Branding

Branding

Marks and Spencers was created in 1894 when Michael Marks joined Thomas spencer at a stall in Leeds. The Marks and Spencers logo has not changed much in that time. Initially it started out as displayed simply as Marks & Spencers, always with the ampersand. After a period of declining sales and the possibility of a hostile takeover by the Arcadia Group the organisation rebranded itself with the logo M&S to establish itself as a modern retailer and reinforced this by including celebrities such as Twiggy and Erin O’Conner to their marketing campaign. The range of ages of their representatives meant that the rebrand, although emphasising its new, fresh and modern image was not aimed only at new, younger customers or older existing ones but to a wider consumer base (M&S Rebranding logo 2017).

The brand name is an amalgamation of the owners forename and surname, their family name.

M&S seemed to be successful in their rebranding exercise specifically in relation to their food sales while Aldi received some negative reports initially. This may have been that consumers  associated with the brand values and brand personality of the company and feared that a change in logo meant a change in the fundamentals of the brand.

Brand equity for both M&S and Aldi would be substantial as both have secured their place within the market, although for different reasons.         

M&S have a reputation of high quality, have longevity with consumers and brand name awareness. Aldi are synonymous with low cost good quality goods. Making customers realise that they don’t have to make a sacrifice to have a low shopping bill, as their tag suggest ‘Spend a Little, Live a Lot’.

Aldi also displays a fairy basic logo which is a continuation of their values and principals-simple, honest and straight to the point.