BRAND DILUTION
By Rod Alan Richardson
One of my favorite pastimes is to assess the marketing strategies of companies I see and pick apart the mechanics of the campaign. Needless to say, I stumble across some interesting tactics that defy common sense. For example, one day I was exploring the isles of a sporting goods store when right there in the kayaking section I saw something that caused me to quake in my boots…
I saw… now brace yourself… a Bic® kayak. There it was… big as daylight… the Bic® logo… you know, the little ball headed guy holding a writing utensil… prominently displayed on the top of the boat (or is that “yak.” Are kayaks really boats?).
As it turns out, Bic® Sport was founded in 1979 as a surf board company striving to create a low cost brand. By 1997 they had manufactured 1 million boards. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t know that many people surfed.
Bic® Sport has a trendy website that is solely dedicated to water sport equipment. The brand apparently means “economic quality.” Raise your hand if you thought Bic® meant “cheap pens.”
Most studies of major corporations on the topic of brand show that your brand has the most success when it represents a single meaning. I mostly believe that statement and have demonstrated the principle in my own businesses. But we must be aware of some fundamental myths about branding and use science as a guide to help us stay on the right path.
Myth one. Your brand can only represent one product. Your brand meaning should be laser focused in terms of its meaning, yet broad enough to be placed on many products that will increase the sales volume of your business. Imagine if Tide® meant, “It gets the dirt out when nothing else can.” You could then have Tide® vacuums and industrial cleaning equipment and chemicals. Tide® is based in solid fundamentals and is one of the most successful brands of laundry detergent. They’ve kept the brand name pure and focused on cleaning clothes. Companies like Proctor and Gamble and Johnson and Johnson spin out a number of single product brands, which is a tactic I prefer.
Myth two. The whole world knows the meaning of your brand. The truth of the matter is that the markets of the world are highly fragmented. Each little niche is a community within itself with its own publications, opinion leaders, and trade associations. Because our lives have become so high paced and the demands on our time have become so intense, individuals are highly selective as to what they pay attention to. In most cases, one community knows very little about another community. Think of the rodeo cowboy community verses the football player community. Or, even more explicitly, the ranch cowboy community verses the rodeo cowboy community. The end result… a single brand name could have multiple meanings in different communities.
I wouldn’t recommend distorting the meaning of your brand. I promote the option of having your brand have an extremely focused meaning that can encompass a broad range of products. Think Martha Stewart. Then think about branding your individual products under your larger brand name. Think General Mills® and Coco Puffs®.
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