When and why do brands reposition? How often should brands reposition?

When and why do brands reposition? How often should brands reposition? 

A brand reposition strategy it’s not a complete remake of the company, but more like a calculated adjustment. It is a new pathway when growth is blocked, the competitors are getting bigger and stronger and the engagement with the clients is decreasing. In other words, companies reposition themselves to keep up with the evolution of customer needs.

There are a series of different "events" that drive a company to adopt a brand repositioning strategy, and whenever they occur, particularly altogether, a new pathway should be searched and developed.

These factors are various, but some examples could be:

- A generational change. In this sense, your client base is evolving, and the brand needs to keep up, pay attention to different indicators that can lead to broader problems (like engagement in social and non-social platforms, growth rate, sales volume, profits, ...).

A company needs to aim at intercepting the changes more than watching and trying to understand them, otherwise it's going to be always late.

- Consumer perception changes. An important task that the top management needs to perform is always checking how the brand is perceived in the market. Clients are obviously the most important part in a company's success, and they need to be involved and taken care of.

- Competition. When new companies enter your target market, it is always important to study them and develop a winning strategy, positioning your brand accordingly and trying to keep your historical client base, while trying to secure newcomers.

- Macro Level changes, such as urbanization and higher disposable income, combined with the others, can influence a company strategy.

What are the pros and cons of each of the repositioning options being considered by Peter England?

The marketing team of Peter England proposed 5 different strategies to reposition the brand. Here are listed with their respective pros and cons.

Full of life:

- PROS: The strategy here is clear, attract excited and innovative young generation by providing clothes that fulfil their needs. The most important pro is that, from the figures in the article, more that 50% of Indians are below the age of 25, and the average age is expected to remain under 29 for the next decade. This strategy opens to an enormous client base, excited for a new and different life.

- CONS: This strategy oriented to juveniles could be interpreted, from older generations, as a new value proposition; a way for the brand to change its target audience.

All this can lead to an important heritage detachment, as the brand has been always oriented to its historical clients.

True success:

PROS: This strategy is the closest one to the values the company already had, therefore there is no particular need to implement a complete change that could drive away a part of the customer base

CONS: The company was always associated to formal clothes, and to change this idea there is the need for a specific advertisement campaign.

Have it now:

PROS: This strategy is perfect for the new generations, anxious and impatient about life, as Peter England enables younger generations to have what they desire right now. It is directed to an enormous client base, that is continuously growing; and the idea of a fast paced marketplace is perfect to outpace the growing competition.

...