Does a Name Change a Brand?
![Brand word lettering typography design illustration with line icons and ornaments in blue theme](https://globalgyan.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Untitled-design.webp)
A recent article in Techcrunch reveals that Facebook has partnered with India’s Central Board of Secondary Education to launch “a certified curriculum on digital safety and online well-being, and augmented reality for students and educators in the country.”
Apparently, as per a press release, it is part of Facebook’s “global initiative to build diverse learning communities and bring the world closer together.”
It is obvious that for Facebook this is a way to gain greater foothold in the world’s largest market (China is obviously ruled out), and also improve its brand positioning as a responsible organisation.
![Facebook for Education](https://globalgyan.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Facebook-Education.webp)
The key question is if brands can reposition themselves so easily, by launching a few courses or by, like in the case of Hindustan Unilever (HUL)Ā changing a name.
Ā
![Fair-and-Lovely-Glow](https://globalgyan.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Fair-and-Lovely-Glow.webp)
A brand is not just a name, a logo or a spokesperson/ambassador. It is the sum total of experiences that it has created in customers’ minds, over a period of time. Either through direct experience or others’ live experiences, we build our perceptions, expectations and relationship with a brand.
A useful framework to think about a brand is theĀ brand identity prismĀ byĀ Jean Kapferer, Emeritus Professor of Marketing at HEC, Paris. The prism postulates that a brand is not just about what the seller wishes to portray but also how it is received by the user/observer, in the context of the external environment and the organisation’s culture.
![](https://globalgyan.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Brand-identity-prism-and-three-tier-pyramid-Kapferer-1992-1.png)
Clearly, an organisation or brand has to work on all dimensions to create change. Whether Facebook’s education initiative and HUL’s name change are part of such a larger program, or just tactical responses to evolving external environment, needs to be seen.