Marketing...anyone?

Since I seem to spend so much of my computer time working on class material, I thought I'd post some of my random replies to online discussions for said classes. I'm taking Marketing and Total Quality Managment...neither class all that challenging with the exception of the work load and my new inability to properly manage my time. Welcome to the location of the drain on my time...

Many times firms take advantage of a popular, well-known brand by developing brand extensions because they know (think!) that the brand equity of the original or parent brand will be transferred to the new product. However, the results can be less than desired, almost to what could they have been thinking at the time. Find a select a brand extension that has gone wrong and discuss the reason you think it did not work.

It's laughable when some companies get to that point in success that they think their brand will transcend all barriers in marketing. Here are some of my personal favorites with the web links below each section:

Coca-Cola's RPet clothing at Wal-Mart, Playboy energy drink and Disney Sleeping Beauty executive fountain pens priced at up to $1,200, particularly ill-timed in this economy.
http://www.thebrandelastic.com/worst/

What do Burger King underwear, Kellogg's hip-hop street wear and Allstate Green insurance have in common? They all were voted among the worst brand extensions of 2008.

Precious Moments coffins, Hooters airlines, Cheetos lip balm and Salvador Dali deodorant won the dishonor of being selected for the list in 2006.

The macabre coffin based on the teary-eyed figurine maker was voted the most inappropriate extension by 33.9% of respondents. It was followed by the Humane Society Dog Lovers Wine Club (28.4%) and Girls Gone Wild apparel (14.9%).

The most questionable food extension went to Hooters energy drink (32.5%), Bumble Bee Prime Fillet Chicken Breasts (21.9%) and Trump Steaks (21.1%).

Hooters has the dubious distinction of winning a worst brand extension category for the second time in the four years the survey has existed. Hooters Airline, which has since been grounded, was the other.

"Hooters doesn't stand for energy. It stands for boobs and chicken," said Laura Ries, president of Ries & Ries brand consultancy, Atlanta. "At least the airline had girls on it. This is just another example of a line extension that doesn't make any sense."

Too often new products stray from their core values "to the point where there is no relation to the brand at all," said Ries.
http://www.brandweek.com/bw/magazine/current/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003682958

So what were the most unfortunate product rollouts in light of the recession? The Sleeping Beauty pen was selected by a third of respondents, followed by the Porsche Design Kitchen and its $100,000 price tag.

Still, the Burger King underwear was selected as the single most inappropriate line extension according to 45.5 percent of those polled. "Marketers are so in love with their brands that they think consumers are as well and will go to the lengths of wearing their brand name on their underwear," said Laura Ries of Ries & Ries brand consultancy. "While people love the Whopper, they don't want to parade around in underwear that says, 'This is where my big, fat ass came from.'"

Bill Cross, who is a vp at Broadstreet Licensing Group—the agency that inked the deal—said marketers are missing the point: "It's a fit for the predominantly male 18-24 target. People who are buying it aren't reading Brandweek and don't care anyway. BK likes things to be a little edgy. Their CMO, Russ Klein, loves stuff that's a little weird."

Kellogg's hip-hop street wear was second worst (22.8 percent), followed by the Kanye West's travel site (Kanyetravel.com). "It's a classic logo slap. What possible value does Kanye West hold for a travel site? How does it differentiate?" said Sprung.
http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/licensing/e3ie36ce5eb50d8af30025fd813e1143d6e?pn=2

This is a great place to start when looking at Brand Extensions:
http://www.thebrandelastic.com/strange/

90% of these don't work because the brand extension doesn't make sense with the new direction-like the Precious Moments coffin. Precious Moments are creepy little figurines with a cult-like following...but a coffin stretches the already bizarre cult consumer in an inelastic direction, so to speak.

When you think about air travel, Hooters is probably the last name that comes to mind...(okay ValueJet is probably the last name you think of)...unless you live in a trailer in unincorporated areas of Tennessee with three generations of your immediate family...and cannot afford to fly anywhere (or get to the airport, for that matter). Hooters, as a 'restaurant', is a concept that was 'novel' fifteen years ago but quickly died as on on-going reality. I went to a Hooters once about 10 years ago-the only memory I have of the place is the atrocious food. Does anyone eat here anymore?...I digress...

The Hooters decision to get into air travel made no sense at all. Think about the stereotypical flight attendant: Female, young, attractive and attentive...right? Why does she now have to dress like Jane Fonda, circa 1985, while providing peanuts and beverages? Does it make her anymore qualified, attractive, or 'female'? Most likely the answer is 'no'...

I'd rather have a flight attendant that knew EXACTLY what to do if something goes wrong. I don't buy plane tickets to check out the latest fashions in plastic surgery or fabric elasticity. I don't care what they look like-it's not a core competency of the job...I'd be willing to bet that not one of the people on the USAir Jet that went down in the Hudson river thought "Wow, our flight attendant wasn't much to look at but she sure got us out of the plane quickly."

Brands are meant to sell a specific product in a specific market...sure it's cheaper to use an existing brand to market a new one but the failure rate is often quite high. I don't like cross marketed/brand extensions-it leaves me to wonder what the company has to hide by not bothering to create a new brand. It's tantamount to saying "This is a crap product wrapped in a fancy package"...you know, like elective plastic surgery (see above).

Ford tried to 'rebadge' Jaguar for years and failed. They turned a genuine brand into a dumping ground for aggressively mediocre products until the consumer stopped buying their cars.

One of the single greatest properties of the free market economy is that consumers, for the most part, will tell a company when they've failed...often without remorse.



:::end:::