When's the right time to strangle a brand?

The right time 's the time when the brand doesn't mean anything to anybody. Its the 'middle of the road' that the brand finds itself stuck in. Neither differentiated nor possessing mass appeal.

Take the case of the 'Residency' brand of hospitality properties under the Taj Group of Hotels umbrella. A few of the Residency properties found themselves trying to ride the premium bandwagon whereas others were just about adequate as budget properties. Though the earlier positioning space occupied was Business Hotels, the diversity among business travellers resulted in a discrimination amongst hotels within the 'business' cluster.

Realising this, the Taj Group has now embarked on aligning their Residency properties to spaces that they believed were relevant to each property. As per the new strategy, properties with lower revenue per room (RevPAR) will be brought under its four-star brand Gateway while the ones performing better will be renamed Taj Premium. The first Taj Premium property is likely to debut in Bangalore by the end of the next month.

Now that's what I call a smart branding move.

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