Image credited to Forbes.com
Brand
is a name ,term, sign, symbol or design or a combination of them intended to
identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to
differentiate them from competitors
(Kotler :1995) .But I am more interested in brand extension. Brand
extension is a marketing strategy of attaching an existing name to a new
product, service, organization based on the success of an old name.
Most
Pension Fund Administrators in the country are the product of brand extension,
and according to Adrika et al (1997:130) “brand extension strategy is an effort
to use a successful brand name to launch new or modified products or line”
Trustfund pensions plc is a product of brand extension. Section 42 subsection 1
of the Pension Reform Act 2004 states that “the NSITF shall establish a company
to undertake the business of pension fund administration in accordance with the
act and in section 42 subsection 2, “it states that the fund contributed by any
person before the commencement of the act together with any attribute income
thereof not reserved for the purpose of administering maximum pensions as
determined by the commission shall be computed and credited into the respective
retirement savings account to be open by NSITF for each contributor or
beneficiary of the contributor made under the NSITF of 1993”
Therefore
Trustfund becomes a brand extension in establishing Trustfund pensions and also
the origin of its payoff line “pension is all about trust”, other PFAS which
are product of brand extensions include
Fidelity
pensions Ltd
Crusader
Pension Ltd
Leadway
Pensions Ltd
Sigma
Vaughan sterling pensions
Stanbic
IBTC Pension Managers Ltd etc
The advantage of brand extension is that a
strong brand name gives a product instant
recognition Adrika et al (1997:130), it could be observed that Trustfund is a
brand extension of NSITF, as Stanbic IBTC pension is to Stanbic ibtc bank,
fidelity pensions an offshoot of fidelity bank, crusader pensions an offshoot
of crusader insurance etc, the list could continue. But there are also
disadvantages of brand extension as the failure of a brand may ultimately lead
to the failure of its brand extension. But the gains far outweigh the
disadvantages as most brand extension has established their feet and has even
made their impact felt on a global scale.
From
these extensions, it could be observed that most PFAS are collaborating for the
purpose of achieving the objective of the group or the holding company.
Majero
(1993:85) noted that when a good brand image is built, it can command a premium
price, owing to the valuable psychological tangibles associated with its name.
Such is the power of name that most women adopt their parents name before
attaching their marital name. Name especially a good product name or service or
organization most times becomes a sort of goodwill that becomes a great asset
in balance sheet of most organization. In extreme situation branding and brand
extension becomes so powerful that customers adopt the name as generic product.
In a special report in 2003 by Business week
captioned “The Best Global Brands”, Annual Ranking of the top 100 Brands. In a
sub title “Brands in an age of Anti Americanism” the report stated and I quote”
Park Young Hoon of Seoul was quick to clench his fist and yell slogans against
George W Bush in a giant rally denouncing the US president’s tough policy on
North Korea. The report went on to say “but that doesn’t mean the 33 year old
Computer Engineer is willing to loosen his grip on his favorite American coffee
or cola”
“Calling for political independence from the US is
one thing and liking American brands is another” he says off course I like IBM,
Dell, Microsoft, Starbucks and Coke”
The report also stated that “Yemeni students were
out burning American flags, chanting kill the Americans noted by Valenti CEO of
the Motion Pictures Association of Americans, as soon as the theaters open at
7pm, bingo, they are all there”.
In my article on the power of branding, I opined “
the popular Islamic fighters also stated that they are against western
education, but bingo, they are carrying the latest assemblage of state of the
art weapons and ammunitions which are the products of foreign countries , they are also uploading their videos, pictures of their
exploits in You tube, and other social networks, the Islamic State
militants that killed the American In
Iraq were busy castigating the Americans, yelling anti American slogans, but by
evening they are communicating their exploits in Twitter, Face book and You
tube. One thing is to hate a country, a society and another thing is to like
its product or service.
In my experience with working Samsung, I discovered
that branding is very essential for the survival of an organization, as the
organization contracted Insight Grey Communication to handle the branding and
corporate communication requirements.
Have you ever wondered why companies like coca
cola, IBM, and Microsoft etc are always putting up strategies for the effective
branding of its organization.
As Pension Fund Administrators awaits the transfer
window, the brand they are able to build, will a long way in giving them the
edge, loyalty and customer patronage, they all needed to keep their customers.
As the say image is everything, and one of the key
factors of image building is brand building and brand loyalty.
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