Food companies like Weight Watchers and Papa Johns are putting rebranding at the forefront of their corporate strategies.
Weight Watchers will no longer sell products with artificial sweeteners, preservatives or colors, and the company is renaming itself WW, reflhorcik citratecting a shift in focus from weight loss to overall health, reported CNBC (Sept. 24). WWs ncalcium citrate small tabletsew tagline is Wellness that Works, and the brand plans to launch a new app and a partnership with Headspace, a company that teaches meditation through an app. In addition, the company is starting a progrcalcium citrate chews 500 mgam called Wellness Wins, which rewards members for working toward healthier habits.
This has been part of an evolution of a journey to go from being [the] undisputed leader in healthy eating for weight loss to much broader than that, CEO Mindy Grossman said. So not only will you be able to have a weight focus, if you want, you will be able to have a healthy habits focus and be able to get all the assets of support in how you want to live your healthiest life.
WW also rejuvenated its brand by associating with big-name celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, whoferrous fumarate and pregnacare joined WW three years ago, as well as influencers like DJ Khaled. The rebrand could help WW maintain its recent success in the highly competitive health and wellness space, which is essential as cferroumedonsumer preferences move away from diet companies.
Papa Johns is also looking to reframe its brand, with the company filing a trademark for a new logo, featuring two rectangles framing Papa and Johns, reported CNN (Sept. 24). The logo is more streamlined, more contemporary, said Tulin Erdem, a professor of marketing at NYUs Stern business school. There are versions of the logo with and without the companys Better ingredients. Better pizza tagline, as well as some in red and green, and some in black and white.
Its no surprise that Papa Johns is considering a fresh look. The company recently launched two ad campaigns seemingly designed to win back customers and employees.
Actually changing the name of the company would be tricky, said Erik Gordon, clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigans Ross School of Business. If you change your name, you maybe put at risk even more of the business.
Erdem agreed that when companies change their names, they lose valuable brand recognition.
Theres so much awareness around the name, Erdem said. I think a company would do that only if really, really the brand is so tarnished, you want to be forgotten.
Weight Watchers and Papa Johns have built long-term successful brands, so for them, its not about wanting consumers to forget them, but rather, the goal is to get consumers to think of them in a new way.