Brand Focus
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 9:41AM When is the right time to expand your brand?
Unfortunately, most companies do not choose to expand their brand at the right time and the results are often disastrous. In an attempt to gain additional revenue organizations expand the focus of core brands to encompass more and more. By doing this they are diminishing the meaning and value of the brand. Can you honestly tell someone what AOL or AltaVista represent today? Expanding a weak brand in an attempt to increase sales does not make the brand stronger; in fact it does just the opposite. Watering down the focus of an already weak brand further dilutes its meaning and the value of that brand to the organization.
So what is the right way? Take a look at a brand like Google, which has successfully expanded into video (YouTube) and mobile phones (Android). Why did it work for them? Because Google's exclusive focus on search built a brand strong enough to withstand the stresses of expansion. You don't rehab an injured knee by doing pushups and bicep curls, the knee gets better by exercising the knee. Focusing on strengthening the area of weakness makes that area stronger and increases the ability to take on other roles. The same is true for weak brands; moving the focus to other areas does not strengthen the brand but weakens it. Focus on what the brand should mean and make it strong, then you can consider expansion.
Reader Comments (3)
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Thanks for the post. Companies should be executing the proper assessments to determine the overall health of the brand. A company like AOL may have strong brand recognition, but the health of the brand could be poor. So there is a difference between brand recognition and the true health of the brand. If the brand health or brand recognition is recognized as weak, it would be a bit premature for those companies/brands to decided to expand anyway.
But the same is also true for brands that are healthy and have strong recognition. Several strong brands have attempted to expand and the brand expansion failed. Google is a great example of this. Before Google+ there was Google Buzz, which failed as I understand due to Google not following it's own processes (http://deepnetmedia.com/blog/social-media/google-heralds-googles-next-social-media-venture.html). Google recognized it was in the right arena, but had other challenges. Another example is Delta expanding into the low-cost carrier market with Delta Song, didn't work. There are so many variables. What you are expanding to and if it complements the parent brand is also a variable. Sub-brands that have no relation to the parent brand is another discussion.
Yes, Google's brand was strong enough to withstand the demise of Google Buzz and then to launch Google+, but many brands that have the perception of strong health have failed due to other factors. Sometimes it's just good to know when to stick with what you do best and that may be your best answer.
'' Focus on what the brand should mean and make it strong, then you can consider expansion ''.
Does it mean that every brand can be successful even it is not correspond well to the market needs?
I think that it is very important to find the gap in the market and make it profitable!
And all is to predict the market needs at the time when they have just begin.