10. Branding Decisions

Three brand P’s

1. Brand Promise: Does it fulfill consumer values?

2. Brand Positioning: Perception of our brand?

3. Brand performance: Are the expectations met?

Brand positioning

• Try to get into the winning zone

Brand promise

= A statement that businesses write to describe the value they deliver to customers

• Sets expectations for brand experience

• Brand promise = Positioning + Vision + Value proposition

Brand performance

= The measure of a brand’s results against the business and marketing goals

• Brand performance is accomplished when the expectations & experiences match the promise

Brand

= Name, symbol, words, or mark that identifies and distinguishes a proposition/company from its competitors

• Functional (Appearance, taste, functionality)

• Emotional (Self-expression, social benefits)

Dimensions of brand

• Brand awareness

→ Top-of-mind awareness = First brand that comes to mind when you think about something

→ Recall = Spontaneous or unaided awareness

→ Recognition = Aided awareness

• Brand associations (Strong, favorable, unique)

→ Distinguishing yourself from competitors

Types of brands

1. Manufacturer brands (National brand)

2. Distributor brands (Private label)

3. Generic brands

4. Non-commercial brands

Manufacturer brands

= National brands

• Sold by manufacturers under their own brand name

Distributor brands

= Private label

• Identities and images developed by the wholesalers, distributors, dealers and retailers

• NOT by the manufacturers

Types of Private Labels

Generic brands

= Sold without any promotional materials or identifyable information

→ Non-branded products

Ex. Medicine

Non-commercial brands

1. Idea brands: Ideologies, initiatives…

   1. Beliefs and values within society

2. Person brands: Real people

   1. Ex. Calvin Klein

3. Place brands: Based on a specific place (geographical)

Why use a brand?

To help consumers make decisions

Consumers like brands because

• Helps people identify their preferred products

• Reduce perceived risk and psychological reassurance (cognitive dissonance)

• Symbolic meaning & value (express yourself)

• Assess quality

• Efficient shopping

• Trust

• Informs customers about the source of an object

Brands as a means of self-expression

• Desired self (who you want to be)

• Ideal self (who you strive to be)

• Ought self (who you think you should be)

Why do marketers and retailers use brands?

• Financial benefits

• Strategic benefits

• Relationship benefits

Financial benefits

• Premium pricing

• Cross-selling

• Opportunities for brand extensions

Premium pricing

Can ask higher prices for loyal clients

Cross-selling

Same customer buys other products from the same manufacturer

Opportunities for brand extensions

Introduce new products with the same brand name → Easier with familiar clients

Strategic benefits

1. Differentiate products

2. Strengthen image

3. Integrated marketing communication

4. Legal protection (against imitation from competitors)

How to build a brand

Identity → Meaning → Response → Relationship

• Salience = Brand awareness

• Performance: How well does it work?

• Imagery = External cues that are evaluated by customers (everything that surrounds your brand (slogan, packaging…)

• Judgements: Customers’ evaluations & concerns

• Feelings: Emotional responses & reactions

• Resonance: Connection customer and brand → Loyalty

Good brand names

• Easy to recall, spell, and speak

• Indicative of the offering’s major benefits and characteristics

• Distinctive: No similarity with competitors

• Meaningful to the customer

• Capable of registration and protection

• Consistent with the organization’s branding policies

Criteria for choosing brand names

• For technological products: Numerical brand names work better (Ex. Iphone 17)

• Make it transferable → No weird translations

Different types of logos

• Figurative (shape that does exist in real life)

• Typographic (font)

• Combination marks (combination of words and symbols)

• Abstract (shape that doesn’t exist in real life)

Brand personality with their traits

Defining Brand Relevance

(Just know the meaning of those 4)

• Customer obsessed (Very customer-centric)

• Ruthlessly pragmatic (Make sure they’re trustworthy & credible)

• Distinctively inspired (Try to be industry leader, challenge market leaders)

• Pervasively innovative (Focus on being most innovative)

Branding strategies

• Individual branding

• Family branding

• Corporate branding

• Line extensions

• Brand extensions

• Endorsement branding

• Co-branding

• Ingredient branding

• Glocal branding

Individual branding

Each brand has a separate, unique identity

Family branding

= Umbrella branding

• Brand name is used for all products in similar categories

• Advantage: Positive brand associations

• Ex. Sonic headphones & Sonic phones

Corporate branding

Same brand name for completely different products

Line extensions

• Extending your offering, add additional items under the same name

• Small adaptation

• Ex. Coca cola invents a new flavor

Brand extensions

• Launching new product in a completely new market

• Using the same brand name

• Ex. Mr Clean (Carwash)

Endorsement branding

• Parent brand supports the branding of another sub-brand

• Adding the name of the parent brand to show its support, and show that it can be trusted (reputation)

Risks of line and brand extensions

• Brand dilution (Confused about what your brand value really is)

• Cannibalization (People buy the new product (New cola flavor) more than the regular version)

• Has to fit the parent brand → Could create a bad reputation

Co-branding

• Collab with other brands to create value together

  • Product-based

  • Communications-based

Ingredient branding

• One brand is an ingredient of the other

• Ex Milka and Oreo

Product-based co-branding: Benefits and risks

1. Benefits

   1. Added value & differentiation

   2. Better positioning

   3. Reduction of cost

2. Risks

   1. Loss of control

   2. Loss of brand equity

Brand equity

What the brand stands for

Brand scope

• Domestic: Operate in a single country

• International: Active in different countries, focus on extending to multiple countries with limited localization (no focus on local needs)

• Multi-domestic: Present in multiple countries, but adapt to local needs (=glocalization)

• Global brands: Present around the globe, unified and standardized brand

Global branding

• Consumer preference for global brands: more trustworthy

• Organizational benefits: you don’t need to adapt your processes

• Marketing benefits: a standardized marketing strategy without adaptations

• Economic benefits: buy it in other countries too

• Transnational innovation: brands across borders, where they innovate to meet different needs

Semiotics perspective

= Importance of using signs in a crowded marketplace

• Adopting semiotics into brand architecture builds layers of meaning

• Ex. University logos

• Ex. Perception that gamers are lazy

Customer-based brand equity vs Financial brand equity

1. Customer-based

   1. Brand awareness

   2. Brand associations

   3. Perceived quality

   4. Brand loyalty

   5. Price sensitivity

2. Financial

   1. Discounted future income streams

The brand-value chain (!!!)

= Process where a brand creates value

1. Marketing investments

2. Customer mindset: Associations, loyalty, awareness

3. Market performance: Tangible outcomes of customer attitudes

4. Financial performance: Reflects economic values

Power branding

• Brands with strong customer perceptions → Deliver much better returns for shareholders

• High degree of resilience when times get tough

• Recover their value much quicker