10 Brands that Will Disappear in 2012

[Stuart G]

Wall Street

It is an old story, but still has some interest..

http://247wallst.com/2011/06/22/247-wall-st-ten-brands-that-will-disappear-in-2012/2/

Sony
Sony has a studio production arm which has nothing to do with its core businesses of consumer electronics and gaming. Sony bought what was Columbia Tri-Star Picture in 1989 for $3.4 billion. This entertainment operation has done poorly recently. Sony’s fiscal year ends in March, and for the period revenue for the group dropped 15% to $7.2

A & W

A&W All–American Food Restaurants. A&W Restaurants is owned by fast food holding company giant Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) which has had the firm for sale since January. There have been no buyers. The chain was founded in 1919. The size of company grew rapidly, and immediately after WWII 450 franchises were opened. The firm pioneered the “drive in” fast food format. A&W began to sell canned versions of its sodas in 1971 – the part of the business that will survive as a container beverage business which is now owned by Dr. Pepper/Snapple. The A&W Restaurant business is too small to be viable now. It had 322 outlets in the U.S and 317 outside the U.S at the end of last year.

more at link above.

[Scuba]

1. Back around 1973, there was an A&W Root Beer Stand/Cocktail Lounge/Whorehouse....

... in Angeles City, just outside Clark Air Base in the Philippines. I wonder if it's still there.

[Po_d Mainiac]

9. u mean the former CAB n/t

[Scuba]

10. Yep. n/t

[jeff47]

2. Such terrible analysis

Sony Pictures (You forgot to include which part of Sony)

Their analysis is basically "Sony has a lot of competition". So they're going to give up? They've always had a lot of competition.

A&W Restaurants (Again, "forgot" to include which part of A&W)

Their analysis is "it's a small chain". So?

Their only analysis that resembles having a point is that as a small chain they'd be less able to negotiate a deal with their suppliers....except that it's part of YUM, so it doesn't have to negotiate as a small chain.

And that's just the first two. But their crappy story does have lots and lots of ads plastered all over it, so they're making money for it.

[Botany]

3. Although bad for you going to an A.W. for a root beer, coney dog, & onion rings

was a good thing. As a teen one of my first dates was going to an A.W. drive in
and thinking that life was good.



root beer in a frosted mug

[onehandle]

4. Nokia is truly dead. Where is RIM? They're toast. This link points out what killed them.

They failed to react quickly and when they did react, they failed in general.

http://www.marco.org/2010/08/19/a-smartphone-retrospective

[baldguy]

5. Sears? Closing 120 out of 4000 stores does not mean they'll "disappear".

[RockaFowler]

7. Yeah I don't see them going anywhere

Heck the Craftsman & Kenmore Brands are worth a ton of money alone

They're closing a few stores. Not really a lot considering how many they have in this country. They need to refocus and then they can come back. Oh and spruce up the stores a little. It used to be better in the 90's when I worked there. They actually care for their employees and customers. Get back to real Customer Service - as they taught us - inside and out of the company.

[hlthe2b]

6. I see lots of KFC's that have A&W combined...

Why is that not discussed? If that is a continuing trend, then A&W will not disappear.

What a lousy article.

[EFerrari]

8. Omg, not Corn Pops!

[xfundy]

11. Management by Committee

Putting ideas before a committee is like sentencing them to be bitten to death by ducks.

Some of these marketing failures fit into known models; Sears, once the strongest retail brand in the US, got greedy and tried to bluff their way through, claiming lower prices (Americans are hooked on low prices, even if it means cheapo crap made by communist slave labor), while dropping customer service and "streamlining" their stores and operations. Sears considered that since they were at the top, they would be a leader no matter what. Stupid, predictable move.

Sears was like IBM--"no one can top us."

They became like slow-moving dinosaurs, top heavy with management unconnected to the consumer. Prior to Sears downgrading themselves by buying KMart--which had a niche--they actually had more imported cheapo crap years ago, but a certain segment of the consumer will always go for that, except when the crap is available everywhere, and the Walturd family bullied their way into destroying entire communities' mom & pop stores, shaking up the market. No one had been as ruthless before them, but once their tactics became known the dinosaurs moved far too slowly. Predictable, from a marketing theory standpoint, "the retail cycle."

At least Craftsman Tools is surviving somewhat on its own--my local Ace Hardware carries their tools. Hopefully Craftsman will break away completely from their ~80 year alliance on Sears and operate on a smaller basis as a freestanding entity akin to the old Brookstone.

Mal-Wart will die someday, too, but the damage is done.

[GeorgeGist]

12. These clowns are lousy at forecasting

According to them these brands should no longer exist:

Readers Digest, Kia Motors, Dollar Thrifty (NYSE: DTG), Zale (NYSE: ZLC), Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI), T-Mobile, BP plc (NYSE: BP), RadioShack (NYSE: RSH), Merrill Lynch, and Moody’s (NYSE: MCO).

http://247wallst.com/2010/06/15/247-wall-st-ten-brands-that-will-disappear-in-2011/