It isn't just enough to be ahead of competition, but to be far ahead, according to the Shopper's Stop annual brand track and customer satisfaction index.

Govind Shrikhande, chief executive officer, had received repeated indications from his customers that the Shopper's Stop brand had not evolved in line with the Indian economy, the corporate sector and customers.

"We then conducted a series of specialised workshops titled "Trial Room", which revealed our customers' opinion that the look and feel of the brand needed a change. We began the rebranding process about 18 months back by starting the new-found philosophy of "Start Something New" and repositioning Shopper's Stop from being a premium retailer to a luxury one," said Shrikhande.

According to communications experts, changes in the Indian corporate sector by way of increased competition and mergers and acquisitions activity, led an increasing number of companies to opt for rebranding.

The year 2008 saw four rebranding exercises in the first four months - Air Deccan, Shopper's Stop, Godrej [Get Quote] Group and Ceat. Rebranding for these companies involved not just a change of logo but the adoption of a new business strategy and a renewed way of communicating with the consumer.

The rebranding of Air Deccan was inevitable after its merger with Kingfisher Airlines and Shopper's Stop had to modernise in the face of competition.

Ceat let go of its age-old mascot, a rhino, because it signified the toughness of its tyres. However, the need for toughness in the Indian tyre industry is not as dominant now as it used to be in the 1980s because of improved roads and a shift in growth to vehicles.

"Companies sometimes give extra importance to logo changes. True rebranding takes place when the change in the look of the company represents a change in the kind of experience its products or services provide to the consumers" said Anand Halve, founder of communication consultancy Chlorophyll.

Since re-branding involves changes at several touch points with the consumers, different agencies are employed to execute specialised tasks. This has created greater business opportunities for brand consultants and agencies.

The idea of rebranding Godrej Group resulted from a brand valuation exercise conducted by the UK-based brand consultancy Brand Finance. The exercise found the potential value of the company's brands to be much higher than their current value.

The group realised that a good way to maximise the value of its brands was to adopt a business model in which the equity of its mother brand could percolate to constituent brands and vice versa. Hence it revamped its portfolio strategy and formed a strategic marketing group to bring cross-business synergies within the group.

In order to enhance brand identity, the group employed a brand consultancy company called Interbrand.Harish Bijoor, CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults, who started his own communications consultancy eight years ago after quitting his job as the vice-president in Tata Coffee [Get Quote], said that rebranding in corporate India is happening fast and creating a lot of business for the consultancies.

"The total number of companies that approached us for consultancy on rebranding has gone up from 8 in 2005 to 16 in 2007 and 12 in the first four months of 2008," he pointed out.

Even as billings of brand consultants go up, the advertising agencies stand to gain a lot. The amount of money spent on communicating the new brand identities through advertisements is higher than the average spends.

For instance, Godrej Group has committed to spend Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) extra this year, simply on media buying. One independent brand consultant remarked, "Frequent change is the mantra these days. A change in logo in some cases is met with the reaction - thank God they changed it. Some companies change logos just for the heck of it. For us, it is just another assignment."