The document provides 9 strategies for reviving a brand that has become commoditized: 1. Think of the product in new ways 2. Redefine the target audience 3. Change the product's appearance 4. Formulate new versions of the offer 5. Rename the product 6. Package it differently 7. Distribute it through new channels 8. Use different pricing strategies 9. Develop a new story around the product The strategies focus on redefining how the product is viewed and accessed to change how it can be marketed.

1. 9 Strategies To Revive Your Brand

2. Commoditization is a fact of market. I always remember that great observation
by VJ Govindarajan that “Strategy starts dying the moment it is created”. It dies
because its (potential) effectiveness dies and with that, its relative value.
That idea, transposed to brand is, in reality, what commoditization is: the (slow)
death of relevant value. However, there are strategies you can put in place to
reverse the speed and/or pace of that commoditizing effect. Here are nine ways
to de-commoditize your offering and reassert its branded value.

3. 1. Think of the product in new ways
When you redefine what something is or could be, you reframe its context and
it’s much easier to redefine what it can be used for. When you stop thinking of
milk as a drink, for example, and start thinking of it as a food, as Amul did, you
change the scope of the product you’re working with in so many ways.

4. 2. Redefine who you want to be a brand to
If the current audience places a declining level of value on it, think about who
might be able to use it in ways that enable you to regain value. Starbucks
redefined the value of coffee globally by making coffee hip, urbane and tailored
to individual taste. Now they’re looking to do the same thing with tea.
In a world that really does believe it’s seen or searched it all, discovery is a
powerful consumer motive.

5. 3. Change what it looks like
Sometimes changing the value of a commodity can be as simple as changing
how it appears to others. Think about the difference in pricing and perception
between bottled beer and beer on tap. However, new packaging alone won’t
make up for a product that doesn’t add value.
What it can do is signal the unrealized value that you want consumers to take
up on.

6. 4. Formulate your offer in different ways
The water industry changed how we think of water by adding vitamins and/or
carbon dioxide and then segmenting those offers to specific audiences. Today,
the world spends more than $100 billion a year on bottled water.
What could you do to what you have, to make it more than it is right now?

7. 5. Name it in different ways
The deer industry in New Zealand renamed its venison offering “cervena” to
differentiate it from deer meat sourced from elsewhere and to make a strong
country-of-origin play. If you’re selling copper and everyone else is selling
copper, what can you call your copper to distinguish it from what people can
source anywhere. Again – renaming alone won’t be enough. In the case of
cervena, the change in name spoke to an idea that consumers were interested
in, and eliminated the concern, amongst American consumers, that they were
eating Bambi.

8. 6. Package it in different ways
The red meat industry is now starting to segment its offer and to assign
different perceptions of value to cuts and breeds that not too long ago would all
have just been beef. Angus is a classic example. Others are packaging along
ethical lines to put daylight between themselves and others and to appeal to
consumers who are prepared to pay more for feel good foods. Cage-free and
free-range eggs are part of this trend.
(What’s interesting for those interested in moral labelling, however, is how
those terms and others can be defined in some jurisdictions. It doesn’t
necessarily mean what it appears to mean.)

9. 7. Distribute it in different ways
Changing the distribution channel can be a highly effective way to transform
your white label product into something valued by a more specific audience.
iTunes rebuilt the value of music by reinventing the concept of the single into
a single digital track and allowing people to buy the music they wanted in a
new way, at a new price. Tablets are having the same effect on books and
magazines – redefining how consumers access content and buy it.
It’s a very different value equation than it used to be – but at least it’s a value
equation.

10. 8. Price point it in different ways
This is a particularly effective approach when combined with segmentation.
Go after various parts of the market with products that demonstrate various
levels of value add and are price pointed accordingly – e.g. a bulk product at a
bulk price, a high end or specialized product priced at a top-end price, and a
consumer focused product that may even operate at flexible price points.
Forced into what was close to a death-spiral for many, the airline industry re-
priced to find new ways of achieving yield. First, they cemented the front-end
profit by giving business and first class passengers more space and more
comfort to protect margins. Then they unbundled their economy offering,
adding new categories like Premium Economy, cramming in more seats in
cattle class and instigating fees for service that have kept the asking price low
whilst charging at every point for things that were once considered included.
This evolution hasn’t exactly been a success from the travellers’ point of view,
but it has certainly forced a rethink on what is paid for, and how.

11. 9. Wrap a different story around it
New storylines can change how people perceive a product. Water, beer and
wine have all used stories to engage consumers and to deliver a new sense of
worth. Increasingly, there are opportunities to link undifferentiated products to
differentiating stories around environment, supply chain, conduct, purpose
and cause.
A psychologist explains why: “When we adopt a brand for our own use, we
integrate it into the stories of our daily lives.”
Once integrated of course, that storied brand has new value for buyers because
now it’s personal.

12. In a market, where your brand has been pushed into a corner – you might
want to look to using these three approaches:
Think of the product in new ways
Change what it looks like
Distribute it in different ways
Or if the market you’ve traditionally targeted is treating your brand like a
commodity and threatening to start a price war, you might want to combine
these four:
Redefine who you want to be a brand to
Package it in different ways
Price point it in different ways
Wrap a different story around it
When you change how a product is viewed and accessed, you open the door to
changing how it can be marketed.

13. The 4 most probable blunders
that led to this point

14. Leadership
One cause of missed business opportunities is leadership complacency. This
occurs when senior management is caught resting on their laurels while your
rivals are introducing better products that the market finds more attractive.
In a matter of minutes, a market leader can fall from grace.
To counter this, always be cognizant of the products and strategies of the
competition and attentive to customer needs.
Leaders must develop appropriate corporate, operating and tactical
strategies, and ensure these strategies are being executed effectively.

15. Strategy
According to the Bloomberg Business Week, the most common cause of
business failure is strategy.
Poor strategy can lead a company to invest resources in inappropriate
markets, direct the production of ill-conceived products or trigger the
purchase of a subsidiary that prove to be a drain on the bottom line.
Your business must adopt a strategy that is credible based on the company's
strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats.

16. Operations
Sometimes, serious issues go unnoticed. Other times, problems are
identified but efforts are wasted placing blame rather than identifying a
workable solution. As a result, momentary mediocrity becomes the norm for
an extended period. This problem can be addressed by ensuring
management knows where the company stands at all times and that the
management team has the information and skills necessary to operate the
company effectively.
For example, budgets, forecasts, plans, reviews and approvals and other
coordinated efforts should be put in place to support decision-making and
the implementation of appropriate strategies.

17. Customers
Overdependence on one customer makes a company vulnerable to slow
growth and an unstable cash flow.
Without a stable cash flow, it is more difficult to obtain financing to expand
operations or establish a presence in a new market. To eliminate this
vulnerability, a company must expand its customer base to make sure no one
customer is the source of 30 percent or more of a company’s revenue stream.
To do so, the company might buy online and offline advertising and run
product promotions to increase store traffic. A public relations campaign can
also be launched to increase product awareness.