United Airlines has grounded “Ted” their low fare “airline-within-an-airline” brand extension that was positioned to take on low fare competitors such as Southwest, JetBlue, Frontier, AirTran and others. Sign of the tough economy or poor positioning? Probably both.

Even without a tough economy and rising gas prices, it always seemed like a long shot that an established full service carrier could move nimbly and cheaply enough to compete successfully against discount carrier upstarts. Source: BrandWeek

For many foreign companies, building a strong presence in the U.S., the largest and most demanding market in the world, brings instant credibility.

Four years later ING has become the "third-largest holder of consumer CD investments in the U.S. Click the source link to read further about the strategies that led to ING's success, as well as those employed by IKEA, Royal Bank of Scotland and Dyson.  Source: Harvard Working Knowledge

• According to the Wall Street Journal Online, “makers of dishwasher detergent and fabric freshener are dressing up their packaging in the hopes that consumers will showcase the bottles when they're not using them. Instead of relying on bold colors and big logos to make these items jump off the store shelves, marketers are coming up with subtler packaging that they believe better meshes with shoppers' home decor.” Requires WSJ Subscription.
• The Travel Industry Association Survey says frustration with air travel has resulted in a $26.5 billion ‘hit’ to the U.S. economy as travelers avoided roughly 41 million trips over the past twelve months. And traveler attitudes are unlikely to change even as gas prices  climb, representing continued lost opportunities for carriers. From MarketingCharts.
• Honda ups the ante with “the first ever live advert on British television” featuring 19 skydivers who will spell out the word Honda as part of the company advertising campaign, “Difficult is worth doing.” Here's the the first letter. For the full video click here.
  From AdFreak.

The use of celebrity endorsers is a common---and tricky---brand building strategy. Consider these recent ‘incidents’ involving celebrity endorsers:

Christian Dior dropped celebrity spokesperson Sharon Stone from their advertising in China, after the actress suggested that recent earthquakes there were “karmic retribution for Beijing’s treatment of Tibet.”

Conservative bloggers protested a Dunkin Donuts ad that featured Rachel Ray wearing a scarf that they charged resembled keffiyeh, the patterned and fringed scarf that is the traditional headdress of Arab men---and associated by some Americans with terrorism.

A 2007 print ad for Deréon Girls, Beyoncé’s fashion line for young girls, resurfaced as the target of criticism by a new round of bloggers for oversexualizing and ‘tarting up’ young girls. The label is an offshoot of the Hip Hop fashion House of Deréon.

Celebrity endorsements have the potential to significantly raise sales and market share, and introduce the brand to a new target audience. For example, Forbes reports that Chanel’s endorsement deal with spokes icon Nicole Kidman increased business by nearly 16%, without any changes in fragrance or packaging, because “all of a sudden, younger women took notice of the brand.” (Reportedly Nicole Kidman is being replaced by "Amelie" star Audrey Tautou)

But endorsement deals can turn bad in an instant. Who can forget actor Ben Curtis’ famous utterance, “Dude, you’re getting a Dell”? The consumer campaign, was “hugely successful” for Dell Computer Corp. In 2002 Dell began to transition away from Curtis’ character and it’s just as well since the actor was arrested for attempting to buy marijuana on Manhattan’s lower east side.

As a result, the memorable line and character spawned a host of parodies and late night jokes, many of which were at the Dell brand’s expense. (See the left column for a video of one of the Dell ads. If the ad isn’t visible you can view it here.) After Kobe Bryant’s rape arrest, Nutella and McDonald’s hastily dropped their agreements with the basketball star.

Celebrities are human after all; it’s impossible for marketers to remove every bit of risk from a deal. But here are three things every marketer must to enhance the potential for celebrity endorsement success:

Going Global? Make sure you understand cultural sensitivities.
Blogger Daisy Kong asks why Dior would pick Sharon Stone to endorse their brand in China since her pro-Tibet stance is well known. Good question. Brands need to understand cultural sensitivities if they expect to succeed outside familiar turf.

Does the endorser/endorsee relationship make sense?
Seriously, when you think brand extensions for sexy, R&B star Beyoncé, do you immediately think children’s clothing line?  Strategically smart celebrity/brand pairings enhance the core brand equities of each partner---and this doesn’t work for either.

Put fires out quickly. Despite a marketer's best efforts, sometimes stuff just happens. In the case of Rachel Ray’s scarf, most critics were also fans--- even the most vocal doubted she was trying to make a political statement. (Personally, the only reaction that I had to Ray’s scarf was that it was unattractive. The connection between it and a keffiyeh didn’t occur to me.)

While it's absurd to suggest that Dunkin Donuts was promoting a terrorism symbol, the company was right not to provide fodder for those bloggers who live for controversy. The company simply pulled the ad and got back to making donuts.   

Credits
Rachel Ray photo from AdAge
Dereon Girls Print ad from BrownSista
Dell Dude Screen Shot from YouTube

Just about everyone who’s ever reached for an artificial sweetener knows the color code: pink is Sweet’ N Low, Splenda is yellow and Equal is blue. At least until recently. According to AdAge, NutraSweet plans to introduce their packets in the pink, yellow and blue colors of its competitors.

That’s not to say that they will have an easy time of it. Aspartame has its own vulnerabilities. Sucralose sweeteners, such as Splenda, have overtaken aspartame in market share, and the artificial sweetener category is commoditized. It will be tough to generate market share based on substantive brand differentiation so NutraSweet’s strategy to grab share from competitors is smart. Hopefully, they've planned additional smart strategies as a follow-up.

We’ve talked about how to keep your brand vibrant and healthy---but what can you do if it’s out of date---or even dead?

According to a ‘retro marketing’ expert quoted in “Can a Dead Brand Live Again?” published by the New York Times, ”’There’s no real reason that a brand needs to die…unless it is attached to a product that ‘functionally doesn’t work.’ That is, as long as a given product can change to meet contemporary performance standards, ‘your success is really dependent on how skillful you are in managing the brand’s story so that it resonates with meaning that consumers like.’”

This article about marketers who specialize in reviving dead and dying brands provides valuable insight for marketers, regardless of where your brand is in the product lifecycle.

Some highlights:

• How the faultiness of consumer memory provides an opportunity “not just in what we remember but also in what we misremember. For example, Stanley  never produced ladders but when they discovered that many consumers 'remembered' they did, they began to produce ladders.
• The rebirth of White Cloud toilet tissue as (essentially) a Wal-Mart store brand.
• How updating the Volkswagen Beetle brand helped make it, according to the article, one of the most successful reanimated brands of all time.
• The newly relaunched Salon Selectives hair care brand illustrates how the new brand owner hopes to attract nostalgic fans of the brand as well as new consumers who aren’t familiar with it, providing great learning for marketers of mature brands.

This article isn’t a quick read but it’s a very worthwhile one and will provide some great thought starters on strategies to better manage your own brands. 

It’s All About Performance

It’s frustrating to feel that your hard work isn’t appreciated.

If not, reexamine marketing strategies and tactics to ensure they meet the business performance objectives of your company or client.

During the 1980’s the Liz Claiborne brand rode to success on the backs of working women who appreciated the versatility and affordability of the fashionable label.

But without a clear strategy to position and manage them, the brands faltered and the flagship Liz Claiborne brand began to lose its cachet---one writer recently even characterized the label as “stodgy.”  Ouch.

Profitability suffered and eventually the company was forced to divest itself of eight labels, closing down two, licensing one and folding two others into existing company names. (Brandweek)

So, what happened?

According to CEO William McComb, who was brought in to oversee a turnaround of the company, “While Claiborne really pioneered the multibrand portfolio model, it never got the idea that it was OK to sell, exit or divest a business…Good portfolio management, to me, is looking at what you're incubating, what you're buying, what you are milking and what you're getting rid of. [The company] didn't have a portfolio management strategy." He's right.

Liz Claiborne Inc (LIZ) holdings reduced by Becker Capital Management Inc

Liz Claiborne courting designers for overhaul

Brand Commoditization: 6 Ways to Prevent the Death of a Brand

I learned about Innocent Drinks in a recent post by Mack Collier on Viral Garden. The UK  beverage company manufactures ‘Natural Drinks That Taste Good and Do You Good” --- aka smoothies made from 100% natural fruits and “traditional/homemade recipes."

The company positioned the program as multi-generational by showing one of their younger employees take knitting lessons – yes, Innocent Drinks actually made knitting cool. In 2007, the campaign went viral across Europe: “…more than 400,000 hats were sent in, while customers posted photos through photo sharing site Flickr and met up through online communities.” The program generated a significant contribution to the charitable organization and resulted in a 100% lift in increased sales.

Click on the video in our left sidebar to highlights of this wonderful program. (If the video isn't visible on this page, you can view it here on YouTube.)

So, what are some of the brand strategies that have contributed to the company’s success?

First and most importantly, Innocent Drinks provides a healthy, good tasting product that focuses on benefits that people are actively seeking. Natural is a key component of their positioning, but it’s a feature of the product that provides a reason to believe/support to the positioning rather than a benefit. In general, benefits resonate more strongly with customers than features because they link the product to customer needs.

It takes the combined efforts of every area in the company to ensure the strategy is a success Everything the company does reflects their vision to leave the world a better place. Their completely natural ingredients, sustainable packaging, carbon neutral energy practices, etc. are authentically green right down to their fruity core.

Success isn’t without its challenges. When Innocent Drinks tested its products in McDonald’s stores in the UK it angered some avid brand users who accused the company of selling out.  Company officials assured them that was not the case and provided opportunities for ongoing dialogue, illustrating that the more successful a company is in facilitating a brand’s development; the more engaged they will be with brand followers.

Images: InnocentDrinks.co.uk

Suppose someone walks up to you on the street and holds up the skanky-looking David Ortiz jersey in the photo here and invites you to buy it. Ugh. Even if you’re a Red Sox fan, how fast do you think you would walk away from the person trying to sell it to you without actually running?

What’s your brand's story?

UPDATE: Curse Shirt sells for $175,100.  

Photos: Listing on eBay.