Integrated Marketing Topic

Branding

by : John Dehmardan

What is a brand?

• The American Marketing Association: a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to Identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors

What is a brand?

• A brand identifies the seller or maker.

• Under trademark law, the seller is granted exclusive rights to the use of the brand name in perpetuity .

• Brands differ from other assets such as patents and copyrights, which have expiration dates.

Six levels of meaning

1. Attributes: A brand brings to mind certain attributes. Mercedes suggests expensive, well-built, well-engineered, durable, high-prestige automobiles

Six levels of meaning

2. Benefits: Attributes must be translated into functional and emotional benefits. The attribute “ durable” could translate into the functional benefits “I won't have to buy another car for several years.”The attribute “expensive” translates into the emotional benefit “the car makes me feel important and admired.”

Six levels of meaning

3. Values: The brand says something about the producer’s values. Mercedes stands for high performance, safety, and prestige.

Six levels of meaning

4. Culture: The brand may represent a certain culture. The Mercedes represents German culture: organized, efficient , high quality.

Six levels of meaning

5. Personality: the brand can project a certain personality. Mercedes may suggest a no-nonsense boss (person), the reigning lion (animal), or an austere Palace ( object ).

Six levels of meaning

6. User: The brand suggests the kind of customer who buys or uses the product. We would expect to see 55-year-old top executive behind the wheel of a Mercedes, not a 20-year-old secretary.

Brand equity

• Brands vary in the amount of power and value they have in the marketplace.

At one extreme are brands that are not known by most buyers.

Then there are brands for which buyers have a high degree of brand awareness.

Brand equity

Beyond brand awareness there are brands with a high degree of brand acceptability

Then there are brands that enjoy a high degree of brand preference

Finally, there are brands that command a high degree of brand loyalty

Acid test for brand loyalty

Tony O’Reilly: “ Whether a housewife, intending to buy a Heinz tomato Ketchup in a store, finding it to be out of stock, will walk out of the store to buy it elsewhere. “

Five levels of customer attitude toward a brand

1. Customer will change brands, especially for price reasons. No brand loyalty.

2. Customer is satisfied. No reason to change the brand.

3. Customer is satisfied and would incur costs by changing brands.

Five levels of customer attitude toward a brand

4. Customer values the brand and sees it as a friend.

5. Customer is devoted to the brand.

What customers wish brand managers knew.

• Do consumers care about brands?

• A Study was conducted which allowed consumers to express their feelings, thoughts and discrepancies related to brands.

• Focus groups (35-to-65-years-old)

Consumers connect with brands

• Consumers like, even love, brands.

• Consumers are not as cynical as they are often portrayed.

• They respect the brands that have lasted, the ones that have “instant name recognition.”

Brand roles

• Practical role

• Emotional role

• Social role

Loyalty segments

• The Steadfast

• Loyalty Minimizers

• Category Contingents

• Image Rejectors

Connect or disconnect

• Brand loyalty can not be taken for granted. It is important for marketers to understand what helps a brand make a connection with consumers, and what causes consumers to disconnect.

In other words, What builds or breaks the brand bond.

Connect or disconnect

• Nostalgia

• Keep up with the times

• Clubs

Connect or disconnect

• Quality

• Bad customer service

Brand hierarchy

• Pinnacle brands

• Premium brands

• Middle class brands

• Quality no-name brands

• Cheap stuff

Conclusion • Keep up the quality of your product or

service. • Be patient. Keep up the brand image

through quality, advertising, and public relations efforts.

• Start with youth in building brands. The brands that make an impression on children, teenagers, and young adults will often be selected by them as adults.

Conclusion • Appeal to nostalgia. Be timely and

timeless;innovative while keeping the brand character.

• Many opportunities still exist to revive dead or moribund brand names from the past.

• Create good price/value relationships at all price levels. Customers pay more for quality if they feel they are getting something in return

Conclusion

• Make customer service be a customer connect and reconnect by showing genuine interest in customer satisfaction.

• At the pinnacle and the premium levels, give consumers reasons to buy--quality, style, craftsmanship--don’t make them feel look as if they are just “paying for the name.”

Conclusions

• Don’t take customers’ loyalty for granted. Don’t think that long-term relationships are fixed for life. Even the Steadfasts will walk away if the quality drops or the new advertising alienates them.