As marketers we all know the many issues with regards to damaging or even killing Brands. The usual suspects are always mentioned whenever the discussion comes up about what undermined a specific Brand – lack of clear identity, relevance to the target, mixed communication messages, product differentiation, distribution problems and a host of other basic marketing elements are usually named as the reason for the product or service failure to succeed.
However, there is another major factor that causes a Brand to lose its appeal and relevance to its target market and that is the constant use of promotional / tactical activity to build and maintain the Brand. When Brands decide to switch their marketing activities to deploy mainly promotional / discount programs, they run the risk of undermining the intrinsic value of their Brand to obtain short term sales as they try to maintain market share.
A classic example on this type of tactical approach to keeping a Brand relevant to its market is the story of the North American television business. Read More
