La mortandad de las marcas, según Laura Ries
La gurú Laura Ries (presidenta de Ries & Ries, Atlanta) firma dos interesantes posts en su blog. Su tesis:
“Turns out brands are just like the rest of us, merely mortal. They can’t live forever. This is good news and bad news for companies. Good news because it creates opportunities to launch new brands but bad news because it means having to say goodbye to some old, dependable friends”.
Estoy de acuerdo con el diagnóstico (una marca puede morir) aunque no comparto parte de sus argumentaciones. Espero que la controversia abra un debate.
Ries propone una doble teoría para explicar las razones de una defunción corporativa: The extinction of a category y The massive line extension.
1. The extinction of a category.
En su opinión, es lo que les ha sucedido a compañías como Polaroid (especializada en la fotografía instantánea), Western Union (¿telégrafos hoy?), o, hasta cierto punto, Kodak (en crisis tras la irrupción del paradigma digital-Flickr). Personalmente, hecho de menos en su post un análisis de casos no vinculados estrictamente con la tecnología, porque también se han producido.
Según Ries:
“As a category declines, so does the value of the brands that dominate that category. In the mind of the consumer a brand is only worth what its category is worth. Because it is categories that consumers really care about not brands. Brands are just short-hand for categories in the mind. Therefore once a category dies so do the brands associated with it”.
Advierte de la existencia de segundas juventudes, como la que disfruta Western Union, aunque se muestra escéptica:
“Once in a great while a brand will have a second coming. But it is very rare and only occurs when it enters a category with little or no competition. This is the case with Western Union. The brand survives today because it was the first brand to move into the money-transfer business. Using the old name really gave them no advantage, being first is the real reason for their success”.
2. Massive line extension
Ries empieza su post con un ejemplo directo: Chevrolet. Y se plantea cuál es la imagen que transmite Chevrolet a la mente de su audiencia. Al respecto, afirma algo obvio pero revelador: hay que elegir. “When you try and have your brand stand for everything, your brand ends up standing for nothing”.
Su consejo es claro:
“The best way to keep brands healthy is limiting exposure to line extension as much as possible. A little won’t kill you, but too much and you can easily overdose and die”.
