Dainora Grundey

Kaunas Faculty of Humanities, Vilnius University

Muitinės g. 8, 44280 Kaunas, Lithuania

tel. +370  37 425 462,

 fax: +370 37 423 222

 dainora.grundey@vukhf.lt

BRANDING STRATEGIES DURING ECONOMIC CRISIS: AVOIDING THE EROSION

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this article is to analyze marketing actions, which should and should not be taken by companies during economic downturn. Today consumers are more price sensitive and less brand loyal than ever before. Economic crises brought hard times into various markets; consumers buy according to special offers and do not notice brands’ advantages and their message to them. Main market players have started price wars, which weakens brands and their positions in the market. Different markets require different marketing actions to achieve goals, although price wars are not a solution during economic downturn, especially for well-known and established brands. Marketing strategy, branding and appropriate actions, should be strong, but reach every consumer, especially those with reduced amount of revenue.

This paper analyses factors which influence brands’ growth. It also tries to understand, what drives consumers to buy appropriate brand. What could be done today, when brands face challenging times (great examples, how companies faced price wars).  Also analyses strong brands performance during hard times (in our case, Kellogg’s).

Received: June, 2009

1st Revision: September, 2009

Accepted: November, 2009

JEL Classification: M3, D11

Keywords: brands, economic crisis, bubble theory, branding strategy, consumer economics, case studies.