Brands are the personality of the product. They appeal to a particular segment, and what suits one segment will not suit another. Very few brands are able to cross between segments—people get to like specific brands, and (of course) dislike others.
Sometimes firms will use an overall brand to “wrap” the others—Heinz is a good example—and sometimes firms will use a single brand to cover a wide range of products (as Virgin does, very successfully), but in most cases firms use a separate brand identity for each product-segment match.
Sometimes, though, the product has to function in very much the same way as all the other products if it is to work with those other products.
Nokia is one of the largest manufacturers of cellphones in the world. As such, it has a range of cellphones at various prices to suit various pockets: within each country, and even between most countries, the function of the cellphones has to be compatible with the cellular phone infrastructure, so there can be little variation in
performance.
However, as with nearly every other product, there is a segment of wealthy people who are prepared to pay more simply to have a product that is exclusive, i.e., excludes the rest of the population.
Nokia wanted to tap into this market, but the Nokia brand does not carry the right image for this upper-crust group.
Nokia therefore introduced a new brand, Vertu, to cover its upmarket cellphones. These are, as one might expect, seriously upmarket: although the “works” have to be the same as in any other Nokia cellphone, the exteriors are diamond-encrusted works of art.
Vertu phones are priced between £4,000 and £15,000, so they are certainly not for the average adolescent text-messager.
Practice
•Consider whether your product or service could appeal to another
segment if value could be added.
•Always develop a separate brand for each segment—this will
take investment, but it will be worth it.
•Don’t assume that people will only buy more of something if
it’s cheaper.
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