The role of brand relevance in performing "freakishly well".
Jeep?. The brand name alone creates so many powerful images in the minds of consumers. For some, it’s of patriotism with its connection to WWII. For others, it’s of exploration, ruggedness, durability and just plain fun.
Few auto manufacturers and their dealers enjoy the same brand power that Jeep experiences. That’s why it was fascinating to hear CNBC’s auto industry reporter Phil Lebeau cover Consumer Reports’ New Auto Guide a while back. It was an annual ranking of the best and worst of automobile manufacturing brands, based on the predicted reliability and safety of road-tested models. Of the 30 brands tested, Jeep ended up #29 on the list, ending up with a dismal rating of 43 on a scale of 100.
“This is the most interesting story that I’ve covered over the last couple of years,” Lebeau stated.
“This brand (Jeep) gets blasted on a regular basis for reliability, but sales continue to go up.”
He pointed out that while not one Jeep product has been recommended by Consumer Reports since 2013, sales continue to soar and called the brand "red hot" in a follow-up report. In 2018 alone, Jeep had gained the most market share in its history, having grown by nearly 17% over just the prior year. And parent company Fiat Chrysler said over the next 3-5 years (again, this was in 2018), they expected the brand to DOUBLE it's sales worldwide. CNBC described Jeep—as compared to the rest of the market—as "doing almost freakishly well".
So if the product is really that bad, why in the world would people continue to buy it and dealers be waiting in line to sell it at increasing levels? Lebeau attributes it to the brand and marketing alone.
“When it comes to marketing and branding, no auto manufacturer does it better than Jeep,” Lebeau said. And I completely understand that. After all, I have spent a good chunk of my life helping clients tell their stories and have seen first hand that strategic marketing and brand-building really do matter. The question is, how long can it matter? I mean, if a product is bad— and bad for a long period of time—at some point it has to outweigh and truly diminish the strength of the brand, right? Well...it depends on the disparity between how bad the product is and how strong the brand is. Strong brands can actually endure problems for years as long as they continue to pursue the one thing that arguably matters most in building a product brand...relevance.
If you look at some of the brands that have died over the years, it was their loss of relevance that often caused their problems. From Blockbuster to Nokia, and from Oldsmobile to Woolworth’s, it seems the problems for each brand were created by either an unwillingness or an inability to address the relevancy of their offerings as their markets changed.
In short, poor products weren’t the problem. Irrelevant products and offerings were.
Back to Jeep. Are the products poor? According to Consumer Reports, they are without a doubt sub-par. Next question: Are Jeep products relevant? Do they offer nostalgia, the ability to explore, and a “cool factor” others don’t? The answer is yes. Jeep products are in-fact relevant to the wants and needs of their customers, and that’s exactly why they continue to grow in spite of their product quality issues. Would their sales be even better if they didn’t have the quality issues? Most certainly. But you have to give them credit. In a less than perfect world, at least they’ve gotten the most important thing right—keeping the product relevant (built to explore, focusing on the nostalgia, etc.) for their core customers.
And the takeaway from all of this: What’s YOUR plan for staying relevant? How will you gauge your relevancy? Are there ways your products or services could be even more germane to your customers? Ask yourself (and answer) these questions more often, and you may just find yourself worrying about inevitable problems less and enjoying market share growth more.
Jim Huebner is Founder & CEO of Huebner Integrated Marketing and author of the eBook “7 Keys To A Happy Sales Channel.” His firm was established in 1989 and specializes in making companies HEROES to their sales channels via strategic brand positioning, integrated marketing, and through-channel marketing services. You can reach Jim at [email protected] or on LinkedIn.