Living, Breathing, Branding
Brands exist in all settings and can be distinguished on many scales. They take the shape of a dynamic and continuously changing life form, living representatively through products and services that surround us. With brands just like with life, the need to revamp and re-establish one’s level of significance within its surrounding environment comes as a completely natural process. According to author Kevin Lane Keller in his work with Strategic Brand Management, “In virtually every product category, there are examples of once prominent and admired brands that have fallen on hard times or even completely disappeared”.[1] With the help from society’s’ increasingly demanding need for products and services, regardless of brand shape or size, all brands must face the rational understanding that no matter how powerful and successful a brand may be at this moment, every brand runs the risk of the possible loss of vitality[2].
As firms recognize a brand’s position with respect to its market segment and its competition, brands alike are able to examine, utilize and synthesize many theoretical strategies, all of which take aim at fostering a structured and methodological brand comeback. Integral to any detailed revitalization is the collective understanding of the brand itself. According to Keller, this devotion to understanding the history of the brand at topic can lead to different sources of information. In some cases brands are forced to return to their origins in order to recapture lost sources of equity, and in others, the meaning of the brand has to fundamentally change in order for it to salvage and recapture market leadership[3].
In 2004, conglomerate powerhouse Unilever launched its newest campaign for its Dove brand, “Real Beauty.” Dove, Inc. and its products are known on a world scale. From the days of marketing and advertising classical white bar soap, Dove has continuously expanded its product line, and its marketing strategies have become more aggressive[4]. Dove helps illustrate the dynamic scale in which brands classify revitalization and repositioning. From brand image to product placement and long-term equity, brands consistently find themselves in front of unique crossroads, and it is up to the marketers to decide which route to take in terms of long-term survival. Through stages of strategic brand management, Dove created an inspiring vision that united its staff to its product and designed and implemented a bold communication strategy, leading the brand to the establishment of an emerging profitable reputation[5]. Dove found a way to transform itself from a traditional product label into a brand that carried a social message. With the use of integrative brand thinking reinforced by the courageous goal to change prevailing ideas about how people should classify beauty, the Dove brand has grown into an international marvel that sees women of all types championing Dove products, and even appearing in the brand’s campaign itself[6].
Brands like Dove serve multi-purpose roles to marketers all around. Firstly, they help illustrate the fundamental dynamics of consumer behaviour, highlighting how important a brand’s role is to the cognitive and perceptual minds of the consumer, and secondly, they serve as templates for future brands in search of similar brand comeback aspirations.
Managing the Brand
Primary to any level of brand expansion or reduction is the development of a sound understanding into a brand’s foundation. With disregard to any future revitalizing or repositioning strategies, a firm must fully understand the brands range of equitable assets in order to maximize any succeeding marketing moves. From the very definition of a brand, it comes at no surprise that firms must thoroughly interpret their respective brand’s attached level of equity. As consumers, we see the product and the brand as synonymous. As the marketer however, in order to analyze the future growth and direction of a brand it is important to be able to distinguish its ingredients, most importantly, the added value that a brand name gives to a product, and reasoning for the margins associated with the brands final price and long-run return on investment[7].
Where revitalization separates itself from many other company specific definitions is in its energetic ambiguity. From strategies that involve new propositions, new product placements, re-packaging or image altering, brands will find themselves at the doorsteps of many specific levels of possible rejuvenation. In other words, each brand’s optimal long and short run solution is individually catered to the needs of each respective brand. From black and white marketing strategies to completely new and novel forms of revitalization, brands have a unique ability to distinguish themselves differently for each product or service they represent. On the one hand, a brand’s revitalization scheme can be seen as a blank canvas, open to all possibilities of consumer interaction and retention. On the other hand however, it becomes evident that final results of any revitalization strategy therefore depend not solely on one isolated element or another, but on the delicate combination of carefully placed initiatives all of which work best together, and all of which help propel the brand into its desired positioning.
Nick
[1] Keller, K.L. (2008) Strategic Brand Management. Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity. Third Edition. ISBN 978-0-13-188859-3. Thistle Hill Publishing Services, LLC
[2] Dev, C. S. $ Keller K.L. (2014) Brand Revitalization. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly. Sage Publications. Retrieved from http://cqx.sagepub.com/content/55/4/333
[3] Keller, K.L. (2008) Strategic Brand Management. Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity. Third Edition. ISBN 978-0-13-188859-3. Thistle Hill Publishing Services, LLC
[4] Millard, J. (2009). Performing Beauty: Dove’s “Real Beauty” Campaign. Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/si.2009.32.2.146?origin=JSTOR-pdf
[5] Hakala, J. & Malmelin, N. (2009) Guided by the brand: From brand management to integrative corporate communications. Business Strategy Series. Emerald Insight.
[6] Ibid
[7] Cobb-Walgren, C.J. Ruble, C.A. Donthu, R. (1995) Brand Equity, Brand Preference, and Purchase Intent. Journal of Advertising. Taylor & Francis, Ltd. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4188979?origin=JSTOR-pdf