Brand equity must be carefully constructed. A firm foundation for brand equity requires that consumers have the proper depth and breadth of awareness and strong, favorable, and unique associations with the brand in their memory.
Too often, managers want to take shortcuts and bypass more basic branding considerations– such as achieving the necessary level of brand awareness–in favor of concentrating on flashier aspects of brand building related to image.
A good example of lack of support comes from the oil and gas industry in the 1980s. In the late 1970s, consumers had an extremely positive image of Shell Oil and, according to market research, saw clear differences between that brand and its major competitors.
In the early 1980s, however, for a variety of reasons, Shell cut back considerably on its advertising and marketing. Shell has yet to regain the ground it lost. The brand no longer enjoys the same special status in the eyes of consumers, who now view it as similar to other oil companies.
Another example is Coors Brewing. As Coors devoted increasing attention to growing the equity of its less-established brands like Coors Light, and introduced new products like Zima, ad support for the flagship beer plummeted from a peak of about $43 million in 1985 to just $4 million in 1993.
What’s more, the focus of the ads for Coors beer shifted from promoting an iconoclastic, independent, western image to reflecting more contemporary themes. Perhaps not surprisingly, sales of Coors beer dropped by half between 1989 and 1993. Finally in 1994, Coors began to address the problem, launching a campaign to prop up sales that returned to its original focus.
Marketers at Coors admit that they did not consistently give the brand the attention it needed. As one commented: “We’ve not marketed Coors as aggressively as we should have in the past ten to 15 years.” Maintaining the proper marketing support of your company, brand, or product can be a true balancing act but is crucial for achieving optimal marketing performance.
Tags: brand equity, cashing in your equity, coors light, marketing grader