Branding should be seen as a fluid part of any organization – it must adapt to the changing marketplace and the consumer’s needs and wants.
This is paramount in the life cycle of any Brand.
As an audience shifts, their needs will also alter. A good Brand Strategy will take this into account.
You must be able to anticipate the required moves in the marketplace – allowing the Brand to offer its full potential to the marketplace.
The failure to recognize a changing or different marketplace and audience needs will result in a failure to properly communicate the Brands positive qualities resulting in a negative Brand experience and eventually lost sales.
Recently Target announced it was shuttering all its stores in Canada – the reason – sales were not meeting expectations and a profit would not realized until 2016.
The big question is, “What happened?”
Target failed to transform its Brand into the Canadian marketplace.
The retail experience was not a reflection of Brand in the US. Here, the experience was dull and uninviting and prices were not understandable.
The corporate attitude of – “Build it and it they will come” was not embraced. The beautiful ads on TV were a total disconnect from the shopping experience in the stores.
The Brand became tarnished, and doomed for failure.
Here are some key learning’s:
1. Stand for something and own it – If you are perceived as merely a competitor that’s how you will be treated – as an option – second place at best.
2. Define your position – review, define and refine your brand position – it needs to make sense with your audience/marketplace and be flexible enough to allow multiple entry points.
It’s important to understand your current audience and focus on new and expanding audiences.
New business, is the lifeblood of any company – new business will equal new dollars .
It’s hard to believe these essentials were missed or disregarded – but it seems so.
The loss of Target in the Canadian marketplace will have a negative effect on our economy and their Brand.
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