Branding has been around forever. You’ve seen their logos and mascots, heard their slogans, sang along with their jingles, and viewed their commercials. They come and go in today’s competitive business world at the whim of the general public. Or so it seems.
The truth concerning longevity actually lies in the hands of the organization creating and promoting a particular brand. The extent to which they endear themselves to consumers will determine the success and life span they’ll enjoy.
Billions of dollars are spent every year in the development, promotion and support of powerful brands worldwide. While many are shared globally, others target small regional markets. Regardless, they can mean life or death for the product and/or service they represent.
It’s truly amazing how many people will make a purchase based on their knowledge and comfort level with a “brand.” Many often feel as though they know the brand intimately while, in fact, they know little. That’s the power of the “brand.”
How much do you know about the following well-known brands?
Xerox
Headquartered in Norwalk, CT, and with 136,000 employees in 160 countries, the name “Xerox” has become synonymous with photocopiers and the act of photocopying. The century-old company invented the first electro-photography plain paper photocopier. Xerox is in the top 200 of the Fortune 500 and remains a well-known brand globally. The company’s revenue was $15.2 billion in 2010, with just over $7 billion (46%) coming in from outside of the United States.
Yahoo!
Founded in 1994, Yahoo! was one of the first major web portals. Surviving the burst of the dot-com bubble, Yahoo! is the second largest search engine in the U.S. behind Google. Yahoo!, as of 2010, had the largest market share of online display advertising in the world, according to JP Morgan.
Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California (in the Silicon Valley), Yahoo! provides services via the Internet worldwide. Last year Yahoo! boasted sales of $6.3 billion … 33% of those sales being international. Yahoo! has been one of the most visited websites on the Internet, with more than 130 million unique users per month in the United States alone. As of October 2007, the global network of Yahoo! receives 3.4 billion page views per day on average, making it one of the most visited U.S. websites.
MTV
The original idea for MTV was created by Mike Nesmith, one of the members of the created-for-TV rock group The Monkees in the 70s. He sold the concept of the 24-hour TV music channel to Time-Warner. It actually hit the airways in 1981 and has since grown into an international media giant.
According to current owner Viacom, the channel reached approximately 99 million television households within the United States last year, producing $13.4 billion in sales. On an international level, MTV Networks’ operations reached approximately 635 million households in more than 160 countries last year. MTV has also expanded into film with its MTV Films division, which has produced such popular films as Zoolander and Jackass.
About Harry K. Jones
Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.
The re branding exercise is must for brands like Xerox which is identified with an old regime.
The new brand will bring the freshness in the mind of the internal and external customers.