BAD Branding Example on Amazon: VBiger

This year you will hear me talk A LOT about BRANDING as it is one of the key components to create a successful Amazon FBA business.

But is it enough to create a name, a logo and put it on the product? Is that what Branding is all about?

No, of course, it’s not. Branding is a much more complex topic, BUT for Amazon sellers, the first thing you have to deal with is the actual name and logo for their brand. And many people struggle with this a lot. They create brand names that make no sense, have no clear positioning, have bad logos etc. etc.

BAD branding can do you more harm than good. Yes, if you use just ONE brand name across many different product categories you can harm your business. Using the same name & logo for a make-up kit and a motorcycle bag is a VERY BAD idea!

Your brand needs to RESONATE with your target audience – and resonate positively. We all know that a 22-year-old woman who’s into makeup has an entirely different perception than a 40-year-old highway dude on a motorcycle, right?

And you don’t have to go that far in extreme examples – even if your target audience is the same, you do want to brand and market products entirely different based on what they’re. If you’re selling Organic Coffee, the branding will be different compared to a business selling Aquarium tanks, right? Good!

I want to address this issue on Amazon (and in general eCommerce) by doing a series of posts where I will share my thoughts on GOOD and BAD branding examples on Amazon!

These are only my thoughts of course so they’re subjective – especially when we talk about branding as many people will see things in different light. But I hope that by sharing my thoughts process you can start to analyse brands you see on Amazon differently and most importantly – when it’s time to create your brand, you will know exactly what kind of things to look out for.

Today I am reviewing brand called VBiger.

It is a China-based brand selling all kinds of products mostly in Bags & Accessories (gloves, hats, belts) categories. Currently, they have 193 active listings on Amazon.

The fact that they’re China-based brand this time is pure coincidence. I started to write this post and then checked out their seller information.

Yes, it is true that most Chinese owned Brands on Amazon are quite weak right now, BUT they’re getting better each year goes by, and as you will see in future posts, lots of UK/USA based sellers don’t have a clue when it comes to good Branding. Just saying this so you know I’m not picking specifically a Chinese brand for this post – it was pure coincidence.

Anyways, going back to the brand VBiger – my first, INSTANT association was – HUAWEI selling bags on Amazon, LOL! No, but seriously – look at the logos – they’re more than similar:

Same colours and very similar graphical element. They’re indeed similar. In a bad way. Why? Because no one wants their FASHION brand to look like a TECH company! It doesn’t make any sense!

The colours and that graphical element looks so CORPORATE and generic. This is NOT the kind of logo you want to use in a fashion brand, period.

Secondly – the name itself. At first, I couldn’t even read it correctly – VBiger – what does it mean? What does it stand for? How does it relate to kids school bags and winter gloves?

Next – the slogan:

Just Go Ahead!

Is that a cheap copy of Nike’s “Just Do It!”?

It seems so. And if it is – it’s as bad as it gets. Nike has made it a household phrase over decades of heavy marketing. You don’t pick an abstract expression as your slogan for your Amazon business! You choose something that makes sense OR doesn’t use a slogan at all!

I often recommend new Brand creators to not come up with the slogan from day one IF they can’t see, come up with an obvious fit for their name. Let the business run for some time, get customer reviews, interactions, feedback – you need to “feel” your customers to create a slogan that will resonate with your target audience and it’s hard to do it without selling.

VBrand also uses a different tagline directly on some product tags, like on winter hats: The Pioneer of Fashion Trend.

C’mon, seriously?! Are they PIONEERS of Fashion Trends? I don’t think you can call them that way…. which makes use of such a tagline even more ridiculous…

So, three main things are wrong with this Brand:

• The name itself
• The logo
• The slogan

Overall it’s a cheap looking, generic brand that doesn’t mean anything to anyone. The only association is with Huawei, and I don’t think it’s a good thing apart from the fact that it sends some silent signals that this company also originates from China.

Lastly – they’re making the classic mistake of using ONE brand for various product categories including kids backpacks, thermal full-face masks, wedding hair accessories, woman handbags and many more products.

IT JUST DOESN’T WORK! Period.

There’s nothing wrong with selling in multiple categories and Amazon makes the process super easy – you can have just ONE account as an Ltd. company or Sole Trader, AND you can register as many brands with Brand Registry as you want! You will even get a separate STORE front for each of your brands!

So there are no excuses NOT to create separate Brands for your product lines. There are just none. And if you think that saving a few hundred pounds on an additional set of logo/visuals for a new product line is a good move, I’m afraid you’re delusional on what this business is all about anyways.

Ok, have to finish up this post with something good too – I can see that they HAVE registered with Amazon’s Brand Registry and do use Enhanced Brand Content pages for some of their best selling lines. They have decent descriptions in place as well as professional images.

One thing about images though – in many cases where models are shown in images using the product, they use Chinese models WHICH creates an instant signal that this is a Chinese brand. You don’t use Asian models for selling a product in Europe and vice versa.

I hope this was helpful! You can learn A LOT by just observing what other Amazon sellers are doing, and I believe that posts like these will help you learn more about branding and most importantly – HELP you create a BRAND that ticks all the boxes!

Next time I will be back with a GOOD BRANDING example so make sure to follow my Facebook page to stay updated & join my 100% FREE Amazon UK seller Facebook group!