Should a Brand Continue Advertising even after becoming a top player?

Yes, with so much competition, it's impossible to stay in the limelight unless you keep advertising. Also, established brands have to reinforce their image and products and update their benefits, all this can be done only by sustained advertising.

I strongly feel that a brand enjoying the top position in its respective industry should not become complacent and stop paying attention towards  its advertising . One of the main deliverable of coming out with advertisements is BRAND RECALL and in today's era of cut-throat competion , where customers have a lot of options at their disposal, BRAND RECALL plays a very significant role in influening a customer in actually buying a product.

With a view to explain my above mentioned opinion more clearly,Let's take the example of Coke and Pepsi which have been enjoying a good position in the soft drink industry since ages. Although coke has an edge of pepsi as far as market share is concerned, Pepsi's popularity cannot be overlooked. Both have equally established themselves in the market. so with both pepsi and coke enjoying an almost equal space in the minds of consumer, a brand recall resulted from a good advertisement can make a consumer buy one brand over the other.

I hope have made mysel clear.

Brand Success- Top of the Mind Recall!!! 

Yes, to keep the brand alive among customers

what does shahrukh say-'dat I am no.1'.When a brand becomes no.1 it should proclaim dat it is on top.People want to conduct business with the best ,not the second best.We should not forget what Al Ries and Trout said,the theory of No.1.Why to stop advertising and let other people take your pie and then one fine day you aee that you have lost a sizeable chunk of your market share in today's competitive scenario.

OFCOZ..this is wherethe the peak stage of PLC requires maintenance of brand equity to stretch the tenure for as long as the producer can reap the best extract from market.. see if Sony stops spending in adv & sales promotion , eventually it also has the threat to loose market share to some extent. as the ongoing advertising generates new customers as well as emotional value to existing ones. but the thing is spending should b moderate & in direction to maintain brand image!

else you see what happened to many toothpastes and powders.

I agree with Jayant, even if the product is a success one should not stop promoting the brand through the medium of advertisement as the consumers have the habit to forget in a short span of time, so to always be in their mind one has to spend on advertisement, as so amny new brands are entering the market with outward promotional schemes and as the brand loyalty is low in the consumers one has to always give fight to their competitors to always be in the front of the buyer's mind.

But I also believe that agressive advertisement done at the time of introduction of the product is not required once the brand is a success in the market as excess advertisment is not anyways gonna benefit it is going to retain the customers even with low advertisment cost. For eg: HUL has already created a brand image in the market and most of it products like colgate, etc doesnt need excess advertisement.

One can't give even an inch at this point of time interms of ads, even when every thing is going well, make sure there is even more ad slots and ad slots at the prime time, and this will reflect in sales for sure, so no point in taking your foot off from the accelerator at this point, when everything is going good, make sure your products are more visible than any other....

In today's market it's very difficult to stay away from advertised though the company has enough reputation in the market. It's the competition that makes one to run for it. The Coke, Pepsi brands are an example for that.

Yes consistency is the only thing which indian brains and hearts require,because they want something new daily life so if we not show what we had in our basket they change to other companies.

A classic thought i am sure this thought must be wacking the brain of the brand manager every day. Throwing some light on this topic "when a coampany or the brand reaches the top that mean that on a product life cycle graph they have reach the highest level and now its the time of penetration. So during this period the company either tries to penetrate the market by diversifying I,E ITC with its shampoo and soap or they start adding new feature to sustain in the market.Like the IT sectors all the companies manufaturing the PC,s come up with a new added feature what market need. So he importance of advertising comes in becase uts all about reaching the target.Either you go for re positioning or you come up with new producst it needs to be communicated therefore if you are a major player or a new player advertising is basic mantra. I.E Airtel major player and Aircel new player.Both do eqaul amount of advertising.

Any Brand should remember the story of the tortoise and the Hare.

If it becomes complacent at the top where the margin of error is non-existent then it becomes the hare that sleeps its way to doom. 

Yes, for Sure...... when a brand becomes the Top Player it means it is in Cash Cow stage of BCG or its PLC and for this phase we are truely aware that advertising is must.... if somebody asks why is because we want to reassure our cusotmers that they have made the right decision by Choosing our Brand..... and this can only be reiterated by Advertising....may it be of any form.....

Also sorry to point out, but the question is quite clear but the reference to compnay in the explanation makes the context perplexing because when we talk about a company.... company creates brands.... either a company could be a branded house or house of brands...... so the difference....

I support Jayant's argument..since ever so often new brand with similar features are introduced in the market. In this regard, advertisement for a top player should continue displaying additional benefits of usage to keep your customers intact.

jayanth, i just want to say an old belief, i.e, "peoples memory are very short" new things will always dominate on old.let it be brand or something else, one cannot stop advertisement.

let me tell you a story of mine! just so that it drives a point, on why we should keep on advertising. Long time ago, There was this advertisement about a biscuit company which was at least year old and everybody who had a TV at that time saw it most of the time during intervals. For me! staying  the Hostel did not have such facilities as a "TV", therefore after a year i went back for good 2 weeks of holiday and spent my time just watching TV. I happen to come upon this ad which was completely new to me and I found very interesting and catchy. After which I started to talking about this Ad to my friends, the ones with TV told me that this was one of the Oldest AD and to watch it once in while was good. The summary of the story:

1. Even after it was success they didnt stop because there was someone still out there who havent seen it
2. Recollection of the product from existing customers
3. Creating new fan base if the advertisement is good or outstanding
4. Product still receives further advertisement through word of mouth

Point Cleared?

THE END

Although I believe in most cases the advertisements should continue, it basically depend upon the nature of the brand. If it is self describing, there is no need to keep advertising after attaining the optimum position. But in most cases, the brands need continuous effort to keep the ball rolling. As in science, you'd need to keep applying force to keep a ball running, as it has to encounter external forces, in branding, you'll need to keep the advertising on to encounter competition.

Sustaining the top position is more difficult than the becoming the top.. At the top you have three tasks.

1. Retaining consumer

 (If you are in the top position that means you have the maximum number of customer, they are more or less aware about your products, the challenge is to make them realize that, they are  in the right association)

2. Getting consumer

  (Thousand and millions of consumer dies every year, similarly thousand and millions of consumer born every year, to get them you need to advertise)

3. More spends from existing consumer

  (Popular bucket theory which says it more difficult to get new consumer than retaining the older one, since they are already with you, now you have to provide them the different reasons to be with you)

All the above three tasks can  only be achieved with affective communication.  

Yes...In fact the top player's need for advertising is greater than the smaller player because the top player has i)invested more in reaching the top ii) more revenues from the market iii)has provoked competition by reaching the top iv) has a product which having reached maturity needs advertising in order to get more people to buy.

The only reason a top player may not advertise is because of complacency but as we all know complacency is the enemy of excellence.

Yes, it should continue advertising because today in this competitive market sustaining your current position is more difficult. once the company becomes top player there has to be a brand recall in a creative way that people can't forget your brands, infact that is the time when companies needs to spend more on advertisement as to save thier top position.  

Jayant Vishnu' brand of course is being continuously advertised very creatively.  I suport the idea but with a qualification.  After achieving leadership, a brand should focus on a larger creativity and innovation base to advertise than to hit the eye every few minutes.  After a stage, it is not the idea to register the brand but to bring a smile on the target face, as to how the brand brought about the ad.  This innovation and creativity lingers in his mind much longer.