Thorntons’ woes are darker than the weather - brand analysis
Thorntons’ woes are darker than the weather - brand analysisHigh street retailer Thorntons has had a tough time of things during the recession, and has recently blamed the good weather for a less than healthy Easter too. But are its fortunes more to do with the brand than it has previously accepted?
The poor old weather, it can’t get anything right. Blamed by George Osborne for slow economic growth and now Thorntons are on its back for ruining their Easter and causing them to halve their profit expectations.
But Thorntons’ troubles run deeper than the weather; they’re a 100 year old brand without a position or strong perception in the mind. They’re now paying for the brand mistakes of the past which have left them floundering, preventing their marketing team from being able to answer the fundamental question ‘What is Thorntons?’
Up until the early 90s, Thorntons were a 20th century success story, having brought chocolate to the high street better than anyone else, but then things started to go wrong. So what happened? What always happens: success followed by a bad brand strategy. What is Thorntons? It used to be premium chocolate sold on the high street, but that’s not what it is now.
Instead of maintaining its narrow focus, Thorntons extended its brand into the likes of coffee shops, desserts, body lotion, tee shirts, hot drinks, ultra premium chocolates, pastries and its distribution network into supermarkets, interactive TV and mail order. So what is Thorntons today? A brand struggling with low net profit because it owned a position, lost it and hasn’t found a new one. Which begs the question why didn’t they just accept the seasonality of their product and try to be first to mind when anyone thinks ‘premium chocolate’? If that’s not enough then create new brands to deal with seasonality.
This lack of brand cohesion allowed Thorntons to be caught cold, having recently been flanked at the top end most noticeably by the sleeker, chicer and more focused Hotel Chocolat. That’s left them stuck in the middle, neither classy nor trashy – the worst place for a brand to be, compounded by their still wide distribution, happily putting their brand next to Tesco’s finest for little extra cost.
Their now revolving CEOs keep on coming out with statements from the book of things to say when you’ve no strategy, such as ‘we want to take a customer focused approach’ but what happened to things like a strong iconic visual or a great slogan? In fact Thorntons had a decent slogan, or at least one that contained their credentials – ‘Chocolate heaven since 1911’. But it was replaced in 2000 by the totally insipid ‘the art of the chocolatier’. The funny thing is on Thorntons’ website it even says,”our old strap line ‘chocolate heaven since 1911’ will be remembered by many”. That’s right, a whole lot more than will remember your current one.
With newer and fresher brands dominating at the top end giving the younger chocolate buyer a more vivid brand experience what should Thorntons do?
The answer in my opinion is to put the focus back on traditional chocolate. Thorntons would be better served pulling back their distribution network, closing their ranks, re-focusing and channelling their authenticity credentials into the more traditional end of the market where it matters. Get back to what it means to be the chocolatier that has been around since 1911 and make their brand feel like a chocolatier who is steeped in history, tradition and artisan products. Give their brand back the focus that made it great. That, and stop blaming the weather.
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Comments
Classic case of a brand wanting to constantly change for changes sake.
Clients always get bored with their marketing strategy before their customers do.
Unfortunately as we see on a regular basis, this inevitably leads to throwing the baby out with the bath water.
So what happened? Did you lose a pitch or something? Bit harsh to lay into a poor unsuspecting brand like that isn't it? Oh and by the way, if you're going to attack a brand like Thorntons have the good grace to spell it right, might take your views seriously then.
Can't see any spelling mishaps re Thorntons.
comments
I think there are elements of this comment that ring true. I do think it's a little harsh too, there are many more brands that I feel would be deserving of 'analysis' before Thorntons. That said, a bit of focus as mentioned and some quality creative should put them back on track. It shouldn't be too hard, selling chocolate to people!
no spelling mistakes because it's been corrected! Power of the web eh!
My point was that it's easy to criticise from outside - let your own work speak for itself, don't knock others.
No I'm not from Thorntons and have never worked with them, so I'm not going to lay into them online.
If I was sat with their Marketing Director, I'd talk to him face to face about the challenges the brand faces and how it could best tackle them.
Grow some!
The problem isn't so much their marketing strategy and brand - its their product. Has anyone tried Thornton's lately - they taste like cheap own-brand. You can get a better product from Aldi.
They've tried to increase revenues by cutting quality, and that strategy is catching up with them.
Where else can you go for an easter egg that's personalised with the words "Happy Easter You Tosser"
Really great, concise, expert article.
Puzzled by the comment suggesting that, even when invited by The Drum to comment, one should not. Oh, unless you've actually worked for Thorntons.
Right...
Really great, concise, expert article.
Puzzled by the comment suggesting that, even when invited by The Drum to comment, one should not. Oh, unless you've actually worked for Thorntons.
Right...
I agree with most of the article but you can't always blame the marketing for a brands problems. If the product lets the promise down then your buggered. They may have had a sound strategy in "The choclatier" but failing to improve their product to match it is an own goal. You can even buy better chocolate from a newsagent now. They need to wake up to this.
Though I agree the "Chocolate heaven" line was better, I'm not sure the 'traditional' route still has the credibility it once had. If the product is crap it doesn't matter if you've had experts making it for a week or 100 years, it's still crap. And they're deluding themselves if they think repackaging the same old stuff is going to save them.
They need to marry the product and the brand better. If they want to occupy the mid ground and fight it out with Kinder, Terry's and Milk Tray, fair enough. Don't over claim. If they want to play with Butlers, Hotel Chocolate, Black's and Charbonel & Walker, make better chocolate.
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