sure that everything was right and that we was comfortable with it, also
that our partner creative teams was comfortable using it and understanding the principles behind it,
before we have actually launched it.
3. So you actually had a nine month testing period?
Yes.
4. Did you measure anything during this nine month period?
No, we used it in the coffee shops and it felt right and it felt comfortable and then we have spent
time with time with our agencies to ensure that they what is expected of them. Interestingly enough
the recession struck just as we wanted to launch the brand and we thought it is a good time to so
as a strong brand leads during tough times luck that. Even though we could have waited we
thought it was the right thing to do and it was a good new brand. It was a new brand, modern and
funky. We didn’t intent to launch the brand during the recession, but it was a nice support for us to
launch the brand. Our ethos of the company is to create a smile concept where possible. Keeping
consistency but using diversity where possible. The Massimo (logo designer) is all about identity
and diversity and therefore our communication are consistent with a little bit of diversity within
boundaries.
5. When did you decide to rejuvenate the Woolworths brand?(19:20)
Charmaine is probably the right person to ask that as I wasn’t part of the marketing team by then, I
was part of foods and the design team. I think we have started to change as a business and
evolving. I think that everybody was thinking that it was time to do something different.
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6. From a creative perspective what is the glue between the organisation and the consumers
trust? (20:09)
I think that it is trust and that we deliver what we say we are going to deliver, also I think it is the
distance that we go to get the best product to the customer. We constantly surprise and delight our
customers with innovative product. I also think it is that we are the difference, our brand values are
also built on being different.
7. What effect does the corporate brand name have on the corporate image? (23:58)
You always have to have the right brand name for the offer that you doing. We are very fortunate
to have a brand name that is entrenched into our customers’ minds.
8. Do you think it changed after the rejuvenation process?
No, I think that people saw us in a slightly different way. We still have the same values, but more
modern and touchable.
9. What was the consumer’s perception of the brand before 2009 and now after the brand
My view is that people saw us as more suited to the older market, where I think now people see us
as a more modern brand.
10. Before the brand rejuvenation in 2009, what values, beliefs and characteristics did the brand
express and what is it now after the brand rejuvenation process.
It is exactly the same. Quality, values, integrity and the Woolworths “Difference”. The companies
direction did not change, the reflection of the brand was just change to suite today’s market.
11. How did the consumer act to the brand change?
Very positive. We were very nerves, because went PnP rebranded they got slated, from the idea to
the execution of it. They decided to rebrand all the stores and products at once, where we took a
different angle. We have phased the new product into the market. Firstly rebrand a few stores, and
then rebrand a few packaging etc. The response was great and it seems like people love the new
look.
12. The way that you have introduced the new look into the market, do you think it affected
loyalty and trust of the consumer as they weren’t informed of the new look and change?
My gut feel will be no, I don’t have any facts and figures to support this.
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13. When do you think is a good time to rejuvenate a corporate brand?
Before it needs to.
14. What change does your new visual identity symbolise and how is it different to you old visual
identity? (29:45)
It is more modern and constant. It is bolder and simpler and easier to understand and navigate. I
think our visual imaginary didn’t change, because our food and fashion photography and imaginary
is still as nice and good quality as before.
15. Do you think that the rejuvenation process had an affect on brand loyalty? (30:00)
Yes.
16. Therefore do you think that brand loyalty is more or less?
I would say more, as Woolworths are still an aspiring brand, but after the brand rejuvenation
process it feels closer and more touchable for the consumer. I also think that this was not only due
to the brand rejuvenation, but also due to a better product offering as well.
17. Before the brand rejuvenation process, do you think that the brand was old of spirit?(30:24)
Yes, we were a bit old.
18. How was the brand repositioned during the brand rejuvenation process? What is the new
positioning?(31:24)
It is the same as before. The core values are the same. It is the same as me going for a facelift. I
am exactly the same person; I just look a little bit younger.
19. During the rejuvenation process, did Woolworths refocused the organisation internally and if
so how? (31:55)
Before we started with the brand rejuvenation process, we firstly focused on our product and what
we offer the customer. What our stores look like in-store. We started to understand how our
customers shop. We changed our internal process, such as greater speed to market, respond to
customers quicker etc.
20. Please clarify to me. Did you start internally first or externally?
A lot of processes changed internally before we launched our id, but the id was in process during
the internal repositioning.
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21. How did you measure the performance of the brand experience internally and externally?
We have monitored what our customers what they think about it.
22. Did you communicate the brand rejuvenation to the customer? (35:12)
We wanted to do a slow soft gentle introduction and not a huge massive introduction. It is just not
how we are as a company. It was general announcements, little bit of PR and little communication
and then just fazed it in.
23. Before the brand rejuvenation process, was their an objective to enter new markets with the
brand rejuvenation?
We always looking at new opportunities, but that weren’t the reason for brand rejuvenation.
24. Where was the brand in its life cycle when you have decided to rejuvenate?
We definitely weren’t at maturity, as we are still getting market share.
25. Do you think there is new life injected into the brand after the rejuvenation?
Yes.
26. In your opinion who is your loyal customers?
It depends on which category you are talking about, whether it is food, clothing etc. Our loyal
customers respect quality, value for money and good quality service, something new and good
value. They are our loyal customers.
27. What ages are they?
From 18 to 65.
28. How did the rejuvenation of the brand influence the loyalty of the older generation?
Nothing that I have picked up.
29. How did the younger generation react?
Everybody has accepted it. I don’t think it was age group specific.
30. Do you think that you have lost customers due to the new identity?(40:19)
Our sales figures don’t show that.

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31. How did the new brand identity affect brand recognition?(40:47)
Good question, but I can’t answer that one. I think it is a lot more visible.
32. How the non communication of the new brand identity did affected the brand awareness?
(41:22)
I don’t think it did.
33. Do you think that the customers were confused?
No feedback I had given me that indication, so no.
34. Do you think that loyal Woolworths’ customers took offence that they weren’t part of the
brand rejuvenation process?
Again, my gut says no.
35. How do you measure perceived quality of the brand and the product?(43:30)
Through customer surveys and customer complaints. We do a lot of tracking studies during the
year and get customer feedback on the perception of the brand and the health of the brand.
36. In your opinion what signal quality to the customer?
The product and raw material that we use in all our products.
37. Do you think that the new identity affected the quality of the brand?
No.
38. What did the customer associate the Woolworths brand with before the brand rejuvenation?
Quality.
39. And after?
Quality.
40. What does your brand mean to each major market segment?
How long is a piece of string? I think that people will now start to talk about quality, values,
innovation, difference and sustainability.
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APPENDIX D:
INTERVIEW CEO SIMON SUZMAN
21 July 2011
1. Why did Woolworths decide to rejuvenate the brand?
I think every business needs to rejuvenate itself from time to time and if you don’t you will get stale
and it is tide up with people getting board and businesses aging. Particularly businesses that
relates to consumers, think about it. Every year the business gets older, your management gets
older, but your customers don’t because new customers keep coming in. So you constantly need
to look at your brand and say relative to me, is it a year younger every year at least. Otherwise you
taking your brand to get a year older and your customers stop spending. So first of all you need to
keep your brand younger than you, as a leader, as a manager and secondly businesses and
brands get stale because markets shifts, markets migrate and you constantly needs to rejuvenate
and I think what happened to us, in the recession of 2008, 2009, we really looked at this business
and thought “Hang on, it is time to change. We had a good run and then we struggled through the
recession, the factory started to struggle before the recession hit. And if you look at our analysis
figures, our customers started to feel the pinch about six or nine months before world markets
started to see it, so we could see that turn down and in that recession we started to say to
ourselves we need to rejuvenate this business.
(2:17) so we did a whole bunch of things. First of all I felt that our sales floor, particularly on the
clothing side was a just massive racks and we bought in a guy from overseas and I said to him,
that I want him to bring in different brand, different textures, different shopping experiences for
different kinds of customers and he did that. And that started to change the look of the sales floor.
It made it more interesting, it made it more customer focused and more targeted to particular kinds
of customers and that was successful.
Secondly we looked at our price architecture and I think that one of the things that struck is, is that
we are an upmarket retailer, but we are a mass retailer and any mass retailer that does not have
the sharpest of eyes on its opening/lowering price points is going to get into trouble, because it is
going to loose credibility with its customers. So we did a huge amount of work to sorting out things
like T-shirt prices, sorting out sugar prices. All the basic commodity stuff that people would like to
come to Woolies for, but which they can get elsewhere, perhaps not on the same quality standard,
sometimes the same, but we really sharpened the prices on those.
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At the same time, we said: “Hang on, there is a customer that wants really beautiful things, they
don’t just want good basic stuff of good quality, but they want very beautiful things”. It is a smaller
group of customers, but it is there. So we bought Country Road, which is a business we own in
Australia brought into South Africa and that is very much a top end brand and its been an
extraordinary success. It has been successful in its own right, it sells well and I think it repositioned
the Woolworths clothing business quite significantly.
(4:20) So you had these two things. You sorted out your core opening prices and you bought in a
more luxury tier at the top. So if you look at most business that they have a pricing structure that
looks a bit like a triangle. So there is the higher priced goods that you sells less off, but we felt that
the base of the triangle was a bit high, so we pulled down some legs, to makes serious inroads on
children wear pricing and t-shirt pricing, bread and as I said basic items and then we bought
Country road at the top. So the triangle began to look more like an Eiffel Tower, so you stretched
the top. A thin bit at the top and pulled the legs down. So we seriously fundamentally shift our
pricing offer and that started to pay fruit. We did that in clothing, we did it in foods and on top of it
we segmented the sales floor a lot more in clothing, target in different customers groups. It really
began to make a difference. And I think that was about 2009 and at the same time we started to do
more and more work in customer analytics, understanding the two to three million customers a
week that comes through our door, what kind of customer groupings are these? Do they behave in
the same way? How do we set up our stores? How do we set up the right kind of merchandise to
that store which has got this group of customers or that group of customers and we measure now
something like 85 percent of customers that comes through the door, we statistically measure.
Now, we don’t know who you all are, because we just see your credit card come through. But we
pick your credit card number and that number then records what you did buy, when did it last buy,
did it change what it last bought and how do we group those kind of customers and maybe there is
2 million of those customers or whatever it is , that behaves in that way and then there is a different
group of customers with perhaps a different credit card who spends differently and behaves
differently and we can start to target our marketing, not directly to the people, because we don’t
have their names and addresses, but to the areas that they live in, or the stores that they shop in.
We then change the profile of the merchandise that we send to that store or we can target that
store with particular offers or what ever the case might be and all of those started to shift the
business.
(7:24) Now underneath all of this we did one other thing. Woolworths is renown for one word and
that is quality. So what we found is that we developed over the last 30, 40, 50 years very good
relationships with the vendor/supply base here in South Africa and that supply base was becoming
less and less productive and it wasn’t competing with the investment that was going on in China for
what was becoming higher quality at better prices, cheaper product, higher quality. So we then
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looked an said: “Ok we need to shift to say to some of our local suppliers whom we dealt with for
many years and move of shore”. We have encouraged them to move off shore and some of them
did. Some of them went to places like Lesotho, put new investments in Lesotho, they got better
labour rates in Lesotho and they were able to give us better prices. Others weren’t able or couldn’t,
so we moved a lot of our sourcing off shore to China. Despite of 45 percent duty on all clothing that
comes in to South Africa. It means that you pay 45 percent more than you need to pay and it was
still cheaper to bring in from China. So we did that enabled to shift our home ware, clothing and
footwear into more modern investment factories and cheaper production, so that we can bring our
prices down relative to the market, improve our margin and still keep our quality and in some cases
even better quality and in some cases the off shore business were able to invest in modern
technology and that is the better machinery, the better factory or the better processing processes
that gives you the better quality. So we could get better quality, cheaper off shore that we could get
locally.
That enabled us to increase our margins and a lot of the two and we now had three good profit
growth years, a lot of that comes from steady sales growth, but widening the margin and if you can
widen your margin, you make a huge difference to your bottom line, so that is what you have seen
in this results. So we sorted out our pricing architecture, we sorted out the differentiation on the
sales floor, we did a lot more customer analytics and we moved our sourcing off shore and I would
say that was the four big shifts that we have made. Promptly by hitting the recession and say that
we need to rethink the business and over all of that if you talk to Charmaine, the marketing
positioning was to aim younger, so there were more snazzy adverts, the stores was design more
modern way, the ranges that we are putting in emphasise a bit more younger merchandise focused
for younger customers. You can’t drop you old customers, but you constantly need to appeal to
that slightly younger customers.
2. So then in your opinion what characteristics of the corporate brand can be defined as the
glue between the organisation and the consumers trust and credibility?
Did you come in down stairs? Did you see the big boxes? Now that boxes represent the seven
values of Woolworths and what we have also done five years ago is to said: “What do we stand
for, what do we really mean to ourselves, our suppliers, to our customers and to our
shareholders?” And we started to say how do we understand this and it came down to a set of
values. When we said to people give me one word about Woolworths, they say quality. If we say
give me another word about Woolworths, they start to talk about innovation etc. So we came up
with quality, innovation, service, value for money, energy, sustainability and integrity.
There are seven core, deep seeded values.

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3. (12:35) Were these the same brand values as the brand values before the brand
rejuvenation?
Yes, but we haven’t done was to pull them out and to talk about it, talk about them, which we did. It
is very interesting, if you start to put a lot of energy into talking about theses things, it starts to shift
people sense of how do I do my daily day job. They now think and they reference against these
value, because they like it and it suits them personally, so if that is the value system of the
business and mine, is this interaction that I am having to the supplier appropriate to those values or
not appropriate to those values. One of the things that the suppliers usually say to me when they
want to flatter me (they don’t always want to flatter me), but it is: “Are you guys making profit?”
Because it is important that our suppliers make profit (integrity seventh value). So that is a bit of
the integrity between our suppliers and us. If they can’t make profit out of each other, then we can’t
be in the relationship. So we are not there to screw you, but we are here to get good product, high
quality, good prices, but you must make a profit out of this. Other wise we must not have this
relationship. So that value system, I really think gave people a compass with in the Woolworths
world as to who they think they should be. What direction they should be moving.
You asked me what I think the glue is? I think the glue is the values. It is not a good marketing
campaign, it is not a nice store design, it is not the nice sales girl that smiles, but it is all off those,
because they should reflect that value system. Great product. The product should be great, it
should be innovative it should be value for money; it should be quality it should be providing a
great service to your customers. So you can reference everything that you do against that value
system.
4. Would you say that they corporate brand name is the core of your identity and that the brand
name is the building block for growth? (14:54)
No, I think the values are. It think the name Woolworths is a weird word. It doesn’t mean anything.
People often spend a lot of time and they want to launch a new product and they do an enormous
amount of market research on the name, but the values that underlies the product, defines the
customer experience. So if you have done market research and come up with that you think
Woolworths is a good name. I promise you the market research is going to come back and say it is
a stupid name. It doesn’t mean anything. What it means when you say it to a South African
customer. They don’t see w.o.o.l.w.o.r.t.h.s., they see a set of values. I like Woolworths and
Woolies reflects me, that is what they see.
5. What effect does the corporate brand name have on the corporate image? (15:57)
Same answer as above. It is difficult name. Look at all the South African retailers. What does
Foschini means? What does Truworths mean and these are all successful South African business.
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Pick ‘n Pay means something, Shoprite means something, Pr Price means something, but
Truworths, Foshini or Woolworths doesn’t mean anything. So some of them have meanings that
reflect their brand, but you could never call Woolworths Mr Price or Pick ‘n Pay, it doesn’t gel. But
you can call Woolworths painting, it wouldn’t matter.
6. What effect did the brand rejuvenation process had on the corporate image?
I think it gave the business a fresh energy.
7. What was the image of the corporate brand and consumers perception of the corporate
brand before and after the brand rejuvenation? (17:00)
Quite big shifts. They thought we were expensive and aloof, distant. And they shifted to say that
we are value for money and we want to be like you. We have done a lot of customer research with
focus groups, with tracking studies on how we are perceived? And they perceived us a bit snotty,
distant, aloof and expensive and the rejuvenation process shifted that to saying that we are much
more human, we are value for money and I like what they have done. The brand is closer to me.
(18:36) Can I interject here. It may or may not be in your questions. There is a very interesting
dynamic in the consumer space in South Africa. That is the growth of the “new consumer”. So this
new consumer is mostly black and behaves differently to the old white consumer. The old white
consumer happens to be a pun. The white consumers are generally older and black consumers
are generally younger. The white consumer is more conservative in their lifestyle and the black
consumer is more confident. They have arrived. So the black consumer earning a R100 000 a
year, feels more positive and wealthier than a white consumer earning a R100 000 a year. When
we did the first analysis, we found that we were very under penetrated in the black market. What
do we do about it? Do we put black products out? Do we do black marketing? Etc. When we did
a bit deeper analysis on the analytics about black customers, we find that for each LSM group, for
each age group and income group. We are penetrating at a similar depth. It was just that the white
people where older and wealthier and the black community in general are younger and poorer. But
the wealthy 50 year old black consumer shops Woolworths as deeply as the 50 year old white
consumer. In fact we started to find the yuppie 35 year old black consumer shops Woolworths
deeper than the 35 year old white consumer even though there are more 35 white yuppie
consumers. Now if you take a trend over the next 10 years there is going to be a whole lot more 35
year old yuppie black consumer. And they are shopping Woolworths more deeply. So the new
aspirational black consumer has deeply bought in into the Woolworths offer. So it is unbelievable
powerful. So the worst thing that we could have done is coming up with products for black people
like “Black like you”. It would have been absolute catastrophe if we would have come up with black
products for you. It would have been an absolute catastrophe. So there are products that black
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people buy more than white people, but that is fine. It is like products that Italian people use more
than French people, but the big growth market in South Africa from a retail perspective is sort of
yuppie blacks. You can call them black diamonds or what ever you want, they buy into the
aspirational values that Woolworths offer them. In the same way they want a BMW and they want
to shop Woolworths. It is all about image and that image is all about taking this brand and the
expression of the brand and its products to support the brand and making sure that those products
support the values and you don’t compromise those values. But if in the recession we would have
said: “We have to go cheap, because people don’t have any money we would killed this business.
8. Woolworths has done it very well. Beginning of 2009 Woolworths came up with the offering
“What you can buy for a R100”.(22:19)
So that said that you can get our quality for you and your family for a R100. Not that we have
produced cheap products that you can get at Woolworths, but you can get our quality only for a
R100.
9. How did the consumer act to the brand rejuvenation change?
Very predictable. Initial reactions were very positive, but he older and more conservative the
customer, the less positive. In that is normal in a brand redesign and the younger and more
relaxed the customer was, the more relaxed they were about it. It just looked more modern.
10. What effect did the corporate brand rejuvenation had on the consumers brand loyalty and
trust? (23:27)
I don’t think that re-logoing has a huge impact on that. It is like saying do you want your BMW in
blue or black? If you don’t modernise your expression, then you get a disconnect between
products and marketing that modernised themselves and an expression that looks old. So it really
aligned the overall positioning of the business.
11. It is so true what you said. I always think of Shoprite. They have had this big marketing
campaign to promote their new product offering (cheese, wine and meat section), but the
stores still look exactly the same and the shopping experience stayed the same.
Yes, everything must come together. I used to have an expression which I have used a lot when
talking to people about: You need to think of Woolworths of my world. So that Woolworths touches
you in every part of your world. You buy your food there, you buy your clothing there, you get you
credit there, you can get your assurance there. We were thinking in going into the travel business,
we sell you home products there etc. So Woolworths surrounds you and every time Woolies
touches you, it should feel the same. So there is no way that you can have an experience of high
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quality, high service in food and low quality cheap price in credit. It doesn’t word. You must have a
good credit offer that matches the Woolies brand. So everything should have an integrative
experience. So, if you studied branding, you should know that the world top brands are paranoid
about unbelievable detail. If you look at Porsche. The design looks the same all over the world.
The look and feel of every brand is the same.
12. In your opinion did the brand rejuvenation help to boost sales during the recession period?
The whole exercise helped to boost sales. So, we have rebuild credibility around price, innovation
and when you buy your core products from us, it is really good value for money. So that was the
primary thing that drove it.
13. You have answered the following question: How you innovated and rejuvenated your
corporate brand.
Just to touch on that again. In a retail business, everything comes down to product and we forget
that sometimes. You as a customer only come through the door to buy something. You are not
coming for entertainment or if we give you entertainment you might like it or get irritated. But what
you come for is the product and that product must be unbelievable good and match all the values
of the business. All of those things must be in the product and if it is not, the customer will not
come back. Doesn’t matter what the store design looks like. It is the product that you want.
14. What was the objective of the repositioning of Woolworths: Was it a physical positioning of
the brand in comparison to its competitors or repositioning of the brand in the mind of the
consumer. (29:31)
The main reason is the consumer. The competitors were doing better than us, in clothing in
particular and in the recession they were doing better than us in food. Our view on the food one
was that in a recession people are going to walk from Woolworths. You can’t change that, you can
mollify it a bit by bringing your sugar prices down or things like that, but don’t change what you
stand for, he recession will end. So we were less concerned about food in the recession even
though we lost a bit of share in market. It will come back. In clothing we had to do a bit more and
our competitors were doing better than us and we thought they have done their formula (not our
formula), better than we have done our formula and the thing with any retailer is, that if you are not
trading as well as you should don’t do what your competitor does, do what you should do…better.
Go and find out what you should be doing not how they are doing. And there are many competitors
that looked at their competitors and followed their formula and then died. Therefore, do what you
should do, better. The consumer must react to you and say that you have changed and that you
are more relevant to me and I’ll come back to you.
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15. During the rejuvenation process, did Woolworths refocus the organisation internally?
Yes. Basically we have spent a lot of time to reinforce our values and get them to think differently.
16. Did you rethink the target market? (31:50)
No, we have done a lot more analytics on the target market, but we were clear that we were 8, 9
and 10. It is not that the lower LSMs don’t shop at us, but we target LSM 8-10 and particular 9 and
10.
17. How did you measure the performance of the new brand experience internally and
externally? (32:17)
Both, you have got to deliver profit to your shareholders and unless you are gaining share of the
market, the sustainability of that profit growth is under threat. Either the market is going to growth
and you all are going to do well out of it, but in essence you got to gain share in market and your
profit growth is sustainable. So it is internally and external.
18. When did you go live with the new logo? (32:50)
I don’t remember the date, but around then.
19. After the rejuvenation process, was their continuous reminder communication to the target
that Woolworths have changed their brand image (33:01)
I would say that the feeling would have been that we are modern, not that we want to be more
modern. Neither of those are literal expressions. So if you would go out to your customers and say
“We know that we were wrong, but we try to get it right. That is not good. We just want to say that
we are right”. Just think about it. Why would the DA say: “No corruption, the DA”. Well the answer
is then that you associate the word corruption with the DA. The message was “We are here, we
are relevant”. We are young, we are here, but we are not too young for you, mam. We are just right
for you and just right for you too. And we were able to do that.
20. Did you introduce a new loyalty programme? (34:10)
??????????
21. Did Woolworths enter new markets after the brand rejuvenation process? (35:25)
Not really. We rather expanded within the different markets.
22. In which phase in the brands life cycle did you decide to rejuvenate the brand?
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Maturity to decline, but understand this business is 70 years old. So it has been in most of the last
80 years in the top part of the curve. So there was a massive brand reengineering in 1952 and that
was a full repositioning of the brand and that was successful. The brand was repositioned from a
bazaar to a quality store. Ever since then we have been going over the top and then pull us back,
going over the top and then pull us back again. And that is what a big business does. It is very
difficult to take a big business down to here and if goes down to here, you have got a problem. So
every time that you go into the decline stage, you must pull it back to the peak. So I don’t know if
we were over the top or in the peak, but I would say that every 5 to 7 years you need to come back
to the beginning of the maturity stage.
23. Do you think that the rejuvenation pushed new life into the brand? (37:05)
Yes definitely.
24. Who are your loyal customers?
Many different kinds of loyal customers. There are loyal customers that shops with us regularly.
We have got then different types of customers that shop many types of things from us regularly,
which we call our finest cross shoppers. We also have another type of customer that shops only
one or two things from us regularly and they are also loyal customers. Our loyal customers are
customers that believe that Woolworths can offer them a value system that matches their value
system and come back regularly to get it.
25. What ages are they?
Anything from 35 up to 60.
26. If you think of the older generation, they grew up with brand. Don’t you think that they were
upset that they weren’t part of the brand rejuvenation?
They weren’t, but as I have said, there is no point of letting brand grows old with a group of
customers. They eventually slow down and stop spending. Each generation are younger than the
previous generation at a given age. So your parents were younger in attitude than there parents
when they get 60 or 70 and your generation is younger than I was at that age. You are more alive,
you are more connected and you are more aware. You got to keep on rejuvenating your business
and you don’t want to keep on telling 60 year olds you are now old. They think they are 30.
27. You didn’t do a launch to introduce the new identity into the market. Do you think that you
have lost loyal customers?
No. Pick ‘n Pay had a bigger budget.

134
28. Why didn’t you communicate the new brand identity?
First of all if you decide to communicate, you need to do a big national launch that is very
expensive. That is very expensive. You need to take of every sign, change every peace of
packaging and paper and it is a massively expensive thing and we took the decision rather to say
that we will phase this in. We are constantly busy redesigning our packaging, so no packaging
lasts more than 3 years and we can phase it in over three years and most probably shorter. We are
opening new stores all the time, we renovating stores all the time and in three to four years we will
get through the chain and what is what we have done. It is much cheaper to phase it in and a much
more expensive exercise to a cold one time launch.
29. Do you think that the customer was confused?
No. Think of Pick ’n Pay, they have done it as essential to their repositioning, we saw it as
complementary to our repositioning. There was a difference and it was more a complimentary
process
30. Why have Woolworths done so little PR on the rejuvenation of their brand?
There was a little bit of PR. We had a very, very, very good designer form America called Massimo
and we have done the PR on Massimo.
31. How do you measure perceived quality of the brand and product?
We do tracking studies constantly and they are very harsh. We get this relative to our competitors
and our own history.
32. What do you think is the association between the old brand identity and the new brand
identity?
It is more modern and up do date. When we have done the old one, it looked modern. I am sure
you have done case studies over the years, there is a shift in script and yet it still looks like Coca
Cola. The old one looks old and the new one looks new.

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CORPORATE BRAND REJUVENATION

Research report presented in partial fulfilment

Supervisor: Prof F.J. Herbst

Degree of confidentiality: C December 2011

Y. Smit 31 October 2011

Copyright © 2011 Stellenbosch University

List of figures xvi

List of acronyms and abbreviations xvii

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 12

2.4 AAKER BRAND EQUITY MODEL 25

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 37

4.7.3 Question 4: Similarities in comparison with theory 45

4.13.4 Question 10: Differences in comparison with theory 53

4.20 QUESTION 17: COMPARaTIVE ANALYSIS 58

4.26.5 Question 22: Interpretations 64

4.33 QUESTION 29: COMPARative ANALYSIS 71

4.39.1 Question 35: Similarities in the discussion guide answers 76

4.45.5 Question 40: Interpretations 81

4.52 CHAPTER SUMMARY 87

CHAPTER 5 SUMMARY, LESSONS LEARNED, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 88

APPENDIX A: DISCUSSION GUIDE 103

APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW MARKETING DIRECTOR 110

APPENDIX C: INTERVIEW HEAD OF CREATIVE STUDIO 120

APPENDIX D: INTERVIEW CEO SIMON SUZMAN 125

Figure 1.1: Woolworths’ old and new logo design 2

Figure 1.2: Brand life cycle 6

Figure 1.3: Life cycle of the rejuvenated brand 8

Figure 2.1: Life cycle of the rejuvenated brand 24

Figure 2.2: Measuring brand loyalty 28

Figure 2.3: The awareness pyramid 30

List of acronyms and abbreviations

AMA American Marketing Association

CEO chief executive officer

FMCG fast moving consumer goods

LSM living standards measure

Ps people, product, place, price, promotion

SKUs stock-keeping units

Figure 1.1: Woolworths’ old and new logo design

1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT

1.3.1 Research questions

Primary research question:

Why and when do brands decide to rejuvenate?

1.3.2 Research objectives

1.3.2.1 Primary research objective

1.3.2.2 Secondary objectives

 To study the principles and concepts of brand rejuvenation.

 To investigate the process of brand rejuvenation in Woolworths.

1.4 LITERATURE REVIEW

 Increase revenue and market share.

1.4.1.1 Corporate brand

1.4.1.2 Product brands

1.4.1.3 Service brands

1.4.1.4 Personal brands

1.4.2 Brand life cycle

Figure 1.2: Brand life cycle

1.4.3 Corporate rebranding

1.4.4 Corporate brand rejuvenation

1.4.4.1 Describing brand rejuvenation

 The brand is ageing (decline stage in life cycle).

Figure 1.3: Life cycle of the rejuvenated brand

1.4.4.2 Principles of brand rejuvenation

1.4.4.3 Process of brand rejuvenation

1.4.5 Brand equity