Lotus: a spontaneous love brand
Belgian food producer Lotus has one of those success stories that are full of brilliant anecdotes. What started as a local Flemish baking factory in 1932 is now a globally appreciated brand of indulgence and healthy snacks, with its Speculoos aka Biscoff as a flagship product.
By a show of hands: who still remembers the time Lotus was called Corona-Lotus?
Continue reading to discover the process behind this case.
Approach and methodology
Throughout the years, we assisted Lotus in brand-related strategic decisions, helping it take consistent steps towards growing brand equity. In this regard, some solid advice was crucial after the company expanded through mergers and acquisitions and needed to unify its name for the international business’ sake.
Lotus and the waffle brand Corona merged back in 1974, changing the name to Corona-Lotus. Twenty-five years and a massive internationalisation later, the company faced branding-related decisions. The name had to become short, memorable, and unique. Which of the two existing names had a Damocles’ sword hanging over it? Or was it both? We were the judges in this case.
Naturally, we approached it with research, using qualitative and quantitative methods to assess the strength of different brand assets, including the names. As far as the uniqueness goes, both brands had their namesakes around the world. Statistics showed, however, that Corona was coming up about 10 times more often than Lotus. Also, Lotus was not a name used typically in the food sector, which offered more room for differentiation and protection. When it comes to other assets, we used benchmarking to assess the brand’s strength. The deep red colour turned out to be particularly powerful.
After gathering all evidence relevant to the case, we announced the verdict: Corona-Lotus should be transformed into a Monobrand under the name Lotus.
The possibilities we considered are all gathered in our original Brand Integration framework that describes four different scenarios for the branding of mergers and acquisitions. In this case, we applied the ‘Absorption Model’ in which the domineering brand identity takes over.
After gathering all evidence relevant to the case, we announced the verdict: Corona-Lotus should be transformed into a Monobrand under the name Lotus.
The cookie has landed
Since the rebranding, Lotus has continued its growth as a love brand. Lotus has literally travelled the world to gain this status, aboard aircraft of the major American and Asian airlines with Biscoff as the brand representative. Today, the company has expanded its product portfolio with new brands that include healthy, often non-baked snacks. Will Lotus find itself at another branding crossroad? Time will tell.
