Will another market smell as sweet?

This week marks the launch of Stella McCartney’s new floral fragrance STELLA NUDE, the latest in a long line of fashion brands, celebrities and pop starts to release their scents onto an awaiting mass market.

Many brands have been successful in adding a fragrance of two to their portfolio, however any brand looking to enter this market for the first time should really take a look at the effect on the brand of adding a retail fragrance as it can be both positive and negative.

The biggest danger for a top level brand expanding into perfume is that it can sometimes serve to downgrade the brand to a lower retail standing. If you look at many of the brands on the market associated with fashion brands, the price points for the perfume aren’t particularly high and so it is questionable how this readily available and affordable way of accessing the brand sits with a brand message that is supposed to be seen as ‘luxury’ and ‘aspirational’?

It could be argued by some that CK, Diesel and even Jean Paul Gautier have traded some of their brand value for an increased presence on the high street and has that done them any favours?

The Adidas Legacy

On the 18th August 60 years ago, Adidas registered its trademark three stripes. What is it that makes the brand so successful over what is an undeniably long tenure in the fashion world?

When you look at the Adidas brand over the years, it has certainly has its up and downs. Despite early success, the brand suffered in the early 90’s due to the marketing efforts of brands like Nike and Reebok, which became the fashion choice of the next generation. These young consumers viewed the Adidas brand as an older, more traditional brand associated with their parents generation and it just didn’t hold the same modern, funky image as other sports brands of the time.

However the Adidas legacy is now stronger than ever and is positioned as the brand of past and the present. They seem to have found a successful way of merging tradition with modern interests and their core proposition of Originality.

They have adapted the brand to encompass the needs of a changing audience whilst staying true to the brand’s original values. In the early years, their focus steered more towards associations with major sporting events and celebrity endorsements, but are now moving towards collaborations in the music scene which can permeate a number of age and cultural groups to achieve maximum engagement.

This point is about recognising when it is time to reposition a brand to keep in tune with the needs and desires of customers. Brand heritage is an extremely useful asset in building long term brand reputation, but equally, brands must adapt and recognise that the market is changing and expect brand evolution. Change is inevitable and customers are invariably fickle, so brand owners should never assume that brand legacy alone is enough to survive the test of time.

Don’t come down too hard on Tesco...

Having seen the recent news item on Tesco misquoting their carrier bag reduction figures we think it shouldn’t detract away from the other eco-friendly achievements and positive initiatives that the company has put in place.

Even though the percentage was inaccurate, Tesco has been actively working to become more socially responsible, particularly through the use of their clubcard points loyalty scheme to reduce the number of carrier bags being used. Tesco hasn’t really performed any worse overall than any other supermarket brand in terms of carrier bag reduction, but one simply misrepresented figure has brought the spotlight onto them.

It does raise the important issue of honesty, integrity and transparency when it comes to maintaining brand reputation though. many brands are trying to jump on the eco-bandwagon, only to be exposed for greenwashing later down the line. We don’t believe the incident with Tesco counts as greenwashing but it should certainly send a warning to other brand owners to ensure any messages (and especially green or community-action related ones) are accurate and remind them of the benefits of having a consistent brand management strategy in place to prevent things like this happening in the future. And no before you ask Tesco are not one of our clients.

Brand Reputation isn’t just for the Large Brands

It has become clear that many smaller brands feel that investing in building brand awareness is only something for large brands and isn’t really accessible to them.

Smaller brands should be the last type of company to think about cutting their marketing budget in the current climate. The problem is that they usually need to invest larger percentages of their turnover to compete against their larger competitors and so it can seem like a far riskier decision than that made by larger brands. The idea of increasing marketing spend is likely to be counterintuitive to many small and medium sized business owners, but failing to invest is a wasted opportunity and risks jeopardising the viability of the business going forward.

Brand reputation cuts through company size, location etc. Some of the biggest brands on the high street have disappeared in recent months, paving the way for smaller businesses to get a foothold and build valuable market share. SME’s are being given a golden opportunity to gain a presence and need to take advantage before the market improves and prices inevitably rise.

Rather than shying away from activities like advertising, smaller businesses should aggressively look for opportunities to reach their target audience through this medium. The cost of advertising media is the lowest it has been for several years, which means that SME owners can get a greater ROI than they would have got 18 months ago. Combine this with a larger investment and they can achieve greater brand awareness and cut through compared to their larger competitors.

If you are evaluating your marketing budget, spend some time considering how activities such as advertising, pr, exhibiting and direct marketing could help you build brand reputation. The pay-off is likely to be well worth the initial investment.