Bringing A Dead Brand Back To Life

May 22, 2008      Admin

I’ll say it flat out … this, from the New York Times magazine, is one of the most fascinating marketing articles I’ve ever read.

It’s about a company that buys "dead" brands … the intellectual property left from products no longer made, like Brim coffee, SalonSelectives shampoos, Nuprin, and Underalls … and brings them back to market in new incarnations. As the founder says: “There’s no retail presence, no product, no distribution, no trucks, no plants. Nothing. All that exists is memory. We’re taking consumers’ memories and starting entire businesses.”

Often these are brands that died, not because consumers rejected them, but because they were taken over and retired by even larger brands owned by conglomerates … so Brim is replaced by the new parent’s larger Maxwell House. But the fond consumer memories of Brim survive.

The key point is that such brands are nothing more than memories … and often inaccurate ones at that. Still, their essence lingers in the mind of consumers, and can often be re-attached to more contemporary versions of the original product … or even to completely new products that the "old" brand never encompassed. So, for example, the venerable Stanley tool brand can be attached to ladders, a product Stanley itself has never actually made.

Says the author: "The brand equity has value on its own, but it can be grafted onto something newer and, perhaps, more innovative."

I’ve had a lot of fun thinking about how this might apply to "dormant" nonprofit brands.

Brands like Common Cause, the League of Women Voters, the NAACP, the ACLU, the National Organization for Women. Which of these possesses enough remnant equity to be re-invented, resuscitated? To have a second life? How would their original essence — that so many found so compelling — be reintroduced and used to win new advocates?

As one academic cited in the article observed … with "deceased" brands that get a second life, it wasn’t their fault that they died in the first place. His point … the consumer didn’t abandon the brand; the brand abandoned or was withdrawn from its consumers.

What do you think? Can a "dormant" or "deceased" nonprofit brand be resuscitated? Or does it only get one chance?

Tom

7 responses to “Bringing A Dead Brand Back To Life”

  1. Johanna Ettin says:
    May 22, 2008 at 10:32 am

    The problem with your analogy is that the organizational brands that you mention have not been abandoned. Some, such as NAACP and League of Women Voters have declining membership, but ACLU has a huge membership. All are organizations with multi-million dollar budgets and a substantial corps of dedicated members. The brands definitely need refreshing, but it’s not quite the same as starting over from scratch. An analogy that’s closer is the Women’s Campaign Fund which had virtually disappeared and which is in the process of reviving itself. Would love to hear your comments on well-known brands that abandon their names (at the suggestion of highly paid consultants) to adopt new names which have much less to do with their mission and which no one can remember. I wonder if their donors can remember. Examples ZPG which is now Population Connection (or something like that) and NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund (NOW LDEF) which is now Legal Momentum (heaven only knows what that means).

  2. Samer says:
    May 22, 2008 at 12:19 pm

    “Brands like Common Cause, the League of Women Voters, the NAACP, the ACLU, the National Organization for Women. Which of these possesses enough remnant equity to be re-invented, resuscitated?”

    Aren’t these NPOs alive and well? As far as I know, all of them are still doing good, relevant work. What makes you think that they’re dormant?

  3. Tom Belford says:
    May 22, 2008 at 10:33 pm

    My argument would be that — to anyone with a long memory — the nonprofits I mentioned are mere shadows of their former selves. But that’s just my opinion.
    Tom

  4. Carlene Hill Byron says:
    May 22, 2008 at 10:35 pm

    Nonprofit “brands” are less likely to retool because (in some ways, by nature) they aren’t held to the same fiscal standards as for-profit brands. If Brim isn’t sufficiently profitable, it’s shut down. But nonprofits live on the passion of their members … their staffs … their executive directors. So as long as a few people are passionate enough to keep driving at the original mission, taking no salary, but keeping the nonprofit running while they also work their paying jobs, the non-profit continues.

    And BTW, I’m not sure where you’re located, but in this state and city, the NAACP would take umbrage at being described as a “dormant” nonprofit.

    Carlene Hill Byron
    Director of Resource Development
    The Salvation Army

  5. Fran Anderson says:
    May 22, 2008 at 10:40 pm

    Fran here – from Texas Discovery Gardens in Dallas ! I sure hope that a dead brand can be brought back! We are renovating our horticultural museum and conservatory to include a new Butterfly house and Insectarium. Seems like this organization (of which I have only been an employee for less than a year) is much in need of an identity update (if not upgrade).

    We used to be the Dallas Horticultural Society (and many others) through the years and were a place supported by the “white gloved” set for many years. We are hoping to put on new “gloves” since we have always been “green.” We are hoping to get a new generation of visitors and donors excited and an old group reinvigorated! So, keep sending out those good vibes!

    I really enjoy the Agitator!

    Fran

  6. Amber Naslund says:
    May 30, 2008 at 6:34 pm

    Tom,

    I’m a little slow on the uptake but actually read the article and then, an hour later, saw coverage on the Today show about just this.

    I posted about it on my blog this morning, also. In the CPG world, I think you have to let sleeping dogs lie. At most, you’re setting yourself up for a flash in the pan remix that can only be short lived because of nostalgia.

    But for NPOs, I think there’s HUGE opportunity if not for resurrection, for reinvention. The NPO world is fast learning that the power of brand, message, and community doesn’t just have to apply to slick marketers with big ad bugets. And NPOs have the power of compelling stories on their sides that for-profit organizations can’t buy or invent. So it seems to me like the circle of breathing new life into aged organizations can be alive indeed.

    Amber

  7. J. Garland Pollard says:
    June 10, 2008 at 5:29 am

    Great idea on non profit brands. I blog about dead brands coming back to life that are consumer brands, but this idea you speak about makes sense for non profits that have either TOTALLY waned or need to be re-invented.

    I think that many charities waste LOTS of effort on changing their name, when in reality, other changes are actually needed and the name change makes people think something new is happening.

    I was on the board of TheatreVirginia in Richmond, which changed its name from the Virginia Museum Theater. As name changes go, it was pretty good, as it used two of the same words in the re-name. It almost worked. But our patrons, who were aging, ultimately didn’t get it. And because the the museum no longer felt connected to the theater, they eventually sent them packing. Not that they didn’t deserve it, but the name change didn’t do what was needed, which was to put on plays!

    I was also involved with the William Byrd Branch of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. The group merged with Historic Richmond Foundation. We kept the Historic Richmond name, but preserved the William Byrd name as the legal entity. That is often the best course for a charity that thinks it needs a new name-begin calling it a d/b/a, but keep the original name intact.

    In Stuart, Florida, a charity dropped the name from Jesus from Jesus House of Hope. It, obviously, did not set well with the core donors, the church!

    http://www.wptv.com/content/specialreports/story.aspx?content_id=dab87251-152a-4e06-95a8-12a2b7e435ed

Ask A Behavioral Scientist

    Behavioral Science Q & A

    The Agitator Tool Box

    Ideas, applications, tools, processes, and case studies of break-through solutions in fundraising, including: