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MANAGING BRANDS OVER TIME
One of the challenges in managing brands is the many changes that have occurred
in the marketing environment in recent years. Undoubtedly, the marketing
environment will continue to evolve and change, often in very significant ways, in
the coming years. Shifts in consumer behavior, competitive strategies,
government regulations, or other aspects of the marketing environment can profoundly affect the fortunes of a brand. Besides these external forces, the firm itself
may engage in a variety of activities and changes in strategic focus or direction
that may necessitate minor or major adjustments in the way that its brands are
being marketed. Consequently, effective brand management requires proactive
strategies designed to at least maintain - if not actually enhance - customer-based
brand equity in the face of all of these different forces.
Reinforcing Brands
The advantage of creating a brand with a high level of awareness and a positive
brand image is that many benefits may accrue to the firm in terms of cost savings
and revenue opportunities. Marketing programs can be designed that primarily
attempt to capitalize on or perhaps even maximize these benefits - for example,
by reducing advertising expenses, seeking increasingly higher price premiums, or
introducing numerous brand extensions. The more that there is an attempt to
realize or capitalize on brand equity benefits, however, the more likely it is that
the brand and its sources of equity may become neglected and perhaps
diminished in the process. In other words, marketing actions that attempt to
leverage the equity of a brand in different ways may come at the expense of other
activities that may help to fortify the brand by maintaining or enhancing its
awareness and image.
At some point, failure to fortify the brand will diminish brand awareness and
weaken brand image. Without these sources of brand equity, the brand itself may
not continue to yield as valuable benefits. Just as a failure to properly maintain a
car eventually affects its performance, so too neglecting a brand, for whatever
reason can catch up with marketers.
Reinforcing brand meaning may depend on the nature of brand associations
involved. Several specific considerations play a particularly important role in
reinforcing brand meaning in terms of product-related performance and nonproduct-related imagery associations, as follows.
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Product-Related Performance Associations
For brands whose core associations are primarily product-related performance
attributes or benefits, innovation in product design, manufacturing, and
merchandising is especially critical to maintaining or enhancing brand equity. For
example, after Timex watched brands such as Casio and Swatch gain significant
market share by emphasizing digital technology and fashion (respectively) in
their watches, it made a number of innovative marketing changes. Within a short
period of time, Timex introduced Indiglo glow-in-the dark technology, showcased
popular new models such as the Ironman in mass media advertising, and
launched new Timex stores to showcase its products. Timex also bought the
Guess and Monet watch brands to distribute through upscale department stores
and expand its brand portfolio. These innovations in product design and
merchandising have significantly revived the brand's fortunes.
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Non-Product Related Imagery Associations
For brands whose core associations are primarily non-product-related attributes
and symbolic or experiential benefits, relevance in user and usage imagery is
critical. Because of their intangible nature, non-product-related associations may
be potentially easier to change, for example, through a major new advertising
campaign that communicates a different type of user or usage situation.
Nevertheless, ill-conceived or too-frequent repositioning can blur the image of a
brand and confuse or perhaps even alienate consumers.
In categories in which advertising plays a key role in building brand equity,
imagery may be an important means of differentiation. For example, in the soft
drinks category, millions of dollars in advertising are spent to craft an image for a
brand. Consequently, ad campaigns have become a valuable branding tool in
terms of crafting a brand image.
It is particularly dangerous to flip-flop between product-related performance and
non-product-related imagery associations because of the fundamentally different
marketing and advertising approaches each entails. Consider Heineken. Earlier
ads showed simple scenes of the bottle or people peacefully drinking the beer,
backed by the slogan "Just being the best is enough." Subsequent ads, in an
attempt to make the brand more hip and contemporary, were much artier—
featuring a bright red star logo—and had a more prominent lifestyle component.
Perhaps as a result of being too much of a departure, the ads failed to really drive
sales.
Significant repositioning may be dangerous for other reasons too. Brand images
can be extremely sticky, and once consumers form strong brand associations,
they may be difficult to change. Consumers may choose to ignore or simply be
unable to remember the new positioning when strong, but different, brandassociations already exist in memory. Club Med has attempted for years to
transcend its image as a vacation romp for swingers to attract a broader crosssection of people.
For dramatic repositioning strategies to work, convincing new brand claims must
be presented in a compelling fashion. One brand that successfully shifted from a
primarily non-product-related image to a primarily product-related image is
BMW. Uniformly decreed to be the quintessential "yuppie" vehicle of the 1980s,
sales of the brand dropped almost in half from 1986 to 1991 as new Japanese
competition emerged and a backlash to the "Greed Decade" set in. Convinced that
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high status was no longer a sufficiently desirable and sustainable position,
marketing and advertising efforts switched the focus to BMW's product
developments and improvements, such as the responsive performance,
distinctive styling, and leading-edge engineering of the cars. These efforts,
showcased in well-designed ads, helped to diminish the "yuppie" association, and
by 1995 sales had approached their earlier peak.
Reinforcing brand equity requires consistency in the amount and nature of the
supporting marketing program for the brand. Although the specific tactics may
change, the key sources of equity for the brand should be preserved and amplified
where appropriate. Product innovation and relevance are paramount in
maintaining continuity and expanding the meaning of the brand.
Revitalizing Brands
Changes in consumer tastes and preferences, the emergence of new competitors
or new technology, or any new development in the marketing environment can
potentially affect the fortunes of a brand. In virtually every product category,
there are examples of once prominent and admired brands that have fallen on
hard times or, in some cases, even completely disappeared. Nevertheless, a
number of these brands have managed to make impressive comebacks in recent
years as marketers have breathed new life into their customer franchises. Brands
such a Reader's Digest, Boston Market, Coach, and Bally have all seen their brand
fortunes successfully turned around to varying degrees in recent years.
As these examples illustrate, brands sometimes have had to return to their roots
to recapture lost sources of equity. In other cases, the meaning of the brand has
had to fundamentally change to regain lost ground and recapture market
leadership. Reversing a fading brand's fortunes thus requires either lost sources
of brand equity to be recaptured or new sources of brand equity to be identified
and established. Regardless of which approach is taken, brands on the comeback
trail have to make more "revolutionary" changes than the "evolutionary" changes
to reinforce brand meaning.
Often, the first place to look in turning around the fortunes of a brand is the original sources of brand equity. The brands most likely to respond to revitalization
efforts are those that have clear and relevant values that have been left dormant
for a long time, have not been well expressed in the marketing and
communications recently, have been violated by product problems, cost
reductions, and so on. Where there is evidence that these values exist and that
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they were indeed a part of the brand's magnetism during healthier days, then
chances of revitalization are good. If you find that the brand really does not have
any strong values, chances are that the product or business strength in the past
was a function simply of performance and spending characteristics and that, in
fact, according to our definition, it never really became a true brand. Bringing
these brands back to life is more like starting from scratch. It really isn't
revitalization.
In profiling brand knowledge structures to guide repositioning, it is important to
accurately and completely characterize the breadth and depth of brand
awareness; the strength, favorability, and uniqueness of brand association and
brand responses held in consumer memory; and the nature of consumer-brand
relationships. If not, or to provide additional insight, a special brand audit may be
necessary. Of particular importance is the extent to which key brand associations
are still adequately functioning as points of difference or points of parity to
properly position the brand. Are positive associations losing their strength or
uniqueness? Have negative associations become linked to the brand, for example,
because of some type of change in the marketing environment?
Decisions must then be made as to whether to retain the same positioning or to
create a new one and, if so, which positioning to adopt. Sometimes the positioning
is still appropriate, but the marketing program
The Key To Revitalization: Choosing Vs. Using
Opportunities to revitalize mature brands -- particularly consumer packaged
goods -- occur during the purchase decision and the consumption decision. Briefly
put, the moment of truth is when consumers choose brands and use brands.
Simply encouraging purchase is not enough. The unfortunate curse befallen some
brands is that they are owned but not used. They are “cupboard captives.” For
instance, although 63% of the households in the Brand Revitalization Consumer
Panel possessed Tabasco sauce, 32% of the homes had their bottle so long the
sauce had turned from red to brown. Similarly, 35% of the households had
vitamins that they had not opened in the past 12 months, and an unopened
package of cookies lasted over 6 months in 41% of the homes without children.
Using, like choosing, is dependent on awareness and attitude. Most revitalizable
brands suffer from one of three problems: Low awareness, shifting consumer
needs, or heavy competition.
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Encouraging Consumers To Choose A Brand
Clearly, increased distribution can increase sales. Assuming that a brand is
available for purchase, the challenge is to strengthen purchase attitudes and
increase purchase salience.
1. Strengthening Purchase Attitudes
Many of the attitude problems related to brands occur because the brand
becomes dominated by other products, loses its appeal, or loses its identity.
These problems can be addressed by modifying the product or package, or by
better understanding and leveraging the brand’s unique benefits.
2. Product and Package Modifications
Although brand reformulations can be costly and risky, modifying a brand or
its package can help regain lost sales, reports Stuart Elliot (New York Times,
11-7-93). Aqua Velva retained its trademark scent and color but developed a
more convenient bottle and a snappier label. Similarly, Lavoris generated
sizable sales because the clear “crystal fresh” version of its product appealed to
young customers who had never used it before. Other successful modifications,
such as some done by the Leaf Company (manufacturer of Good & Plenty,
Heath bars, Zero, and Payday), involve reverting back to original recipes, and
extending familiar favorites into new forms, such as bite-sized Heath
Sensations.
Consumers can provide valuable insights about changing a package, label, or
formulation when asked to compare the brand to others through a tripartite
comparison. Although the insights from this technique can help a revitalized
brand gain parity, such gains may only be incremental. Understanding and
leveraging the brand’s uniqueness and equity best generate bigger ideas
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3. Brand Uniqueness & Equity
The most meaningful differences that separate one brand from another may
not be the ones most evident to their managers. Understanding the deeper
meaning of brands has been the focus of a method developed by Charles
Gengler, a marketing professor at Rutgers University -- Camden. With his
method, consumers are first presented with three brands (including the
revitalized brand) and asked to select the one they prefer. An in-depth
laddering interview is then used to uncover how this brand’s points of
differentiation are related to higher order values. A laddering algorithm then
analyzes the resulting network of associations and determines the importance
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weights that various attributes, benefits, and values played in the choice
process. When combined with emerging customer prototyping methods, this
laddering procedure has been uncommonly reliable in discovering meaningful
points of differentiation and clearly targeting the highest yield segments.
Successfully leveraging these points of differentiation entail knowing what the
brand stands for and making sure the consumers do too. A common problem,
however, is trying to communicate too much. Multiple messages from multiple
channels dilute equity and confuse consumers, says Kevin Lane Keller, a
marketing professor at Duke Univeristy. As a result, leveraging these points of
differentiation is most successful when advertising, packaging, and promotions
all emphasize a single, clear,
4. Increase Purchase Salience
Salient brands are the brands that get bought. Salience can be generated at the
point-of-purchase or can be developed into top-of-mind salience that leads one
to put the product on a shopping list or to make a special trip for it.
a. Point-of-Purchase Awareness
Trade journals and retail associations consistently report creative ideas
that generate point-of-purchase awareness. The sales successes of many of
these ideas confirm our intuition. Bright packages, sales signs, catchy
displays, wide shelf facings . . . all increase our awareness of a brand. What
is less obvious are recent findings that simply putting a product on an endaisle display can increase sales even if it is not on sale. Similarly, suggestive
selling at the POP (“Buy 12 Snicker’s Bars for your freezer”) not only
increases salience but can nearly double the number of units a person
intends to buy.
b. Top-of-Mind Awareness.
A brand can have top-of-mind awareness because it was recently used or
recently advertised. Jeffrey Himmel claims his success in revitalizing brands
is attributed to raising their top-of-mind awareness and dominating their
category’s share-of-voice. By focusing on a simple, single-minded point of
differentiation, his advertising campaigns use testimonials that are
broadcast frequently and consistently. Brands with smaller ad budgets have
more affordably targeted their users by advertising points of differentiation
or new uses on their labels. Trix Cereal, for instance, used a side panel to
note complementary products on which Trix could be sprinkled, and
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Murphy’s Oil Soap printed a series of different usage ideas under peel-off
stickers that had been affixed to their spray bottles.
Adjustments To The Brand Portfolio
Managing brand equity and the brand portfolio requires taking a long-term view
of the brand. As part of this long-term perspective, it is necessary to carefully
consider the role of different brands and the relationships among different brands
in the portfolio over time. In particular, a brand migration strategy needs to be
designed and implemented so that consumers understand how various brands in
the portfolio can satisfy their needs as they potentially change over time or as the
products and brands themselves change over time. Managing brand transitions is
especially important in rapidly changing, technologically intensive markets.
Migration Strategies
Brands can play special roles that facilitate the migration of customers within the
brand portfolio For example, entry-level brands are often critical in bringing in
new customers and introducing them to the brand offerings Ideally, brands would
be organized in consumers' minds so that they at least implicitly know how they
can switch among brands within the portfolio as their needs or desires change
For example, a corporate or family branding strategy in which brands are ordered
in a logical manner could provide the hierarchical structure in consumers' minds
to facilitate brand migration Car companies are quite sensitive to this issue, and
brands such as BMW with its 3-, 5- and 7-series numbering systems to denote
increasingly higher levels of quality are good examples of such a strategy Chrysler
designated Plymouth as its “starter” car line, such that Plymouth owners would
then be expected to trade up in later years to high-priced Chrysler models.
Brand Extension and Sub-branding
Another approach to attract new customers to a brand and keep the brand r
modern and up-to-date is to introduce a line extension or establish a new subbrand. These new product offerings for the brand can incorporate new
technology, feature and other attributes to satisfy the needs of new customers as
well as satisfy the' changing desires of existing customers. For example Aqua Velva
introduced its Ice Sport aftershave sub-brand to appeal to a younger audience
while still selling classic Aqua Velva to a loyal cadre of older consumers.
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Retiring Brands
Because of dramatic or adverse changes in the marketing environment, some
brands are just not worth saving. Their sources of brand equity may have
essentially dried up or, even worse, damaging and difficult-to-change new
associations may have been created. At some point, the size of the brand
franchise—no matter how loyal—fails to justify the support of the brand. In the
face of such adversity, decisive management actions are necessary to properly
retire or milk the brand.
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Consistency Plan
Brand consistency is critical to maintaining the strength and favorability of brand
associations. Consistency does not mean that marketers should avoid making any
change in the marketing programs. Consistency should be therefore viewed in
terms of strategic direction and not necessarily the particular tactics employed by
the supporting marketing program for the brand at any point in time
Changes over time are certainly not inevitable. A host of successful brands have
had remarkable histories of a consistent identity/execution Perhaps the most
visibly consistent strategy is that of Marlboro. The Marlboro man, introduced in
the 1950s and refined in the 1960s, is still going strong as a symbol throughout
the world. With its strong brand personality (independent, outdoor-lifestyle, free
spirited, rugged, and masculine) and its visual image of the cowboy and Marlboro
country, Marlboro has become part of marketing folklore Blessed with a strong
identity and disciplined implementation, Marlboro has rarely had a misstep that
has taken it away from its strategy.
One of the most consistent brand strategies for durable consumer goods has been
that of Maytag; its position as "the dependability people" has been anchored by
the "loneliest guy in town" campaign for almost three decades. First aired in 1967,
the campaign featured Jesse White, a prominent character actor, who explained
why Maytag was so reliable. He punctuated his story with the tongue-in-cheek
admission that, because he was the Maytag repairman, nobody ever called him
(which is why he was so lonely). Since its introduction, the campaign's central
message has changed very little, and the actor has changed only once: Gordon
Jump, who played the bumbling station manager in the "WKRP in Cincinnati"
television series, took over the role in the late 1980's. Maytag's is the longestrunning campaign on television featuring a real-life character.
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The Maytag identity leads to a strong functional benefit of quality and
dependability, as well as emotional benefits (relief from worry and a reminder,
for some, of their childhood homes). The functional benefit, in particular, is both
relevant and important to customers, and it has staying power—it has not
become obsolete because of technological change or consumer trends. In 1993,
Maytag was rated as the preferred brand of washers, dryers, and dishwashers in
the United States and Canada. It continues to command a significant price premium over competitors in an industry that has intense competition and severe
margin pressures.
Benefits of Consistency
Although change is sometimes appropriate and even necessary, there is no doubt
that the goal should be to create an effective identity ' whose position and
execution will endure and not become obsolete and/or tired. The result can be a
consistency of meaning and message through time that can provide the
ownership of a position, ownership of an identity symbol, and cost efficiencies, all
of which combine to provide a formidable competitive advantage.
1. Ownership of a Position
A consistent identity/execution can lead to the virtual ownership of a position.
Competitors are preempted and must therefore pick another route, often one that
is inherently less effective. An effort by a competitor to usurp Maytag's position
on the dependability dimension, for example, would not be believed. Worse, the
competitor's communication efforts might actually be mistaken for those of
Maytag by some, thus giving Maytag free advertising. Similarly, Black Velvet owns
the sensual/smoothness dimension for whiskey, and Marlboro owns the
masculine position for cigarettes. It would be difficult for competitors to be
credible if they attached themselves to similar positions.
2. Ownership of Identity Symbol
Brand identity/execution consistency over time provides an opportunity to own
an effective identity symbol, which might be a visual image, slogan, jingle,
metaphor, or spokesperson. Such a symbol makes the brand's identity easier to
understand, to remember, and to link with the brand. The competitive power of
the position is thus enhanced.
The Maytag repairman and the Black Velvet lady are two examples of symbols
that quickly and simply communicate the brand position. Others include United
Airlines' theme music (which conveys a sense of stature and quality), McDonald's
Ronald McDonald (who communicates an image of family fun), the Sprint pindropping image (which implies exacting technology), and Marlboro country. The
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Marlboro image is so well known that the company can sometimes place
billboards that display only a "Marlboro Country" scene without the brand name
or package. A competitor attempting to use a similar scene would likely only
reinforce the Marlboro identity. Thus, when an identity symbol is strong,
competitors must go another route.
In addition, when a simple, position-appropriate symbol becomes closely
associated with a brand, the dangers of consumer boredom are somewhat
reduced. While young brands need to entertain or do something outrageous in
order to attract attention and become associated with a position, successful
mature brands often need only to refresh existing associations. Ronald McDonald,
for example, can be shown playing video games or wearing an updated outfit.
3. Cost Efficiencies
A consistent brand strategy supported by a strong identity symbol can produce an
enormous cost advantage in implementing communication programs. All
brands—especially new ones—are faced with the problem of creating and
maintaining awareness, as well as creating and reinforcing an image or
personality. The task of communicating, getting attention, and changing
perceptions becomes less expensive, though, when it is reduced to cueing a visual
image or slogan that is well known and closely associated with a brand.
Consider the cost burden if General Electric, a Maytag competitor, wanted to
convince customers that it had surpassed Maytag in terms of dependability. Given
the equity that Maytag has amassed on this dimension, GE would have to buy an
exposure intensity much larger than Maytag employs, plus have an attentiongetting message, to even hope for any impact. Even then, the goal still might not
be feasible. In fact, it is likely that Maytag's strong reputation and loyal customer
base has carryover effects to other appliance characteristics such as performance.
Now consider Maytag's recent task of adding the dependability dimension to its
new refrigerator line. Maytag simply had the lonely repairman make a cameo
appearance during the last few seconds of an ad introducing the refrigerator. That
compact visual image cost so little and said so much. Just a glance at the
repairman brought back all of viewers' past dependability associations.
A competitor of Marlboro, Ivory, or Black Velvet will have the same problem
encroaching on their position. Consider the power and efficiency of the visual
image of Marlboro country, a bar of soap floating in a clear stream, or the Black
Velvet lady. It is likely that a competitor with no established position or visual
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imagery would have to spend five times as much (if not ten times or more) to
make a significant dent.
Further, efforts to create a new identity are likely to be wasted in that they might
not register or might only be effective at creating an identity that becomes
obsolete. There is no cumulative effect. In contrast, an effort to support and
reinforce a long-running campaign will more likely be productive.
Consistency over Time – Why is it Difficult
As already noted, at least five very legitimate rationales can make a change in
identity, position, or execution appropriate or even necessary. However, there are
substantial forces above and beyond these rationales that bias managers toward
change and away from maintaining a consistent identity. Awareness of these
forces can help a firm avoid making ill-advised and premature changes in a brand
identity/execution. One set of forces relates to psychological factors that influence
managers' decisions regarding brands; the second involves strategic
misconceptions or false assumptions about the existing brand identity/execution.
(A)
Mindset of Managers
1. Problem Solver/Action Orientation
Those in charge of brands—from assistant brand managers to executive vice
presidents—are generally bright, creative people within a culture that
emphasizes finding and solving problems and detecting and responding to
trends in the market. And there are always problems and new trends to
address. Market share, even for the best of brands in the best of times, will face
dips and competitive pressures. New trends in distribution, customer
motivations, and innumerable other areas are continually emerging.
An aggressive, capable manager often believes he or she should be able to
improve the situation, and that usually means changing one of the drivers of
brand equity. The prime candidate for change is the brand identity, position, or
execution. The temptation is to dig in, diagnose the problem or trend, and take
action—even when the "action" course may actually end up hurting the brand.
Consider the Black Velvet brand manager who is asked at the annual planning
meeting how he or she plans to improve the brand's flat sales (even though the
overall category is declining). A response of "Well, I thought I would do the
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same thing as the prior five brand managers have done" may represent an
optimal strategy that builds and protects brand equity, but it is not impressive
or, perhaps more important, much fun. "I have a dramatic plan for change that
is likely to turn the brand around within twelve months" sounds both more
professional and more exciting.
2. High Aspirations
The problem-solver/action orientation is usually accompanied by aspirations
to improve the performance of the brand. Managers are generally not expected
to do only as well as last year; the goal is always to do better, especially in
terms of sales and profits. If the brand is to improve on prior performance, an
obvious implication is that something must be done differently. Changing the
identity/ execution is one option.
3. Owned by Predecessor Identity/Execution
The pressure to change can best be resisted by people who are committed to
the brand vision and its execution. However, the identity and its execution
were likely developed by others (sometimes long gone), especially if the brand
has had a reasonably long run. A new, transient brand manager will have no
pride of ownership and little involvement in the identity/execution. The
conclusion that the brand and its message are not responsive to the current
market, and that a major improvement is possible, is thus personally painless.
(B)
Strategic Misconceptions
1. The New Identity/Execution is Ineffective
Sometimes it takes time for an identity/execution to wear in. Customers need
to get used to the concept, and the execution needs to be refined. A brand
identity is not unlike a TV show that starts slow, develops a growing following
and only after two or three years becomes a hit. It can take that long for the
audience to build, and for the characters to find their niche and become
familiar to the audience. During that time, characters or other elements may be
added, deleted, or modified as the show settles into its style.
Brand identities and their execution can also require some settling in.
Marlboro, for example, started with a rugged man with a tattoo who only over
time evolved into a cowboy. It took several years for Marlboro country to
emerge. A decision on the effectiveness of the embryonic Marlboro identity
might have been premature.
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Then there is the "blinders trap," in which a great identity/execution is
achieved but is not recognized as such. Greatness is harder to judge than one
might think. Competent people may differ in their opinions because they judge
the identity/execution with different assumptions about the market. Research
results may be ambiguous because several criteria may be relevant to brand
performance, and a given study may not measure all of them.
2. A New Paradigm Requires a New Identity/Execution
Managers, by instinct and training, are always examining the market for
trends. A major challenge is to determine which of these trends represent a
fundamental shift in the market. Will the change in consumer tastes endure
and grow, or is it only a fad? Wine coolers (such as California Coolers) and
clear, sweetened carbonated beverages (such as Clearly Canadian) are
examples of fad products that failed to live up to their promise. Both they and
the "forces" that drove their short-lived success have faded.
Even when a paradigm shift is accurately detected, it is not always clear that
the brand strategy should change. The old strategy, even if found to be
inappropriate for a major segment, may still represent a better strategy than
alternatives. For example, when it came under attack by Healthy Choice,
Weight Watchers could have chosen to stick to its professional weight control
identity. This "consistency option" would have resulted in downsizing to a
niche brand, which although painful, might have resulted in a healthier (albeit
smaller) business.
Further, there is an upside to maintaining an existing identity in the face of a
new paradigm. Customers lost may return after the glow of the new paradigm
recedes and there is a resurgence of the old one. In addition, it avoids the risk
that the revised identity will fail because it is too little, too late or because it
was executed badly.
3. A Superior Identity/Execution Can Be Found
Managers evaluating whether to change identities sometimes overlook the fact
that much more is known about the existing strategy and execution than about
any proposed alternative. Thus the warts of the existing strategy are clear
while problems with the untried proposal | cannot yet be predicted, often
making the proverbial grass seem greener almost anywhere else than where
the firm is now. Nevertheless, alternatives are not necessarily better, and may
at best result in similar share and profitability figures. A similar pitfall is the
aspiration trap, in which a brand team engages in an endless search for
perfection and a dramatic improvement in performance when the probability
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of achieving either is actually very low. It can be a compulsive and futile waste
of resources. The problem is that "genius" identities and executions are
difficult to achieve, in part because people capable of generating them are ran
and the environment that allows such people to thrive is rarer still.
4. Customers Are Bored with a Tired or Stodgy Identity/Execution
Often it is those managing the brand, not the customers, who are bored with an
identity or execution. The fact is that insiders can get bored and even irritated
with an execution—and when they do, they assume that customers are as well.
Many managers are likely to see more repetition of their brand's advertising
than any target group. In fact, by the time a consumer first sees a new
campaign, those who work with the brand have probably seen it (or
alternative versions of it) hundreds of times.
Advertising giant Ross Reeves once claimed that if he had the second-best
advertising in a market, he would always win, because the competition would
get bored and change theirs. When asked why his agency was billing its Anacin
client so much, given that it just kept running the same commercial, he replied
that it was expensive to convince the client managers not to change the
advertising.
If boredom is being claimed as a reason for changing strategy, the brand
management team should do the research necessary to see if consumers really
are the ones who are bored. And remember that consumer boredom is not
necessarily bad: Brands from Bayer to Charmin have built a flourishing
business by "boring" consumers with the same consistent message. It is
important to distinguish between the wearing out of a position or identity and
wearing out of a particular execution. An execution can be changed without
changing the position or identity.
IV. REBRANDING
Rebranding is the process by which a product, service is developed with one
brand, company or product line affiliation is marketed or distributed with
different identity. This may be through major changes to the brand’s name,
image, brand, logo, marketing strategy and advertising themes. These changes
are aimed at the repositioning of the brand/ company, with the specific
purpose of either distancing itself from certain negative connotations of the
previous branding or to move the brand upmarket.
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Rebranding can be applied to new products, mature products, still in
development. The process can occur intentionally through a delibrate change
in strategy or occur unintentionally from unplanned, emerged situations such
as corporate restructuring. For example Shopper’s Stop Logo from rounded to
Flat, change of name of UTI Bank to Axis Bank.
V. ENTERING NEW MARKETS
A Brand can enter new markets in two ways:
1. They may enter the existing market with a new brand. (Tata Motors is known for
Heavy vehicles and medium vehicles, However they realised that there is a market of
middle class price sensitive consumer, they innovated and came out with the AAM
JANTA Compact car NANO.
2. They may enter a new market. For Example Global branding or entering a new
territory, which they did not go earlier. Mc-Donalds had to adjust with the
product and match the Indian taste.
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