What Can B2B Marketers Learn from M&M’s Recent Re-branding Initiative?

There’s a lot for B2B marketers to pick up from based on the recent rebrand by M&Ms! Recent trends and research have often pointed towards how consumers and end users across various categories are now leaning towards establishing buying relationships with ”responsible” brands that focus on contributing toward some cause or initiative…

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Several iconic B2B and B2C brands have undergone rebranding initiatives in the recent months, including the likes of sales engagement platform Salesloft.

There are several factors that inspire marketers to opt for a rebrand initiative. A change in product or service, falling brand recall or brand identity in the market, a need to reposition a particular service or product, the reasons can be limitless. 

In a recent official news release, legendary confectionery brand M&M (a product of Mars) announced their decision to update their brand identity with a few tweaks to focus on establishing a sense of belonging by focusing on a stronger element of inclusivity. 

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As part of this new initiative, M&M will aim to use a range of shapes and sizes of the brand’s iconic and colorful lentils to prove that inclusivity can be more fun.

But what inspired this iconic brand that already has a strong global presence and identity to go down this path? And what can B2B marketers takeaway from this initiative?

A few thoughts:

Understand your Customer and Audience with New Research to identify how they see or view your brand

Recent studies have pointed toward how global audiences needs and preference has shifted drastically in the last few years. Consumers are more conscious and like to focus on products and services that not only add value but serve other societal or environmental elements. One common factor that stands out among most of these various studies is the need for consumers – irrespective of culture, race, ethnicity, geography, or location to feel accepted and feel a sense of belonging. 

According to M&M’s recent announcement, the brand used this insight to create the M&M’S FUNd to offer resources, mentorship, opportunities and financial support in the arts and entertainment space to help ensure people have access to experiences where everyone feels like they belong. This is just one way of establishing a stronger presence and enabling people and communities. 

Stronger B2B brands are known to have their own venture capital or investment teams that help back newer tech startups (Salesforce ventures, for instance). Besides this, now is the time for B2B marketers and tech teams to drive more commitment towards various other causes and initiatives that can boost sections of society or communities in a more balanced manner. 

Brands in a highly competitive B2B market can use research backed surveys and studies to understand more about how their audience or target market views the brand and what feature they align it with. This can help teams to breakdown this data and revisit their positioning and processes to decide what should be done to drive more impactful brand recall values and identity in the market. 

A Fresh, Modern Look can Boost a Brand’s Image

While some marketers might feel that a rebrand initiative can be a waste of time and resources, for others, a fresh new color palette and brand logo can actually be useful in building a (new) fresh look and feel in the market. 

If marketers start seeing a drop in online engagement or customer engagement across other offline channels, besides revisiting core marketing campaigns and their messaging, repositioning the brand with fresh colors and a new tagline that can resonate more with the audience’s current preferences might actually be useful in driving more results. 

Customers and end users themselves can sometimes start moving towards competing products because of price factors or improved features. This is where it is crucial for marketing and product teams to work together to understand what’s leading to a drop in engagement and what can be done to improve both: 1) the product and 2) the brand identity and sometimes a rebrand might fit well as the answer.

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Marketing needs to have a True Purpose Today

Marketing trends have shifted and how. From becoming a cost-centre to a performance driven centre, marketers now have to align their activities to also connect with consumer preferences of various kinds including social-economic-environmental causes. 

A well-oiled marketing process and mature marketing team will already know how to align their core martech, marketing strategies and marketing goals in such a way so as to drive healthy pipelines and contribute to core business goals. 

The other side of the coin today demands that marketing teams and brands also align to a purpose besides profit, this can range from adopting a local charity to regularly running adoption campaigns for homeless kids and dogs, for instance!

How well a brand performs in the market is not just attributed to its creative marketing efforts in today’s environment. As the world becomes more conscious and millennial and Gen Z buying habits change, marketers of legacy brands and newer startups have to take cognizance of these changes and adapt and reform constantly.