Brand News

The NY Times has an interesting article on what they call „Ghost or Orphan Brands“, in other words brands, that are not used.

The brand is Bromo Seltzer, the effervescent antacid and analgesic that dates to 1888.
Its new owner will seek to revive interest in the moribund brand with a campaign centered on a mnemonic device, the “Bromo burp,” that its creators hope will become a catch phrase.

Bromo Seltzer is among scores of consumer products known as ghost brands or orphan brands because they were once formidable powerhouses in their categories but are now forlorn.
The brands were forgotten or neglected by their owners, typically giant companies that market dozens of products, then used as cash cows to raise revenue for developing newer, often more advanced brands.

As reduced advertising spending hastens the slowing of sales for ghost brands, retailers relegate them to lower shelves or stop stocking them to cut clutter. That reduces sales further, contributing to a downward spiral that usually ends in the graveyard of discontinued products among casualties like Duz detergent, Kellogg’s Pep cereal, Oasis cigarettes and Plymouth cars.

Recently, owners of many ghost brands have been selling or licensing them to smaller, more entrepreneurial marketers that hope to revive them through a combination of advertising, price promotions and public relations.
One goal is to capitalize on the residual fame of the brands by reminding older consumers who bought or remember them that they still exist.

Another goal for those trying to bring back orphan brands is to pique the curiosity of younger consumers, particularly those looking for products from the past that they deem to have authentic heritage.

Such consumers have helped start unlikely comebacks for bygone brands like Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.

Indeed, the slightly rude nature of the “Bromo burp,” to be featured in the brand’s new TV commercials, is intended to appeal to consumers for whom Bromo Seltzer is just a name on a clock tower in downtown Baltimore.

In addition to Bromo Seltzer, the ghost brands seeking second lives under new owners include once-familiar products like Aqua Net hair spray, Barbasol shaving cream, Close-Up toothpaste, Comet cleanser, Log Cabin syrup, Metrecal diet drinks, Niagara starch, Nuprin
pain reliever, Prell shampoo and Swanson frozen foods.

Brandchannel.com has an interesting article about brand and line extensions:

In the marketing world, the Tide proliferation is known as line extension, and similarly, if Tide started making washing machines, it would be called brand extension.

It’s estimated that as of 2004, six percent of all new products launched each year in the US are in fact brand or line extensions.

While the practice of extensions is classic, today’s brand extensions can leave one’s head spinning.

Many attribute the plethora of extensions to being a more cost-effective means to stay in the mind of the consumer. A variation on advertising without resorting to using the same message in every instance.

But with over 30 (and counting) Oreo extensions created over the years —not including the infamous Oreo Fun Barbie doll licensed to Mattel— just how relevant is the exposure, and is the consumer marketplace flat out oversaturated?

Is there too much out there?
There are plenty of opportunities and they are working, which is why more and more marketers are looking to brand extensions. Consumers find comfort in brands they’re familiar with—and are more comfortable with a new product from those brands.

Back in 1998, prior to Kraft’s acquisition of the beloved cookie brand, then-parent company Nabisco’s public relations department maintained that its core revenue was still derived from the Oreo cookie SKUs and that extensions were only a small segment of the revenue.

Fast forward to 2003, and the Wall Street Journal cited the ousting of Kraft’s co-chief executive Betsy Holden as the result of an “over-reliance on brand extending and lack of new products.” The company had not profited from a new-brand success since the launch of DiGiorno Rising Crust frozen pizza in the mid-1990s. In the same article, industry professionals observed that Kraft had perhaps become too good at building brands, completely forgetting to create new ones.

Nonetheless, brand and line extensions are considered across the industry to be a vital part of growing the brand, particularly a mature one.
Business consultants McKinsey & Company recommended to consumer product companies in 2004 to develop product categories that “others have shunned” as an effective means for profitable growth. In the world of extensions, the danger lies in going too far with the model.

Extensions via licensing is a trend that continues to increase in the new millennium accounting for US$ 172 billion of retail sales worldwide, according to the Licensing Industry Merchandisers’
Association (LIMA).

While licensing deals can be lucrative for both the licensee and licensor, they also have the ability to negatively impact a brand when there is a lack of creative and/or marketing management participation on the part of the licensing brand. If there isn’t one person who’s really controlling the quality of the product or the quality of the marketing and advertising, you can really hurt your brand and oversaturate the marketplace.

WWD reports from a study by America’s research group:

Women covet their beauty brands.

Of the 10 products listed here, four are in personal care.

Female shoppers have a penchant for buying brand-name cosmetics, which translates to all beauty products, too, said Britt Beemer, chairman and founder of America’s Research Group.

The survey of 1,264 women who are primary household decision-makers also revealed that brand names matter even when it comes to daily sundries such as coffee or laundry product purchases.

1. Bath Soap

2. Health and beauty aids

3. Hair products

4. Soft Drinks

5. Mayonnaise

6. Laundry products

7. Hand and body lotion

8. Over-the-counter medicines/pain relievers

9. Coffee

10. Shoes

KMP owns the exclusive global license to market CD-ROMs, DVDs, videotape and related media products under the Kodak brand name.

The company works to obtain the various products from manufacturers across the globe, according to Kodak’s minimum specifications, and then puts them on store shelves.

It has done so, with rapid success, by establishing and managing a wide network of sister companies and other distribution relationships from an office in the old button factory at 300 State St. in Rochester’s High Falls district.

Kodak decided to leave the business in connection with its historic transition from film to digital imaging, choosing instead a licensing arrangement with KMP that brings in a yearly royalty.

The name Kodak is powerful enough and so well-known around the world that it gives those products a leg up on competitors.