It's been one year exactly (give or take a few days) since Telus Corp. launched its discount brand Koodo Mobile. Hitting the public with retro 80's exercise-inspired commercials (complete with headbands, leg warmers and lots of spandex), Kudoo took off by offering consumers "fat-free" wireless for less. A year later, Kodoo is "brand refreshing", replacing their fitness-esque branding with something a little more recession savvy, perhaps in an effort to combat Virgin Mobile's recent "Screw your Recession" campaign.
Three new commercials have begun to air. This one, about a "fee-ectemy", contains many elements that consumers (myself included) have come to associate with the Koodo brand -- a penchant for neon and interesting looking individuals, for starters -- but swaps the workout gear with wordplay. Clearly the target market is still the same, as is the concept, and the differences are subtle. I guess this is what "brand refreshing" is all about.
A relatively new concept to me, brand refreshing (I am now officially dropping the quotation marks) is a marketing strategy that seems to be gaining a lot of press lately, as more and more brands (another recent example being Pepsi) opt to refresh rather than redo.
For more interesting insights into brand refreshing, check out Adhocracy, one of my favourite marketing and advertising blogs.
