Rebranding: WTBP?

I have a theory: I’d like to think it’s not correct, but here goes anyway.

Imagine you’re the Chief Exec of a business that’s going down the tubes. The shareholders are seeing their investment turning to dust & their income dwindling: they’re after your blood. You, being a true product of The Peter Principle, haven’t a clue what to do. Then – salvation! Some ‘expert’ tells you that all your problems can be solved by re-branding the company. This is perfect!

First off, you can tell the shareholders that you have a master-plan that will save the day, but it’ll take some time to produce results. That’s bought you a couple more years with your snout in the trough.

Secondly that time can be enjoyably used spending lots of (other people’s) money on those nice creative types who tell you everything’s ‘cool’ and never ask any really hard questions. Plus you can spend hours in ‘blue sky’ meetings dreaming up company brand ideas, and ‘clean sheet’ designs for the new logo: if you’re lucky, in exotic ‘creative’ locations (on expenses, naturally!). All so much more enjoyable than all that nasty business of actually managing a company in trouble.

Finally, you don’t have to hang about to see the final results. (Which won’t be good. With few exceptions, rebranding costs a load of cash, alienates existing customers, and fails to attract new ones.) No! Now you can tout yourself as the “visionary saviour of a troubled company that no longer needs your talent” (so much more attractive than “the abject failure in charge of that company that’s about to pop its clogs) you jump ship at the first opportunity.

Cynical – yes. But if you have a better idea as to why “Yellow Pages / Yell.com” rebranded itself to HIBU – I’d like to hear it!