Brand Equity Risk: Linking with Big Retail
Eight years ago, Thorntons, the 98-year-old chocolate company, found itself in a very sticky situation. New chief executive Peter Burdon announced a three-year plan to turn the company around and, remarkably, through a major consolidation of stores, product portfolio and finances, he has done just that.
Burdon also recognised from the outset that his greatest asset was the Thorntons brand. With prompted recall levels of more than 90% in a large and very profitable category, this was perhaps not a remarkable discovery.
But Burdon also realised that, despite a high level of awareness, the brand associations of Thorntons were increasingly fuzzy and undercommunicated.
In 2002, all of Thorntons' 4000 employees participated in a specially devised brand-training programme in which they learned that Thornton's brand equity was based on 'the art of the Chocolatier'. Rather than simply embark on a new ad campaign or, God forbid, a rebrand, Thorntons built its brand from the inside out and back to the premium position it once occupied.
But Burdon's boldest move has been the widespread revision of Thorntons' retail strategy. With a core base of 400 Thorntons-owned stores, he also encouraged an expansion of Thornton franchisees, of which there are now 180. More radical still was his decision in 2001 to start selling in Sainsbury's and later through most of the major chain retailers and supermarkets.
Initially, at least, selling through Big Retail made a lot of sense.
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