Rebrand of ESB means consigning household name to dustbin of history

MEDIA & MARKETING:A new name for ESB is a condition for it to be allowed compete in a deregulated market

ESB IS one of Ireland’s best-known brands, familiar in every household for generations. But now thanks to the insistence of a regulator, the ESB consumer brand is to be consigned to the dustbin of history.

The first steps in the whitewash process commence this month as bills issued by the electricity supplier will have a new name and logo – Electric Ireland. The communications programme for the rebrand is extensive and expensive, with millions of euro to be spent on explaining to everyone that Electric Ireland will be the new name for ESB.

The rebrand was one of a number of stipulations laid down by the Commission for Energy Regulation for ESB to be allowed compete in the deregulated electricity market. While ESB staff offered up 1,000 suggestions for the new name, Electric Ireland was not one put forward.

Over the coming weeks, there will be TV, press and radio ads as well as online activity as the company tries to win back some of the 850,000 customers it says it has lost to Bord Gáis and Airtricity in the last two years.

Explains ESB executive director Brid Horan: “The regulator felt that ESB is such a strong brand it gives us an unfair advantage. Through this year, ESB Customer Supply and ESB Independent Energy will be known as ESB Electric Ireland. From next year, the ESB association will go completely and we will just be Electric Ireland.”

Horan adds the rebrand spend will not be incremental to the company’s annual marketing spend. “We will spend between €6 million and €8 million on marketing this year. That’s what we would spend each year, so the rebrand is an additional message we have to convey as part of that budget. We have two challenges with this campaign: to reduce the outflow of customers, and win some customers back.”

WALK INTOyour local supermarket off-licence these days and you are find a plethora of special offers on wine. At the volume end of the market price is everything, and that poses challenges for niche players such as US brand Gallo.

EJ Gallo Winery, based in California, is the largest family-owned winery in the US. Marketing director Stephanie Gallo, in Dublin recently to bang the drum for the brand, is a granddaughter of one of the founders, and she concedes the wine market in Ireland is much more competitive than when Gallo launched here 15 years ago.

“Ten years ago a standard promotion in an off-licence might have been ‘Buy two bottles and save 50 cent’. It’s moved on a bit from there,” she says.

“We would rather not see all the discounting, but they are the market conditions. Retailers will do what retailers will do, and consumers will make a choice.”

In the US the Gallo Winery umbrella spans 40 brands, but in Ireland the focus is on five – Gallo Family Vineyards, Redwood Creek, Carol Rossi, Turning Leaf and Barefoot – the last of which is getting a big push here in 2011.

“In 2009 we had double the amount of products on sale compared to 2010. But the brands we have stuck with are now growing. We now have five brands on sale in Ireland and about 25 varieties of wine within those brand offerings. Gallo wines are sold in 93 countries around the world and Ireland ranks in the top 15 for sales.” The average price of a bottle of wine sold in Ireland is €8.60, and Gallo wines sell for around €9. So how does Gallo persuade consumers to pay a little bit more for its wines? “The primary way is to form an emotional connection with consumers, and we are absolutely passionate about brand advocacy. If you encounter Barefoot at a local event or charity that you care about, you will be willing to pay a premium because of that association,” says Gallo.

The fast-talking Gallo says she is passionate about marketing and brand management. But while many of Gallo’s competitors spend money on display advertising on TV and press, Gallo’s promotion of the Barefoot brand is limited to what Stephanie Gallo describes as “grassroots marketing”.

Distributed in Ireland by Cassidy Wines, Gallo bought the Barefoot brand in 2005. “It has a foot on the label, so you can’t really take it that seriously. What we learnt from Barefoot’s previous owners was that the brand was successful because it connected with consumers at local level through grassroots events.

“Barefoot is about promoting wine in a fun manner and capitalising on a trend we are seeing worldwide. There has been an explosion of food culture, and wine is a natural accompaniment to that. All our marketing activity for Barefoot will be below- the-line. It’s not a cheap way of marketing: it costs as much if not more as above-the-line activity. We know it will be a slow burn, but brands are like children. They don’t grow up overnight and they take a lot of patience and love.”

In the US, Barefoot sponsors beach clean-ups, laying on the chilled Chardonnay around the barbecue at the end of the day. In Ireland, surfers organise regular coastal clean-ups and the Irish Surfing Association is calling for its members to participate in a national beach clean-up on June 19th. “We haven’t worked out the details of our association yet, but if it works in the US it should work in Ireland,” says Gallo.

Gallo’s other marketing focus is on the Turning Leaf brand, which sells for about €10. Gallo has recruited Dutch chef Esther Rawling to create recipes to complement the wine for a campaign that will run in Ireland and the UK, with advertorials in consumer lifestyle magazines.