Managing Brand Equity

Dec 5, 2008

BrandAmplitude, LLC All Rights Reserved

Some Enduring Brands

04/12/23 3

Some questions to consider…

• What makes brands great?• Why do some brands endure?• Why do some brands struggle?• When should a brand stay the same?• And when should it change?• How should brands be launched?• Why do brands die?• How do brands become “hot”?

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The Long Term View

Maintaining a brand requires constant vigilance, knowing when to pile on, when to ‘twist’ and when to start over.

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Maintaining a Brand over Time Nivea and Dove

How do their strategies differ? Which is most effective?

• Line extensions

• Brand revitalization

• Importance of cultural relevance

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Today

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LINE EXTENSIONS

Line Extend or Build New Brand?• No hard and fast rules

– Lots of examples on both sides

• Understand role of new brand in portfolio• Build affinity• Build revenue

• Need to understand ability of existing brand to stretch– With consumers and trade– Assess risks as well as rewards of stretching

• The “Spandex Rule” says just because you can doesn’t mean you should! Severe penalties for stretching too far

• But! Must be willing to ‘do to yourself before others do unto you

Winners & Losers

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http://www.tippingsprung.com/form/index.html

Iams Pet Insurance

Febreze Scentstories

Black & Decker iron with Downy wrinkle release chamber

Antiques Roadshow Furniture (Pulaski license)

What Were They Thinking?

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Barbie Jewelry

Jaguar X

Harley Cake Decor

Hooters Airline

Maxim Haircolor for Men

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Brand Failures: The Truth about the 100 Biggest Branding Mistakes of

All Timeby Matt Haig

No shortage of examples

Successful Extensions Leverage Equity

Positioning Provides Framework to Explore Equity Extensions

Source: Alice Tybout & Tim Calkins, Kellogg on Branding

Extending Vertically• Urge to take luxury or premium brand to booming value

segment can be attractive– Tiffany boutiques– Cadillac Cimarron

• David Aaker suggests avoiding whenever possible, better to use a subbrand or even better, a totally new brand– Old Navy (Gap)– Boston Piano (Steinway)

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Some Principles for Brand Extensions

• High equity brands stretch farther

• Attribute associations harder to stretch than abstract benefits

• Successful extensions make future extensions easier

• Extensions need a reason for being – avoid confusing consumer by adding new brands if necessary

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REVITALIZING BRANDS

When a Brand Loses Its Luster• Return to roots to recapture lost sources of equity

– Neutralize negative associations– Shore up positive associations

• Identify and establish new sources of equity

• Broaden ways to use the brand, use more of the brand when it is consumed, or use the brand in more ways

• Reintroduce to new generation of users

• Milk for profit and retire

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Great Comebacks

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How did Triarc revitalize Snapple after its disastrous sale to Quaker?

Principles for Revitalizing

• Understand what happened

• Be willing to walk away

• Heritage and nostalgia are NOT a strategy for brand revitalization

• Act pre-emptively

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BRANDS & CULTURE

Themes

• Power of (authentic) storytelling to successful branding• Relationship of self-identity to consumerism• Dangers of overreliance on branding at expense of innovation• How brands can leverage culture to go beyond traditional

marketing• Importance of historical perspective on brands• Relationship of culture to brand success• Ethical issues arising from gaps between product reality and

brand image• Can traditional brand strategy tools make a brand great?• Difficulty of staying culturally relevant over time

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Branded Nation: The Marketing of Megachurch, College, Inc. and Museumworld

“He argues that public companies and non-for profits both build their brands through telling stories and that a good marketing plan is one with a memorable story (Where’s the Beef?) while an ineffective one is forgotten (Herb of Burger King). Twitchell goes on to explain that the purpose of the book is to examine the non-profit world to determine if story telling (brand building) has made it so that the product itself (church service or class) doesn’t actually provide value, while the brand name does.”

– Dustin Ruch

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Obsessive Branding Disorder

“Conley does an excellent job taking a closer look at the philosophical and social implications under a branding-heavy society. He asserts that managing an identity inherently implies a separation from that identity; “a brand is something to be controlled rather than any expression of authenticity,” he concludes.” … Indeed, he urges all to apply reason and intellect to see a company’s brand illusion for what it is.

– Brian Weberman

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Buying In

“Essentially, Walker’s point is that we buy brands and product in order to tell a story about ourselves to other people. Moreover, the brands that we buy tell ourselves a story of who we are….I feel the best point made throughout the book is that there is no universal right way to create a brand. This is something that those new to the concepts of marketing must understand. Many times identities of brand simply emerge due to the culture that chooses to identify a a product or brand.” – Ryan O’Halloran

“Citing Keech’s seminal work on cognitive dissonance, (Walker) argues that onsumers are actually attempting to tell themselves a consistent story of who they are. Consumers don’t buy to keep up with the Joneses as previously been thought. Instead we buy things in an attempt to construct ourselves a consistent story about who we are.” – Dan Sweet

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Culting of Brands

“Atkin does an extraordinary job of showing the relationship between the building and management of cults and brand strategy. Although the two seem quite different, the tactics used by cult leaders can be effectively deployed by brand managers to build awareness and loyalty. Of course, these tactics can be used by public speakers, human resources professionals, and other occupations, but the connection that portrays the cult as a brand is what makes this perception unique. Members of a cult are fiercely loyal, and this is the characteristic that brand managers crave.”

– Corey Breitfelder

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How Brands Become Icons

“Holt argues that the three traditional theories of branding, mindshare, emotional, and viral do not go far enough in their strategy to create an iconic brand. … Holt’s model is one that should be reviewed by managers working to create a truly iconic brand. He takes a stab at trying to explain how one can go from a good brand to a great brand. He focuses on the importance of myths , or stories, that a brand creates. The importance of the myth makes sense in historical perspective as we have often used stories to express ourselves throughout history. He also interestingly discusses the populist markets which are key in accepting a myth. The populist market is similar to spotting an early trend, and identifying the group entwined in the trend. Often the brand may be articulating a feeling that the person I the group cannot articulate themselves. Holt also notes the vastness between a positioning statement and the creative executions that result from them.” – Bridget Battistone

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All Marketers Are Liars

“His assertion in the title of the book that ‘all marketers are liars’ is not really what he means. What Seth is trying to convey is that marketers must create a story around their products and services that the consumer can ‘buy into’ and convince themselves of the lie that the brand will truly make them fitter, smarter, better looking, more successful, etc. This may sound simple at the surface level, but there is a lot to it.” – Greg Lord

“Yes, consumers should be careful which story to believe but marketers also have the responsibility to tell authentic stories….The book is impactful because he consistently emphasized the same point over and over again – marketing is storytelling. He makes his point drawing from various stories by Starbucks, John Kerry, Blue Nile, etc. Whether it is coffee, a candidate, or diamonds, each brand shares the similarity of telling an authentic story that fits with consumers’ world view and something they can believe in.” – Anne Lin

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Three Discussion Questions1. Is the story telling paradigm realistic or useful as a brand strategy

framework? What is the obligation of brand marketers to be ‘authentic’? Do customers create the ‘lie’ or do marketers?– All Marketers are Liars, Buying In

2. Has the practice of brand marketing been taken too far when it is applied to churches, museums, cities and ideas? What is the downside of branding and what is the marketers’ ethical obligation when practicing?• Obsessive Branding Disorder, Branded Nation

3. Should brand strategies include a ‘cultural’ brief as well as a positioning? How should the importance of the culture be reflected in brand strategy?– Cult Branding, How Brands Become Icons

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