Retailers have learned over the past decade or so the importance of branding. They’ve come to realize that Kroger is as much a brand as the Kellogg’s it sells, that Macy’s is a brand as important as its Levi’s or Liz Claiborne merchandise.

By the same token, brands have learned the importance of retail concepts. Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren were among the first to co-opt the spaces in department stores and create environments to suit their own needs and style. And Nike, Lauren and others helped pioneer the brand-into-retail revolution, taking those shop environments and interpreting them into full-scale retail establishments of their own, with full line extensions and full control over merchandising, lighting, materials, colors and the like.

But the revolution will never end – not as long as there are new brands establishing or re-inventing their identities.

Who would think of the Auto Club as a retail brand? But even service-oriented organizations find they have to understand what customers want and need.

What does the well-established Pacific Sunwear brand need to do to launch a new nameplate? Sometimes, powerful brands have to step back and examine their markets if they’re going to try something different.

And how does Procter & Gamble, the world’s leading brand marketer, find out what the customer is thinking? In its case, a non-selling brand counter “experience” for Olay, one of the most powerful skin care trade names on the market, helps drive product recognition and offers market research, as well.

There’s much to be learned from the efforts and strategizing of these behemoths in their own fields.

One Thousand Steps

AAA Ohio Auto Club