Resonance Scanning: How to Right Size Your Brand Portfolio

Brand Resonance Scanning, April 09

View more presentations from Carol Phillips.

Brand architecture is one of the least sexy topics in branding, but one of the most important. Having too many or too few brands can cause marketing inefficiencies, customer confusion and waste valuable retail or web space. Brand extensions are often too easy to implement - got a new feature, give it a name! Left unsupported, these orphan brands collect like kudzu.

Over the past few months we have been helping several companies 'right size' their portfolios. Usually this means culling underperformers, but on one occasion it also meant finding some overlooked jewels, opportunities for fighter brands and new subbrands.

Optimizing the brand portfolio should begin with an outside in look at your business. How does the customer view your offering? What stands out? What is invisible? How do they see the competition?

Brand resonance scanning is one way to get that critical customer perspective.

A Research Value: Customer Databases

Does your firm have email addresses for at least some of its customers? Customer databases can be a great way to learn more about why your customers like your brand. We have completed dozens of projects involving customers surveys, and have found them especially useful when paired with surveys of category users. Comparing profiles, perceptions and behavior of customers to that of prospects yields valuable insights for targeting, messaging and media strategies.

We've learned a lot about conducting customer research through these studies across categories as diverse as higher education, window film, home appliances, spirits, and fast food. Encouraging customers to participate requires extra thought and attention; response rates can be as low as 1% and as high as 12% depending on the invitation language and incentive offered (tee shirts and coupons work best!). Over and over, we've found the effort is worth the investment.

Here are a few examples:

The Michiana Family YMCA The YMCA had many years worth of member satisfaction data, but knew little about prospects. A market-wide survey revealed there are a lot of home exercisers who would consider a YMCA membership if they only knew more about it. Prospective members want information and assurance on affordable individual fitness programs, while members are more interested in family-oriented programs. We are working with the YMCA and its agency, Chicago-based Kauffycan, to craft messages specifically designed to bring in new members, while reaching members with more ideas about how to get the most from their membership.

Westlake Ace Hardware By comparing findings from its 'Ace Rewards' database with survey data on homeowners in its trading areas, Westlake is gaining insights about how proximity and brand perceptions about selection and service work together to influence visit frequency. This information will help direct media and merchandising strategy, as well as allocate marketing resources across markets.

Harlem Globetrotters Our work helped the Globetrotters and its agency, WONG DOODY of Seattle, to understand the differences between their core fans and more casual ticket purchasers. And there is a difference! The learning was applied to make 2009 an attendance record shattering year. In fact, they have been so successful, Sports Illustrated featured an article about their phenomenal success:



Harlem Globetrotters featured in 3.25.09 Sports Illustrated: "Still Crazy After All These Years"

In just the past year, we have also helped Carhartt, JC Penney, Admiral Nelson Rum, Whirlpool and more leverage their customer database for research. Is there a treasure lurking in your email database?