When Good Brands Go Bad: Predicting the future of troubled brands.

I think this year was a defining year for many brands-- they either made it or crashed. One that I am quite sad, although not necessarily suprised about, is Polaroid. I wonder, had they stuck to their core products and not expanded to all the smaller joy-fun-cam products, if they might have survived... Paul Larson, designer, (freelance) - November 30, 2001 This is only the beginning. In this market where liquidation is the trend over reorganization, many companies are filing for bankruptcy leaving their brands to die with them. Kim Barnet, freelance writer - November 30, 2001 This is hard to predict with all of the cash the american government is throwing at airlines to keep them afloat (eg. Midway)! It will be interesting to see how things proceed into the new year. Ricardo Sanchez, student - December 3, 2001 Be brave - it takes more courage to focus than to diversify. Too many times the big boys want new blood and turf with impatience and panic replacing strategy and planning. In hard times a carefully considered strategy will earn its keep why then do we get strategy amnesia when key decisions are made? Derek Tyrer, Head of Branding & Corporate Marketing, United Utilities - December 3, 2001 polariod should have adapted to changes in technology. Everything has been turning digital yet polaroid seem to ignore this fact. The sticky picture camera was just a gimmick to increase the life of the brand, it was not a long-term strategy. Maybe they should have joined forces with someone like intel who seem to want to extend their product range. A state of the art digital camera. would have extended both brands yet not diversified from what the brands are famous for. will goodacre, graduate, still looking! - December 3, 2001 Hyundi is a brand that is ignoring its potential in the car market. They have a world rally car, yet are not cashing in on a road going version. would subaru have sold as many cars if it wasn't for their rally entry! Stop being short sited Hyundi and grab the chance to increase your brand's value. will, graduate, none - December 3, 2001

Go back 100 years, how many brands from then are still around today? Surely the trick is to understand the industry not just your operations - in Australia interstate travel by train is virtually dead, the train operators fail to see themselves in the industry of mobility and connectivity of people and have ultimately failed to brand themselves for flexibility in this arena! Gary Hunt, Manager Business Development Projects, P&O Ports - December 3, 2001 Once again, common sense was a key missing ingredient on some of the big brands failures. In the case of Firebird and Camaro, for example, its almost painful to see how GM failed to adapt to the rapidly changing needs for younger costumers. Their brands were no longer meaningful for the young people now looking towards sporty, versatile and cool looking SUVs. In my opininio, they lacked the most basic thing in marketing: common sense. Big egos and a blunt vision can really kill even the strongest brands. David Yan Nechyba, Coroprate Marketing Director, ASSA Corp. Mexico. - December 3, 2001 Change is always easier to predict than to adapt to. We cannot ignore that advancements in technolgy will continue to mould not only the way we conduct business into the future, but more impotantly, the products we use & how we use them. Managing our brands well, requires integrating R & D into marketing efforts. In the case of Polariod, the writting was on the wall. Take note, businesses that operate on 'old technology' make sure your product evolves to suit the changing demands and is constantly in line with ever advancing technology. Brands build value when their products add value. Colin Thomas, Brand Specialist in Training, RSP Publishers (Johannesburg SA) - December 4, 2001 Any company that does not continually ask the question "are you (my consumer) buying what I am selling in the form & the location that I am offering it in" will be at risk. This does not mean your consumer knows what he wants- you must understand what he will buy, when & where- call it informed instinct. jonathan hoare, md, burkittddb - December 4, 2001 Companies which plan product extension with core products do so with heightened CREDIBILITY. They will likely be more successful. Brands like Intel, Xerox, and IBM failed in product extension because they did not stick with their core product, their area of expertise. Intel, known for microprocessor technology failed in consumer electronic products. Xerox, known for copying technology, failed in computer products. IBM, known for computer

technology, failed in copying products. What is happening here? If they had moved into product extension related to their core business they would have advanced with CREDIBILITY. They would have taken advantage of credibility persuasion principles. How does CREDIBILITY relate to marketing? Remember that credibility means being "expert", "trustworthy" and "forward thinking". Voila! A company's core business most likely gives it "expertise" in that business. A company which tries to go outside the core business in product extension is at a credibility disadvantage and likely doomed to fail. It is better to plan product extension with CREDIBILITY --- a core product the company is known for. Giant Intel, in just now doing that after a painful lesson. William L. Haig, Author, The Power of Logos - December 4, 2001 Change is the major challenge today: Foreseeing it, preparing for it or initiating it. Consumers needs are constantly on the move. People require more individualistic solutions at a lower price (which is a contradiction in itself). Products and distribution channels are evolving rapidly. Production costs are even more important than they were yesterday. A brand that can not keep abreast with any of these factors will certainly fail. It would be safe to say that the bureaucratic giants of today are staying alive mainly because of brand momentum and financial strength. If they don't get nimble quick we will see them cutting a hand or an arm to lighten their loads. Tolga Kucukyumuk, Marketing Manager, Michelin, Turkiye - December 5, 2001 Lever Brothers (pvt) Limited has intiated corporated marketing at large in Pakistan. In terms of Brand Management this phenomena can be termed as maketing oneself as a house of brands. The move is a well calculated and well timed one indeed. Levers has been operating in Pakistan for decades. The generation X has grown up listening to its name being read out as a sponsor on TV. Hence the brand recognition and recall is very high. Thus tying the corporation's brand name to various other brand Levers now sells not just ordinary detergents, soaps, beauty creams. But it has learnt to give an added boost to its brands' credibility and reliability to beat the growing clutter in consumer goods mushrooming all over the country. Smart branding! Mariam Durrani, Adjunct Faculty Member, SZABIST - December 7, 2001 You take a big risk by not taking risk. At the same time, your brand should satisfy a deeply felt emotional need apart from delivering rational benefits. Brands that develop communication on true consumer insights in a refreshing manner seldom fail. Consumers would have no problem buying an Intel Key board or a PC monitor or even a Cell phone provided it appeals to the rational and emotional side while positioning on the basic core

property of Intel, Innovation. How are companies like 3M growing by launching various brands in different un related categories. Their Core Competency is Innovation, not any product line or process. Ramprasad, Brand Services Manager, Lowe Lintas and Partners - December 7, 2001 Globalisation is forcing out the brands of the past that introduced a commodity rather than built a platform of shared experiences. The brands that are going to survive this century are those that make a real differences to people's lifestyle rather than their patterns of ownership- the brand is the personal badge of identity. Colin Benjamin, C.E.O and Managing Director, Life. Be in it, Internatiional - December 9, 2001 Wonder if the issue is even framed correctly - are all the cited "failures" truly brands Oldsmobile and Polaroid would seem to be clearly brands in the sense they stood for something beyond a tangible product - but I don't think Webvan, Urban Fetch, Kozmo ever got to be anything more than corporate names and logos - never rose to the level of being brands with measurable brand equity. Bruce, Humbert, Consultant - December 10, 2001 Basic rule will still apply: Emotional content of the brand with no physical evidence of customer benefit will mean even shorter lifecycle for brands. Surviving brands will be those who make the customer's life simpler and easier while ensuring max consumer benefits and support lifestyles. Francois J. Montrelay, VP Marketing and Comms, ABN AMRO Bank - December 11, 2001 I think that the main thing in the future of branding is that you have to know and forsee all changes in the people's expectations and needs. You have not only to investigate but also to create new needs and trends in peoples mind. Creation of the new trends and alternatives -this is the main keypoint in the 21th century. Ilya Kondratyuk, Marketing Manager, McDonald's Ukraine ltd. - December 16, 2001 Interestingly but not surprisingly considering the ability of many in our industry to avoid giving a straight answer to anything, nobody has actually stuck their necks out and named any names. Here goes: BT will go because they always keep me waiting on the line. BA will go because Virgin is so

much better. Virgin Trains will go because I can currently fly to New York and back for the price of a return ticket to the north of England (and I'll be on time). All Bar One will go because the police will start to enforce the '18' rule, and there will be no 'grown ups' to fill the gap. Puma will have to start making decent trainers again (retro chic won't keep them going for ever). Many of the investment banks will disappear under the weight of litigation related to 'strong buy' recommendations from not exactly impartial analysts. McDonalds will suffer as news leaks out that BSE or not, they're actually still serving ground up testicles between cardboard buns. MFI will topple (sideways) and carpet retailers and manufacturers will all but disappear beneath now ubiquitous polished wooden (veneer) floors. 'Designer' everything will become pass. When I am King Simon Case, Design Director, Enterprise IG San Francisco - December 20, 2001 Brands are like people. When we decide to build a brand is the same than we are waiting the birth of our son. We begin to think on him: How it will be phisically, emotionally, which kind of character he will have...and how he has to act to seduce in his professional and in his private life. Brands must to seduce to have success, but its impossible to seduce everybody. So: Emotion, seduction,intelligence in chosing the objetive of our seduction and, the most important: see the things in another way. pedro crcoba, strategic planner, BRANDketing - December 26, 2001