In a period when consumers and companies alike are spending their money more carefully, megabranding might seem like a no-brainer.  Take a well-known brand and attach that name to other similar products. It certainly seems easier – and cheaper – than launching an entirely new brand.  But to embark on a megabranding strategy is far more complex, and marketers must take a number of factors into account or they ultimately risk damaging the brand.

Read more about how some consumer goods companies are successfully extending their brands’ equity in the new edition of Consumer Insight.

I recently shared some thoughts on how CPG manufacturers can protect their brands from private label expansion. Of course, it didn’t take long to hear back from retailers asking for tips on growing their own brands so here are a few private label ideas for our retailer friends.

1. Study the category consumer before going upscale. Consumer understanding is the common thread among top-selling brands. It’s not enough for a retailer to roll out a quality product in premium packaging.
2. Disguise your premium store brands. Many consumers still associate private label with cheap knockoffs. There – I said it. But what if they don’t know it’s a store brand? Look to position premium store brands as exclusive products like Choxie at Target and Canopy at Walmart.
3. Get your pricing right. The price gap between store brands and national brands varies significantly across categories. The same shopper who chooses private label bottled water for a 3% discount may require at least 20% savings for private label barbecue sauce.
4. Offer multiple brands in multiple tiers. Although Costco may be the exception, most retailers are finding growth with multiple store brands. No one brand can stand for value and gourmet and healthy eating.
5. Eliminate weak links. One bad product experience can hurt the entire store brand, not to mention the retail banner itself. Product quality needs to be consistent across each store brand. Your brand’s perceived quality is only as good as its weakest SKU.
6. Drive trial. If your store brand is really as good as the national brand (or better), let your shoppers try it. Offer a free package with a $50 purchase. Consider a trial size or in-store product demos.
7. Promote your store brands. There’s a wide range of feature ad support for private label. Using ECRM’s Marketgate data, we found that private label’s percent of feature ads ranged from 45% at Wegmans to 25% at HEB to only 10% of ads at Publix.
8. Don’t be too quick to drive out value brands. Some value brands can drive lower price and higher margins than retailers can achieve through private label. The shampoo category is an excellent example with some well-known brands at very low prices.
9. Embrace a cause. Use package labeling to show how your store brand supports local suppliers, promotes health & wellness, saves the environment, or funds local charities. You’ll find that many of these causes attract similar consumers. Regardless of sales performance, taking the high road can help to build a retailer’s image.
10. Understand the difference between strong sales vs. strong brand equity. Walmart’s Great Value brand claims to be the #1 food brand across categories, but would shoppers ever choose Great Value over a national brand at the same price point?

Bonus: (It’s one better than a top 10 list) Sell your store brand in someone else’s stores. Safeway is taking the lead by selling its “Eating Right” and “O” brand at other retailers in non-competing markets. Opportunities exist for retailers to sell their store brands not just in new markets, but in new channels (convenience, hardware, toy stores) in their own. Share your tips, stories, feedback in the comments below.

1. Health Claims – “Now with More Calcium”, “Good Source of Antioxidants”, “Natural”, “Made with Real Sugar”.  First look for claims you can make without reformulations.  Then consider adding nutrients to add perceived value. 
2. Unique Packaging – Consider Dean Milk Chugs in a category dominated by private label.  Older shoppers may appreciate packaging that easier to open, easier to re-seal, and easier to read without glasses.
3. Line Extensions – Look at the soda category with only 6.1% private label share.  Every year we see many new soda flavors, but very few really “new” brands.   In most stores, private label is left with limited SKUs and shelf space.
4. Promote a Cause – Don’t just offer a percent your profits.  Build awareness.  Educate the consumer about a cause you can really embrace.  Let them know how they can get involved.   
5. Odd Ounces – It’s easy for store brands to copy products sold with the same package size year after year.  Shifting a 12 oz. package to 15 oz. makes it difficult to compare prices to store brands.  Going metric makes the price comparison even harder.
6. Offer Your Own Value Brand – Look at the hair care category with only 2.2% private label share.  National value brands make it difficult for store brands to get a foothold.   
7. Local Ties – Each year have your sales force apply labels to packages in the store, reminding shoppers when a product is grown locally, processed locally, or warehoused locally.  In today’s environment, shoppers are likely to support the local economy.
8. Differentiate Yourself – Compete with private label like you compete with any other brand.  Set your brand apart with a clear case for why it’s worth more than the store brand.
9. “Green” Sizes - We used to call them “value sizes” or “club packs”.  Most large pack sizes use less packaging by nature.  Combine the value message with the green message.  Give shoppers a way to help the planet while saving money.
10. Keep Innovating – Be a moving target.  Make your brand difficult to copy.  Give shoppers a reason to spend a little more on your brand.  Whether it’s packaging, labeling, health claims, or new flavors, use your brand equity and category expertise to push the category forward.

For the flip side… check out Five Ways To Build Store Brands in the latest issue of Consumer Insight.

Twitter.com continues to grow in popularity and importance in both the consumer and corporate worlds. No longer just a platform for friends to stay connected in real time, it has evolved into an important component of brand marketing. Unique visitors to Twitter increased 1,382 percent year-over-year, from 475,000 unique visitors in February 2008 to 7 million in February 2009, making it the fastest growing site in the Member Communities category for the month.  Zimbio and Facebook followed, growing 240 percent and 228 percent, respectively.

Fastest Growing Member Community Destinations in February 2009

Twitter Most Popular Among Working Adults

Twitterers (a.k.a. Tweeters) are not primarily teens or college students as you might expect. In fact, in February the largest age group on Twitter was 35-49; with nearly 3 million unique visitors, comprising almost 42 percent of the site’s audience. We found that the majority of people visit Twitter.com while at work, with 62 percent of the combo unique audience accessing the site from work only versus 35 percent that accessed it from home only.

Unique Visitors to Twitter.com by Age Demographic

Twitter On The Move

PC Web usage of Twitter.com doesn’t tell the whole story. The ability to twitter via a mobile phone-whether through the mobile Web or via text messages-is a driving factor in the social network’s success. In January, 735,000 unique visitors accessed the Twitter Web site through their mobile phones. The average unique visitor went to Twitter.com 14 times during the month and spent an average of seven minutes on the site.

Finally, text messaging offers a third platform for consumers and businesses alike to take part in the twitter craze. In the last quarter of 2008, 812,000 unique users sent or received Twitter text messages from AT&T or Verizon cell phones. There was an average of nearly 240 tweets per person for the quarter.

It will be interesting to watch the evolution of Twitter as it continues to gain momentum. In an unstable economy, it might prove to be an economical and important part of an employer’s marketing strategy that helps to keep consumers aware of and connected to their brand.

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New technologies have revolutionized the way brands are marketed — today’s consumers have more information on brands, and companies, in turn, have more information about their consumers. 

But according to brand guru Kevin Lane Keller (photo at left), E. B. Osborn Professor of Marketing at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, one key marketing strategy remains unchanged. 

“The most important message for marketers these days is to make sure they have a deep, rich understanding of consumers and how they think and feel about brands and their products and services,” Keller noted in a recent Nielsen Q&A on current trends in brand marketing.  “It is so fundamental and may seem obvious, but unfortunately many marketers still fall way short on that score.”

In his discussion with Nielsen, Keller also offered tips for designing and implementing brand equity measurement systems, making wise marketing investments during the current economic crisis, effectively integrating traditional brand building approaches with emerging online marketing strategies, and finding fresh, new ways to create compelling brand positions via emotional appeals.

Keller’s textbook, Strategic Brand Management, is widely used at marketing and business colleges worldwide.  In conjunction with Professor John Roberts of the University of New South Wales, Keller helped Nielsen develop Winning Brands, a solution that tracks the underlying strength of relationships between customers and brands.

Read Nielsen’s full interview with Kevin Lane Keller.