Brands Back from the Dead

There's a concept in marketing called the product life cycle.  It suggests that brands are introduced and, if they survive, go through a period of growth, then maturity as growth slows down, and finally decline.  Decline comes as competitors nibble at the brand position and a changing environment makes the brand less relevant.

Good marketers know that decline is not inevitable.  If you see the forces of change and react to them, a brand can be re-positioned and re-vitalized to keep it relevant and profitable.

Some of the re-positioning stories are dramatic.  Jack-in-the-Box at one time was a hamburger chain facing huge competitive pressure from McDonald's.  They were competing head-to-head, which is seldom a good strategy when you're the little brand competing with a well funded and entrenched competitor like McDonald's.  To re-position, Jack blew up its logo/mascot, declaring it would become something different.   Here's an ad from the 1980s to signal customers that Jack-in-the-Box was changing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-rgqDhnLoUHow should the brand change to better compete with McDonald's?  JIB hired Hal Riney, a titan in advertising, who created a new, more sophisticated persona for Jack.  The brand went after older customers with a taste for better quality and variety than McDonald's was offering, using an urbane and witty character.  Here's the introductory spot that ran after the company blew up the clown.

Is JIB as big as McDonald's?  No.  But it has established a differentiated niche for itself and no longer competes head-to-head with the market leader (which, by the way, has troubles of its own).

There are lots of examples of big brands trying to re-position.  It isn't easy to change your brand image, but survival often requires it.  Currently, the Lincoln Motor Company (a resurrected name) is trying to make that brand relevant in a market where Mercedes, BMW and Audi have dominated.  Cadillac started a re-positioning campaign several years ago, using rap stars to communicate its relevance to younger buyers.  The jury is out on both of these, but at least they're trying.