Reviving weak and dead brands: Insights from Theory and Practice.

Over the years, many brands such as Oldsmobile, PanAm, and Woolworth have met untimely deaths. Many more have steadily declined into oblivion, while others have been revived. When a brand dies, significant investments that were made to build the brand are also lost. Unfortunately, even the strongest brands with high net worth are not immune from brand decline and subsequent death. In today’s market, where new product introductions are both expensive and risky, it may be worthwhile to evaluate brands that are declining, and invest in them to revitalize them. However, there is a dearth of studies that focus on declining brands. In this paper, we use findings from academic literature, detailed case studies, and interviews with marketing executives to provide guidelines to deal with declining brands. We study the conditions that lead to brand decline and brand death, highlight signs that may suggest an impending decline, offer insights into assessing the viability of reviving a brand, and suggest various approaches that can be used to strengthen the brand and give it a second life.

By Sunil Thomas, Ph.D. and Chiranjeev Kohli, Ph.D.

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