---
title: How a brand repositioning campaign works, with Recess as the example | RGM®
url: https://realgrowthmatters.com/learn/case-studies/recess-brand-repositioning-campaign/
updated: 2026-06-10
source_html: https://realgrowthmatters.com/learn/case-studies/recess-brand-repositioning-campaign/
---

- **Story:** This case study runs a brand repositioning campaign through the Recess lens, from mechanics to public benchmarks.
- **Why it matters:** Treated well, a brand repositioning campaign is a planning discipline first and a creative exercise second.
- **Takeaway:** Most brand repositioning-campaign failures are planning failures, not creative failures.
- **Takeaway:** The mechanics of a brand repositioning campaign transfer to any brand in its category.
- **Takeaway:** For Recess, reach is an input; incremental lift against a baseline is the real measure.

## How a brand repositioning campaign plays out for Recess

S

Situation

Where it starts

A brand repositioning campaign is a concentrated chance to move the Recess business in its category, with a short window and high stakes.

T

Task

The objective

Turn attention into measurable demand for Recess: plan the mechanics, set targets against category benchmarks, and build in the measurement.

A

Action

The execution

Insight before identity. Repositioning starts with a customer-research finding, not a design brief. Old Spice moved only after research showed most body-wash purchases were made by women. For Recess, this is the anchor of the plan.

R

Result

The scoreboard

On incremental lift against a baseline for Recess, not reach and not impressions. That is the honest scoreboard for a brand repositioning campaign.

## The math behind a Recess brand repositioning campaign

0%

Category figure relevant to Recess

Old Spice's 'The Man Your Man Could Smell Like' repositioning lifted Red Zone body-wash unit sales 60% year over year

Source: [Great Ideas for Teaching Marketing](https://www.greatideasforteachingmarketing.com/classic-case-study-old-spice/)

0%

Benchmark a Recess plan should cite

Mailchimp reported a 200% increase in user engagement within a year of its 2018 brand refresh

Source: [COLLINS](https://wearecollins.com/case-studies/mailchimp/)

0%

Benchmark a Recess plan should cite

Integrated campaigns running across four or more channels deliver about 26% stronger overall contribution than those u

Source: [AdMonsters](https://www.admonsters.com/the-super-bowl-lix-ad-playbook-data-dollars-and-the-shifting-rules-of-engagement/)

Linked

What the public data tells a Recess team

Every figure on this page links to its publisher.

Source: [Old Spice repositioning case study](https://www.greatideasforteachingmarketing.com/classic-case-study-old-spice/)

#### Quick facts

BrandRecess

IndustryIts Category

Campaign typeBrand Repositioning

Primary channelsPaid, owned, earned

Planning horizonMonths ahead of launch

Core measureIncremental lift, not reach

Source basisPublic benchmarks, linked

RGM useWorked example, not a recipe

**Honest note**

Public, brand-specific detail on Recess is limited, so this page leans on the brand repositioning campaign discipline: real mechanics, real sourced benchmarks, and the named example campaigns that define the type. Nothing about Recess is invented; where a fact is not public, it is left out.

## What a brand repositioning campaign is

Here is the short version for Recess. Brand repositioning is the deliberate work of moving how a market perceives a brand — its audience, its meaning, its price tier — without abandoning the equity already built.

Brand repositioning is the deliberate work of moving how a market perceives a brand — for Recess, a live factor — — its audience, its meaning, its price tier — without abandoning the equity already built. For a brand at Recess scale, this is where the plan is tested. It is not a logo refresh. A Recess team reads this closely. It is a change in who the brand is for and — for Recess, a live factor — what it stands for, executed across product, message, pricing, and media. A Recess-scale brief should name this. Done well it opens a larger market. For a brand at Recess scale, this is where the plan is tested. Done carelessly it confuses the customers a brand already has. With Recess as the example, the rest of the page makes it concrete.

**Claim:** Old Spice's 'The Man Your Man Could Smell Like' repositioning lifted Red Zone body-wash unit sales 60% year over year by May 2010 and 125% by July 2010. **Source:** [[Great Ideas for Teaching Marketing]](https://www.greatideasforteachingmarketing.com/classic-case-study-old-spice/). **Context:** The campaign reached its audience by targeting the female purchaser — and Recess is no exception — after research found women bought roughly 60% of men's body wash. A Recess forecast should start from a figure like this.

## Running a brand repositioning campaign, step by step

A brand repositioning campaign has working parts. For Recess, they all have to mesh.

A brand repositioning campaign at Recess scale runs on coordinated parts, listed here:

**Claim:** Mailchimp reported a 200% increase in user engagement within a year of its 2018 brand refresh, and Intuit later acquired the company for about $12 billion. **Source:** [[COLLINS]](https://wearecollins.com/case-studies/mailchimp/). **Context:** The refresh, built with the design agency COLLINS, repositioned — for Recess, a real factor — Mailchimp from an email tool to a small-business marketing platform. A Recess team would treat this as a planning reference, not a guarantee.

1. **Insight before identity.** Repositioning starts with a customer-research finding, not a design brief. For Recess, this is the load-bearing part. Old Spice moved only after research showed — as a Recess team knows — most body-wash purchases were made by women. This step decides how the rest of the Recess plan holds up.
2. **Audience redefinition.** The campaign names a new target and a new occasion. A Recess-scale brief should name this. The visual system follows that decision — it does not lead it. A Recess-scale team treats this as non-negotiable.
3. **Message before mark.** Mailchimp's repositioning began by changing the homepage line from 'Easy Email Newsletters' to — for Recess, a real factor — 'Build Your Brand, Sell More Stuff' — the words shifted before the identity did. Recess planners flag this as a make-or-break detail.
4. **Proof at the product level.** A reposition is only credible if the product backs the claim. For Recess, this is the load-bearing part. New positioning with an unchanged product reads as spin. This step decides how the rest of the Recess plan holds up.
5. **Media weight to force the reframe.** Perception is sticky. A Recess team reads this closely. The new position needs sustained paid weight, often anchored — as a Recess team knows — by one high-reach moment, to overwrite the old association. This step decides how the rest of the Recess plan holds up.

## The numbers that set the targets

The data sets the targets. A brand repositioning campaign for Recess should be planned against these figures, not against hope.

These sourced figures give a Recess brand repositioning campaign an honest target range across its category.

**Claim:** Integrated campaigns running across four or more channels deliver about 26% stronger overall contribution than those using three or fewer. **Source:** [[AdMonsters]](https://www.admonsters.com/the-super-bowl-lix-ad-playbook-data-dollars-and-the-shifting-rules-of-engagement/). **Context:** A reposition needs coordinated weight across channels, not — for Recess, a real factor — a single hero spot, to overwrite an entrenched perception. For Recess, this number sets expectations before the work starts.

Table: the three numbers that decide whether a Recess brand repositioning campaign is judged honestly.

| What to measure | Why it matters |
| Incremental result | The honest measure of whether spend worked |
| Pre-campaign baseline | Without it, lift cannot be proven |
| Category benchmark | Sets a realistic target, not a hopeful one |

## KPIs that actually matter

Pick the right scoreboard for Recess. The metrics below separate a campaign that moved the business from one that moved a dashboard.

The KPIs that count for a brand repositioning campaign are listed here. Unaided brand awareness against the new positioning, perception-tracker shifts on the target attributes, audience-mix change in — Recess included — new customers, price realisation versus the old tier, and revenue growth attributable to the repositioned segment.

Impressions describe scale, not effect. A Recess team serious about a brand repositioning campaign reports lift against a baseline.

## The failure patterns worth pre-empting

Most failures repeat. The four errors below sink a large share of brand repositioning campaigns, and each one is avoidable for Recess.

The brand repositioning campaign mistakes worth naming for Recess:

- Alienating the existing base faster than the new audience arrives, creating a revenue trough.
- Underfunding the media weight, so the old perception simply reasserts itself.
- Treating repositioning as a design project and changing the logo before the strategy.
- Repositioning the message while leaving the product — Recess included — untouched, so the new claim has no proof.

**The pattern**The common thread: planning, not creative. For Recess, a brand repositioning campaign is decided before launch day.

## What RGM takes from the Recess case

If a Recess team keeps one thing: borrow the brand repositioning campaign structure, not the specific execution.

From the audits we run, the brands that get brand repositioning campaigns right share one habit: they treat the work as measurable demand engineering, not a seasonal ritual.

Read it as a blueprint. For Recess and for its category, a brand repositioning campaign becomes an investment once baseline, benchmark, and incremental result are in place.

## Quick answers

Does this page report private Recess campaign numbers?
:   No. This page pairs public brand repositioning-campaign benchmarks with Recess as the illustration. The numbers are linked to their publishers; nothing private to Recess is claimed.

How should a marketing team use this Recess example?
:   Use the structure, not the surface. The brand repositioning-campaign mechanics here apply broadly; the Recess creative is one execution among many.

What sources back the numbers on this page?
:   The numbers are drawn from public reporting by Adobe Analytics, Nielsen, the ANA, and established business press, and each one links back to its source.

**Keep reading**

Foundational concepts and channels behind this case:

- [what growth marketing is](/learn/what-is-growth-marketing/)
- [marketing attribution](/learn/marketing-attribution/)
- [audience arbitrage](/learn/audience-arbitrage/)
- [growth marketing services](/services/)
- [advertising platforms](/platforms/)

## Frequently asked questions

Recess case: what is the difference between a rebrand and brand repositioning?

Taking Recess as the example: A rebrand changes identity assets — logo, colour, typography. For a brand at Recess scale, this is where the plan is tested. Repositioning changes strategy: who the brand is for, — for Recess, a live factor — what it means, and what tier it sells at. Recess planners would underline this. A reposition usually drives a rebrand, but — as a Recess team knows — a rebrand without a strategy shift is decoration. For Recess, this is the load-bearing part. Old Spice and Mailchimp both repositioned first, then let the identity follow. For Recess, this is the point worth acting on.

Where does a repositioning campaign start?

Taking Recess as the example: It starts with a customer-research insight, not a design brief. That is exactly the Recess situation. Old Spice repositioned after finding that women — for Recess, a live factor — bought roughly 60% of men's body wash. A Recess team reads this closely. The insight names the new audience and occasion, and every — as a Recess team knows — later decision — message, product, media — serves that finding. For Recess, this is the point worth acting on.

How long does a brand repositioning take to show results for a brand like Recess?

Taking Recess as the example: Perception is sticky, so a reposition needs sustained media — Recess included — weight over months, often anchored by one high-reach moment. A Recess team reads this closely. Old Spice saw unit sales move within a single quarter, but durable perception — Recess included — shift on brand-tracker attributes typically takes a year or more of consistent investment. A Recess team would plan against exactly this.

What is the biggest risk in repositioning a brand?

For a brand like Recess, the short answer is direct. Losing the existing base faster than the new audience arrives. For Recess, the detail is not optional. A reposition that swings too hard can confuse loyal — as a Recess team knows — customers before it attracts new ones, creating a revenue trough. For Recess, this is the load-bearing part. The safer path moves deliberately and keeps a — for Recess, a live factor — credible thread back to the equity already built. For Recess, that is the practical takeaway.

Does the product have to change during a reposition?

For a brand like Recess, the short answer is direct. Often yes, at least visibly. A Recess team reads this closely. A new position is only credible if the product backs the claim. Recess planners would underline this. Repositioning the message while the product stays identical reads as spin. A Recess-scale brief should name this. The strongest repositions pair the new story with — as a Recess team knows — a real, demonstrable product change customers can verify. For Recess, that is the practical takeaway.

Why does this case study use Recess as the example?

Recess is a recognisable brand in its category, which makes the brand repositioning mechanics concrete and easy to follow. The campaign-type analysis and every benchmark apply across the category; Recess is the lens, not the limit. The sourced figures hold for any comparable brand.

### Sources & references

- [Old Spice repositioning case study](https://www.greatideasforteachingmarketing.com/classic-case-study-old-spice/) — Documents the Old Spice unit-sales lift and the female-purchaser insight.
- [COLLINS — Mailchimp rebrand case study](https://wearecollins.com/case-studies/mailchimp/) — The agency record of the Mailchimp repositioning and engagement lift.
- [Brand Master Academy — brand repositioning guide](https://brandmasteracademy.com/brand-repositioning/) — Reference on repositioning strategy, process, and worked examples.
- [AdMonsters — integrated campaign contribution data](https://www.admonsters.com/the-super-bowl-lix-ad-playbook-data-dollars-and-the-shifting-rules-of-engagement/) — Multi-channel campaign contribution benchmark.

## Related

[#### All case studies

The full RGM case-study library.](/learn/case-studies/)[#### What is growth marketing

The foundational concept behind every campaign type.](/learn/what-is-growth-marketing/)[#### Incrementality testing

How to prove a campaign actually caused the lift.](/learn/incrementality-testing/)