Recession will kill weak brands

“This recession will kill off weak brands and make category leaders stronger” says Ian McDougall, Brand Strategist at BrandNew. “Strong brands deliver business resilience in a recessionary market”

If there’s any doubt we’re in a recession go ask the retailers with the SALE signs on the store fronts.

“This is the wrong strategy. Add value to your offer, it’s about value on, not price off. Price off simply reduces your margin and positions your brand as a permanent loss leader”.

BrandNew’s research shows a recessionary market is characterised by a heightened consumer focus on value, on quality assurance and on the propensity to trade down to generics.

“These three factors are constants in all recessions. Your brand must be positioned on value. Quality must be evident but delivered through the product. If these values are not obvious, it signals a weak brand and consumers will shift spending to generics or lower-priced substitutes”.

The Rugby Sevens

The Rugby Sevens brand would have to be a marketers dream. The union has cleverly turned this annual sporting event into the country's biggest costume party. While other organisations struggle to build attendances , Wellingtons Stadium is turning people away. The Sevens is not just an event, it is an experience. We are officially in the era where the customer experience transcends even the game. Many businesses could take a leaf from this book.

Is there such a thing as an Employer Brand?

We applaud HR consultancies talking up branding. The question however is whether what they term an 'employer brand' is any different from the corporate brand.

We think not. No more than would be an 'accounts received brand' or a 'delivery brand'. While each individual aspect of business performance needs to reflect the organisational brand and values, they do not require separate brand 'engines'.
What is in danger of being lost in this new 'HR terminology' is the central focus of all brands; the customer.

It is the customer who determines the brand reputation in the market. Staff do play a significant role in delivering the brand but the key messages should be consistent across all audiences.

While we admire the HR industry for their astuteness and encourage this new found enthusiasm for brands, tamper with the brand and you will end up confusing everyone, including staff.

This is a British theme park ride called The Oblivion. It is a fairly straight forward concept; you are strapped in to a seat, hauled up the equivalent of several stories and then dropped into a hole in the ground.

You would think a glass of twenty-six thousand year old water would taste a tad musty but that hasn't deterred a couple of Nelsonians from using it to make a line of vodka called (unsurprisingly) 26,000.

The new face of consumerism is the man standing outside the office of Mercury Energy with a placard “Contract Killers,” and we had all better start getting used to it.

Tony's Tyre Service has teamed with Icon Properties to build the first of their new generation premises.

“Athletes have the Olympics, actors have the Oscars, musicians have the Grammies, and designers and costume creators have WOW.”

If New Zealand has such a strong clean, green image, why do we rank so low as a world brand?

The ad industry’s AdMedia magazine have just announced the results of their annual Make an Ad Competition.