In recent years, with the development of my country's market economy and the implementation of famous brand strategy, brand cultivation and development have become the focus of corporate work, and corporate operations have shifted from product marketing to brand marketing. For example, Qingdao Haier Group, From 1984 to 1991, only one product was produced - "Haier" brand refrigerators. When the "Haier" brand became the only well-known trademark for Chinese home appliances at that time, the Haier Group took advantage of the "Haier" brand effect and The sound nationwide sales and service network has expanded from refrigerators to 27 product categories such as freezers, air conditioners, washing machines, microwave ovens, color TVs, etc., becoming a successful example for domestic enterprises to achieve diversified operations. At the same time, there are also many companies that blindly implement brand expansion strategies. It seems that the more industries a company is involved in and the more complete its product categories are, the more it looks like a large company with comprehensive strength. As a result, not only does it fail to achieve actual results, but it "brings the company down" "Yes." Therefore, it is very important to summarize the existing problems in the implementation of brand expansion strategies by domestic and foreign enterprises and seek scientific and standardized implementation methods. One of the questions:

The so-called positioning is to position the product in the minds of future potential customers. Specifically, it is to create certain advantages and characteristics for the product in the minds of potential customers, and to give a certain image to adapt to certain needs and preferences of customers. In the process of brand creation, once customers accept a certain brand, the brand can easily become synonymous with its first product. In other words, consumers tend to regard a certain brand as a specific product. For example, "Wahaha" was originally synonymous with children's fruit milk, and the impression of "Wahaha = children's food" has been deeply rooted in consumers' minds. With the emergence of "Wahaha" red bean paste, "Wahaha" eight-treasure porridge, and "Wahaha" purified water, The brand image in consumers' minds has become blurred, thus diluting the leading position of "Wahaha" in the field of children's food, and disrupting the positioning of the "Wahaha" brand in people's minds. "Chevrolet" cars are synonymous with American family cars. However, after "Chevrolet" expanded its production lines to trucks and racing cars, the positioning of "Chevrolet is American family cars" in consumers' minds has become blurred, and "Ford" cars have taken advantage of it. And entered the throne of the first brand.

Problem 2:

In the process of cross-industry brand expansion, some companies ignore the positioning and "compatibility" of the core brand and use the same brand in two different industries. Among products, when there is a conflict in use between two products, consumers will have psychological conflicts through association. For example, Sanjiu Group, which started out by producing "999" Weitai, has been so successful in its brand management that consumers regard "999" as a synonym for the drug "Weitai". However, when companies extend "999" to beer, it is difficult for consumers to accept it. Because "Weitai" and "beer" can easily cause psychological conflict through association, when consumers think of the medicine "999" Weitai and drink wine with a "psychological medicinal taste", it is naturally not a good enjoyment. If it is further thought that excessive drinking can hurt the stomach, the "999" brand is undoubtedly reminding consumers to drink less or not to drink. In this case, the sales of Sanjiu Beer are questionable. There is a well-known company in Hubei that originally produced fertilizers and pesticides, but now it uses its core brand to expand into the production of ice cream and other cold drinks. When consumers think about it, they wonder what this ice cream will taste like.

Problem 3:

In the process of brand expansion, the following two situations may damage the high-quality image of the original brand: First, many companies are creating After "famous brand products", they were eager to implement brand expansion strategies, but were restricted by factors such as factories and equipment, so they had no choice but to acquire and merge other small businesses or reinvest in production. However, the technical strength of these small enterprises is relatively weak, and the quality of their products cannot be improved. Re-investment in production is restricted by factors such as capital and technology, which affects product quality and thus damages the high-quality image of the original brand. For example, after years of hard work, the American A.C. Gilbert Company has established the image of a famous boy's toy in the minds of consumers. In 1961, the company decided to expand its brand to girl's toys. As a result, due to poor quality and low price, the company The company's image as a manufacturer of high-quality boys' toys was greatly damaged. In 1966, Gilbert Corporation declared bankruptcy. Secondly, using high-end brands on low-end products may damage the high-quality image of the original brand.

In the early years, American "Parker" pens were of high quality and expensive, and were regarded as a status symbol. However, after the new general manager James Peterson took office in 1982, he blindly expanded the brand and applied the "Parker" brand to low-end pens priced at $3 each, thereby destroying the image of "Parker" in the minds of consumers. As a result, part of the high-end pen market was lost. Brand, especially famous brand, is the most important asset of a company. Blind brand expansion may have a negative impact on the company's original brand products, or even be a fatal blow. For Chinese enterprises, what is important is how to scientifically implement brand expansion strategies. I think, first of all, laying a good foundation is the key. From a strategic perspective, the brand name is named based on the pre-determined corporate tasks, corporate goals, and marketing goals, combined with the attributes of the product and the characteristics of the target customers, to lay the foundation for the implementation of the brand expansion strategy; secondly, whether to carry out brand expansion depends on the new Whether the product and core brand are consistent in the following aspects: first, whether the brand positioning, price, target market, and target customers are the same; second, whether the distribution channels are the same and whether the original network advantages can be used; third, pre-sales and after-sales Whether the service is the same, that is, whether it can give customers a "sense of unity" or "a sense of consistency" after brand expansion. Specifically, companies can take three countermeasures in the process of implementing brand expansion strategies:

One of the countermeasures

In a diversified market, companies realize that they cannot To provide products or services to all customers in this market, it is necessary to segment the market, determine the target market and carry out specific positioning of the brand. The purpose of brand positioning is to establish a brand image related to the target market to attract target customers. Once the brand positioning is established, the consistency and "compatibility" of the brand must be taken into consideration when implementing the brand expansion strategy. For example, "Goldlion" is a "man's world", which determines that "Goldlion" is not suitable for the production and operation of women's products. "Youngor" is a famous brand shirt, which determines that "Youngorxin" must maintain high quality and generally can only engage in the production and operation of clothing. Generally speaking, the largest scope of brand positioning is the industry in which the product of this brand is used for the first time. Therefore, if a company wants to operate across industries and is limited by the original brand positioning, it should consider choosing a multi-brand strategy.

Countermeasure 2

"Relevance degree" refers to the degree of correlation between the new product and the original product in terms of production technology, distribution channels, and pre-sales and after-sales services. If the degree of correlation is large, brand extension will be easily recognized by consumers; if it is a cross-industry operation or the degree of correlation is small, it is often not suitable to adopt a brand extension strategy. For example, after the "Changhong" brand achieved great success in the field of color TVs, it expanded to the field of air conditioners. Under the premise of ensuring the high performance and high quality of Changhong air conditioners, it quickly won the market by utilizing its original huge after-sales service system.

Countermeasure Three

Because the purpose of brand expansion is to quickly launch new products into the market by leveraging the reputation and influence of existing brands, the premise of brand expansion is that the brand has a relatively High visibility, reputation and market share have a high status in the minds of consumers. When the value of brand equity is not very high and is strongly challenged by many competitors, the rush to expand the brand can easily create a passive situation for the company. For example, when the Giant Group did not gain an absolute advantage in the computer industry in which it initially operated, it eagerly entered the bio-health products market and the real estate market. As a result, it focused on one and lost its focus on the other, resulting in the over-dispersion of corporate, human, financial, material and other resources, which had a promising future. companies are in crisis.

Countermeasure No. 4

The so-called "involvement" effect means that when the extended brand is not managed well, it will affect the image of the core brand in the minds of consumers. In order to avoid the risk of single brand expansion, operators can also give new products a nickname, the so-called sub-brand or sub-brand, without changing the trademark. In this way, various products form a certain "interval" in the minds of consumers, thereby effectively reducing the risk of "implication". For example, under the "Master Kong" brand, there are "Treasures" series, "Homemade" series, "Fairy stalls" series, etc.

In addition, when a company expands its brand, it also depends on the company's expectations for the new product. If the company has high expectations for the new product in terms of popularity, reputation, market share, etc., it should not be adopted. Brand extension strategy must use a new name, while products with lower expectations can be carried on the original brand.