Welcome, Guest [Sign In]

September 2005 - Strategy Magazine
Where Next?

Who are you?
Is your brand just a product - or a solution? How broadening your definition can lead to growth

by Lisa D'Innocenzo
page 53

Think big. Really big. Because viewing your brand as not just a bar of soap or a hunk of frozen meat - but rather as a solution for a greater consumer need - can lead to growth.

Ken Wong, assistant professor of marketing at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., believes all good companies are doing it. Leaders in recent years have included the Big Five banks, who realized that profit lies not in loans and deposits, but "wealth management," and telecommunications firms like Bell and Rogers who moved way beyond their original telephone/cable roots. Now the brand definitions of organizations as varied as Aeroplan, Maple Leaf Foods and President's Choice are broadening significantly.

The latter, for instance, is no longer just about food. It's about house and home needs, financial services and now mobile too. More specifically, it's about convenience. In communicating its new telecom division on its Web site, www.presidentschoice.ca, the Loblaws-owned brand greets Canadians with: "Say hello to a simple, affordable alternative. Looking for an uncomplicated, reliable way to stay in touch? PC Mobile makes it so easy!"

Similarly, Toronto-based Maple Leaf Foods is now more than a meat manufacturer; it's a meal-solutions firm. Over the last couple of years, it has introduced fully cooked meals, like pork roasts, a solid roster of microwaveable eats under the Schneiders brand (which it acquired in 2004), and most recently, Maple Leaf beef nuggets, "good for a go anywhere, anytime snack," according to the company Web site.

Maple Leaf's sales for the first six months of 2005 increased 13% to $3.2 billion, primarily thanks to the purchase of Schneider Foods.

It's all about trying to create a solution, explains Wong. "For a specific product, there's only so much demand, but when tied to other requirements, it's a whole different ball game." In other words, by focusing on new customer needs - for snacks and microwaveable meals or banking and cellphones - the likes of Maple Leaf Foods and President's Choice are able to reach more consumers, and no longer only at dinner time.

Wong says there are a couple of reasons companies are going this route. One is obvious: "With mid-size companies, it's how do I generate top-line growth, without sales promotions?... [Also] once you get into that mature stage of the product cycle, how do you think about what's coming next?"

He adds that marketers also have to protect their brands from "discontinuous innovation," i.e., competition that seemingly comes out of nowhere. One obvious example is Amazon.com's revolution of the book-selling business.

"If Barnes & Noble had asked: 'What's the best way to get books to people?' as opposed to: 'How can we improve our retail stores?' it could have been them," notes Wong. "The only way to protect the brand is to think broadly...otherwise, either someone else will come up with a new way of satisfying customer requirements, or you will paint yourself into a corner."

Quick Search