Tc063 09 Antything Can Be Branded

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ANYTHING CAN BE BRANDEDIt takes stamina and renewal

By Professor Dominique Turpin - October 2009

IMD

Chemin de Bellerive 23PO Box 915,CH-1001 LausanneSwitzerland

Tel: +41 21 618 01 11Fax: +41 21 618 07 [email protected] http://www.imd.ch



ANYTHING CAN BE BRANDED| It takes stamina and renewal

IMD - www.imd.ch ANYTHING CAN BE BRANDED /4

Anything can be branded, from toothpaste and tourist destinations to cartoon characters and Chineserevolutionaries. Professionally managed celebrity brands have been around for several decades; one

of the most famous, Elvis Presley, has been so successfully handled that he has sold more records –not to mention coffee mugs and calendars – since he died in 1977 than while he was alive. It looks likeMichael Jackson will be 2010's top-earning celebrity brand – making an almost $250 million from beyond thegrave.

Professionally-managed branding of athletes is a slightly more recent phenomenon but it’sundoubtedly big business. For example, David Beckham, the former England captain, managed totake his popularity on the field and turn it into a brand worth an estimated £200 million thanks toendorsement deals including Vodafone, Adidas, Pepsi, Brylcreem and Marks and Spencer. He almostcertainly learned a lot about how to build a personal brand from his pop star wife, Victoria “PoshSpice” Adams, who already had a strong brand in her own right when they met. Together, they

merited a great deal of tabloid coverage. Interestingly, when Manchester United sold him to RealMadrid in 2003, some analysts suggested that the Spanish club was more interested in buying hisbrand than his sporting ability.

But creating a strong brand for a real person – one that lasts and that means something commercially– takes more than good looks and a famous spouse. In fact, it starts from exactly the same principlesas any brand strategy. First, any great brand must have something different and distinctive. For afootballer, this is likely to mean world-beating talent. Second, the brand’s messages must be simple,consistent, clear and easy to communicate. (Executives who are building their own personal andprofessional brands can learn from this as well. Many try to communicate far too much with their

brand; it’s better to emphasize one or two things that make you unique.)

On top of this, for a footballer to become a successful brand he must represent moral values orideals, such as professionalism, tenacity and team spirit, that will make him valuable to thecompanies that endorse him. When companies link themselves to celebrity brands it’s because theywant the values associated with them to transfer to their own brands. For example, a business thatsells men’s grooming products may link itself with male athletes who are seen as healthy, attractiveand successful.

However, companies must be wary of relying too heavily on celebrity ambassadors. Famous namesshould never be the main driving force behind a business’s brand or it will run the risk of thecelebrity’s personal brand overwhelming that of the product or service. This can result in peopleremembering the celebrity but not the product they were paid to endorse. Ultimately, corporate andproduct brands need to be built on, and be able to stand up on, their own distinctive merits. Carefuluse of celebrities can enhance or strengthen existing product brands but it should not be seen as away of creating a brand.

The other big risk for companies is that celebrities may behave in a way that’s inconsistent with thevalues that they were brought in to represent. When this happens, it threatens not just the individual’s

personal brand but that of any associated products; this is one of the areas where it is most certainly





not true that any publicity is good publicity. After all, a company that recruited a celebrity athletebased on his wholesome, hard-working and sportsmanlike image would be less than enthusiastic

about keeping him on if he was caught taking performance-enhancing drugs, for example.

From the celebrity’s perspective, the downside of interlinking brand and personality is thatmisbehaviour that may once have been seen as purely private can seriously damage his or her brandcommercially even if it is not linked to their core activity. For example, when the Brazilian footballerRonaldo was hit by a scandal involving transvestite prostitutes in Rio de Janeiro it didn’t affect hisability to find the back of the net but it did lose him an advertising contract worth $4.8 million peryear. Clearly the mobile telephone company involved no longer wanted its name linked with hisactivities.

For both athletes and businesses the best way to maintain and develop a brand is by stamina andrenewal. Many brands disappear or experience a decline simply because they lack a regular stream ofinnovations, whether in the product itself or the way in which the brand is communicated to the public.For a player coming close to the end of his professional career, the challenge is always to continue tomake news, either as a player, an individual or in association with the brands or products that he orshe endorses. For example, George Foreman, a former world champion boxer has made over $150million from the sales of his barbecue grills, a sum that is substantially more than he earned as aboxer. But he still has a way to go before he matches Elvis!

Dominique Turpin is Director of the International Seminar for Top Executives . He also teaches on the Orchestrating Winning Performance and Strategic Marketing in Action open enrollment

program s and in IMD’s Partnership Programs.





RELATED PROGRAMS

INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR FOR TOP EXECUTIVES - http://www.imd.ch/iste Leading and managing profitable growthProgram Director Dominique V. Turpin

- Identify new opportunities to redefine the rules of the game in your industry- Acquire tools and concepts to manage profitable growth- Learn how to better mobilize your organization to get ahead of the competition

STRATEGIC MARKETING IN ACTION - http://www.imd.ch/sma

Winning in tough marketsProgram Director Kamran Kashani- Boost your strategic thinking about your market and the forces re-shaping it- Gain insights into drivers of customer value, behavior and choice- Formulate a differentiated value proposition for customer-focused strategy and brand

platform- Meet the challenge of implementing your strategy, including making a business case and

gaining internal support

Tc063 09 Antything Can Be Branded

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