Who Owns Your Brand?
Kevin Roberts of Saatchi and Saatchi in an August 2004 interview stated, "You've got to remember, brands are only invented to charge a premium. That was the purpose of a brand; it didn't have any other. Recognize me, desire me, have faith in me, trust me, pay more for me." In short "select me."
Companies spend enormous amounts of time, money and effort creating, promoting and protecting their brands. This effort leads many companies to the mistaken belief that since they create, promote and protect their brands that they also own them.
This belief is wrong. Their customers own their brands. Why? A brand has no value outside a customer's head.
When there is alignment between the efforts of the company and the values of the customer then there is a strong brand. However, when the company violates their customers' values then its brand value erodes and can eventually disappear.
Wal-Mart presents an interesting case study. Through the 70's and the 80's Wal-Mart's founder Sam Walton was a folk hero and Wal-Mart was a great American success story. However, after Walton's death and the continued expansion of the company throughout the U.S. and the world, Wal-Mart has increasingly become a target of consumer groups, class-action suits, and politicians. Wal-Mart has increasingly been viewed as a destroyer of small business and a poor employer. A recent Google search using the terms "hate" and "Wal-Mart" generated 508,000 hits.
The erosion of Wal-Mart's brand has been going on for years. Wal-Mart's advertising campaign that emphasized its low prices and friendly greeters has not been sufficient to overcome the negative corrosive influence of bad publicity on its brand.
Wal-Mart announced in a nationwide newspaper ad on January 13 a change in tactics. Their current advertising/public relations campaign is designed to present Wal-Mart as a friend to communities, local businesses, its employees and its customers. Wal-Mart created its own pro-website www.walmartfacts.com to counter the negative websites on the web.
It will be interesting to see if the owners of the Wal-Mart brand (its customers) will respond positively to Wal-Mart's new message. America loves to cheer an up-and-coming company like the early Wal-Mart. However, a core American cultural value is that "big is bad and should be viewed with suspicion." Wal-Mart is certainly big and has no plans to shrink anytime soon.
For Wal-Mart the success or failure of its new advertising/public relations campaign is not insignificant. Wal-Mart's long-term success depends on it.
Companies spend enormous amounts of time, money and effort creating, promoting and protecting their brands. This effort leads many companies to the mistaken belief that since they create, promote and protect their brands that they also own them.
This belief is wrong. Their customers own their brands. Why? A brand has no value outside a customer's head.
When there is alignment between the efforts of the company and the values of the customer then there is a strong brand. However, when the company violates their customers' values then its brand value erodes and can eventually disappear.
Wal-Mart presents an interesting case study. Through the 70's and the 80's Wal-Mart's founder Sam Walton was a folk hero and Wal-Mart was a great American success story. However, after Walton's death and the continued expansion of the company throughout the U.S. and the world, Wal-Mart has increasingly become a target of consumer groups, class-action suits, and politicians. Wal-Mart has increasingly been viewed as a destroyer of small business and a poor employer. A recent Google search using the terms "hate" and "Wal-Mart" generated 508,000 hits.
The erosion of Wal-Mart's brand has been going on for years. Wal-Mart's advertising campaign that emphasized its low prices and friendly greeters has not been sufficient to overcome the negative corrosive influence of bad publicity on its brand.
Wal-Mart announced in a nationwide newspaper ad on January 13 a change in tactics. Their current advertising/public relations campaign is designed to present Wal-Mart as a friend to communities, local businesses, its employees and its customers. Wal-Mart created its own pro-website www.walmartfacts.com to counter the negative websites on the web.
It will be interesting to see if the owners of the Wal-Mart brand (its customers) will respond positively to Wal-Mart's new message. America loves to cheer an up-and-coming company like the early Wal-Mart. However, a core American cultural value is that "big is bad and should be viewed with suspicion." Wal-Mart is certainly big and has no plans to shrink anytime soon.
For Wal-Mart the success or failure of its new advertising/public relations campaign is not insignificant. Wal-Mart's long-term success depends on it.
posted by Bret Rigby at 2:57 PM
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