May 2, 2012
Private Label Naming and Branding Here to Stay
I wonder about the news that store brands may be losing their luster with consumers.
For the first time since 2008, consumers do not plan to increase their usage of store label brands. This does not mean that store brands are doomed, it may simply means that their usage has plateaued for the time being.
A new report entitled "The Evolution of Private Label - Does Brand Name Really Matter?" notes that U.S. private label brands represented only 18% of household purchases in 2000, and peaked at 27% in 2011.
But satisfaction with these products has dropped from 32% in 2009 to 24% in 2012. There is the specter of "frugal fatigue" on the part of consumers who want to splurge a bit after years of watching their pennies.
I have no quarrel with the report.
My point would be that private label is here to stay and that the rise in its popularity would logically be connected with a slight drop in satisfaction as consumers get use to the product, buy more, and expect more from them.
The report notes that two-thirds of respondents say store brand quality is better than it was five years ago. And, interestingly, many people are buying store brands that look so similar to the brand name products that they are unaware of the difference (Archer farms at Target; Kirkland at Costco and Great Value at Walmart are mentioned).
I wouldn't write private labels off just yet. It might just be that consumers have raised their expectations.
Technorati Tags: Private Label, Private Label Branding, Private Label Naming, Naming, Branding
Posted by William Lozito at 8:28 AM
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February 27, 2012
Are We Comfortable With New Easy Rest Adjustable Sleep Systems Naming?
The news that The Contour Adjustable Bed Company has changed its name to Easy Rest Adjustable Sleep Systems brought back fond memories of a blog I posted almost a year ago about the way the adjustable bed industry is slowly but surely trying to change its image through naming.
The problem? The product name itself conjures up images of hospital beds, and the product is seen as something you buy when a person in your family needs home care.
So companies have been trying to dodge the stodginess of the adjustable bed with better product naming.
Now, these beds are being named "ergo" or "power" beds. Some are naming them "lifestyle" beds and Leggett & Platt uses "power foundations" in their product naming.
So this new company name change moves the product towards "sleep systems," which is good, but it does not do away with that pesky word "adjustable."
I have to wonder if that is not a small mistake. Wouldn't Easy Rest Sleep Systems be just as effective?
Technorati Tags: Easy Rest Adjustable Sleep Systems, Adjustable Bed Naming, Company Naming, Product Naming, Naming
Posted by William Lozito at 8:09 AM
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November 14, 2011
O.co Changes Brand Name Back to Overstock.com
It seemed like just yesterday (but in fact it was last year), when Overstock.com bought the O.co domain name for $350,000.
The company stated that the new domain name would "enhance its brand recognition and retention, align with current marketing initiatives, and make it easier for shoppers to find the company's products and services online."
The idea was to own the letter "O" and the entire brand would be built around that letter. The name "Overstock," was felt to carry a bit of a stigma.
But this did not seem to work as expected and now the company's domain is going back to Overstock.com.
The company felt they moved too fast with the change, which lasted all of six months. This included changes on the signage of its NFL stadium and an aggressive ad campaign that told us all that "Overstock.com is now O.co."
The O.co domain name will not be abandoned completely. It seems that O.co will still be used internationally and the O.co Coliseum, home of the Oakland Raiders, will continue to retain its name.
So, the stadium will be called O.co but that's not really the U.S. company's name. Which is obviously messy.
The root of the problem? Customers were going to O.com and not O.co.
This seems to be a problem that is quite frequent. "Most people still see dot com instead of dot co. While many feel that this will change in the future as do co becomes more familiar, the reality of the present is all dot co domains will bleed traffic to the dot com," says Domain Shane and he is right.
We are so attuned to typing "com" that "co" doesn't look right.
When Ad Age asked my opinion about the change I identified social media, and its culture of instant feedback, for this misstep on the part of Overstock.com.
Any company can make a branding mistake once, social media or no social media.
But they can't f@#$ up twice.
Technorati Tags: Overstock, O.co, Domain Name, Branding, Naming, Marketing
Posted by William Lozito at 7:51 AM
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June 14, 2011
Hispanic Buying Power Gains A Huge Fan With Procter & Gamble Product Naming
I think it is worth noting when consumer products giant Procter & Gamble introduces its first dish-washing soap brand in nearly 40 years.
The Gain product name, a P&G laundry brand with a lower price point, is aimed primarily at the Hispanic market. It seems that the US Hispanic consumer has "different expectations of her dish soap than the general market."
The interesting thing here is that P&G is capitalizing on the growing Hispanic population, the fastest growing demographic in the US and more than that, they seem to be intensely brand conscious and brand loyal.
Between 2000 and 2010 it rose 43% to 50.5 million. And the population has a collective buying power of about $1 trillion. This means that their needs are not easily ignored.
What the Hispanic consumer wants from a dish washing product is a nice scent and Gain delivers this. A quick look at the website indicates that the labeling is in both English and Spanish and more than that there is a range of scents available.
The scents for both products - Original, Lavender, Citrus Splash and Apple Mango Tango - appeal to the Hispanic consumer and what is interesting to note is the broad range of products available in this fairly new product line.
The blogosphere has already caught on to the fact that these products smell pretty good, "Did I mention the scent? It smells so good! Funny thing is now my daughter likes to do the dishes, well not really but she did mention that the soap smells wonderful and she likes it."
Hispanic people who are "Spanish-dominant" are actually more loyal to fairly high-end brands then "English-dominant" Hispanics.
The "Spanish-dominant" segment consists of 15% of the US population are going to wind up demanding more and more marketing spend. And the big winner here seems to be personal-care products.
I note that there is a heavy emphasis on the way Gain makes a person feel while doing the dishes... it's as if the scent connotes luxury.
Technorati Tags: Procter & Gamble, Gain, Gain Product Naming, Product Naming, Branding
Posted by William Lozito at 8:58 AM
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June 6, 2011
Overstock.com is Over Optimistic About Its Brand Equity
The President of Overstock.com, Jonathon Johnson considers the change to O.co analogous to Kentucky Fried Chicken changing its name to KFC.
Sorry. The analogy is overly optimistic.
- Kentucky Fried Chicken was first used in 1950 and changed to KFC in 1991.
- On the other hand, Overstock.com was first used in 1999.
Kentucky Fried Chicken had 41 years to build its brand equity which made strategic sense to leverage with the KFC acronym.
On the other hand, Overstock.com is still a young company with brand equity most likely among a small segment of consumers, but certainly not globally.
The companies rational to reference KFC as a model for its global expansion by using O.co is overstocked with optimism.
Ad Age, also asked me to comment on the change which appears today, Monday, June 6th.
Technorati Tags: Overstock.com, O.co, Overstock Name Change, Overstock.com Naming, Overstock.com Branding
Posted by William Lozito at 1:53 PM
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