Re: Loyalty to Brand or Content

From: Rob Frankel <Rob_at_RobFrankel.com>
Date: Thu 10 Jan 2002 12:09:42 -0500

At 9:19 AM -0500 1/10/02, Kelley Mitchell wrote:
>I concur with Rob Frankel's statement that if Internet.com
>had a really strong brand, there would be recognition
>benefits to mention it when referring to
>SearchEngineWatch.com. There is another angle here too
>though. SearchEngineWatch.com has a *brand of its own* -
>it was a reputable and successful site before coming under
>the Internet.com umbrella. Long-time users of
>SearchEngineWatch (like me!) would see slapping
>"Internet.com's" in front of SearchEngineWatch.com as an
>attempt to take credit for a site that it had nothing to do
>with developing.
>
>When does a brand add value? When it connotes positive
>attributes to a product or service. For instance, when
>you go shopping for fabric softner, do you look for
>Snuggle or Unilever products? Snuggle is more prominent
>on the label for a reason! >>An aside: Unilever did not
>carry their branding knowledge over to their Web site.
>Go to http://unilever.com and try to find some
>information on Snuggle - the Web site is all about the
corporation.<<

Okay, now we're getting into it: branding and sub-branding.
Just the way I like it!

I agree with Kelley on this. As you all know, I'm not
terribly shy about branding or my own brand for that matter.
I mean, just about everything I do is a "Frankel-this" or
"Frankel-that".

This month, though, I am launching my first "sub-brand"
(http://www.i-legions.com) that's directly rooted in my
branding practice, where nary a Frankel-centric name -- or
an Obnoxious Bobbing Head for that matter -- can be found.

Sub-branding is always a case-by-case decision. In this
case, and as a general rule of thumb, I chose to develop
a sub-brand because to do otherwise would distract from
the mission and identity of the new division.

More importantly, establishing a division as a sub-brand
really eases the pain when/if your exit strategy calls for
a sale. It's much easier to extricate yourself from a
sub-brand than a division of a main brand.


--

Rob Frankel, "Yes, I really do turn users into evangelists
for your brand."
Big Time Branding (TM) http://www.RobFrankel.com
Turnkey Revenue Generating Branded Communities:
http://www.i-legions.com
1-888-ROBFRANKEL * AIM: ROBFRANKEL





Received on Thu Jan 10 2002 - 11:09:42 CST