Brand Building Case Studies – The Problems and Their Solutions

Sometimes companies spend millions of dollars to build their brand on the very first time, the various strategies they employ to get into their target market, but sometimes we do have to think about some of the risks that would occur if the implementation of brand building we just successfully attached to the consumer.

Here is a some examples of cases who relate closely with the brand who has been succesful and solutions within overcome them.

Case Study #1: Generic Branding

Case: Ipad threatens to become a generic brand.

As Mr. Tony Fanin (bebranded.wordpress.com) said: “The main purpose of Branding Building is to get prospects and current customers to have a strong emotional attachment to your brand” so the more the company could build its brand consumers will feel the emotional attachment to brands that have been created on a particular item.

As was the case in the current iPad as I have read in the article here, iPod which was the first digital music player when it came out in 2001 by Apple, is still the name people use for “digital music player” or “MP3 player.” And it appears Apple’s iPad is headed down the same path. Whereas the current tablet computers not only in production by Apple alone but there are Motorola Xoom, Hawlett-Packard, Streak from Dell, and BlackBerry Playbook from Motion (RIM).

As Mr. Josh Davis (a manager at Abt Electronics in Chicago) says “For the vast majority, the idea of a tablet is really captured by the idea of an iPad. They gave birth to the whole category and brought it to life.” That’s why iPad will become generic brand.

Solution

When a brand becomes a generic brand it should remain actively enforced by the original owner of the trademark, the brand is maintained remains registered as the original company name, then the company will still have legal protection if the brand is misused by other companies.

The precautions that one brand is not a general is to add the word behind the brand names such as happened in the Kleenex, a generic brand for tissue. They uses “Kleenex brand” instead just of just “Kleenex” on its packaging and in marketing and places ads to remind people Kleenex is trademarked.

Case Study #2: Copycat Products Equal to the Original

Case: Hermes handbags become popular and found reality imitated products.

Who don’t know about hermes birkin bag, it’s become so much popular when created in 1984 by Chanteuse Jane Birkin. The reason on making this bag for more pampering the woman in meeting their need for design handbags, Hermes birkin so favored by several international artists, this is why most woman in the world want to have this bag.

Hermes birkin bag is so popular that the another producers did not hesitate to imitate the replica handbags are exact to the original, if we only glimpse we will assume the bag is a bag that is original, sophisticated imitators sometimes makes us fooled.

The third reason why the hermes birkin bag in the sample bag as whole by the copycat is as follow :

• Request for a buyer for the product very high.
• Indirectly Hermes handbags become a trend among the middle and upper center society.
• Request for Hermes birkin bag is from every society so it created a clone of Hermes birkin bag at bargain prices.
• The different shape between the authentic and fake hermes birkin bag.

– Authentic Hermes Birkin Bag –

– Fake Hermes Birkin Bag –

Solution

If a product is already a trend center will not be denied that many copycat imitate these product, as for the tips you can do to avoid it is to create characteristic that can not be imitated by such as copycat with use hologram logo, unique materials and distinctive product that can also by creating packaging that shows the original item.

Case Study #3: Similar shape of product

Case: Avanza wich first came out rivaled by Xenia with simiilar body and lower prices.

The Toyota Avanza is a mini MPV designed by Daihatsu. It is produced in Indonesia and also assembled contract assembled in Malaysia (under Perodua). Daihatsu designed and manufacturer the vehicle, which is then sold by both Daihatsu and Toyota under Xenia and Avanza name plate respectively. Daihatsu supplies the vehicle to Toyota under a consigned production and OEM manufacturing agreement. The car was launched at the Gaikindo Auto Expo in 2003 and sold over 100,000 units that year. The name “Avanza” was taken from the Italian word avanzato, which means “advance”.(wikipedia)

In addition to Indonesia and Malaysia, the Avanza is sold in Brunei, Bangladesh, Egypt, Lebanon, Pakistan, Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Thailand. A rebadged version of the car is sold in China under the FAW badge. As of October 2011, there have been 1 million Avanza-Xenia units sold, including 113,000 exported units.

Solution

Even among avanza and xenia has a shape and almost the same capacity engine, two cars each has its own uniqueness, consumers are getting smarter in choosing products that suit their needs, therefore if copycat product has a quality almost equal to the form and we should maintain our uniqueness and improvements of our products have been put out, so that consumers remain loyal to choose the products that we spend too besides that consumer can differentiate between two similiar products.

Conclusion

In building a succesful brand will not the rule out the risk that we will receive, and branding of the above three cases can be deduced for the solution is as follows:

1. Maintaining brand in international law, so that no misues of the brand.
2. Adding the word brand behind the brand name.
3. Creating a characteristic that can not be imitated by copycat.
4. Maintain uniqueness when there are copycat product similar to our product.

How about you? whether you’ve had cases that resemble three cases that we express above. Please share with us on the comment below.

Good resources:

• Brand names: Will ‘iPad’ become generic word for tablet?
• There is a difference between Awareness and Brand Building
• A formula to creating a great brand
• Custom case studies written from scratch

– Written by Ratih –