Henkel Group, a German producer of chemical products such as detergent and adhesives, is a company that is proud of its brand name reputation. In 1981 Gunther Von Briskorn, in charge of Henkels most important brands: Pritt and Pattex became very concerned with the performance of the products on an international level. Considering a radical new change to the companies brand strategy, Briskorn consulted with Wolfgang Heck, the product manager for Craftsman and Do It Yourself Household Adhesives, and Mr. Briskorns assistant, Herbert Tossing. After six months of research and fact finding, the group had a proposal that was a complete turnaround from that of Henkels traditional practices. .
Strategy Proposal.
The proposal that was formed was to incorporate an umbrella technique, that is, to establish a marketing campaign to sell a variety of products under the well known brand names of Pritt and Pattex. This umbrella technique would allow the Henkel Group to sell task specific products in much segmented markets under two well known names. Not only does this help out the craftsperson who uses these products on a daily/ weekly/ monthly time table, but it will also allow the handyperson who may use them once a year to quickly identify the product s/he will need for his task. .
Strategy Risk.
The umbrella technique was not without risk though. The markets that the strategy would be implemented in were very segmented. With task specific products available, Henkel had to be sure that the users would know what the products were under new names. As Mr. Briskorn noted, the variety of products available will be easy for a craftsperson to identify within the stores, but due to the variety of packaging the household purchaser, the infrequent user, is not sure and may not spend the time to figure that out. Along with these concerns, Briskorn and his group would also be responsible for making other decisions, such as marketing and advertising.
