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Honda wants to own the safety position within the automotive industry. Only one problem with this strategy; the position has been owned for decades by a competitor.
According to the New York Times:
From the time it started selling cars in the United States 35 years ago, Honda has fostered a reputation for building fuel-efficient vehicles.
Now it is taking a new tack: it wants to join Volvo as an automaker best known for safety.
To get there, Honda is promoting safety as a key part of its public image…
Volvo, which has been stressing safety since it began building cars in 1927, is not overly concerned about competition from Honda.
“We have no plans to give up safety to Honda or anyone — we have an 80-year jump on them,” said Dan Johnston, a spokesman for Volvo Cars, who said Volvo was “flattered” by Honda’s efforts…
Honda’s me-too brand strategy will not work in expanding their audience unless they frame the safety dialogue in an entirely new way to the consumer. More than a slogan or advertising campaign, the safety claim must become a difference ownable to the exclusion of all competitors.
As the safety position is owned by Volvo, Honda is left with an ineffective adulatory message rather than effective brand strategy.
The adulatory message? An instantly forgettable “We are safer than Volvo.”
Read more here.
[More posts about Automotive Branding | More posts about Brand Differentiation | More posts about Brand Positioning | More posts about Brand Promise | More posts about Honda Brand Strategy | More posts about Honda | More posts about Volvo Brand Strategy | More posts about Volvo | More blogs about Brand Differentiation]
We talk.
Our CEO will address the Arabian Travel Market hosted May 1-4, 2007. The conference, described by the organizers as “dedicated to unlocking the business potential within the Middle East and Pan Arab region” will address a variety of topics including nation and place branding.
If you happen to be in the neighborhood on May 2, drop in.
[More posts about Destination Branding | More posts about Nation Branding | More posts about Tourism Branding | More posts about Dubai | More posts about Middle East Tourism | More posts about Mediterranean Tourism | More blogs about Destination Branding]
We recently discussed the topics of resurrected dormant brands, otherwise labeled Zombie Brands, and their value due to latent brand equity.
A follow-up story appears at the online magazine Slate, speaking to revived brands such as the Indian Motorcycle, the McDonald’s McRib sandwich, Polaroid recast as a flat panel TV brand, and the MG motor car.
Read more about similar dormant brands here.
[More posts about Brand Opportunities | More posts about Brand Equity | More posts about Brand Rehab | More posts about Brand Management | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Packaged Goods Branding | More posts about Food Branding | More posts about Consumer Electronics Branding | More posts about Automotive Branding | More posts about Dormant Brands | More blogs about Brand Rehab]
According to one source, strong brand equity offers the following benefits:
Facilitates a more predictable income stream,
Increases cash flow by increasing market share, reducing promotion costs, and allows for premium pricing, and
Brand equity is an asset that can be sold or leased.
Brand equity also creates an ownable competitive advantage, is your sole appreciating asset, and decreases advertising expense.
Read more here.
[More posts about Brand Equity | More posts about Competitive Advantage | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Branding v Advertising | More blogs about Brand Equity]
Why are dormant brands such as Tab, Ford Taurus, and Vionnet resurrected and relaunched? The answer is in power of brand equity, often in brands with a long dormant legacy. It’s the reason the Ford 500 becomes the Ford Taurus, Tab becomes Tab Energy, and the Vionnet fashion brand is revived under the leadership of another respected fashion house.
For more on what one source refers to as “Zombie Brands,” click here to listen to an MP3 audio version of the story.
[More posts about Brand Opportunities | More posts about Brand Equity | More posts about Brand Rehab | More posts about Brand Management | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Beverage Branding | More posts about Tab Energy Brand | More posts about Fashion Branding | More posts about Vionnet Brand | More posts about Automotive Branding | More posts about Ford Taurus Brand | More posts about Dormant Brands | More blogs about Brand Rehab]
Ecuador announced a new brand in an attempt to grow international export markets for its products:
“Ecuador quality of origin” is the new brand that is going together with the Ecuadorian exports. The country-brand campaign is addressed to the main markets in Japan, the EU and the US.
FreshPlaza.com, a news source for companies operating in the global fruit and vegetable sector, also published this explanation of the new brand:
Ecuadorean exporters rely on their export brand to differentiate their production at the international markets. The international consulting group Chias Marketing proposes “the recognition of Ecuador as a country with a privileged geographic and natural position which produces and exports several products with differentiated characteristics for importers and consumers around the world”.
And how does the consulting group hired by Ecuador differentiate Ecuadorean products? They don’t.
…[Q]uality is the most important recognized determinant of Ecuadorean products; if one talks about quality perception at the national and international level, there is a reinforcement of the idea of quality as the determinant to exploit in the promotion campaign.
The consultancy further labors to explain what their efforts created for Ecuador at this link.
Because it is overused, Quality is not a unique differentiator. [Just ask the Republic of Turkey.] Framing a brand story around quality is the equivalent of claiming a unique difference because we are unique. And, according to this in Business Week, the word Quality is the most overused word in advertising, as “every product worth buying is a quality product,” so much so that a claim of quality is hollow and meaningless.
The result? For the good people of Ecuador, their new “brand” is instantly forgettable.
How might Ecuador create an unforgettable brand?
To create a breakthrough brand, to offer a compelling story engaging the audience it seeks, any nation brand must offer a difference, a unique something unheard of elsewhere. True, there is far more to the story of Ecuador exports than one unique difference. However, to create the opportunity to tell the broader story of it’s products, to own the conversation, Ecuador must first stand for a single uniqueness not heard of elsewhere, prompting the audience to care long enough to stop, and to stop long enough to be influenced.
As a first step, Ecuador’s decision-makers may wish to consider these questions:
What is it about Ecuador’s exports that uniquely separate them from other alternatives?
How do these products fulfill a need, a passion, an affiliation not satisfied elsewhere?
Why should anyone care?
If the audiences Ecuador seeks to influence can answer these questions for themselves within seconds, only then does Ecuador offer a brand that matters. One that appreciates in value and creates economic opportunity. One capable of being remembered above all other competing nation export brands.
For Ecuador’s decision-makers responsible for creating such a brand that’s when the fun begins, for that’s when they receive credit for being very smart, rather than falling into this trap.
[More posts about Brand Differentiation | More posts about Tourism Branding | More posts about Place Branding | More posts about Nation Branding | More posts about Destination Branding | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Government Strategy | More posts about Ecuador Brand | More posts about Ecuador | More posts about South America Brands | More posts about Overused Words | More blogs about Nation Branding]
Architectural design conceived as part of an overall brand strategy can effectively promote and demonstrate a brand, whether it be through a retail experience, or performing as a billboard offering unexpected engagement.
This story from Korea’s Chosun Ilbo discusses how great architectural design powers the story behind brands, with examples including the Ferrari Showroom in Chungdam-dong, Seoul, and the Prada building in Aoyama, Tokyo [pictured].
Brings to mind the quote of German poet and novelist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:
“I call architecture frozen music.”
[More posts about Brand Image | More posts about Retail Branding | More posts about Architecture Branding | More posts about Architectural Design | More posts about Seoul Architecture | More posts about Tokyo Architecture | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Brand Demonstration | More posts about Goethe | More blogs about Brand Image]
Developing a brand name for a company or product with a global footprint is both an art, and a science, as discussed in this story from the New York Times via our friends at Wordlab.
[More posts about Brand Naming | More posts about Global Branding | More posts about Fragrance Branding | More posts about Packaged Goods Branding | More blogs about Brand Naming]
Notwithstanding the recent musings of its chairman, Starbucks these days is thinking of itself less as a coffee chain and more as a global platform with over 13,000 points of distribution. As reported in the New York Times:
When Bette Gottfried, a 48-year-old regular at a Starbucks in Ardsley, N.Y., saw that her favorite coffeehouse was promoting a film, she wasn’t immediately interested. “At first I was leery,” said Ms. Gottfried, dressed in workout clothes, wearing her hair in a ponytail and sitting near the window with her daily decaf mocha (“low-fat milk, no foam, no whipped”). “I thought, ‘Who are they to get involved in the movies?’ ”
Ultimately, however, she decided to take her 9-year-old daughter to see the film, “Akeelah and the Bee,” precisely because of the involvement of Starbucks. “I trusted seeing the movie, because it was promoted here,” she said. After all, she liked the company’s coffee; she had already bought and liked several CD’s it produced and sold, compilations of music by Carole King, Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra. Why wouldn’t she like a Starbucks movie? She did, and now she’s considering picking up its latest cultural sales item: “For One More Day,” a book by Mitch Albom…
[Starbucks] is increasingly positioning itself as a purveyor of premium-blend culture. “We’re very excited, because despite how much we’ve grown, these are the early stages for development,” said Howard Schultz, the chairman of Starbucks. “At our core, we’re a coffee company, but the opportunity we have to extend the brand is beyond coffee; it’s entertainment.”
…Schultz explained, “With the assets [we have] in terms of number of stores, and the trust we have with the brand, and the profile of our customers, we’re in a unique position to partner with creators of unique content to create an entertainment platform and an audience that’s unparalleled.”
…As Mr. Schultz sees it, customers get a new cultural experience and Starbucks gets a “halo” — the associations people have with beloved music, with “quality, good will, trust, intelligence.”
…
“It adds to the emotional connection with the customer,” said Mr. Schultz, and keeps the Starbucks experience from feeling, as he put it, “antiseptic.”
This strategy of rethinking Starbucks as a platform through which to feed a range of music and other entertainment product offerings relies upon the law of borrowed equity — use of the reputation of another brand to add value to your own. Whether for Starbucks, or a casual dining chain such as Applebee’s, such a strategy can work, but only if those entrusted with the brand remain focused on their core product offering.
Difficult to accomplish, extending a tightly focused brand to a “platform” outside of a core product category. But it is possible. Just ask Virgin.
[More posts about Brand Management | More posts about Brand Relevance | More posts about Brand Extension | More posts about Retail Branding | More posts about Restaurant Branding | More posts about Beverage Branding | More posts about Emotional Branding | More posts about Starbucks Brand | More posts about Applebee’s Brand | More posts about Virgin Brand | More blogs about Brand Extension]
Zhang Ruimin, is Chairman of Haier Group. The Chinese company is the world’s fourth largest appliance manufacturer.
Mr. Zhang is focused on building a global brand, based on beliefs such as:
“Brand strategy is the most powerful weapon to defeat economic recession.”
We agree. It’s another way of saying a brand is the world’s most powerful business tool.
[More posts about Brand Management | More posts about Brand As Asset | More posts about Global Branding | More posts about Appliance Branding | More posts about Consumer Goods Branding | More posts about Haier Group | More posts about Chinese Brands | More blogs about Brand Management]
Seeking a new CEO and recovering from a string of missteps, including a recent announcement to shutter Forth and Towne, Gap Inc. [NYSE:GPS] faces a number of challenges to revitalize the company and its brands.
The first challenge is strengthening it’s flagship GAP brand.
One suggestion of how to tackle the problem comes in this from Adrants:
There’s a simple solution to fixing Gap, the brand. Get rid of the celebrities and start investing in the emotional meaning of the word Gap itself. The brand name has gotten lost in the celebrity shuffle.
The feelings that rub off on the word Gap need to come from a genuine place, not from a never ending parade of celebrities. The core values of the brand need to be defined in a personal and intimate way that plays off the word itself.
One example of how this idea could be brought to life as a story of the brand:
A teenage boy and a girl are sitting on a bench with a “gap” between them. Neither one has the courage to start a conversation, but clearly they are enamored with each other. Suddenly a no name street musician sits down between them and starts belting out a soulful ballad. Then he walks away. The two kids immediately start talking to each other. The Gap logo [appears with a new] Tagline: Get Together.
It’s this feeling that needs to drive the inner core of the brand. Without it, the brand is lost in the emotional retail space. By developing a series of “Gap” stories, there’s a way to reinvigorate the brand from the inside out, rather than the outside in.
If you get the emotional story right, the feelings rub off on the merchandise.”
As a starting point, good advice for an iconic brand that has lost its way.
[More posts about Brand Management | More posts about Emotional Branding | More posts about Apparel Branding | More posts about Retail Branding | More posts about Brand Differentiation | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Gap Inc. | More posts about Gap Brand Strategy | More blogs about Gap Branding]
A thoughtful Op-Ed from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel brings clarity to the struggles faced by the Milwaukee 7 in their efforts to brand the seven counties of Southeastern Wisconsin.
Among the insights offered by the Journal Sentinel editorial are these:
…Milwaukee is a brand.
If we look only at how we might resemble other cities, we’re missing the point. To be one more city with financial services, restaurants and coffee shops does not let us compete.
All cities have that.
And this:
[W]e can’t be ashamed of how we’re perceived. We have to be ourselves, celebrate ourselves, and invite others to the party.
And this, reinforcing how an effective brand strategy must tap into the authenticity of a place:
It’s easier to ride a horse in the direction it’s going. When Las Vegas stopped pretending to be a family destination and returned to its roots (”What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”), it took off like a rocket.
Read more here.
[More posts about Brand Differentiation | More posts about Destination Branding | More posts about Place Branding | More posts about City Branding | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Government Strategy | More posts about Milwaukee Brand | More blogs about City Branding]
Denis Hennequin, a graduate of one of Paris’ top law schools who joined McDonald’s after deciding it would be more “fun” than being a lawyer, leads the McDonald’s effort to own the conversation in Europe. Mr. Hennequin demonstrates how a brand is your sole appreciating asset, in this report from the Los Angeles Times:
“I’m changing the story,” Hennequin says. “We’ve got to be loyal to our roots, we have to be affordable, we have to be convenient … but we have to add new dimensions.”
These dimensions include putting iPods in restaurants in France so that people can sit and listen to music, making better coffee from beans grown ethically and sustainably and introducing a “McPassport” so young staff members can work at any restaurant in Europe.
The changes seem to be working. Sales at McDonald’s Corp.’s European franchises are growing faster than in other regions. In January, Europe (which accounts for about 36% of annual profit) reported quarterly sales growth of 7.3% against 5.9% in the United States.
…The success of coffee chains such as Starbucks, which appeal as much to workers on the move as to students, has forced companies such as McDonald’s to create a more sophisticated eating environment.
…The restaurant chain recently reported [a] record annual [global] profit of $4.4 billion.
But it is developments in the European business that may provide the best guide to where the McDonald’s brand is going…
Hennequin, [President of McDonald’s Europe]…has a three-pronged strategy: Improve the experience of customers and employees, make sure restaurants adapt to local communities and be more transparent about how McDonald’s does business.
McDonald’s Europe is onto something, in thinking of their brand as the story they tell across every material touchpoint. C’est tout ce que j’aime.
[More posts about Brand Management | More posts about Brand Relevance | More posts about Global Branding | More posts about Restaurant Branding | More posts about Brand Story | More posts about McDonald’s Brand Strategy | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about McDonald’s Europe | More blogs about Brand Relevance]
How often do those responsible for brand development decisions copy the strategies of others? In the case of governmental agencies responsible for their place/destination brands, the answer is more often than one might think.
For example, city and nation brand decision makers for New York City, Hungary, Dubai, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Denmark each rely upon the heart as a brand icon in visual identity:
Poland also takes up the icon, as The Heart of Europe:
And then there is the !; the exclamation mark serving as cheerleader.
As shown here, the ! is found in Me!bourne:
And in Johannesburg:
And !ndia, ¡Madrid! and Dublin!
We before addressed the tendency of some government agencies to replicate the brand strategies of others, as with the visual identities of Greece, Malta and Cyprus.
To create a breakthrough brand, to offer a compelling story engaging the audience it seeks, any destination brand must offer a difference, a unique something unheard of elsewhere. True, there is far more to the story of Greece or India or Dubai or Melbourne than one unique difference. However, to create the opportunity to tell the broader story of the place, to own the conversation, each of these cities and countries must first stand for a single uniqueness, a door opener, prompting an audience to care long enough to stop, and to stop long enough to be influenced.
However, a caution. Simply claiming to be unique does not create an effective brand.
Instead, consider these questions:
What is it about a city that separates the experience from other alternatives?
How does a nation fulfill a passion not satisfied elsewhere?
Why should anyone care?
If an audience can answer these questions for themselves within seconds, as often supported by a unique visual identity, then we see a brand that matters. One that appreciates in value and creates economic opportunity. One capable of being remembered above all others. For those government decision-makers responsible for creating such a brand that’s when the fun begins; when they receive credit for being smarter than their competition.
[More posts about Brand Differentiation | More posts about Destination Branding | More posts about Place Branding | More posts about Nation Branding | More posts about Brand Identity | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Government Strategy | More posts about Malta Branding | More posts about Dubai Branding | More posts about Denmark Branding | More posts about Hungary Branding | More posts about Bosnia-Herzegovina Branding | More posts about Melbourne Branding | More posts about Cyprus Branding | More posts about New York City Branding | More posts about Greece Branding | More posts about India Branding | More posts about Madrid Branding | More posts about Dublin Branding | More posts about Johannesburg Branding | More blogs about Destination Branding]
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Friday, March 30th, 2007 - 1:38pm |
Automotive + Brand Differentiation + Brand Positioning + Brand Promise |
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