Beyond the logo
by
MYO
When Byron Smith acquired the healthy eating franchise MYO in June 2007 in partnership with his father John and brother Rowan, they believed its success was being hindered by one vital flaw – the MYO brand lacked clarity and consistency.
"We felt the overall concept was very unique, but that the MYO food and beverage franchise brand was quite weak. We believed that if we could simply strengthen the brand positioning, we could grow the success of the franchise overall," says Byron.
He believes many franchisees underestimate the critical role branding plays in the success of a franchise store.
The brand is what the consumers buy. Without a strong brand, you don't have anything to sell," he says. "It's not about changing the logo – the brand is about establishing a culture and a set of core values. We knew that if we wanted to meet our national targets, we needed a brand that represented a set of values, which would enable us to sell more franchises."
Branding is a major reason behind the success of global brands like McDonalds, Starbucks, Dominos and KFC, whose logos and colours are so distinct they can be recognised by most three-year olds anywhere in the Western world. It's also the reason newer entrants like Boost, Gloria Jeans, Sumo Salad and Grill'd are enjoying oying such immense success in Australia – their brands are applied consistently to franchises nationwide, which gives consumers confidence that no matter which store they choose, they'll be guaranteed the same quality of product, service and experience.
Byron, John and Rowan set about revitalising the MYO sandwich franchise brand by hiring research company Knowledge Solutions and brand specialists Block Branding, which are both based in Perth.
"Our research showed there are many consumers who are passionate about MYO, but others who are put off by the idea that they have to make their own sandwiches and pizzas, while the various pricing systems confused some people and deterred first-time customers," says Byron.
In fact, customers at MYO (which stands for 'Make Your Own') do prepare their own sandwiches and pizzas. But MYO was not communicating the key benefit of this concept: consumers can choose whatever toppings they like. If they happen to enjoy anchovies with mayonnaise, fresh chilli, turkey breast and a sprinkling of chocolate freckles, no problem. At MYO, you can make whatever you like.
"We realised we needed to design an experience that communicated the idea of freshness and choice. We knew we couldn't redesign the brand in isolation to what was happening in-store – we needed to design a concept store that portrayed a sense of convenience and efficiency in everything from the signage and operational systems to the uniforms," says Kylie Telfer, director of strategy at Block Branding.
Block set about demystifying and explaining the MYO experience, revitalising the colour palette, reviving the logo, and designing a template for each MYO store, which is now being rolled out to 18 existing franchises in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane. Asa result of this rebranding, MYO hopes to grow its presence to 50 stores globally by 2011, including new stores in Melbourne and Sydney.
Telfer says it's important to remember that brand encompasses everything from the logo, advertising, signage, photography and colour palette to interior design, uniforms and furniture – even the attitude of the staff. In fact, when you start to see the complexity of branding, it's easy to see why so many franchisees get it wrong.
"As brand specialists, we see the same mistakes being made over and over and money being thrown away through lack of initial foresight and strategy. Branding is one of the key determinants in the long-term success or failure of a franchise," says Telfer, who has worked on the launch of franchises such as gelato chain Amano and Bondi Pie Company in Korea.
Byron agrees, saying: "I think most franchisees understand the research and rationale behind branding, but they're reluctant to swallow a lump cost of around $40,000 to introduce a re-brand to their stores – particularly if they're worried that the new look will confuse existing customers. In fact, a one-off investment of $40,000 over five years is not that much money. Unfortunately that's not how many small business owners see things," he says.
For new franchisees the costs of branding are even more daunting. It costs about $230,000 to fit out a new MYO store from scratch, according to Byron, but it's an investment with immeasurable long-term benefits.
For franchisors the challenge lies in convincing individual franchisees to adhere to a core set of brand values and visual templates, and absorb the costs in spite of the dent they make to their own profits.
Unfortunately, this is where the MYO concept began to unravel. The first MYO store opened in Perth in 1994, and while the chain spread quickly to become one of Australia's most successful sandwich franchises, the brand became diluted over time.
As a result, when Byron, John and Rowan acquired MYO from founder Nicholas Bird last year, they were faced with the daunting task of unifying the 18 stores and encouraging individual franchisees to embrace the core values of freshness, consistency and clarity.
So has the investment paid off? Only time will tell. About 70 per cent of existing MYO stores will have implemented the re-branding by August 2008, with the remainder to follow next year.
"The next 12 months are going to be very interesting for us. We've already invested $130,000 in the branding concept alone, plus an additional $80,000 toward advertising the re-brand to the local market. We've budgeted another $100,000 for 2008/09, and if I had another half a million dollars I'd spend that too, so we could make a much bigger splash,"says Byron.
Five franchise branding errors
Many franchisors overlook the following key elements when developing a new brand:
- A successful brand identity must be easy to duplicate across the franchise network
- Leave room to grow the brand as the business grows, including the possibility of brand extensions
- Remove personal preferences and tailor your decisions to suit the mass market
- Invest in the brand from the outset –if you leave investment until the franchise has already rolled out, it's usually too late
- Skipping part of the brandingprocess is like half-cooking a meal
The rules of brand building
There are several crucial steps involved in developing a strong franchise brand, aswell as mistakes to avoid along the way, according to Block Branding:
- Identify a unique position or niche in the market
- Formulate the right tone or brand personality and develop a brand vision
- Bring the brand vision to life visually using colour, typography,photography, illustration, video, sound or music
- Apply these elements to the logo, uniforms, merchandise, packaging,signage systems, stationery, advertising and in-store design
- Create a brand blueprint that contains easy instructions to enablefranchises to implement and maintain the brand
- Manage the brand across all franchises nationally and internationally
10.10.2008
FCA Member
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Canning Vale
WA 6155
Tel: 1300 041288
Fax: 08 9256 2070
