|
|
|
|
|
Christoph Prox, Managing Director, Icon Brand Navigation Group, has a single word message for Power Brands: innovate. In an exclusive interview with BT Online's Kushan Mitra, the man who advised Nokia to keep its handset design roundedly 'human', explains why there's no option. And he does this with the help of two analytical parameters: Brand Credit, the feelings a brand evokes, and Brand Iconography, the sensory experiences a brand provides. Q. What is a 'Looping Brand'? A. If you draw a table with 'Brand Credit' on the X axis and 'Brand Iconography' on the Y axis, you will see that Power Brands will be at the top right hand corner of the chart. 'Looping Brands' are those which still have heavy iconography, people still identify and know the brand, but are losing their market. They are not 'eroding brands' in the sense that they are losing their place in the public imagination, but people just are not buying their products. They know the brand, they like the brand, but they do not buy the brand. Q. So how would a product manager know that his product is in such a 'Looping' situation? A. There are lots of cues for someone to help realize this thing very early, the most important being consumer feedback. Quick feedback where consumers are telling you that your product isn't working is the easiest way of finding out. Unfortunately, few companies have such data collection systems in place. The other ways of realizing is when your sales start to taper off, or even start falling and huge amounts of investments that you make seem to provide no results. Then you try harder and it still doesn't work, then you definitely know you have a problem. Q. So what does a brand need to do then? Any examples of brands breaking out of this? A. You need to check your product range and advertising. Ask yourself hard-hitting questions. Does the consumer want your products? Does your advertising have any emotional linkage at all with the consumer? That will usually help you to identify the problem. When you have done that, you need to re-launch the product. An example of a former Power Brand which found itself in a looping situation and was able to break out and become a Power Brand again is Bacardi Rum in Europe. A few years ago, they forgot their core business and started diversifying into various non-core products, like Bacardi Breezer. The Breezers were good, but were frankly too weak. Bacardi was spending a lot of money but were losing market share. When they did surveys, they realized that Bacardi still had high top-of-mind recall.... they were not eroding by any stretch of the imagination. So they withdrew certain products, revamped Breezer and concentrated on their core business once again. And now they are a successful brand all over again, the highest-selling rum in the world. Q. How does a Power Brand avoid that trap? A. A power brand requires constant innovation and development. It has to stay up with the times. Take a look at Nokia. They do not stand still, they constantly come up with new products, and they have made the cellphone into a key personal identification point. Q. But sometimes don't brands innovate too much and drive away consumers? A. Yes, they do. That's the problem with Japanese car makers in Europe. The only reason they have found it difficult to crack the market is because of the radical model changes every generation. Look at BMW and Mercedes. You take a car from 20 years ago and a car today, and they still share some cues, even though they might be totally different. Look at the new E-Class from Mercedes, it still looks like the old E-Class, while being totally different. Companies should also create new segments. Nokia did that, or rather facilitated it, and when a product is doing very well change it slightly, but change it. Change should be constant, but unless a brand is in a looping situation, revolutionary change can actually damage a brand. Q. But what happens to emotional linkages when technology intercedes? A. Let me give you another example here: Ariel in Europe. For several years, they had a nice old grandmotherly sort of figure called Klementine (at least in Germany) selling you washing powder. This was a time of almost no change in that industry, but then when we started to get into specialized liquid detergents, active ingredient washing powders, things changed. Procter & Gamble realized that they could not have an old lady signify that new situation, so they took a hard decision and bit the bullet. Q. Any examples of brands in India that are fading? A. I'll give you an example of a brand that is doing well, thanks to Power Brands fading. Look at Anchor toothpaste. They are doing so well because the leaders in the market are doing nothing innovative. They have become staid, and I believe there are several such examples across the FMCG market in India. This is because power brands are collapsing.
|
|
Issue Contents Write to us Subscription Syndication INDIA TODAY |
INDIA TODAY PLUS | SMART
INC © Living Media India Ltd |
 |
 |
