Memory lane
Retailers also need to be careful that they don’t mistakenly overstock themselves with brands from the past that don’t fit their customers’ needs.
More and more, we are seeing old brands being revitalised and reworked. Everywhere customers turn, businesses are waxing nostalgic. From drinks to clothing, much of today’s brand landscape is being retrofitted – figuratively and literally. Retro is with us (again).
The resurgence in nostalgia is particularly big in some industries. Entertainment is an example. The most heavily promoted movies have included Charlie's Angels, Scooby-Doo and Star-Wars. Coupled with the release of these movies, is the associated mass merchandise sold by retailers. Retailers look gleefully at these opportunities as they potentially provide a chance to increase sales.
“Old” is cool. So many businesses are jumping on this bandwagon. And why is that? With the plethora of new brands launched each year, a brand’s history can serve as a proxy for experience that can be compelling in a retail environment that faces so many new brand introductions. A brand with history can trump one that was dreamed up last week even if neither are recognised by consumers. Trust and legitimacy are key.
So why is brand revival popular?
Some argue that brand revival works like the metaphorical “comfort food”. Others argue that it is the supreme “hook du jour”. Whether you dust off an old slogan or bring back a dormant brand, the adage “if it worked once, it can work again” resounds.
With the nostalgia and retro boom in full flight, many retailers (and other businesses) are looking to recapture the love of customers for time-honoured brands that were successful in the past but faded into obscurity in recent times. Some of those brands may no longer be made or have been allowed to fall into disarray.
Revitalising a dormant brand needs to be handled with care
Recognise that while a brand may have been around for many years, its appeal was originally founded in the minds of consumers who have little in common with today’s customers. Also, many revitalised brands suffer through half-hearted efforts at reestablishing them in the marketplace, as one would if starting with a new unknown brand.
Just because a brand was popular once, does not mean it can be reinvigorated to last the distance again. No one knows this better than Star Wars, whose movie sequel hype far outpaced its delivery, leaving retailers holding the bag of unwanted, unsold goods.
Retailers need to carefully consider just how ‘big’ a revitalised brand actually will be before engaging with a nostalgia campaign. This can be difficult to forecast. You don’t want to have too much stock, but then too little can be also adversely impact on customers who feel aggrieved at not being able to capture a bit of the past.
It is not often that a brand will last “forever”. Some go out with a bang, others with a whimper but at some stage all will face their own mortality.
The death of most brands is often at the hands of its owner. Takeovers and mergers result in the disappearance of many brands. They may be renamed or reformulated to give them a new lease of life. Or they may just become cobwebbed objects of nostalgia.
And it seems that no industry, product or service is immune to possible brand failure. It takes time and effort to keep a brand awake and relevant to consumers.
Some brands from yesteryear that have either failed or gone to sleep include Pear's soap, Ovaltine malt drink, Polaroid photography, Rover cars, and Monulinex electrical household appliances. There are many, many others.
Retailing has always had a high risk element. New Zealand high street retailers are among the most well-known casualties – MacKenzies, F W Woolworths, the DIC and Hope Brothers spring to mind, as does Warnocks, James Smiths, Barefoot, Originals, and Modern Bags.
What is the key to successful brand revitalization?
The key reason for a brand’s success and longevity is that it strikes a chord with customers. Successful brands have strong values, values that are not only matched by their distinct images and superb performance but which appeal to customers. They remain relevant to customers and keep pace with the needs of customers.
New brands take years to establish and cost significant sums. And there is no guarantee of success. Many more new brands fail than succeed. Having a successful brand does not always guarantee long-term success. The fall from hip to hop can be rapid.
If a brand is losing ground in the marketplace but is not yet dead, it may be able to be revived. Engaging in brand revival helps lessen the risk of failure and provides a head start over a new brand. But brand revival should be approached cautiously.
Lessons can be learned
Lessons learned from the death of some successful brands include:
- Markets are not static – you need to keep pace with the times. What is sought after today may not be tomorrow.
- Success is a double-edged sword – the more successful a brand is within one market, the more difficult it becomes for the brand to adapt.
- Don’t be overprotective of your product category – remember ‘leading brands should promote the category, not the brand’.
- Stay creative – many older brands start to lose creativity in their strategic thinking – insert originality into the creative process and push to be different.
- Be essential and needed.
- Watch your competition – they are always keen to nip at your heels.
- Keep an eye on the economy – when economies are in trouble, so too can be brands.
- Realise that price gimmicks won’t win long-term consumers.
- Don’t neglect advertising.
- Be better than your competition.
- Don’t contradict your brand values.
Nostalgia can only carry a brand so far. Nostalgia can be a powerful selling force. But it can also eventually make a brand irrelevant to the present market. Remember your market is ever changing. Nostalgia can play a key ingredient in the success of a brand, but it should not be the only part.
An edited version of the article was published in NZ Retail, September 2008.
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Corinne Blumsky
Partner
