Ahh Toyota.

Now that’s a branding nightmare. Amongst other nightmares. In the middle of the biggest automobile recall in history and one of the biggest branding wounds in history, Toyota is going to have to do some serious repair work to it’s brand. Luckily for them, prior to this mess they got themselves in, they had one of the strongest brands in the world with some of the highest customer satisfaction rates of any company. So I have one question in all of this that I have not seen anywhere else: Where is Lexus going to be in all of this?

You see, Lexus is owned by Toyota. It is their luxury line of automobiles. But Toyota does something unique that specifically becomes beneficial in a time like this.

Toyota and Lexus are sibling brands. Two brands that share common parents, but have their own unique characteristics. If you did not have prior knowledge of Lexus being owned by Toyota, there is no way to discover that relationship by looking at the brands. There is no indication of the Toyota brand at the Lexus site and as far as most Lexus owners believe, they are two separate companies.

Toyota could have easily called their luxury line of autos Toyota Lux or Toyota Tops. But they didn’t. Lexus now, is in a very fortunate situation. Luckily for them, their brand is going to hold up quite well in this situation. Now, does that mean that sales are not going to decrease fro Lexus? It’s too soon to tell. But it does mean that there is going to be much less brand repair to the Lexus line than there will be to the Toyota line.

What this means for you, the business owner and marketer:

Most business owners and marketers are inclined to name all sub-brands with an inclusion of the parent brand name. But that’s not always the best situation. By separating the brands, the two brands can co-exist without confusing and diluting the other brand, especially if they serve two different markets. I believe the Lexus name will save Toyota millions of dollars in brand repair, only because the brands are separated.

If your business includes sub-brands, I’d love to help you to determine a branding strategy that works best for you and your business.

What do you think?

Are you a Toyota or a Lexus owner? What do you think about the Lexus brand? Do you think they will suffer as a result of the Toyota fiasco? Let me know, leave a comment below.

Ciao,
Robert Scozzari RGD

Posted: February 9th, 2010 under Branding, Comentary, Naming.
Comments: none

Hi, have you heard the term crowdsourcing? Maybe you have, or not. Derived from the word Outsourcing, It’s when companies use the Internet to gather huge crowds of people and have them solve a problem. Instead of outsourcing to a company, a task is left to the will of the people or a crowd. It’s pretty much like when a company has a contest to name it’s newest product, and the general public submits names and votes on the best one, in the end, deciding the brand name of the new product.

Well, that’s what Kraft did with a new, more spreadable version of it’s famous Vegemite. Boy, did things go wrong. I myself, have never had the pleasure of Vegemite on toast. Nor am I sure if I ever would want to. But if I were to ever find myself on a vacation in the friendly Australia, perhaps I would at least give it a try.

So here is what happened. They held this contest to name a new version of Vegemite. This new version of Vegemite is more spreadable as it is mixed with cream cheese. The contest happened. Can you guess what the winning name was? This was a name that was chosen by the fans and voted as the number one name.

The name was, “iSnack 2.0″

Wow, that name sure sucked. Mmmmm… Lets have some toast with iSnack two point-oh-on it. Yea, it bombed. The Australian media and press and blogosphere had a Field-day with it. Eventually Kraft rolled back the brand and started the whole process all over again, and rightfully so.

So what happened the second time around? The second time, I think they got it a bit better. After the epic fail, they finaly came up with a new name.

Vegemite Cheesybite

Now that, is a great name. You don’t get a more descriptive and easy to remember name than that. Well, OK, it’s better than iSnack 2.0.

what does a business owner need to learn from this?

Well for one, It’s not always a good idea to run a contest to get cheap creative work, while it may get you some publicity, you are trusting the fate or your business and brand in the hands of people who do not have a full scope if what is involved. This little adventure from Kraft, probably cost the company a few millions. I always recommend hiring a professional that is experienced in what you need, whether that’s naming a product or creating a poster or what-ever you may need.

Posted: January 25th, 2010 under Naming, Useful Links, logo identity, rebrand.
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