Giving Your Brand The Household Status

You know a brand has truly made it, when it’s the first thing to that comes to mind each time a relevant problem arises. It would be the pinnacle of fame if a brand was used as a verb to describe the solution itself, like how many people use ‘Clorox’ to replace ‘bleach’, and how several Singaporeans use ‘Kiwi’ to replace the word ‘polish’ when it comes to shoes.
 

This is what is known as household status. In fact, some of the brands that have reached household status may not be the current market leader, but thanks to excellent branding, they have been immortalised on the tips of consumers’ tongues. Although some brands do lose their trademarks due to becoming a highly common reference, the majority of major brands have managed to keep their intellectual property rights.
 

However, the main point here is that branding can reach phenomenal heights and after looking at some of these household names, we’ve listed some of the main steps they took to achieve such lasting results.
 

 

1. Know Your Brand – First of all, you need to know what your brand is about then focus on that aspect (Read more about focus in this entry). The iPod for instance, is used as a generic term for portable media players. This is because it was branded and marketed as exactly that. The focus wasn’t on being a movie player or an mp3 player, but a wholesome entertainment centre that complimented your lifestyle and could fit in your pocket.
 

2. Understand Your Audience – Here in Singapore, we refer to most dishwashing liquids as ‘Mama Lemon’, which is of course a well known brand in the industry. The branding for it is targeted at homemakers who appreciate value. So Mama Lemon is marketed for being highly affordable, constant sold in bulk and the liquid is a consistent yellow that reminds people of…you guessed it, lemony fresh and clean dishes. After all, which homemaker doesn’t appreciate clean and fresh for anything at home?
 

3. Keeping It Consistent – In the case of Mama Lemon, the brand remained loyal to their design over decades. They did change the shape of the bottle it came in at some point, but the overall look and feel was still there. Consumers always knew to look out for the transparent squeeze bottle containing that familiar ‘lemon-coloured’ liquid. I have to say that the colour of their dishwashing liquid itself didn’t change for as long as I can remember. This consistency makes it easy for your their target audience (homemakers) to identify the product and even describe it to their family and friends.
 

4. Intelligent Marketing – As indicated in point 3, you need to know your target market before building an effective brand, and that’s exactly what household names have done. In the case of Coca Cola, they produced customised ads that reflected the current season or holiday, with their Christmas ads being most memorable across the globe. With Mama Lemon, their advertising within the region was localised and reflected the common problems that most homemakers face. You’ll also notice that some of the major brands market both online and offline, including online giants like YouTube and Google. In some cities, you can find billboards advertising popular YouTube users. So never think that offline marketing is outdated, because it isn’t. Depending on your product, different marketing medias can be very complementary of one another.
 

In summary, what household names really did was to consistently commit to their brand. It’s pure hard work in branding and marketing. Even today, when their names are uttered by loyal customers worldwide, they still advertise to remind people about their brand.
 

So whether it’s a cola by Coca Cola, a Mac from Apple or even shoe polish from our local brand (Singapore), Kiwi, these brands didn’t become household names by accident.
 

Pull the Rabbit out of the hat
If you’re looking to make your brand ‘household’ worthy, get in touch with Rabbit’s team of brand specialists and we’ll arrange for a complimentary consultation.