Breakaway Brands

By Ramin Shaikhani

Every year companies around the world spend millions of dollars on marketing their goods and services and a significant portion of this investment vanishes on advertising for new products. Yet most of the new products fail to sell in the market. In fact, there are only few brands that are distinct from others and leave a consistent impression on the consumer. The successes of the brands do not dependent on their sheer advertising budget or reputation. The American brand ‘Altoids’, a number one brand among food products has so far sold 3 times more than its competitor although both spend equally on advertising and production. The brand ‘Jet Blue’ that was an unknown name up to few years ago earned the highest level of profits among American airlines just in its first year of operation. This is while 5 of its competitors either went bankrupt or are already on the verge. Here we refer to these brands as breakaway brands. These brands next to other names such as Apple, Nike and Volks Wagon are a small but select group that has found a way for their longevity and constant growth in a crowded market. Generally, there are 3 key factors for brands that sustain themselves despite obstacles:

1- Most breakaway brands found their success on unique characteristics. These sterling characteristics can include the presentation or benefits of the product, its positioning, packaging or distribution. A breakaway brand distinctly separates itself from others and the result turns into creation of a certain impression or model in the mind of the consumer.

2- Advertisements can significantly lead a breakaway brand to success. The famed campaign of “Got milk?” was the beginning of deconstructive activities that changed the American concept of drinking milk. Previously, most of the commercials on milk insisted on the fact that how milk is good for strong bones. The “Got milk?” campaign did not target the general public’s health but more so the position of milk in the American diets. Milk was posed again as a necessary daily drink for digestion.

3- Behind every breakaway brand there is a goaloriented team and a guiding leader. This magical leader of modern advertising may be the general or marketing manager or a combination of the board of executives. But you cannot possibly find a breakaway and leading brand that has achieved success without the responsibility of a senior management in the highest organizational level. But why are breakaway brands so famous? Why do most of a brand’s products look alike? Why aren’t they more brands like Nike in sports products, Apple in computers and B.M.W. and Volks Wagon in automobiles? The fact of the matter is that breaking away in brands is not an easy task especially under the shadow of a constantly changing and expanding market. Many companies quit because of market saturation or fear of loosing business. The only problem therefore, is not insufficient funds or mundane advertisements. In fact, brands that easily imitate each other are far more in numbers than the unique ones that last in the market. That’s why consumers cannot differentiate one from another. According to US statistics a 100% increase in products in 1990-1999 reached 200% in 2000. Just in 2003 about 2700 food products were introduced in America. Every day we are bombarded with thousands of advertisements on various brands. In every 60 minutes of television prime time there is about 17 minutes of commercial advertisements. Or when we quickly browse through a magazine or listen to the radio in our cars or walk in the city streets or even in front of the monitor these brands attack our minds and thoughts and surround our world. In this situation how does a sales manager’s wish to sell his product to us come true? For advertising specialists every year it becomes harder to draw the attention of consumers to a particular brand in this competitive market of increased brands and mass media. This situation can be likened to a grey sea that destroys all colors and every now and then a sparkling brand sticks out of the water surface and in a few moments before it’s drowned by waves again, it draws the attention of the viewer. We know of some eye catching brands and some others living under their shadows. Nike casts its shadow on Reebok and I.B.M. on H.P. We also know of instances where among a group of products, two giant brands continue to live as powerfully as one another. Coca Cola and Pepsi, McDonald’s and Burger King, Honda and Toyota are remarkable examples that the consumer can use alternately in case of one brand’s absence. Nevertheless, most brands are doomed to fail and surplus of brands means running in a dirt road because most of them follow instead of guiding and the consumer’s ability to buy is descending.

If the products of these brands are just like each other then what’s the point of choosing?

Manufacturers of products and the agencies that advertise them can make them last by their distinction. Without an idea based on differentiating a product, what is left for attracting customers is only the price.

Differentiation is not easy. It requires courage and creativity simultaneously. Creating a breakaway brand originates from a deep understanding of the customer. Most advertising specialists have not yet adapted themselves to the marvelous consumer-led changes occurring in modern marketing. There may be a few advertising agencies that have acquired the knowledge that nowadays it is the consumers that revive the marketing scene. The modern consumers are keen buyers whose wallets determine the fate of brands. People believe in brands that are exceptionally different; brands that breaks away from competitors and gain a special niche in the hearts of the consumers.

Excerpted and edited from Breakaway brands book written by Francis J. Kelly III and Barry Silverstein.

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