subject: Losing Whole Focus - Modification For The Sake Of Change [print this page] This is continually a complete steward's nightmare. Boardrooms speak about the importance of innovation to keep the corporate vibrant and prior to the game. Yet many corporations translate this into modification simply for the sake of change. While not clearly understanding the whole relationship with the customers modification will be fatal to a brand.
Wendy's is an example of how a whole lost its manner with the sudden death of its founder, Dave Thomas, in 2002. The company continues to struggle to find its complete voice without Dave leading the way. This is often usually a downside when the owner/founder of a corporation is additionally part of the brand.
The largest dilemma facing many brands is internal boredom. The desire to vary the look and feel of a brand. The requirement to form it new and modern. The aspiration for brand managers to place their own mark onto the brand. Create sure the aim for creating changes to your whole is clearly understood and does not attempt to vary the complete's DNA.
Pizza Hut has been struggling trying to seek out its complete positioning (a very expensive manner of understanding how the brand is connecting with its customers). Unfortunately, they keep changing the messaging and executions in the hope of connecting to their customers. They should spend more time and cash on understanding their relationship with their customers than continually changing their advertising direction.
Brand line extensions are another brand folly. There are some natural and obvious line extensions and there are some formidable tries to induce customers further embracing the brand. Virgin Cluster Ltd., the parent company's to the over 200 Virgin branded company beneath the control of its billionaire founder, Sir Richard Branson, has shown that a relevant brand position will extend beyond many business sectors starting from mobile telephones, to transportation, travel, financial services, leisure, music, holidays, publishing and also the list goes on. If you visit the Virgin Cluster website they state that "Virgin stands for worth for money, quality, innovation, fun and a way of competitive challenge." It's through these whole values that allow the Virgin complete to transcend across a mess of companies as a distinctive and distinct brand. While BIC pens brand promise didn't permit them to increase their whole into pantyhose (what where they thinking!). They did successfully extend the BIC complete to water sports equipment (go figure!). Whoever heard of disposal surf boards?
The additional distinctive, relevant and credible the brand promise is, the bigger the possibility its whole extension will be successful. That's why Paul Newman's food product succeed and Willie Nelson Biodiesel Fuel and Lance Armstrong's LiveStrong mutual funds failed. Customers may love Nelson's music and respect Armstrong for his several "Tour de France" cycling races; their brand promise has no connection with shoppers concerning car engines and finance.
The moral of this story is don't manipulate with a successful complete unless you actually perceive the complete association with its consumers. The Virgin Cluster's example shows how a whole promise is larger than a product (a plane, cell phone etc) however is intricately linked to the core values that drive the whole Virgin group of products. This complete promise connects each product strongly to the whole and to the consumer. A Virgin medical centre could not succeed.
