Don't confuse branding, marketing
Carole Sloan -- Furniture Today, November 18, 2001
It certainly was timely that one of the topics for discussion at the annual meeting of the American Furniture Manufacturers Assn. was branding. In the last few years, there has been a virtual epidemic of what some feel is a surge towards brands in the furniture industry.
We've seen designers, celebrities of one stripe or another, sports figures, museums and even dead people celebrated with furniture collections and other home furnishings programs.
So it was significant that Mel Wolff of Houston's Star Furniture pointed out to the AFMA audience that many of these so-called brands are really marketing vehicles — and that there is a vast difference between brands and marketing.
Wolff believes, as do many serious students of the subject, that true brands endure through ups and downs of the economy, the coming and going of fashion trends and various marketing ploys.
The confusion in furnitureland arises from a general melding of the two terms rather than an understanding that brand and marketing are two entirely separate things.
The two leading brands in furniture — the Coke and Nike of our world — evoke clear consumer recognition. Say La-Z-Boy or Ethan Allen to Jane Consumer and you're likely to get a fairly accurate identification of the names. Thomasville and Henredon also come into play as brands, but not at the same level.
And as Wolff pointed out, there can be bonus synergy when two brands get together, as in the case of Henredon and Ralph Lauren.
But when we start talking about sports figures, museums or TV celebrities, we are talking not about branding but about opportunistic marketing activities, essentially merchandise or merchandising designed to take advantage of the notoriety of a person or thing within a relatively short time frame.
There's nothing wrong with this — it creates interest, after all — but it's not building a brand.
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