Does your company market a desirable brand, or does it miss the mark?

Brand Marketing – Build the envy to have your brand stolen

Marketing a brand can be tricky if you are starting from scratch. Most organizations have a large budget to spend on getting noticed in the market. Although the money spent on launching, or starting your brand is spent and in the past – can your brand survive the test of time? Hamilton Garage and Rubber began business in 1909 in Toronto, wait, do they still exist? Brand marketing has been close to my heart from a young age. When I was about six year’s old I went into a clothing store with my mom. It was during this shopping experience I would attempt to steal for the first time in my life. When my mom wasn’t looking I quickly grabbed something I just didn’t want to leave the store without. My first act of theft did not go unnoticed from the staff – one of the staff was quick to notify my mom that I had taken something and it was in my hand. When my mom told me that it was stealing, and I wasn’t allowed to do that, my guilt released the grip I had on the item. I opened my hand, and my mom started to laugh – I had taken a Kodiak tag off a pair of socks because I was fascinated by the logo! I wanted to share the image of their logo on this post – but their logo is protected by copyright laws, and it is considered stealing.

Brand Marketing through time

You may not recognize the name Hamilton Garage and Rubber anymore, and that is okay – because the brand sounds better as Canadian Tire. Canadian Tire has stood the test of time by marketing its brand, evolving it, and acquiring other brands along the way. Marketing acquisitions can be tricky, and sometimes it will seem more of a takeover – such as Canada Trust, and Famous Players becoming TD Bank, and Cineplex respectively. Canadian Tire has been smart with its acquisitions – can you imagine the takeover of Sport Chek and Mark’s Work Wearhouse by Hamilton Garage and Rubber? Sounds a whole lot different. There have been less successful companies that did not evolve their brand over time, including Sears. Sears lost steam over the past decade leading to the closure of its stores. Sears did not evolve like Hamilton Garage and Rubber – they have been Sears since the late 1800’s. I’m happy to say that unlike both these brands – Kodiak is still going strong with little evolution of the brand over time. When you choose to brand your business, make the strategic choices needed: re-brand if necessary, be forward thinking, and incorporate digital. Canadian Tire didn’t stop with its own brand, by evolving Mark’s Work Wearhouse into Mark’s they have survived the test of time.