Growing or Killing a Brand

It is important to understand the life cycle of a category, a brand, and a product to take a brand to the next level and drive long-term success. New brands must establish a niche. A mature brand must find new life, possibly by reinventing itself through extensions or by creating a new identity that connects with today’s consumers. Finding more core customers or finding new customers for the brand are challenges that require different approaches. Building on your strengths with customers who truly like and need your product is easier than developing a new customer group. It is mandatory to constantly refresh your consumer data and research to keep up with the trends. Things are moving faster today than ever before; consumers are smarter than ever.

While finding new customer segments, there is always the challenge of not offending current customers while building the brand with the new target group that may have different core needs and require a different advertising approach. For example, Oldsmobile had a longtime hold on its market segment. The market inevitably became older and older. At that time, Oldsmobile decided to run a “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile” campaign. What happened? Not only did it not attract a new audience, it turned off its core audience. The result, Oldsmobile declined as a brand.

We have a handful of brands around today that will stand the test of time. Coke is one. Ford might be another, but it will take some luck, some very smart brand and business management, and no crisis situations. Who would have thought Arthur Andersen would disappear? Who could have foreseen the Goodyear tire fiasco with the Ford Explorer? Brands must be nimble; their stewards must know how to evolve and have the commitment to make the changes necessary to continue to be great. It is important to react quickly, but you must move at the “speed of smart.”

Typically, what kills an established brand is bad management, lack of foresight and vision—stewards who have become complacent and don’t take risks or have allowed the product to lose its connection to the consumer. Bad product, marketing or pricing decisions can kill a brand over time. Environmental and ethical issues can kill a brand overnight. A discontinuity will kill a brand today. No one knows what unfulfilled need is around the corner that will allow consumers to substitute one product for another. Tic Tacs appeared and eroded Dentyne’s market share overnight. Dentyne never saw it coming.

If some of a brand’s core attributes have become less relevant to today’s consumer, then a brand will have to reinvent itself to survive and grow. It is usually a tougher challenge to invent a new brand completely. If a brand has a strong but eroding foundation, it has a base to build on. Evolving a brand doesn’t necessarily mean a complete reinvention. Budweiser is a good example of a brand staying fresh in its approach without constantly reinventing itself.