Consumer Perceptions Of Rebranding: The Case Of Logo Changes

Abstract

This dissertation explores the topic of rebranding, an important topic that has mostly been covered by practitioner journals and the business press. The focus of this research is on a specific type of rebranding - logo changes. The objective was to get a better understanding of consumer perceptions of logo changes by investigating what goes on in the consumer's mind when exposed to a brand logo change in terms of "coping" with this change. After an extensive qualitative investigation, a model was developed that focused on how exposure to a logo change puts the consumer into a coping process through expressions of curiosity, skepticism and resistance toward the logo change. In this model, two elements were proposed to govern the coping processes of rebranding: 1) the degree of logo change, and 2) the valence (i.e. favorability) of logo change. The model also examined how these coping mechanisms related to each other and ultimately affected the brand attitude after the logo change. The results supported 13 of 16 hypotheses related to the proposed model. In sum, the study has made a valuable contribution to the scholarly understanding of coping as an important process of consumer response to logo changes.