Reshaping a well known brand

Consumers make many different buying decisions every day. It is important that large companies developing products for the consumer market-place understand the many factors which affect consumer-buying behaviour. A market-driven organisation needs to find out where consumers buy different products, how they buy, what they buy as well as why they buy. It is only by answering these questions about consumer behaviour and motivations that organisations can develop their own product’s features and obtain key advantages over their competitors.

The youth market is probably the most difficult market for an organisation to compete in. Products for young people are often a form of self-expression – a fashion statement shaped by an infinite mix of influences which often change rapidly. Competing in such a market involves being close to customers, understanding their behaviour and the many different factors which influence it. In fast changing markets such as the youth market, it is important for an organisation to offer a  ‘product’ that includes many of the features, benefits and services with which young people can identify. A product strategy goes beyond simply developing a range of products. It also involves providing a distinctive identity for the products with which users can identify. This process is known as branding.

A brand

A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol or design, (or a combination of these) which identifies a seller’s products and differentiates them from competitors’ products. Brands identify a series of complex meanings for consumers which, over a period of time, can have considerable power in the market-place. After launching a new product or developing a brand, managers would ideally like them to have a long and fruitful life. However, if a brand is left alone, it simply goes into decline. Brands need to be managed. This case study focuses on Boot’s 17 brand. It examines how Boots has:

1. re-positioned the brand to meet the changing needs of consumers in the youth market
2. used the re-positioning process to inject new life into the brand.

As brands become familiar, they begin to represent a series of values or meanings. These may be tangible, such as the physical shape and packaging of a product, or less tangible such as brand personality. The challenge for a large organisation like Boots is to develop brand values and meanings with which consumers can identify. In marketing terms, 17 is a mature brand. It is a 30-year old brand with 350 products in its range. The target market for brand 17 is 15-19 year olds. Targeting is a process where marketing efforts are aimed at a particular market.

Over the past five years, the profile of the 17 brand has changed significantly. Initially, it was a budget brand identified by low prices. Now it is perceived as a ‘happening’, ‘with-it’ brand for ‘girls with attitude’. At first, however, the new profile for the brand was not being delivered instore. Although Boots’ attitudinal advertising had been successful in re-positioning the brand, this advertising promise was not being delivered in-store. There was a clear need to undertake research designed to re-launch the brand, further develop its profile and improve its market share.

Re-positioning

Brands have a certain power in the market-place. Where a brand has a particular type of awareness with consumers and represents certain values, buyers will select that brand in preference to others in the market. It is important then that the values represented by the brand match the perceptions of consumers.

Although a brand may be positioned in one particular part of a market, it may be necessary to re-position it later. As 17 has evolved, it has moved away from a low cost, budget brand to a cosmetic brand for girls with attitude. Re-positioning is an important tool for a marketer as it helps build on existing brand recognition and loyalty.

For 17, this meant that the overall objective of the re-positioning process would be to:

• develop 17 as the teenage make-up brand
• evaluate its logo styles and packaging features to ensure an appropriate fit with the 17
• personality portrayed through the advertising
• match the consumer understanding of 17 with its new brand personality
• deliver this positioning in-store with new merchandising units.

The life-cycle of a product

The life-cycle of a product may last for a few months or for hundreds of years. Re-positioning is a way of prolonging the life-cycle of a brand or product. Boots needed to inject new life into the growth period of the 17 brand by adjusting key ingredients of the marketing mix, such as packaging, advertising and promotions.

This was an important moment for the 17 brand. For many users, the in-store displays looked out of date and the packaging and look of the brand needed to be improved. This was a key opportunity for Boots to grow market share and in doing so, encourage existing users of the brand to buy more.

The best brands convey a series of meanings for their customers. For the 15 to 19 year old market, 17 represents a range of values based on ‘girls with attitude’. The aim was to create a communications experience that would provide girls with a broader vision for their activities. The 17 brand would help them feel that girls can get what they want. The functional value of the brand would be to look great physically and this would be complemented by the emotional value of the brand which would encourage them to feel great.

Packaging research

Research indicated that 17 had a strong appeal to 15-19 year olds. The streetcred of 17 was good and there was a good fit with the perception of 17 with a fun, confident and daring lifestyle. The advertising strapline ‘It’s not make-up, it’s ammunition’ was the major contributor to the brand’s image. The packaging, however, was not well received and was not recognised as delivering the promise delivered in the advertising campaign. The old packaging was felt to: