Last week we published a post that talked about Sage’s rebranding strategies and the end of the familiar product names era. This topic is currently a hot issue being raised in blogs and on various Linkedin group discussions, with business partners rushing to understand both the rationale behind the change and the practical steps of rolling out the new marketing strategy.

One of the issues being raised regards the confusion that calling old products by new names might cause to users. Over the next few weeks we’ll take a look at some of the issues that we at The Answer Company feel will help our customers understand the inner-works of the rebranding process better.

Sage’s Vision: An Icon for Customer Service and Satisfaction

In an interview for IT World Canada with Jeff Jedras, Sage VP - Channel Management Tom Miller addressed some of these issues by saying that looking forward, the value of products will be enhanced if the Sage brand is strong: “If we are able to achieve that brand promise and make the Sage brand…an icon for customer service and customer satisfaction… it makes it so much easier to find and attract [new customers]. In many cases, the customers want to come to you because of that. That lowers your operating cost immensely.”

Very well, but the actual process of change management remains a bit of an enigma, and one that is causing some anxiety to those involved. To address some of the more pressing questions and feedback that Sage has been getting from partners, the company publised a document where it talks about the top issues being raised in blogs and social media.

Calling the different products the same name will lead to confusion and a bad customer experience.

This issue is mostly associated with Sage Simply Accounting and Sage Peachtree new name: Sage 50 Accounting. Sage believes that merging the identity of the products in the marketplace is actually a desired result in order to build the Sage 50 brand into a strong common image. Peachtree is an accounting software sold primarily in the US, while Simply is it’s Canadian counterpart. By combining the two together under the same brand, the company hopes to gain from the increased exposure it will have as Sage 50 will benefit from combined marketing dollars.

If you consider the global scale of social media, Sage has a point. Reviews, blogs, posts, tweets and so on overcome geographical boundaries and as customers & prospects look for the product they will be exposed to larger amounts of content. Although there is one unified brand, sub-brands like Sage 50 Construction Accounting or Sage 50 HR Manager will still exist to distinguish different product offerings and keep things clear for customers.

Focus on the Future of Sage

Initially, critics envisioned two possible outcomes: the first, and most idealistic, where Sage is able to garner and combine the value of Simply and Peachtree Accounting name brands and transfer the benefits into the single new Sage 50 brand (one brand, twice the power); or the second scenario, where Sage pulls the switch on existing brands (Accpac included) and kills their recognition in North America.

Both scenarios presume that Sage is prioritizing the historical product brands. But Sage’s focus now is on the future of its own brand. In its eyes, killing the existing brands is a welcomed risk, a short-term casualty, and one essential to the long term success of the brand that the company is trying to revive. As much as it is trying to garner the equity of the historical product brands, Sage’s main focus will be on how it manages the simplified Sage brand going forward. When you look at it in this light, there is no easy way to go about killing product names and replacing them with new brands. Or is there? What do you think of Sage’s new strategy and its long term benefits? Will the dissolution of existing brand names be worth it? We would love to hear any thoughts you may have on the matter.

Top image by David Castillo Dominici.