NEW YORK — Shortly after a cyberattack that led to the theft of more than 380 million customer records, Marriott looked to undo some of the damage to its name by rebranding its loyalty program. Bonvoy, short for the phrase "bon voyage," aimed to streamline rewards offerings across the hospitality giant's broader portfolio of hotels, but the January 2019 announcement was met with disdain from consumers who found the name confusing.
Despite some public mockery of the new moniker, Marriott executives stayed the course and attempted to build organizational resistance by focusing on the importance of loyal guests, VP of Global Creative and Content Marketing Scott Weisenthal said Tuesday during an Advertising Week panel about reinventing iconic brands.
"What it really comes down [to] for us is to fill that name with meaning," he said. "At the end of the day, it's about what are those benefits that we are giving to our members?"
Refreshing the loyalty program, which consolidates the hotel giant's main Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and Starwood chains, illustrates the master brand's broader strategy of offering robust travel experiences beyond traditional lodging. Tours, excursions, mindfulness seminars and cooking classes round out Marriott's new services that aim to woo consumers who favor pop-ups and experiential events as the travel company competes with digital disruptors like Airbnb.
"We have the name. It is what it is," Weisenthal said. "We have people talking about it and we have to accept that there's negative reaction, and we just have to move forward and deliver with that positive meaning."
The essence of a brand
Navigating how to not turn off current customers while trying to attract new ones comes with the territory of rebranding, whether it's a loyalty program like Marriott's or a reenvisioned name like Dunkin's, executives on the panel said.
For the Massachusetts-based coffee giant, social listening provided insights into how well the transition from "Dunkin' Donuts" to simply "Dunkin'" might go over with consumers. An analysis from before the official announcement in September 2018 showed that people were using the two names interchangeably online, VP of Brand Stewardship Drayton Martin said during the panel.
"Dunkin' has had the tagline 'America runs on Dunkin'' — not Dunkin' Donuts; Dunkin' — for 11 years. So it's been right there in front of everybody's face for 11 years," Martin said.
Understanding how much change loyal customers could accept was key to shaping the roadmap for the broader coffee-oriented rebrand, which took effect in January 2019 and included a fresh logo, new packaging and advertising assets. Redesigned branding required sifting through decades of Dunkin' Donuts' heritage to strip things down to identify only the most iconic, core visuals that would become the face of the refreshed Dunkin', Martin said.
"Stay true to who you are and then you can age gracefully."
Drayton Martin
VP of brand stewardship, Dunkin'
"Pink, orange, bubble letters and the name Dunkin'. That's it," she said. "Those were the three essentials that we needed to bring forward to signal we're still that brand you love, but there's something new going on."
Martin said the first step for marketers looking to rebrand, whether it's a household name's entire look or revamping a program within the company, is to identify high-level goals and recognize the brand's essence while "leaving little breadcrumbs" as a sort of hat tip to loyal customers.
"Stay true to who you are and then you can age gracefully," she said.
