Re-brand at Virgin Radio loses customers

Absolute Radio re-brand = huge drop in listeners

It’s hard to imagine that such a well-planned and well-executed re-branding exercise could go quite so badly wrong. Yet bosses at Absolute Radio (previously Virgin radio) must be asking themselves how something as simple as a name-change could have lost them such a large slice of their listeners.

Check these numbers. Absolute Radio’s audience has fallen by 20% since it changed its name from Virgin Radio. Absolute’s chief operating officer Clive Dickens blamed the drop in audience to confusion over the station’s new name. Yet regular listeners will tell you that the station bombarded their audiences with information about the re-brand for 15 weeks beforehand.

The re-brand was a contractual requirement after Virgin radio was bought by a division of the Times of India Group in a £53.2m deal.

So where did it all go wrong? I have some theories:

1. Virgin Radio didn’t listen to its audience. In the weeks running up to the name-change many listeners called in complaining about the re-brand. Somehow these comments weren’t addressed properly (listeners didn’t understand the reason behind the new name) so they walked because they didn’t think their opinions were being heard. The fact is that Virgin had to change its name; but too many listeners thought it was purely cosmetic.

2. Absolute Radio was the wrong name. People liked the Virgin name and all its associations with Richard Branson. I can recall listeners calling the station saying on-air that they thought the radio station had been bought by a well-known Vodka brand! ‘Absolut Vodka’ is just too strong a brand for a radio station to take on.

3. What a dreadful new logo! Just take a look at the new Absolute Radio branding; it’s boring, bland and lacking in personality. And SO quickly forgotten! I remember from re-branding work that I did with Capital radio in 1999 that the acid test for a radio brand was “would your listeners be proud to wear the logo on a t-shirt”. 

For anyone considering re-branding I’d recommend three lessons to be learnt from the Virgin – Absolute re-brand? Firstly, listen to your loyal customers. Secondly, get the name right and do the necessary research and PR to help people understand the name-change. And thirdly, do it with flair and conviction.

Read more at the Guardian’s website