Should Rosewood Adopt The Corporate Brand Identity Crisis

Kenan-Flagler Business School SWETHA VASU
Marketing 741 SECTION 1

Executive Summary
Rosewood is battling with a ‘brand identity’ crisis. While it has maintained a low-key brand image till date (by adopting the individual brand strategy), the potential of a ‘corporate brand recognition’ in a long run seems alluring. Based on the customer life time value analysis, customer perception analysis, and after analyzing customer needs, we recommend the following:
1. Rosewood should adopt the corporate brand strategy through a ‘smooth transition’- start slow, and expand if met with positive response
2. The corporate branding should focus on the motto: “A sense of place” or a “Perfect Holiday destination”, rather than on factors such as say, “Luxury
It may be safe to assume that individually owned brands like Rosewood may attract the ‘vacation’ customers more than the corporate brands that typically attract the ‘business travelers’. This is because, a business traveler may not be too concerned about a ‘unique’ experience while on a business trip, while this factor may be an important one for the ‘vacation customer’. Also, corporate brands may have mutually beneficial ties with the large corporates that have geographically distributed business activities, owing to their wider geographic presence (compared with the individually owned resorts). Now, knowing that a Rosewood customer values the “A sense of place” feeling, and the unique experience that Rosewood provides, it becomes very important for Rosewood to keep this customer preference in mind if and while rebranding its image. The centralized reservation system should enable Rosewood to keep a track of customer preferences, based on geographic or demographic segments. Using data collected from this central system, Rosewood should continue to provide customer oriented services (independent of the rebranding decision). This suggestion stems from the idea that re-branding needn’t always be accompanied by a drastic turnaround in strategy; rebranding is more about bringing better awareness while retaining the best
However, this branding might affect those resorts that are collectively owned. Individual owners who want a sense of unique identity might not respond well to this move. In this situation, we recommend that Rosewood adopt branding after achieving positive results in other locations (start with other resorts that are not strongly opposed and then target the collectively owned ones). When success is achieved in branding, the initially resistant ones might be more willing to give in and adopt this