eBusiness Weekly
We all have to agree that the past week was full of anticipation, drama, curiosity and grief — all packed into one “combo”.
The late Genius Kadungure’s aka “Ginimbi” funeral did not disappoint. Even in death, Ginimbi went as he lived, in an expensive Versace coffin, and a funeral cortège graced with the latest cars on the market.
We got a glimpse of some of his “toys”; a Lamborghini and that red Ferrari. When I saw those cars and the pictures of the rest of the fleet, I could not help but think that “money can be good in its own way”.
But the week also belonged to the big brands.
Ginimbi’s funeral gave us a “peek” into how luxury brands market and position themselves in consumers’ minds. Our local brands especially on the funeral side “slugged it out” in order to gain some much needed visibility and mileage.
While Doves handled the overall logistics for the funeral, Nyaradzo sponsored the live streaming. We saw how big brands manage their brand promises and perceptions. Dead celebrities such as Ginimbi are also known to raise brand visibility. There is no doubt that there is raised awareness of Ginimbi’s favourite brands such as Versace, Dolce and Gabbana and others.
Nike made a fortune through selling the late, Kobe Bryant’s version of Nike mamba shoes after his death earning him about US$20 million. According to Street.com, “fans tend to have a deep attachment to celebrities after they are deceased.”
Authentic Brands, a US$5 billion company cashes in on this emotional attachment and buys the commercial rights to celebrities who are still alive or dead.
Let’s look at how the big brands fared within the realm of Ginimbi’s passing away.
Nyaradzo versus Doves — A Case of Brand Positioning
An epic battle played out between the two biggest funeral houses in Zimbabwe. Initially Ginimbi’s body was collected by Nyaradzo Funeral Home.
Doves later handled the funeral and subsequent burial. However, such was the importance of this funeral that Nyaradzo managed to squeeze itself in there, by sponsoring the live streaming. In addition Nyaradzo’s goodwill gesture of handling the funeral of another big Zimbabwean celebrity, Lazarus Boora, aka “Gringo” did not go unnoticed.
An important aspect of brand building is brand positioning. Brand positioning is the process of positioning your brand in the mind of your customers.
There is no doubt that Nyaradzo for a long time was the market leader in terms of providing a complete suite of funeral services especially within the public sector. While Nyaradzo soared, Doves saw its fortune waning though it was strong historical brand having been established in 1902.
In recent years we have certainly seen more Doves visibility on the market. According to an IPEC Report of March 31, 2016, Doves increased its market share from 13 percent in 2015 to 17 percent in 2016.
Thus, the two funeral brands did give us a glimpse of their positioning. Though Nyaradzo does handle high profile funerals most notably — that of Oliver Mtukudzi, Doves seem to be more adept in handling very important figures especially in the political arena.
Judging, by the hearse that ferried Ginimbi and the glass carriage that ferried the late president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, I perceive that the company is slowly positioning itself as a luxury brand.
On the other hand Nyaradzo’s positioning of a caring, all weather brand can be seen by its offer to foot the funeral costs of Gringo. Its mass market image is exuded by a well-knit system that accesses both urban and rural clients alike.
We will definitely continue to watch these two brands in future.
Rolls Royce Wraith Versus Honda Fit — Big Brands do not always deliver
Thanks to Ginimbi we now know that there is indeed a car called a Rolls Royce Wraith. The scenes of this “beast” burning into a pulp invited the ire of Zimbabweans on social media platforms. Some Zimbabweans were perplexed by how this car could be damaged by a Honda Fit. Some called it a “moving barbeque” while others called it “an expensive beast burning like paper.” Not to be outdone the “slay queens” blamed this “beast” for denying them the best ever white parties in future.
A call for “Rolls Royce to fall” was thus made by disgruntled Ginimbi fans.
Others were more forthcoming demanding that the manufacturers come out “clean” on the safety features of the car. A meme which was send to me by a friend shows an angry Hitler shouting at his generals that the “Japanese car value in Zimbabwe has gone up”.
Cars such as the Rolls Royce Wraith ride on their ability to deliver certain specialised features that are not normally found in our ordinary vehicles. Top Gear, one of the leading car magazines has this to say about the Rolls Royce Wraith. The magazine points out that the car “drips with luxury. In addition, the car’s suspension has been tuned to minimise body roll discreetly and to feedback when cornering”.The website goes onto say that achieving those high speeds is a “doodle”.(a very easy task)
On the other hand the same website describes the Honda Fit as the “world’s most left brain small car.” The website describes this car as “unbelievably roomy, versatile, easy to get in and out of, and economical and ridiculously reliable too”. But can we blame the Rolls Royce Wraith for failing to deliver on its brand promise?
To understand this let’s look at some brands that have found themselves in high profile accidents. Princess Diana, died while travelling in a 1994 Mercedes Benz S280, one of the safest cars considered at that time. This drew unwarranted media attention, prompting Daimler to request the French government to assist in investigations. In turn all adverts were halted until it was established that Mercedes Benz had not been at fault. However, the negative publicity had affected its brand perception.
In 2000 the iconic Concorde was involved in an accident that killed all 109 people on-board after taking off from Paris airport.
The plane was subsequently grounded after management cited rising maintenance costs and low passenger levels. And who would forget the sinking of the Titanic.
The RMS Titanic a luxury steamship sunk in 1912 on the coast of New Foundland in the North Atlantic taking with it more than 1 500 and some of the richest people on earth. The ship was largely seen as unsinkable. Though brands do make big promises it is inevitable that once in a while things might go wrong.
Josline Sithole is the Founder of Southern Africa Development Consultants (SODECO) a business and SME Consultancy firm.
Brand Diversity-The Case of Versace
Gianni Versace founded the iconic brand in 1978. Though the founder was murdered by a stray killer in 1997, his sister Donatella continued with her brother’s legacy. Versace has a strong brand logo in the form of Medusa the Greek mythological figure. (Ginimbi was so enamoured with this logo that he had it engrained on his front door.)
Versace is known as a “rock and roll” brand and its designs are colourful and edgy with multiplicity of colours. The brand has dressed icons such as Elton John. We certainly see these splashes of colour and edginess in Ginimbi colourful shirts and apparel. However, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the brand also manufactures coffins as well.
In addition the brand also partners with Mind group Firm to build luxury apartments.
I am not very sure how I feel about a luxury clothes brand diversifying into coffin making. To this end, I found some most amusing big company diversification “faux pas.” Harley Davidson that big bike manufacturer once launched a perfume brand. (Imagine big hairy broad shouldered bikers with a whiff of perfume). Cosmopolitan that female magazine created a yoghurt while Colgate created the worst Lasagna. (What were they thinking?)
There is no doubt that brands need to constantly revise their brand positioning. Using big celebrities as well is a good way of enhancing brand visibility. Ginimbi’s funeral certainly gave us a glimpse of powerful brands but also left us with individual perceptions of those companies that might negate our usual world view.
I sign off with this quote from Scott Cook “A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is — it is what consumers tell each other it is.” It remains to be seen what Zimbabweans will tell each other about Rolls Royce.
Joseline Sithole is the Founder of Southern Africa Development Consultants (SODECO) a business and SME Consultancy firm.
