The Hindu Business Line : Spice up your bland brands

PROFITS are lagging, you push your salespeople, but nothing is happening. Why? Perhaps, your brands have grown "tired and bland." Or, your product identities are "cluttered and confusing to both customers and employees," so they don't know, for example, if a new model cellphone is for the executive or the night watchman. It could be that there are "emerging subcategories" that are threatening your business relevance. Check also if your brands are "underleveraged" or if your strategy is at risk owing to "inadequate brand platforms." For all these situations, David A. Aaker's Brand Portfolio Strategy, published by Free Press (www.simonsays.com) , has "step-by-step advice".

Lest you take brands lightly, Aaker warns you in the preface: "A brand portfolio strategy that is confused and incoherent can handicap and sometimes doom a business strategy." As in football, where each player has a defined role, so too with brands, he says; "make sure that each brand has a well-defined scope and role(s) to play in each context in which it is expected to contribute." Starvation can happen not only in drought-hit Andhra villages but also in a "silo organisation," where "high-potential brands are often starved of resources, in part because their business is still small." Think big, like the coach of a cricket team that has a string of failures to its debit, and invest your energy in potential "impact players." But what do you do when running into a wall and finding it necessary to get "new sources of growth"? Strategically, this usually means entering new markets, offering new products, or moving into upscale or value arenas, points out the author.

What does brand portfolio include? All the brands managed by the organisation, Aaker says. And that includes: "Master brands, endorsers, sub-brands, branded differentiators, co-brands, branded energisers, and corporate brands, even if they seem dormant." Corporate brand represents the corporation, he explains, reflecting its "heritage, values, culture, people and strategy." The book provides innumerable examples: "Lipton Tea, with a Flo-Thru bag" is a branded differentiator, defining a feature, ingredient, service or programme. Similarly, Reebok's 3D UltraLite-sole design is a "branded feature," 3M is an example of a master brand; Microsoft Office is an instance of an umbrella brand, defining a product grouping; Ground Link is a branded service from United Airlines, and GM BuyPower is a branded programme.

Now, take a test and name the parts of "Venus Shaving System from Gillette for Women, with aloe and the DLC Blade Edge." Answer: "There is a master brand (Venus), a product brand (Venus Shaving System), an endorser (Gillette for Women), and two branded differentiators (aloe and DLC Blade Edge)."

If you are keen, track the Young & Rubicam Brand Asset Valuator (BAV) study — "a global survey of brand equity conducted every two or three years, covering over three dozen countries, 13,000 brands, 450 global brands, and more than fifty measures." Four dimensions of BAV's measures are differentiation (perceived distinctiveness), relevance (personally appropriate), esteem (perceived quality and increase in popularity), and knowledge (awareness and understanding).

Let's get back to the tired brand we started with. How to invigorate it, assuming you are energetic enough? Here's how: The Heinz ketchup story. Fifty-five per cent of its products are consumed by kids but they were not happy because the bottle was hard to use and colours were not fun. "In response, EZ Squirt came in colours like Funky Purple and Blastin Green, with a kid-friendly container that allows the product to come out in a small, smooth stream." Sales went up and children were happy. And the kids were creative too, "drawing pictures with the ketchup." Possibly, as a consequence, sales of detergent too should have shot up.

Essential read before you get busy with your brand.

BookMark@thehindu.co.in

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