16
media & marketing
Enhanced Captiva SUV
by Meena L. Ramadas
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
HICOM-CHEVROLET recently introduced the newly
enhanced Captiva SUV – the first global car to be
released by General Motors.
In four new colours – sparking tan, iceberg blue,
highland green and alpine white – the ultra sleek and
plush Captiva boasts features like electronic stabil-
ity control, hill-descend control, a traction control
system, hydraulic-brake assist, cruise control and
automatic lamp control.
It also has an adaptive all-wheel drive, auto-
matic level ride control, self-balancing integration,
active rollover protection and automatic transmis-
sion.
What’s more, the new Captiva has bluetooth
audio system technology to satisfy even the most
ardent music junkie.
“Malaysians really like travelling and this SUV
is designed for that. What we’re trying to sell is a
lifestyle,” Hicom-Chevrolet chief executive officer
Sanjeev Garg said.
The company hopes to sell 800 to 1,000 units of
the model by the end of the year. There are currently
about 900 Captivas on the road.
There have been 20 bookings of the new model
to date, Garg said.
Trade BTS stores on game board
BERJAYA Times Square, Kuala Lumpur will be “sell-
ing” tenants and shops on a giant-sized Saidina
game board during the coming school holidays.
Instead of buying properties, the special 30ft x
30ft game board will give players a chance to trade
their favourite Berjaya Times Square outlets and
build “shops” instead of houses.
To accommodate more players during week-
ends, the game will be sped up by giving players
four supersized title deeds at the beginning of the
game. Up to four teams of two players can play at
any one time, with one person as the “token” and
the other buying, selling and negotiating deals with
the banker.
Garg
with
the new
model.
The Captiva comes with seven beige leather
seats of which two can be lowered so that cargo
space is not compromised.
The new model comes in both diesel and petrol
versions. The diesel has a 2.0 litre engine and is
priced at RM157,124 while the petrol version has a
2.4 litre engine and is priced at RM146,248.
“The Captiva engine is designed to release
maximum power from a low input, and the SUV is
very fuel efficient,” Garg said, adding that the Cap-
tiva clinched the top spot at the Asian Auto Bosch
Fuel Efficiency Awards 2008 in the compact SUV
category.
The first 50 customers of the new Captiva will
get a GPS camera with their vehicles. They will also
enjoy a two-night-stay at Tasik Kenyir.
Hicom-Chevrolet is also offering perks such
as allowing Captiva drivers, under a two-month
campaign, to enjoy free parking space allocated at
selected shopping complexes from noon to 8pm on
weekdays and 10am to 10pm on weekends.
Shopping malls taking part in the campaign are
The Curve, Pavillion, Subang Parade, Sunway Pyra-
mid, Queensbay Mall in Penang and City Square in
Johor Baru. Each location offers three parking bays
on a first come first served basis.
For more information, call 03-2052 7373.
Each game is played for a maximum of 30 min-
utes. The winner is determined by the number of
title deeds, shops and cash in hand.
Other activities include the Amazing Game Race,
which requires participants to play a series of three
board games – Snakes & Ladders, Tower Up Chal-
lenge and the Amazing Game – in the fastest time
possible.
The games and competitions will run until June
14. Registration is free, and products and vouchers
will be up for grabs in the weekend competitions.
For more information, visit www.timessquarekl.com
or call 1-300-888-988.
t h e r i g h t p i t c h
Making brand
extensions succeed
by Martin Roll
THE success rate for new products that are
introduced by the many different companies
is less than 3%.
As such, more and more companies are
resorting to extending their existing products
and product lines.
Even though this seems simple and straight
forward, the facts paint a different picture
– failure rates of brand extensions in many
of the fast moving consumer goods product
categories are about 80%.
This article looks into this highly popular
corporate activity and offers some guidelines
to companies that aspire to extend their brand
and ensure the success of such brand exten-
sions.
Brand extension refers to the corporate
activity whereby companies introduce new
products, new product variants or product
improvements by leveraging the brand equity
of the existing parent brand.
When Starbucks decided to launch its line of
bottled cold coffee called Frappucino (a mixture
of coffee, water, milk and different syrups), the
logic used was to leverage the very strong
equity of the Starbucks brand in gaining wide-
spread acceptance of the new product line.
As such, brand extension is a type of short-
cut that companies resort to, to minimise risk
and maximise their investment in the brand.
But more often than not, brand extensions
fail. The simple reason for this is that the equity
of the parent brand is one of the many factors
that impact the success of brand extensions.
Much has been researched on the success
factors of brand extensions in the industry and
in academia. Knowledge from the collective
wisdom of the industry, best practices of some
of the biggest brands and empirical evidence
from research is used to present some guide-
lines on brand extensions.
Essential factors that impact brand exten-
sion success:
» Fit between parent brand
and brand extension
The fit between the parent brand and the
brand extension is probably the most important
factor that impacts the success of the brand
extension.
Fit can be analysed from multiple perspec-
tives. But generally it refers to the compatibil-
ity of the brand extension’s product category,
product attributes and associations to the
parent brand’s product category, product at-
tributes and associations. The greater the fit
between the parent brand and the brand exten-
sions, the higher is the probability of the brand
extension’s success.
theSun | TUESDAY JUNE 2 2009
» Parent brand conviction
and parent-brand experience
The other important factor is the quality of
experience that consumers would have had
with the parent brand.
Such brand experience can include the
physical quality of the product, service
encounters, price and value perceptions, post
purchase service, retail atmosphere and such.
Also, the parent brand conviction, which
refers to the extent of the parent brand’s sup-
port and commitment to the brand extension,
also impacts the success of the brand exten-
sion.
» Retailer experience
In spite of the ever increasing influence
of the internet on shopping for even branded
products, retail spaces in the physical world
still continue to have a stranglehold on distribu-
tion.
As such, the success of many brands is
contingent on securing shelf space and the
marketing push provided by the retail estab-
lishment.
Similar is the case with brand extensions.
If companies that extend their brands are not
welcomed by retail stores and not offered mar-
keting support and push by the retail stores, the
success of such products is limited.
» Marketing support
This is one of the factors under the control
of the company.
Given the proliferation of brands in the mar-
ket, it is only natural that the company which
invests highly in promoting its brand extension
eventually ends up in a better position.
Such support will help achieve two objec-
tives – one, it will facilitate a very aggressive
push and pull demand for the brand extension,
and two, it will help create positive perceptions
of the company in the minds of the consum-
ers.
In the light of very high rates of new product
failures, brand extension seems attractive.
After all, all companies seek to extract the
maximum possible returns from the investment
in their brands.
Brand extensions done without due dili-
gence can be equally detrimental to companies.
But if companies carefully study the brand
extensions and follow the general guidelines
offered, brand extension success could indeed
become a corporate reality. – www. adoimaga-
zine.com
Martin Roll is CEO of VentureRepublic, a strategic
brand advisory firm and author of “Asian Brand
Strategy”. He delivers the combined value of
an experienced international brand strategist
and a senior adviser to Fortune 500 compa-
nies.