Myths About Branding

Brand Dilution

I love assessing the marketing tactics of companies. I notice and pick to pieces the technicalities of the campaign. Quite frequently I fall upon some bizarre strategies that defy common sense. For example, one day I was walking down an aisle of a sporting goods store when I noticed, in the kayaking corner, a sight that I will never forget�

It was� now brace yourself� a Bic� kayak. There it was� big as daylight� the Bic� logo� you know, the tiny ball-headed man holding a pen� proudly placed on the top of the boat (or is that "yak." Are kayaks really boats?).

Apparently Bic� Sport was started around 1979 as a surf board company striving to create a low cost brand. By 1997 they had created 1,000,000 surf boards. I didn't know that many people surfed.

Bic� Sport has a hip website that's dedicated wholly to equipment for water sports. Apparently the brand means "economic quality." How many of us thought that Bic� meant "low-cost pens"?

Most studies of big businesses on the topic of brand illustrate that a brand is most successful when it represents a solitary meaning. I tend to believe this report and have demonstrated the principle in my own businesses. Nevertheless we ought to understand a few basic myths about branding and use science as a guide to help us remain on the proper path.

Myth number one. Your brand must correspond to one single product. No, your brand meaning should be focused in terms of its meaning, yet wide enough to be put on many products that can raise the sales volume of your company. For instance, if Tide� meant, "It gets the dirt out when nothing else can." Then you could make Tide� vacuums and cleaning equipment/chemicals. Tide� is based in solid fundamentals and is an incredibly successful brand of laundry detergent. They've kept the brand name pure and focused on cleaning clothes. Companies like Proctor and Gamble and Johnson and Johnson release a number of single product brands, which is a tactic I like.

Myth number two. Everyone on Earth understands what your brand means. Actually, the Earth�s markets are vastly fragmented. Each niche is a society in itself with personalized publications, opinion leaders, and trade associations. Since our everyday lives have grown to be exceedingly high paced and we have so little time, people are very choosy as to what they give their attention to. In most cases, one community knows very little about another community. Think about the farming community versus the football player community. What does this mean?� a solitary brand could possess multiple meanings in different communities.

I wouldn't recommend altering your brand name meanings. I promote really focusing the meaning of your brand name so that it can encompass a broad range of products.

NOTE: Use of this article requires links to be intact.

Comments? Questions? Email Here

© HowtoAdvice.com

How to Advice .com