Chewing gum brand saturation - post 2

I reckon Wrigley must read my blog! After my rant about the chewing gum brand saturation afflicting our nation, Marketing recently reported that Wrigley are scaling down their range and going back to basics.  Phew! No more of those (weird) fruit flavours then.  Personally I think Extra and Orbit are big brands with huge equity in mint.  Spreading this out too thinly over new questionable flavours simply to compete with Trident wasn't really the wisest of moves.  Trident does strange fruit goo-filled flavours well, and I think that by reducing their range Wrigley will make the gap wider between what they offer and Trident - which is good news in my book.  Play to your strengths and all that.

Where's the love, Love Hearts?

I had some Love Hearts the other day and it dawned on me how unbelievably crap they are.  They're a sweet shop staple, yet over the years their messages have just stayed the same.  Apparently they did have a rethink and started to add some C21st quips like 'Txt Me' and 'IM Me', but to me, that just won't cut it.  'IM Me'? Who says that?  They still have some of their oldies, like 'Bonnie Lass' and 'Gee Whizz' which I can't say have very much general meaning anymore.

In my quest to overthrow the confectionery industry, I really think as such a strong brand with a nostalgic equity, that despite this, to compete in the modern marketplace, they need to adopt a more modern approach and be meaningful the YouTube-iPod-Facebook generation.

Maybe it isn't just all about their messages, maybe all that nostalgic tripe is a strength, it gives the brand some ironic sense of humour.  Maybe it's about the lack of product innovation that's letting them down.  I am often seen snacking on their Love Hearts Dip, which is a Love Hearts branded sherbet dip - very nice.  They also make personalised Love Hearts.  Apart from that, there's not a lot else they've done!  They should create giant Love Hearts with BIG messaging potential.

Maybe their packaging could be modernised - It does look very 1933!    

Brand ailments

I always contend that I am the sickest person ever.  You name the ailment, I will have had it.  I have had an ear infection all week and feel pretty damn dreadful.  But in my haze of headaches and medicine, it got me thinking about what kind of illnesses afflict brands. 

Some brands get repetitive strain injury.  If the same campaign goes on for too long, if the same values are communicated and they're just not relevant anymore, brands can become tired.  A brand suffering from neglect and a lack of relevance will often become tired in a changing marketplace.  A severe jolt of energy from branding / communications will sort this one out.  Give the brand some relevance, some direction, a target, generate interest, engage.     

Some brands suffer from idea decay.  They may have a strong positioning and one strong execution of it which is on brand, yet its subsequent executions fall down, letting the positioning and ultimately letting the brand suffer - Citreon's Robot, Cadbury's Gorilla and to an extent Sony Bravia are examples of this.  Looking at a campaign as a holistic entity will help to remedy this problem in future.  An idea is no good if it is not campaignable, if there's only one good execution of it, it needs to be thought about again - this can be argued though, Cadbury's Gorilla was arguably good in itself, but if you look at the sales figures, was it really? 

Some brands get involved in a brand warfare.  Well, all brands are odds with their competition, but sometimes this fight can get a little bit more gritty.  The Sky and Virgin Media is a good example of this dog-eat-dog, winner takes all type fight.  Sky stabbed Virgin Media quite brutally over the channel licensing, leaving Virgin Media bruised, but they bounced back.  They're both strong brands, with confident, almost aggressive personalities.  They're both still clobbering each other for market share and I can't see this one ending any time soon.

Brands can also lose their grip on having a positive reputation for many reasons.  Off the top of my head, BBC and Iceland are brands that may be suffering from recent events - with their audiences losing trust in what they stand for.   

Brands can also be taken over.  Brand death.  Eeek.  Goodbye Gateway, The Sweater Shop, Ratners, this list is rather long.