Ready for a long innings

● Experts decode what Zomato's new identity signifies

- CHRISTINA MONIZ

MOST SUCCESSFUL REBRANDING exercises take place during times of transition—after scaling rapidly or when entering new markets or integrating new entities following an acquisition. Your current brand tends to feel jaded or out of sync with new goals and shifting audience expectations.

When Deepinder Goyal, CEO of restaurant aggregator and food delivery platform Zomato, first mooted the idea of rebranding the company as Eternal in 2022, he had checked all the relevant boxes. His note to his employees explained the move in more specific terms: The corporation is in the process of evolving from managing a single, mostly independent business to managing a number of sizable businesses. Goyal also told his team after the Blinkit acquisition that he didn't want the new team to feel like a "step child." Thus, renaming the parent company and treating Zomato and Blinkit on an equal footing under the Eternal umbrella brand made a lot of sense. "Eternal, which means forever, puts into perspective the vision we have for ourselves henceforth—to build an organisation that is sustainable and serves a purpose beyond any of our lifetimes," he had said.