This is not how you do rebranding: Ayelet Shaked failed twice

Ayelet Shaked realized that she needed an extreme move that would get her back on track.

But the way she did it included all the possible mistakes, and doesn't give her a real chance to recover

Eyal Guy

07/28/2022

Thursday, July 28, 2022, 4:09 p.m. Updated: 4:29 p.m.

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Failed twice?

Ayelet Shaked (Photo: Reuven Castro)

A new spirit has burst into our area, "Zionist spirit" - a young and kicking brand, which offers something different that we have not yet known.

At least that's what Ayelet Shaked and her new partners thought that the public would accept the news of the "new party", when they called a press conference in "soft prime time" which allows coverage of the event on the leading channels, with a particularly flattering degree of prominence, for a party that does not pass the blocking percentage.

lacking a base

One can certainly understand where Shaked comes from for this event.

"Right" after Bennett's retirement, a headless chicken was left, and the new head that popped up, looked left and right, maybe even a little in the mirror, and realized that the situation required turning off and restarting, in the form of a new and promising brand.

For Shaked, who lacks the base, to continue running with the "Yamina" brand, like selling baby food under the "Remedia" brand, and as they say, hand-hand-hand, and here is the press conference, the new brand, and the Zionist spirit that they are trying to direct towards us, with the faltering fan - Handel and Hauser .

They are all marketing professionals, but the money is counted in steps

"Rebranding" is a good and well-known advertising strategy.

This is how Orange became a partner, the police department became the "Ministry of Internal Security", or Nazareth Illit became the "Nof HaGalil".

This is also a common thing in politics: when the historical Mapai wanted to present an innovative image, it became the "Merach", and later the "Labor Party", until Barak came along and presented it as "One Israel". Rebranding is no stranger to Shaked itself either: ten years ago She took over with Naftali Bennett and her partners from the "Israelis" party, the skeleton that remained of the MFD, and together they turned it into the "Jewish Home - the new MFD".

As in marketing and business: those who do not innovate or produce differentiation, will not grow

But rebranding also needs to be done right, and Shaked failed twice.

The first failure was that Shaked's "rebranding" brings new packaging to a familiar and well-known product, without trying to innovate on the essential side as well, and that Shaked should have known that an opportunity for a much deeper and broader change came its way.

Instead, Shaked settled for the minimum: no fresh and intriguing team, no new ideas, no original statements, no surprising target audience.

Another archaic yawn that doesn't even have enough to raise the renewed brand even for a single moment above the blocking percentage.

As a brand that is a "challenger" - that is, one that is tailing after the big ones and looking for the earthquake that will buy it a place, Shaked had to take "risks": mark a clear target audience, create a clear and defined identity and open fronts even at the cost of exchanges of fire with other parties .

It cannot be satisfied with state and banal statements and presidential partners who stay away from the danger zones.

Be consistent in the brand promise, because the public (or the consumer) doesn't like being told off

The second mistake is at the level of political strategy.

Shaked and Handel lost the "Only Bibi" camp a long time ago.

There they are already marked as unclean to be deleted.

Now, with the cowardly zigzag entitled "Netanyahu is not ruled out" - they lost the rest of their supporters - the right-wing people who oppose Netanyahu.

The upcoming elections are not only about a party but also about a prime minister, not to mention a referendum against or for Netanyahu, and the voters want to participate in the decision and not leave it to the negotiations of their zigzagging representatives - after the elections.

Shaked did not recognize this, instead of attacking Netanyahu she retreated back into his arms, thereby turning herself into an irrelevant product, which is neither meat nor milk, with an unclear statement aimed at an unclear target audience.

The rebranding of Ayelet Shaked can be learned in advertising schools as "how not to do it right".

Because rebranding can be a wonderful opportunity for another opportunity, and on the other hand it can look like a snake that has shed its skin again, and still remains a snake.

My bet: if the strategic line does not change radically, the Zionist wind will not turn into a storm, but a light and passing wind, one third of the percentage of the blockade will be a success.

Eyal Guy is the VP of Creative and a partner in the advertising agency DIBOOR, a consultant in political campaigns.

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