Although British Gas officially rebranded almost five years ago, this brand has been in an almost constant state of transition ever since. A lot of this change is dictated by the nature of the energy industry. However, looking at the company’s recent changes gives insight into how brands affect businesses and vice versa.

Brands are not just about image, but about a promise as well. The customer experience is as important as the overall business strategy, or even more so. Making a promise that customers can believe in and then following up on that promise will create loyalty and differentiate your small business from the many competitors out there. This is a recipe for success in any market. I have seen this first hand when we called the British Gas Home Care for a small issue we had with our central heating in our London home. The engineer came a few hours earlier than promised, spent twice as long as promised checking out the entire heating system and not just the problem area and really did a great job.

With this progressive marketing philosophy in mind, a major part of British Gas’s rebranding was making a new and more relevant brand promise. This was shown in their strapline, ‘Doing the Right Thing’. This brand promise has became the core of the new British Gas brand, transforming the way the company markets itself and interacts with customers.

The logo is another integral part of this newer, kinder energy company. The chief colours are shades of calming blue. The writing is rounded and plain to give a friendlier, less complicated image, but it is slightly slanted to give a feeling of movement. The small amount of orange in the services logo design flame is appropriate and lifelike for the image while also adding visual interest and drawing in the eye.

First, this new brand implies a new concern for the environment. This perhaps is where many UK energy companies fall short in the public eye. British Gas has been implying a new concern for the environment through actions and public relations as well, putting out feelers into new alternative sources of energy.

Second, the new British Gas brand implies that the company wants to give back to the community. This, too, has been a value that the company is putting serious effort into conveying. British Gas signed an ongoing deal to sponsor a local football league in southern England, giving the brand high visibility and street credit with locals and business owners who support the game. Because the matches are televised, this local partnership has the potential to bolster the company’s image on a nation-wide scale.

This kinder image has benefited from the company’s use of humour in many of the newer marketing materials. Viral videos released by the company have used humour to encourage businesses to switch to British Gas. With a more ethical and consumer friendly image to offer, these businesses are more likely to take the company up on its invitation.

How has rebranding affected the company? Many consumers seem won over by the new brand. The company is generally viewed as a more caring, socially responsible entity. While modifying the British Gas brand has been a long, expensive process, it has paid off by keeping the brand viable in a shaky economy. If the company continues to put resources into rebranding, the effort will pay off by winning over new customers and a taking a larger market share.