Brand marketing

Issue: Oct 23, 2000

A powerful brand is a trusted friend. In most cases, it's a name with a long heritage of consistently delivering products that satisfy a unique promise to consumers of all types. But staying at the top requires innovation, slick marketing and careful expansion to heighten the brand's power. It also helps to have a brand name that has been around for decades--one that has gained fans through the years and is passed down from generation to generation.

When it comes to brands, familiarity breeds loyalty, not contempt, as consumers come to trust a recognized message or logo, whether it be the tag on Cannon towels or Pepsi's "Joy of Cola" jingle. Though the execution may differ, many of the companies whose brands were chosen by consumers as favorites in the DSN Retailing Today Top Brands study grew to be so successful by following a strict set of marketing guidelines.

"Ultimately, brands get big and stay big because they've got the right message and the right product, and they deliver it consistently," said Bob Scott, director of marketing for Hanes and Hanes Her Way brand products.

Hanes, which got its start making men's underwear nearly a century ago, has expanded through the years to other soft lines categories with the same clear message: provide high-quality contemporary products at affordable prices. Scott said the trick is to offer both basic, comfortable clothing plus more fashionable items to maintain a broad mass appeal.

Expansion also nurtures brand growth. But in order to be successful, Scott said, the new product must deliver a distinct feature that ties in with the brand's promise. One example is Hanes for the Home, a jersey bedding line with features similar to Hanes' T-shirts. "The product benefits desired in both categories are remarkably similar. In both, the consumer is looking for comfort, durability and launderability," Scott said.

Another brand that owes much of its success to diversification is Sony. This Top Brand choice in Consumer Electronics is second only to Kodak in Camera, and even rated high on the Top Brands study in Film despite the fact that Sony doesn't make film. Debbie Lee Yohn, Sony's director of corporation branding and consumer branding, said she wasn't surprised the survey showed Sony's brand power transcended its product offerings.

Sony describes its brand as devoted to the celebration of life and helping dreamers dream. That broad statement enables Sony to expand in many directions, all focused on the convergence of hardware, software, content and services to enhance people's lives.

As with many other Top Brands, Sony has successfully blended products of mass appeal with those targeting specific consumer groups through sub-brands, among them Walkman and Vaio.

Whereas many companies spend heavily on image advertising, Sony doesn't. Its best marketing tool is putting out quality, technologically innovative products. Kodak, on the other hand, spends huge sums on television advertising. For the Eastman Kodak Company, growing the film and camera industry requires keeping a brand top of mind.

"You can't just rest on your laurels. You have to continually bombard the consumer with why you're worth the extra money," explained Carry Briddon, general manager and vp of U.S. trade relations and business development for Eastman Kodak.

The Top Brand choice in both Film and Camera, Kodak has remained No. 1 by embracing new technology. Interestingly, the advent of digital cameras hasn't hurt film sales whatsoever, according to Briddon, but has actually grown the business. Kodak's philosophy is that it must meet consumers imaging needs in myriad ways, whether through regular film developing, a Web service that prints digital photos, sales of photo paper or custom reprints from a disk through the Kodak Picture Maker service.

Producing reliable, quality products is one message that consistently comes up in interviews of top brand representatives. With some, such as Hallmark, the notion of quality is what the brand is all about. The well-known phrase, "When you care enough to send the very best," has immense power--87% of survey respondents named Hallmark their top choice in Greeting Cards, the highest brand preference result of the 22 categories tracked by The Top Brands study.

For Hallmark, also the top survey choice in stationery, success is a result of maintaining high standards. "Today's definition of 'quality' has expanded to mean relevancy to people's lives, trust when working with retailers and the expection that [Hallmark] means 'the very best,"' said Steve Paoletti, senior vp of Hallmark mass sales.

"We feel it's essential to understand the consumer, know what they're thinking and how their lives are changing," said Rachel Bolton, a Hallmark spokeswoman. "Hallmark greeting cards have always been extremely relevant to the consumer.

Like others, the company hasn't missed opportunities to reach out to different market segments, adding value-priced card lines as well as expanding into new categories such as collectibles and flowers. But few companies have assembled more of a menagerie of blockbuster brands under one umbrella than Mattel, however. The king in toys has several well-known names in its arsenal, including Fisher-Price, Barbie, Hot Wheels and licenses for Disney, Nickelodeon and Sesame Street. "The key to Mattel's success has been innovation: creating new brands and entering new categories," said Lisa Marie Bongiovanni, director of corporate communications.

As with Mattel's operation of Fisher-Price, Pennzoil also found that it pays to buy a rival competitor--Quaker State--and keep that brand running.

President and ceo Jim Postl said each brand had a distinct personality and customer loyalty factor that presented an opportunity. "You can have strong individual brands within the same category and maintain their independence and success," Postl said.

Quaker State motor oil reaches a different consumer than Pennzoil, and also has a different brand message, Postl said. Pennzoil's is one of technological superiority, while Quaker State keys in on offering products tailored to the type of car a person drives. The Top Brands study showed Pennzoil in the top spot, with Quaker State at No. 3.

Two other longtime rivals, Pepsi and Coca-Cola, are both Top Brands in their own right. Pepsi barely inched past Coke to the No. 1 spot, garnering 33% of survey respondents as the preferred brand vs. 30% for Coke. In actual sales, however, Coke is king.

Television marketing has been an effective marketing tool for both brands. Each has its loyal fans, with its own unique message. "We advertise at the levels we advertise at to make sure we stay in the minds of consumers," said Craig Coffey, director of marketing for Pepsi. "The consumer sees a commercial and says, 'That brand speaks to me,' to the point where consumers adopt that brand for their own."

Hershey's and Frito-Lay also enjoy a high degree of customer allegiance, with Frito-Lay slightly beating out Hershey's for Top Brand in Candy and Snacks.

"The fact that we have core brands that have been around literally for generations and we are actively introducing new and exciting brands on an ongoing basis is how Hershey's remains at the top," said Mike Kinney, a Hershey Foods spokesman. One example of Hershey's innovation is its ability to capitalize on the snack-size trend with Hershey's Nuggets and Bites.

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