A manufacturer of sports shoes starts selling consumer electronics. A soft drink lends its name to a range of urban clothing. What's going on? In simpler times, you knew where you were with brands. One brand name meant good-quality sports shoes, another a soft drink. No confusion. Today, however, big companies try to redefine brands as not so much a product, more a way of life, and stretch them into new areas. In the early years of the consumers society, a brand name on a box simply identified what was inside. People were looking for products that would improve their quality of life, and chose brands most likely to achieve that purpose. But as people in industrialised nations became more affluent and fulfilled their basic needs, brands acquired other attributes. The functionality of the product was still important, but people also started using brands to say something about themselves, for example, choosing a brand of cosmetics which would suggest that they were sophisticated jet-setters.

一個(gè)生產(chǎn)運(yùn)動(dòng)球鞋的制造商開始賣銷售類電子產(chǎn)品。一個(gè)軟飲料使他的名字出現(xiàn)在城市服裝上费薄。這是怎么回事枚冗？在越來(lái)越簡(jiǎn)單的時(shí)代震嫉，你知道你生在品牌中概行。一個(gè)品牌的名字意味著質(zhì)量好的運(yùn)動(dòng)鞋饿幅，另一種品牌代表著軟飲料舷手。不會(huì)混淆衣盾。然而今天， 大的公司試著重新定義品牌组去，與其說(shuō)是一種產(chǎn)品鞍陨，不如說(shuō)是一種生活方式，并將他延展到其他新的領(lǐng)域从隆。在銷售者時(shí)代的早些年诚撵，一個(gè)包裝盒上的品牌名字只是辨別里面是什么。人們正在找一些提高他們生活質(zhì)量的產(chǎn)品键闺，并選擇最有可能實(shí)現(xiàn)這一目標(biāo)的品牌寿烟。但是隨著工業(yè)化的國(guó)家變得越來(lái)越富有并且滿足了他們的基本需要，品牌獲得了其他屬性辛燥。產(chǎn)品的功能仍然非常重要筛武，但是人們也開始使用品牌去描述他們自己缝其，比如，選擇一個(gè)品牌的化妝品徘六，代表他們是一個(gè)有生活品味的有錢人内边。

Now, we have entered a third age of branding, in which so many companies are making roughly the same product at roughly the same price that functionality rarely succeeds as a point of differentiation. Instead, companies are trying to make their brand stand out by emphasising their emotional aspects, hoping consumers will identify with the set of values the brand represents.

如今，我們已經(jīng)進(jìn)入了品牌推廣的第三個(gè)時(shí)代硕噩，在這個(gè)時(shí)代如此多的公司都在以大致相同的價(jià)格生產(chǎn)大致相同的產(chǎn)品，以至于用功能性作為一個(gè)差異化很少能成功缭贡。相反炉擅，公司正在試著讓他們的品牌強(qiáng)調(diào)他們的情感部分，讓自己的品牌脫穎而出阳惹，希望消費(fèi)者能認(rèn)同品牌代表的價(jià)值觀谍失。

One disadvantage of a product-based brand is that if the product goes out of fashion, the brand goes with it. This is a serious concern for manufacturers of breakfast cereals, who are struggling to counter weak demand for the products that bear their names. So far, their marketing efforts seem to be having little effect.The advantage for emotional brands is that companies can transfer their brand strength into other areas, increasing revenues and reducing their exposure to the lifespan of a single product.

一個(gè)以產(chǎn)品為基礎(chǔ)的品牌的缺點(diǎn)是，如果這個(gè)產(chǎn)品過(guò)時(shí)了莹汤，品牌也隨之過(guò)時(shí)了快鱼。這是早餐類谷物類生產(chǎn)商來(lái)說(shuō)，這是一個(gè)嚴(yán)重的問(wèn)題纲岭，他們正努力應(yīng)對(duì)以他們名字命名的產(chǎn)品的疲軟需求抹竹。到目前為止，他們的營(yíng)銷成效收效甚微止潮。情感品牌的優(yōu)勢(shì)在于窃判，公司能傳遞他們的品牌優(yōu)勢(shì)到其他領(lǐng)域，從而增加銷售喇闸，并減少單個(gè)產(chǎn)品使用壽命的影響袄琳。

The elasticity of brands seems to be related to their position on a spectrum ranging from those rooted in solid, tangible assets to those with highly intangible, emotional qualities. At the one end, you have train companies that tend to associate themselves with infrastructure and their ability to get you from A to B, and at the other end would be a leisure brands that positions itself on dreams and making people have fun. It is the latter which has the maximum potential for stretch.

品牌的彈性看上去像跟他們一個(gè)范圍內(nèi)的地位有關(guān)，從扎根于有形資產(chǎn)品牌到具有高度無(wú)形的情感品質(zhì)的品牌燃乍。一方面唆樊，你擁有的火車公司傾向于將自己的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施和能力結(jié)合起來(lái)，讓你從A到B, 另一方面刻蟹，這將是一個(gè)休閑品牌逗旁，將自己定位于夢(mèng)想并讓人們獲得樂(lè)趣。后者擁有最大的延展?jié)摿Α?/p>

But even emotional brands have a limit to their elasticity. The merchandise has to be consistent with the brand premise. Just to sell merchandise with your logo on it is a short-term, mistaken idea. From this viewpoint, the decision to move from sports shoes into consumer electronics makes sense. Most items in the range, such as the two-way radio for hikers, are sports-focused, even though the products may be adopted as fashion accessories, and the sports shoe customers will probably snap them up.

但是即使是感情品牌舆瘪，其彈性也是有限的痢艺。商品必須和品牌一致。僅僅售賣帶有品牌LOGO的商品是一個(gè)短期的介陶，錯(cuò)誤的想法堤舒。基于這種觀點(diǎn)哺呜，把從運(yùn)動(dòng)鞋轉(zhuǎn)移到消費(fèi)類電子產(chǎn)品的注意是有道理的舌缤。該產(chǎn)品系列中的大多數(shù)商品，比如面向徒步旅行者的雙向收音機(jī)，都以運(yùn)動(dòng)為重點(diǎn)国撵，即使這些產(chǎn)品可能作為時(shí)尚配飾陵吸，運(yùn)動(dòng)鞋的消費(fèi)者也可能會(huì)搶購(gòu)。

When the move was made for soft drink into clothing, however, it left the branding consultants cold. It was a difficult mental leap into clothing from the drink so closely associated with that particular brand name. One the other hand, the emotional attributes that youngsters seem to find appealing in the drink, like its heritage and global appeal, are fashionable at the moment, and in fact response to the clothes with the same name has been overwhelming. Maybe this just shows that an inspired move- and by all accounts a snap decision-sometimes pays off against the odds, leaving the manufacturer laughing all the way to the bank.

當(dāng)從軟飲料品牌進(jìn)入到服裝領(lǐng)域時(shí)介牙，然而壮虫，品牌咨詢師卻無(wú)動(dòng)于衷。這種飲料和特定的品牌名稱緊密相連以至于讓人們很難從頭腦中想到服裝品牌环础。另一方面囚似，年輕人似乎覺得這種飲料有吸引性的情感屬性，例如他的傳承和全球的吸引力线得，目前很流行饶唤，事實(shí)上，對(duì)于同名的服裝品牌反應(yīng)強(qiáng)烈贯钩。 也許這只是表明募狂，一個(gè)有靈感的舉動(dòng)-從各方面來(lái)看，一個(gè)倉(cāng)促的決定-有時(shí)會(huì)帶來(lái)意外的回報(bào)角雷，讓制造商一路笑到最后祸穷。