My brand is mature or in decline !!

What can I do?

A/P Sharon Ng

Characteristics of mature
brand

Around for decades

May be healthy and earning decent profits
Widely distributed
Enjoy minimal marketing initiatives
Out of sight, out of mind

In recent years .

 1976 = 90% of the film sales and

85% of camera
Developed a digital camera in
1975 BUT dropped it as they fear
it would affect their film business
Entered the digital camera
market in latter years
Inability to compete with low cost
Asian digital camera
manufacturers
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Current Success

Future Success

Brands have life cycle. Popular today does not mean it will
be popular tomorrow.

Managerial action leading to

decline
Compromising quality

Price increase or decrease

Brand neglect/complacency
Strategic mistake (e.g., alienating core
customers when trying to appeal to new
segment)
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Environmental factors and

Competitors actions
Government regulations

E.g., Car taxes and down payment in

Singapore (Geely)

Changes in market conditions

Shifts in consumer behavior
E.g., more environmentally friendly

Competitors actions
Reinvented the competitive landscape

Brand
relevance

Life Cycle

All brands have a life cycle

BUT not all die ! Some can be resuscitated through
clever marketing strategies
Self-fulfilling prophesy
Think brand is dying cut back on marketing effort

Challenge is determining which brands can be revitalized

and how best to do it.
When to allow brands to die
When to revive brands

Old technology
Boring
Out of fashion
Antique users
Any self-respecting
person will not use it

New technology
Cool, Fun
Latest in-thing
For the fashionable
Loved by youngsters !
9

Brand Revitalization Strategies

Reinforce positive
association

Expand depth and

breadth of awareness
and usage of brand

Brand
revitalization
strategies

Refresh old
sources of brand
equity

Create new sources

of brand equity

Improve strength,
favorability and
uniqueness of brand
associations
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Revitalization strategies
A continuum

Back to
basics

Reinvention

Most lie somewhere in between

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Steps to revitalizing brand

1. Need to measure existing brand equity

E.g., brand concept map, focus group to understand
how consumers view the brand right now, brand audit
etc (Link to your research methods class)
2. Decide whether to retain existing positioning or create
new ones
Where does the problem lie? Positioning or marketing
program? Is existing positioning desirable and
deliverable?
3. Strategy to carry out new positioning

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If brand is too stretched Refocus the brand

Stay true to core strategy and focus on revitalizing

existing brands

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Restore Relevance !!

16

Changing consumer taste

stay relevant
Reformulated Lays and
Ruffles potato chips
Make chips less salty
Baked, not fried

17

Signaling

Sometimes, need to signal that the brand has taken on

new meaning or is different now
Brand elements and packaging may be changed for this
purpose (backed by good marketing campaign)
Kentucky Fried Chicken KFC and new logo

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BUT

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Brand relevance

The category or subcategory they are serving is declining.

Customers are no longer buying what the brand is perceived
to make
New categories or subcategories emerge as competitors
innovations create must haves.

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Brand preference versus Brand

Relevance
Brand
Relevance

Select category
or subcategory

Brand
Preference

Select
consideration
set

Select brand

Brand preference versus Brand

Relevance
Honda

SUV

Hyundai
Volvo

How people choose? Be better, cheaper, more features, more

attractive etc

Brand relevance competition

Making competitors irrelevant by defining a new
category or redefining a subcategory
Historically, shakes up in industry happen when
competitors introduce new products

Circus !!!

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Brand relevance strategy

Need transformational innovation

Brand need to be seen as visible and credible in that
category
Ideally, the brand defines the category and is used as
the prototype for the category
Sometimes, it can be substantial innovation
not totally new product BUT existing product is
substantially enhanced with features such that
become must haves
E.g., self expression benefit, features, personality

What is required

Firms need to have

Good consumer insight. Ability to sense change and
trends
Willingness to take risk
Invest in innovation

Consumers choose you because the competitors become

irrelevant, not because they are not preferred.

Does that mean brand is not

important?

NO !
Brand is all the more important.
Need to associate brand strongly with the new category
Create barriers to competition
Make the brand as the must have or the standard
competitors must aim for
Brand equity is hardest for competitors to overcome
Be seen as the authentic brand in that category

Brand authenticity

Brands with an original story to tell

Brands who is first in the market
One of a kind craftsmanship
Brands with a purpose

Like a person, you can tell if he or she is sincere or faking it

Same for brands some are seen as the authentic one, others
as the imitators

What if problem is - Narrow

view of brand
Assuming generally positive association:

Problem lies with breadth and not depth of the brand

People can still recognize or recall the brand under certain
circumstances
BUT they have a narrow view of the brand (breadth) or used only
by niche group of consumers

Possible solution:
Appeal to other groups of consumers
Educate on other usages.
New distribution outlets

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To attract new customers

Line extension or sub-brand

Incorporate new technology, features and other
attributes to satisfy the needs of new customers
More varieties to allow customers to change their
Give it some news and something to talk about
Help to expand user base
Block and inhibit competitors
Caveat need to make sure the total package is not out
of control

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To attract new customers or

increase consumption
Find new uses
E.g., Arms and Hammer

Can also position a brand as a substitute for products in

other categories
E.g., Philadelphia cream cheese and butter
Altering package size
Big size to smaller packaging
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Arms and Hammer

Sales dropped because of a decline in home baking and the introduction

of ready-to-bake packaged food products.
Associations cleaning and deodorizing
Market its baking soda as a deodorizer for refrigerators, freezers, and
kitchen sink drains.
To succeed, need to make new uses similar to old ones
Major brand extensions
Oral care
Laundry care

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To attract new customers

Increased cost and
potential image confusion !

Create separate advertising campaigns and programs for

each segment
More possible with age of technology to pinpoint target
segments reachable by different media
Segments need to be clearly identifiable and separate-able

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Issues with brand associations

If problem lies with how people view the
brand, then expanding breadth and depth
of awareness is not going to help much.
Need to fix the brand association
problems:
Any positive associations that have faded away
need to be bolstered
Any negative associations that have been created
need to be neutralized
Additional positive associations need to be
created

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If have nostalgic association Retro-Branding

Relaunched historical brand with updated features
Harmonize past and present
E.g., Volkswagen Beetle
Draw on nostalgia and build on emotional branding
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pCUFAStXVQ

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If has negative associations

Re-establish compelling points
of differences
e.g., For brands that look
outdated, may need new ad,
new promotion, new
packaging etc
Existing image may not
appeal to younger
generations
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If has negative associations

Re-establish compelling points
of differences

Lack of appeal to young consumers

Negative associations
Outdated design
Reposition
Attract affluent, young,
hip, urban consumers
Create personality

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdhdLywt_fM&feature=related

Similar to Volvo, Jaguar

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Hush Puppies

Mid-priced shoe for the middle-aged, middle-class man

and woman
Suede shoes, symbolized by the cuddly, rumpled,
droopy-eyed dog, also kids favorite in the 1950s and
1960s
Changes in fashion trends and marketing mishaps
an outdated image and diminished sales

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Hush Puppies (cont)

To revitalize:
New product designs and numerous offbeat color
combinations (e.g. bright shades of green, purple, and
pink)
Ad campaign featuring youthful, attractive people
wearing the shoes and the tag line, We invented
casuals.
Present as an American icon
Retro-familiarity
Popular designers began to use the shoes in their
fashion shows
A concerted program to engage retailer interest,

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Hush Puppies (cont)

Tom Hanks wore a pair of old Hush
Puppies in the final scene of Forrest
Gump.

Result - the brand has now reappeared in fashionable

department stores and sales and profits have
skyrocketed.
Old sources of brand equity leveraged upon and dormant
yet relevant values expressed through effective
marketing and advertising.
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Create new sources of

association

Initially positioned as a nutrient supplement

for young and old
Overtime, get forgotten and stale
Revitalize by linking it to sports
A healthy, energy drink for sports people
Increase advertising, sponsorship to build
association

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Concerted effort needed !!

Strategically, revitalizing a brand may need the

company to do one or more of the above.
E.g., Re-igniting nostalgic feelings + building new
association
Tactically, require support from all marketing efforts
E.g., advertisement, product placement, store
redesign, employee training, sponsorship, and so on
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Tactical or Strategic

Changes tend to be tactical and not strategic

Generally harder to build new sources of brand equity
Try to protect existing sources of brand equity
BUT if changes in environment makes existing strategic
direction and positioning vulnerable, changes in strategic
direction should also be considered

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Sad Statistics

80% of brand revitalization effort fails

Market share, sales continue to drop
No clear direction from top management
Internal inertia / sacred cow !
Lack of in-depth understanding of brands problem
Wrong strategy used
Fixing the wrong problem
Where is the brand right now?
Never learn from mistake
Doing the same thing, albeit in a different way

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Retiring Brand

Sources of brand equity dried up or strong and negative

associations are attached to it
Not worth investing in the brand as returns may be too
low or cost of revitalizing it may be too high

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How to deal with fading brand

Reduce the number of its product types
E.g., reduce package sizes or variations
This will reduce the cost of supporting the brand
Focus resources on the most profitable part
of the brand

Reduce or eliminate marketing support

People who want and like the brand may still continue
to support it
Allow firm to harvest greater profit from these brands

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Cash Cow

Still kept around despite dwindling sales

Have sufficient number of customers
Profitable despite virtually no marketing support

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How to deal with fading brand

Consolidate weak brands into stronger brand

Help to create stronger brand, cut costs and focus
marketing efforts
E.g., P&G merged White Cloud and Charmin Toilet Paper
Sell the brand
Especially for products that do not fit the companies
overall strategy but still has a group of loyal supporters
(e.g., Heinz)
Most drastic action discontinue the product altogether

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Takeaway

All brands have life cycle

Portfolio need to be actively managed over time to
sustain its competitiveness
Important to know which brands are rescue-able and
which are not
Brands strength, consumers perception etc
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