Strong brand can weather storm
Adele Shevel
Pick 'n Pay showed this week how a strong brand can help a company survive a serious attack such as the poison extortion threat made public this week.
Jeremy Sampson, chief executive of Interbrand Sampson, says the scenario illustrates how at risk a business can be.
"But a strong brand can weather situations like this better," he says.
Sean Summers, chief executive of Pick 'n Pay, says the company is not a brand in the classical sense.
"It's not a product. My definition of Pick 'n Pay is that it is an accumulation of a consumer experience over a period of time. Retailers tend to be more about building a relationship over a period of time."
For years, founder and chairman Raymond Ackerman projected himself as the housewives' friend and a consumer champion.
The irony is that although executives at Pick 'n Pay have never regarded the company as a brand and have gone out of their way to communicate this, commentators believe it is one of South Africa's strongest brands.
Marketing commentator Chris Moerdyk says the more powerful your branding, the more loyalty you have among consumers.
"It follows that while a lot of people will be nervous about buying [Pick 'n Pay's] products, they still trust the company - as long as the company has been open and honest about what is going on.
"They will get away unscathed and may even earn a few brownie points."
Moerdyk says that in terms of South African consumer loyalty, the Pick 'n Pay brand is probably more powerful than the Springbok rugby team.
"Pick 'n Pay has branded itself since day one," says Moerdyk. "Ackerman made promises to consumers and shareholders and largely kept those promises. This has been pay-back time."
Moerdyk says branding is for the good times as well as for the bad. Pick 'n Pay executives realised they wanted a relationship with consumers for life.
"Pick 'n Pay's strong branding drive over the years has lifted it from a mere company to a national institution," he says.
"If brands have been well fed and nurtured it's difficult to destroy them. Despite South Africa's anti-American stance, Coca-Cola had record sales over the period of the Iraq war.
"You can't leave a brand on its own for too long. It's like a child. If you are going to let the kid hang around, you need to look after it".
Brand experts say consumers value some brands over others through a combination of trust, quality and service.
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