A rebrand on our doorstep....

For many years Luton business students did a project on attracting new members to the Leisure Centre in Luton formerly known as Vauxhall Recreation Centre (VRC).

Many other students will have memories of sitting examinations here too.

Vauxhall has recently been renamed Venue 360, with a new (vaguely similar)  logo and the following explanation

Venue 360 represents all-round ( 360 degrees ) activities offered

• Business
• Leisure
• Fitness
• Pleasure

Little else seems to have changed in the facilities offered, but it may take a while to get used to the new name. Many Lutonians still call the shopping centre in town the Arndale rather than the Mall, despite a name-change a few years ago.

Sports Sponsorship

Watching Liverpool win the Carling Cup Final on Sunday reminded of something that a representative of the drinks company once said about the marketing of their product.

Young men are interested in four things.

Carling sell them one directly (alcohol) and sponsor two of the others; music
(through venues like the Carling Academy)and sport ( eg the Carling Cup )

What can the fourth thing be though ?

Costa Loyalty Card Case Study

My untidy desk just reminded me of an excellent case study on Costa in this week's copy of Marketing Week (6th October 2011). Costa is an unusual example of a brand which is flourishing. Here are a few snippets :

1.Costa won the Brand of the Year Trophy this year (awarded by Marketing Week)
2.Costa set up a loyalty card last year and managed to get 6 million in ciculation very rapidly(bucking the trend of loyalty card fatigue)
3.The company claim a high uptake of loyalty card use ( 41% of all transactions)
4.The company is extending the loyalty card scheme internationally ( for example in the UAE)
5.Costa has 700 outlets outside the UK (including China, Middle East, Russia and Eastern Europe)
6.The average age of the UK customer is 44 (28 overseas)
7.The younger customer abroad may be more influenced by advertising on Social Media (Facebook etc)
8.Other coffee chains such as Caffe Nero, Starbucks also operate in the UAE ( a good example of globalistion)
9.Variations for local markets include spicier snacks and haloumi panini
10.Costa's biggest rival, unsurprisingly, is Starbucks. Pub chain Wetherspoons has also successfully broken into the Coffee market.

British Brands not the only ones to get taken over....

If you are doing the piece of work on British brands which are disappearing spare a thought for Foster's lager...

The company is currently facing a hostile bid from SAB Miller ( formerly South African Brewers ). They make Peroni and Grolsh....

Branding and Corporate Identity

If your project concerns anything to do with branding I would recommend this new acquisition to the LRC. The chapter on Brand Identity is especially good and includes 12 most common naming mistakes.

My favourite is EMU ( an Australian airline ) ...named after a bird which cannot fly.

Brands and branding

For those doing their large Project or their AMP and have a topic about branding then you MUST use our WARC database! WARC (World Advertising Research Centre) . A search for brands will bring thousands of results - case studies, research articles, news. If you want to follow up a particular company and see why they succeeded there may be a case study. There are now lots of new features to help you search so make sure you use WARC!
Access it here!

Branding Demystified

A couple of useful e-books on branding now available.

Brand Culture and Branding Demystified.

Check library catalogue for further details. The latter title includes some very good examples of what being a brand means, and case studies...

Dahlen on Marketing Communications

Dahlen, M (2009) Marketing communications : a brand narrative approach, Wiley


This new recommended textbook for public relations units may be useful for any AMP projects involving branding, public relations or marketing communications.

It covers case studies of popular brands such as

Dove soap
Harley Davidson Motorcycles
Nike

There is a whole chapter on building brand equity included, and also material on 'Beyond traditional branding', which could be useful for several topics.

Death of an Entrepreneur

The recent death of entrepreneur Nicolas Hayek, reported widely in the press struck me as relevant to several of the questions set in the Applied Management Project.

Hayek was the man behind the Swatch. His simple idea was that a watch need not be expensive, but could still be desirable, if marketed as a stylish "must have" brand.
A fashion accessory as much as a timepiece.

The idea ( and the Swatch ) are still going strong today. Hayek became one of the world's weathiest men...

A look at Hayek's background, and the nature of his ideas could be relevant in particular to the question about whether entrepreneurs are born or created....

Brands - and Telling Stories

If you are looking at brands these two books might be relevant.

Danesi, M (2006) Brands. Abingdon : Routledge

is a new addition to stock in the Park Square LRC.

Lots on what constitutes a brand and the psychology of branding.

Brand Failures is an older book, but very informative about why brands fail.

Harley Davidson for example is a well recognised brand throughout the world - their attempt to launch a perfume however was not so successful.

The image of rugged masculinity did not really work for a shampoo.

Fashion Babylon

I've just finished this book - a brilliantly readable expose of the fashion industry which is very relevant if you are looking at luxury brands, celebrity endorsements or the fashion industry in general.

Kate Moss had so many objections that 18 pages were cut out. Some of the stories about her which are still in it are fairly racy too...

Only the lack of an index stops this one from being a fantastic source. Copies on order for the LRC and also the companion book 'Air Babylon'

A British Brand ?

Whilst struggling to think of British brands the other day the Doc Marten Boot came to mind.

An iconic brand, worn by policemen and pop-stars alike.

The Griggs Family who own the company are among Britain's most wealthy ( worth £220 million in 1999 )

But how British are the boots these days ? Apart from some of the more prestigious lines several are manufactured in Thailand rather than Northampton...

Repositioning the Brand

• A few years ago all sorts of threats faced McDonalds. These included :

1. Publicity surrounding the McLibel 2

• Accusations by author Eric Schlosser in Fast Food Nation

Morgan Spurlock's film "Supersize Me"

and the insulting phrase " McJob" defined as unstimulating low paid work with few prospects.

To some extent the brand has repositioned itself in the recent past :

Introducing a staff website, with online training for it's 67,000 Brititish employees

A new BTEC qualifation in "work skills" for employees

Reducing fat content in fries, and converting chip fat to biofuel

Phasing out the bright livery in favour of more muted chocolate and green colours

Providing wi-fi access

Killer Facts

A record growth in sales in 2009 was announced in January ( 11% growth over 2008 )

More coffee sold ( in Britain ) than Starbucks and Costa put together

Edge, S ( 2010) Welcome to McWorld, Daily Express, Saturday 13th March p.36-37