This document discusses strategies for revitalizing declining and dead brands. It begins by providing examples of brands that declined like Oldsmobile and Pan Am but were able to recover like Harley-Davidson. It then covers common causes of brand decline like poor management decisions, changing environments, and competitive actions. The document outlines a framework for deconstructing brand decline by examining brand equity components like awareness, image, and customer response. Finally, it discusses approaches for revitalizing brands by taking a long-term perspective, repositioning the brand, correcting past mismanagement, and making investments to rebuild quality and the brand.

1. Dead and
Declining Brands
A framework for revitalizing
declining and dead brands
By
Sunil Thomas, Chiranjeev Kohli

2. Some brands
meet an
untimely
death

3. like
Oldsmobile

4. Pan Am

5. However,
Brand Decline is
a reversible
process.
And can prove
to be more
feasible than
launching a
new brand.

6. like
Harley-Davidson
After decades of market dominance,
brand was badly hurt by small
Japanese motorbikes.
It then made investments
in quality and distinctive styling.
It is once again a highly revered
Brand.

7. Decline
and death
of
Brands

8. Familiar brands
like Coca-Cola,
Microsoft,
Apple
and GE have
a strong
brand equity.

9. However,
Brand equity
may decline
with the
passage
of time,
sometimes leading
to the brand
demise

10. like
Pan Am
Pan Am faced intense
competition which began to
impact its bottom line.
In 1988, the company faced a
devastating crisis when one of
its airliners was
bombed and crashed
Shortly afterward, Pan Am went

11. Causes of
Brand
Decline

12. Managerial actions
Marketing Environment
Competitive actions

13. Managerial actions
• Product quality, when consumers experience does not match their
expectations over time, due to managerial lethargy.
• Price rise, without appreciable increase in quality , like Volkswagen s
price rise with its Golf brand.
• Desperate price cuts to increase sales.
• Neglecting brand and using it as a cash cow , missing market
opportunities.
• Inability to stay with the target market, like “ap in the 0 s

14. Environmental factors
Markets are dynamic and are influenced by the broad
environment
in which they operate . Eg. cigarette companies are influenced
by
the legal environment.
Polaroid , Kodak and RJ Reynolds Camel have been negatively
affected the changing environment.

15. Polaroid
Polaroid has been a household
name since it popularized instant
photography
But the company spiralled into
decline and went bankrupt as
digital imaging became popular
The very foundation of its appeal,
instant results, was no longer

16. Competitive actions
In today s markets , a brand faces
relentless onslaught from its
competitors.
This can become particularly
problematic if the competitors have
deep pockets, like Adidas and Puma
declined in the presence of Nike and
Reebok in North America

17. KMart
Retailing giant Kmart anchored itself
to being a low-priced merchant.
In the 0 s , Wal-Mart proved a formidable
challenger
It made cost cutting a daily practice and
ventured on it.
Inability to compete lead to its
merger with Sears Roebuck

18. Deconstructing
Brand
Decline

19. The ultimate sign of impending brand death is a significant
drop in unit sales over a sustained period.
To avoid (or reverse) a damaging outcome, it is important to
deconstruct the decline in terms of reliable precursors to sales.
To do so, we revisit the aforementioned concept of brand
equity: the
differential effect that consumer brand knowledge has on the
customer’s response to marketing activity.

20. Differential effect
Consumers must be
provided with a
compelling argument
as to why they should
choose a particular
brand.
Marketers can pursue
two different
approaches toward this
goal.
I method
Often, consumers feel
that many brands in a
product category are
very similar. In such
situations , a strong
case can be made to
the consumers to
choose a particular
brand if it is value
priced ; that is, the
brand offers good
quality at a low or
competitive price.
A second approach
that is commonly
used is to create
differentiation from
other brands. This
can be done on the
basis of superior
quality , physical
attributes, or
intangible benefits

21. Chevron
Chevron emphasizes its trademarked
addi- tive, Techron.
Techron is a detergent that reduces
accumulation of deposits in fuel
injectors and intake valves.
All major brands of gasoline have
detergents in them; Chevron has just
seized on it as a source of
differentiation.

22. Brand Knowledge
Brand Awareness
Brand awareness is
the most widely used
gauge of brand
knowledge. If brand
awareness is falling,
this could be a
serious, long-term
problem.
Brand Image
It is important for a
brand to maintain
strong , favourable ,
and unique brand
associations.
Companies need to
monitor brand image
and look for changes
in consumer
perceptions.

23. Customer Response
Sales figures are considered the
golden standard
Managers may look towards
purchase intentions and
brand loyalty measures

24. Customer Response
Sales figures are considered the
golden standard
Managers may look towards
purchase intentions and
brand loyalty measures
For non-durable products, brand
switching behaviour can be

25. Revitalising
Brands

26. In most cases there is a
significant amount of equity
in declining brands, and
with
proper diagnosis,
strategy, and
execution,
a brand can be
revived

27. Is the brand worth
reviving?
A brand may be worth reviving if
there is significant residual value in
one or more of the components of
brand equity.
It is important to determine the
realistic amount of investment that
is needed to truly revive the brand

28. Is the brand worth
reviving?
Most brands can be revived, some
may just not be worth the effort.
This is particularly true for brands
that suffer from low awareness and
a negative image

29. Take a Long-term perspective
The brand revitalization process
can be kick-started by addressing
the causes of the decline;
understanding the brand s promise
, and why it may have failed to
maintain its relevance.

30. like
BlockbusterThe movie rental industry
environment market
was relying increasingly on the Internet
Blockbuster, a retailer, used its physical store locations
to benefit its Total Access online rental program
Subscribers were given the option of either
mailing back a rented movie, or dropping it off
at the local store in return for a free movie rental.
Subscribers increased from approximately 3
million
in 2006 to 4 million in 2007

31. Carefully reposition
the brand,
invest in it, and educate the market
A brand s promise plays a major role in
differentiating the brand from its competitors.
If a brand is not viewed as unique as compared to
others in the market, its future growth is
questionable

32. Correct mismanagement of the
brand
One of the major problems is failure to clearly
understand brand decline and the commitment to
do what is necessary to reverse the trend,and
Change strategies that weakened the brand in the
first place

33. Correct mismanagement of the
brand
Resist temptation
to milk the brand
If a brand is to be
revived,
management must
invest in the brand .
Like Apple
did with its iPod
Pursue a carefully
defined target
market
Target markets can
mature or shrink
over time . It is also
very difficult to
appeal to divergent
targets with the
same brand.
Managers must
decide if they want
to switch to another
target
Rebuild quality
Poor quality rarely
goes unnoticed for
long, and at some
point customers
will begin to
abandon the brand.
If poor quality is a
problem, this needs
to be fixed

34. Let the
revitalization
begin!

35. Given the high cost of launching new brands,
companies are increasingly looking to
revitalize dying or dead brands in their
portfolio.
History shows that this is possible

36. Thank you for watching!!

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