We Want Tang! (Reviving Classic Brands)

Cutting through the clutter is a huge challenge, especially if you are creating a new brand. That's one of the reasons River West is reviving Brim, Salon Selects, and other brands that were least seen in the 80's. Through research they found inherent strengths, even where they weren't accurate (see the Stanely Tools section below) but clearly there is something to the notion of leveraging brands that already have a place in your conciousnesss (90% aided awareness) and updating them rather than starting from scratch. Read a sampling below or check out the whole article article from today's New York Times. Can a Tang comeback be far behind? After all, we've already seen Pabst Blue Ribbon come back from the dead.

A sampling...

"A great deal of what happens in the consumer marketplace does not involve brands with zealous loyalists. What determines whether a brand lives or dies (or can even come back to life) is usually a quieter process that has more to do with mental shortcuts and assumptions and memories — and all the imperfections that come along with each of those things.

Stanley hired Beanstalk about nine years ago. Stanley conducted “consumer permission research” to try to determine where the Stanley brand could go. “I remember looking through the focus-group tests, and there was a guy who absolutely swore that he had a Stanley ladder in his garage.” Stone paused. “Stanley never made ladders.” This is an excellent example of what “brand equity” really means in the marketplace. "(Good thing they didn't go quantitative research only.)

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