Brand competition at present is obviously very tight. For this, firms must understand the importance of an exceptional brand strategy. This term pertains to a long-term plan purposely for the improvement of a lucrative brand so that certain objectives will be accomplished.
Recently, the very famous Chinese phone maker Xiaomi has launched its Hongmi android 4.2 smartphone. Meantime, there are those who are predicting a vigorous sales performance for the gadgets and there are also those who believe that the firm has came up with some crucial branding mishaps.
Lei Jun, the founder of Xiaomi has stated at the product’s launch that Hongmi was an exclusive brand and is deemed as different from the firm’s other Xiaomi models.
The well-known firm; still, has not discerned between branding for Xiaomi and Hongmi which led Hongmi to become the brand extension of what is now known Xiaomi phones. In line with this, the adverse consequence of this brand extension has weakened Xiaomi’s brand image. In all likelihood, Hongmi’s branding had been a lack of success from the start.
When a firm introduces a new product, it utilizes one of these three essential approaches. The first is, it will establish a new independent brand for the new product. The second one is, it will come up with a new brand under the parent brand, for instance, Samsung Galaxy and Apple’s iPhone. And the last one is it may possibly carry on the usage of the contemporary brand.
It is substantial to note that the second and third approaches mentioned are considered the brand extension, with the standard brand being regarded as the parent brand.
Lei Jun outwardly aspired to ratify the first approach. His firm, though, longed for an extension of the Xiaomi brand and expected that the new brand will favor from the impact brought by Xiaomi. In addition, the firm wished to enable the new brand to be more substantial.
There are some media reports which have pointed out that people in the industry regarded Hongmi a downscale extension of Xiaomi, instead of a new independent brand which is different from Xiaomi.
On the other hand, the China’s leading electronics wholesale company aHappyDeal.com mentioned that if consumers would not be able to clearly specify the difference between the two products which were both launched by the same firm, then there is no reason to come up with a new brand. (Source: WantChinaTimes.com)