BRAND LONGEVITY

K Rahul Gupta 11DM-053

Abhinav Mishra 11DM-005

Harsh Ajmera 11DM-044

Gunjan Garg 11DM-041

Abhiruchi Biranale 11IB-014

Anshu Gupta 11DM-021

Animesh Singh 11IB-07

Strategic Brand Management

September the 6th, 2012

“Brand building is not a sprint, but a marathon”

• Went through several research studies and books to zero in on the

most important influencing factors of a brand‟s life span

• Then studied whether each of the factor affects the brand life span

positively or negatively, and to what extent

• Came up with a generic six-point formula for companies to help

create brands that live longer

• As external branding consultants, suggest ways to Research in

Motion, based on the above formula, to sustain its flagship brand

Blackberry sustain longer

The Project

The Model

The ability to

reinvent

themselves

Ability to

reposition

when

important

Key

influencers

and vision of

leadership Environmental

factors

Extensions

Ability to

innovate

Brands that

live long

For a brand of considerable age, the marketers don‟t any more control what the brand means

to consumers

The need to reposition a brand is an “ad-hoc need”

How to recognize the need to reposition the brand?

Zone of credibility

• A logical link between the old and the new

• Delivering on the promise

Old Spice in 1990s: From „whistling Old man‟ to „straight-shooting, confident man‟

Repositioning

Need Symptom

Target audience are no longer the best target Consumer disenchantment

Products and Services have evolved significantly <Deliberate effort>

New competitors have a better value proposition Loss in market position

Outdated Vs. Established Shifting average consumer age

“The distinction between the business user and the consumer has blurred so much”

- Roberta Cozza, Research director for Gartner

Previously played as „An interface made for business users, and a secured network operator‟

Target audience are no longer the best target

Currently:

• Moved on to Windows OS – Business user? Secured user?

• Consolidating their position as a business phone – The jingle “We‟re the BlackBerry boys”

Zone of credibility:

Delicate balance to shift to a generic OS without loosing their tag as a „business phone‟

Our recommendation for BlackBerry‟s positioning:

BlackBerry

“A new age, user-friendly smart phone for connecting to the web on the go,

that works great for the business consumer”

Innovation & Brand Longevity

• What is innovation?

• Why innovate?

• How to innovate?

– Lead user method

• Innovation and branding…..

– Brand Relevance Vs Brand Preference

Innovation & Brand Longevity

• Identify the „must-haves‟

– Is the concept significant to marketplace?

– Can the offering be created?

• Creating barriers to competition

– Rich, dynamic offering

– Execution and scaling

– Own the category or subcategory

Brand Reinvention

Brand

Proposition

Offerings

ProductionChannel

Target

Product Price

Place Promotion

Positioning Packaging

People

BlackBerry

New Product Ranges

Lower Prices

Stronger Distribution

network

Promotional activities

(online, Adds.)

PositioningAttractive Packaging

Targeted on more younger

junta

Brand

Proposition

Offerings

ProductionChannel

Target

Key influencers & Vision of

leadership

•Most of the known brands/organizations had a charismatic leader either at the Start or

growth stages of the Life cycle

•These leaders actually build the brand of the organization during their tenure

•Leaders had created that mechanism to remain the brand successful after their

departure Ex. Charles Coffin of general electric

•They are visionaries who had actually predict the future of organization/Product before

the competition does. Ex. Bill Allen of Boeing Corporation

•The common Characteristics of their leadership are Hunger for Learning ,Innovation and

succession Planning. Ex. Sam Walton of Wall mart

•Disciplined the creativity is sign of first rate intelligence Ex-William McKnight of 3M and

Enron

•Business is not only for generating profit for them self but for stakeholders. E.g., George

Merck of the Merck Co. and James burke of J&J

The criterions are as follows

Legacy of leaders for more than 400 CEOs.

Impact -presiding over innovations--whether technical or managerial--that changed things outside the company's walls

Resilience -leading the company through a major transformation or crisis

Financial performance, measured by cumulative stock returns relative to the market during the CEO's tenure.

• Inability to see the future of mobile market e.g., Apps.

• Development of Complacent culture as against the culture of

innovation e.g.,- Qwerty touch pad

• Unsuccessful market penetration strategy ex-Touch pad and BB torch

• Poor Crises management by leadership team• Use of bb messenger service during the riot in south London in 2010

• Failure of email, BBM and web access on nearly 80 million BlackBerry for whole

week

As the boundaries between work and home blurred, people wanted to have one

phone for both – and they wanted it to be their own, not a company hand-out.

BlackBerry

“Why would I want to read my email in colour?”

- Jim Balsillie

“A star should retire while he‟s still a star”

Companies too, withdraw their products from the market, and launch newer versions

or products before the market share falls.

Product line extension

1. Vertical Product line extension

Benefits:

•Consumer durables and white

goods

•Technology – latest

• Every launch creates a new buzz

•Might attract in a new customers

•And better market penetration

Benefits:

•For FMCG products, it gives the brand more self space and shop presence.

•No. of Consumer interactions increase.

•Brand synergy increases.

•Needs to be single message, same values and emotions.

•Physically, contextually and conceptually same

2. Horizontal Product line extension

BlackBerry

• A need for HORIZONTAL extension.

Adding newer products to the product line.

• Launch newer devices with on-screen

individual user experience.

•Focus on software rather than hardware.

• Making it more useful for end user rather

than just corporate customer.

•Thereafter- VERTICAL extension needed.

Frequent Product launches.

• Connect with customers, advertise.

Environmental factors

Internal or Micro factor

• Customers

• Technology

• Promotion

• Financial stability of the company

External or Macro factors

• Political

• Economic

• Legal

BlackBerry

• Blackberry target segment is Business people.

• Provide service through Secured and Dedicated network.

• Limited promotional activity, Media space.

• Revenue decreased more than 44% and has 2 billion cash reserve.

• Mobile market is exponentially growing while BB market share is shrinking

• BB provide service which are difficult to monitor, regulator bodies in India,

UAE tried to ban RIM service

Thank you!