Can One Brand Absorb The Attributes of Another?

Recently, Ford Motor Company started airing a corporate branding commercial with Chairman Bill Ford discussing all the great innovations happening at Ford and its divisions. What stood out was at one point the spot specifically highlighted the engineers at its Volvo division, which Ford acquired in 1999. Why would Ford highlight this division's engineers specifically? Because the Volvo brand over the decades has become synonymous with safety and reliability, and it is safety and reliability that has become the essence of the Volvo brand. Ford Motor Company’s namesake brand of cars and trucks, on the other hand, has had almost the opposite reputation over the years going back to the much publicized exploding Ford Pinto of the late 1970’s.

By highlighting Volvo in a corporate spot is Ford trying transfer Volvo’s sterling reputation on to the company as a whole? The answer is obvious, of course they are and rightly so, since Volvo’s reputation is everything that Ford’s is not and Ford recognizes that. The question really becomes, "Can Ford transfer that reputation to the rest of the company, or will that effort actually backfire and damage Volvo’s brand equity instead?" It’s hard to say for sure, but I feel that Ford should be very careful on how they proceed here because strong links between Ford and Volvo in the consumer’s mind could ruin one of Ford’s crown jewels. The spot that mentioned Volvo was done right because it was so subtle that the average consumer will most likely not react to it immediately, although when shopping for a Ford they may remember that they “heard somewhere” that Volvo engineers where working on new Fords. This is a smart move and really the only way Ford should procede is very gradually. Any bolder attempt to link the brands than this should be avoided, because you can’t change your brand image over night, and if it is possible, then the best way is proceeding with baby steps.

Another good example of acquiring another brand's attributes is Kmart purchasing Sears a few years ago. Kmart has a brand attribute that they can never overcome; the name has become synonymous with “cheap merchandise”. So much so that Nike refuses to let Kmart carry its merchandise anymore. Retail leader Wal-Mart may be known for low prices, but even though they have similar merchandise as Kmart, they’re seen as carrying good products at a good price rather than cheap products where you get what you pay for. Sears, on the other hand, never had a bad reputation despite recently losing market share in a rapidly changing retail environment, and is known for its own line of quality brands such as Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard.

By acquiring Sears, Kmart has essentially admitted that the Kmart brand attributes cannot be changed. Despite new product lines such as Martha Stewart Everyday and before that re-branding their stores under the BigK name, nothing changed. Before the decade is out you will see Kmart gradually phase out the Kmart name, something they have begun doing by changing the corporate name to Sears Holding Corporation. A new Target-like concept called Sears Grand is being tested in several markets; if this concept is a hit with consumers, then that will most likely speed up the effort to phase out the Kmart name. Kmart will have essentially phased itself out and will bank its future on the good brand equity it acquired in the Sears name.

Jake Crocker is a Partner and Brand Marketing Director at Martin Branding Worldwide, Inc. and can be reached at: jcrocker@martinbranding.com