Every brand wants to go into a new year with momentum, knowing their  brand has the strength to make it the best year possible, but some have a brand strategy that is better suited to succeed than others.

Here are three brands who, through their actions in 2014 and the potential they show as the new year approaches, we feel have best set themselves up to be some the best in 2015:

  1. Fuhu

This brand out of El Segundo, California that makes Nabi, a line of children’s tablets, has experienced an astounding 158,957 percent three-year growth, topping out at over $195 million in revenue in 2013. It led the company to the top fuhu_416x416spot on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in the United States for the second year in a row, a feat only achieved once before, in addition to being named America’s Most Promising Company for the year by Forbes.

But what has allowed for such incredible growth and what sets it up for continued success in 2015 is Fuhu’s ability to take a very niche market and expand its offerings to cover all of the potential consumer and market areas. For instance, they offer branded accessories such as sports logo decals and Nabi-brand chargers, along with a partnership to sell special-edition versions of their tablets with brands such as Disney and Nickelodeon.

Whenever a brand can break out of a single-product offering they are more likely to sustain long-term success. When those additional products all tie in to the original and contribute to strengthening the overall brand strategy, well that’s just an added bonus that Fuhu has earned.

  1. Anytime Fitness

Franchises are the next wave of brand growth, with brands seeing this avenue as the best way to expand their reach. And no company has embraced franchising better than Anytime Fitness, which earned the top spot on Entrepreneur Magazine’s Franchise 500 list in 2014.

AnytimeFitnessLogoNot only do their locations have sound business footing, they have capitalized on the nation’s thirst for healthy options and promoting a healthy lifestyle. Additionally, their concept of 24/7/365 availability works into the daily life of the person who wants to stay healthy, but needs the flexibility to do it on their own schedule.

They have over 2,500 locations and sport over 1.9 million members, with goals to open 1,500-plus units in the next five years. This growth, along with the strong brand loyalty shown by its members (more than 1,400 have tattooed the company’s logo on themselves to represent a personal accomplishment), point to another outstanding year for the folks at Anytime Fitness.

  1. Amazon

Amazon is proof that the most successful companies never stop evolving. Already the largest internet-based company in the United States with over $74 billion in revenue for 2013, but they are not willing to sit back and let the brand coast in the coming years.

a.com_logo_RGB (1)They too know the benefit of branching out with your brand, with original products, hotel booking site, streaming video services, food delivery services, and more all on deck for potential 2015 launches. They have also entered into the media creation realm, with at least seven new shows set to debut in 2015, go along with the already-successful Kindle, Amazon Prime and recent acquisition of Zappos.

This touches on another branding best practice – Amazon can look to expand its product offering because it is the best at what it was originally created to do. People around the world know Amazon’s brand for its outstanding success in the past, and therefore the brand equity is there already to test the waters, knowing that anything with the Amazon name on it has a built-in brand ambassador network.

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