Branding

branding

has been around for a long time; since merchandising has taken place

—comes from the Norse word brandr which means to burn; burned in your mind that your product is different from other products

—ex: pottery, sword smiths, bread, artists

brand

a name, term, symbol, design, or combination thereof that identifies a seller’s products and differentiates them from competitors’ products

—a person’s gut feeling or emotional reaction about a product or organization; a company is essentially managing a consumers gut reaction about its product/organization

brand name

the elements of the brand that can be spoken

brand symbols

logos for brands such as the Nike checkmark or NBC’s peacock

—should have some component/meaning tied to the brand

brand characters

represent some aspect of the brand

—ex: Mr. Clean, Tony the Tiger, Kool-Aid Man, Mr. Peanut, Geico Gecko (you wouldn’t pay attention to insurance commercials without the characters)

wordmark

logo with only words that have a unique font which no one else can copy

—ex: Disney, ESPN, Coca-Cola

colors

ex: Tiffany blue, T-Mobile is magenta, John Deere green, Breast Cancer Awareness with pink ribbon

brand slogans

highlights some aspect of the product or brand they want to emphasize

—5 aspects of slogans: consistent, different, short/simple, timeless, stand alone

—ex: Nike’s “Just Do It”, McDonald’s “I’m Lovin It”, Skittle’s “Taste the Rainbow”

consistent aspect

your slogan should be able to be used in every product and experience consumers have with the brand

different aspect

different is better

—stay away from comparisons to an existing business (ex: “We’re the Uber for __”)

short/simple aspect

most of the slogans are under 10 words

—phone numbers are 7-10 digits so they can easily be remembered; your slogan should be as well

timeless aspect

ideas that hit on a moment in time are part of a marketing campaign, not your tagline

—be mindful of referencing current trends (fads or current slang) or technology in your tagline

stand alone aspect

be clear (not clever) so that even when your tagline is separate from your brand, it can stand on its own

—have a tag line that still makes sense separate from the brand

jingles

use music that can catch in your mind without you wanting to and is stuck in your head all day

—these don’t have to contain words (ex: Law & Order’s “Dun Dun” intro)

—ex: Kit Kat’s “Give Me a Break”, Subway’s “5 Dollar Foot Long

role of brands

1. signify quality

2. create barriers to entry

3. serve as competitive advantage

4. secure price premium (customers are paying for the name with some brands because of perceived quality)

5. promotes purchases (brands elevate the attractiveness of products)

6. promotes irrational behavior; brand makes you feel like a product is better than others when there is no difference between them (ex: McDonald’s packaging appealing to children with apples and milk)

why does branding matter today?

1. people have too many choices and not enough time; brands are used to narrow these choices

2. most products have similar features and qualities

3. we tend to base our buying behavior on trust

4. it lowers risk (social, functional, physical, financial, time)

trust

comes from meeting and beating customer expectations

—trust = reliability + delight

what do we brand?

—products

—commodities; can’t differentiate on the product, so you have to gain a perceived differentiation on brand

—services

—ingredients (ex: Intel Inside)

—people (ex: Michael Jordan with Air Jordans, celebrity chefs with cookbooks, Oprah’s book club

—places (especially if it has history tied to it)

—sports teams (mascot is a brand symbol)

—entertainment (ex: Marvel, Star Wars, Disney)

—stores/companies; brand can be different from that of the products they sell (ex: Walmart, Piggly Wiggly, Pixar)

—causes/non-profits (does through colors like with Breast Cancer Awareness)

brand equity

the added value the name brings to the product

—how much value is attributed to the name/brand itself

—broken up into brand awareness and brand image

—ex: Coca-Cola’s $120 billion market cap without brand value vs. the $260 billion market cap with brand value

—ex: Google bought YouTube for $1.9 billion and was essentially just paying for the name and brand equity of YouTube

brand awareness

consists of recall and recognition

—pyramid from bottom to top: unaware of brand →aided awareness (recognition) →unaided awareness (recall) →top of mind →dominant

brand image

the perception of the brand based on its secondary associations

—associations include:

gender (ex: Axe for men, Dove for women)

age (ex: Facebook for older people, TikTok for younger people)

race (ex: Hair products for black people, Patagonia for white people)

perceived quality (ex: Great Value is low quality, Better Goods is high quality)

country of origin (ex: Guinness is Irish, Coco Chanel is French)

bad image

companies want to avoid this at all cost and distance themselves

—sometimes the image doesn’t have to be true, but it might be consumer perception (ex: Wendy’s with a finger in the chili that was proven fake, but sales were still down)

—ex: Todd Davis with LifeLock and getting his identity stolen; product was good, but people wouldn’t trust it anymore

—ex: Oil spills from both Exxon and BP

brand personality

characteristics:

—ruggedness (outdoorsy, tough)

—sophistication (upper class, charming)

—competence (reliable, intelligent, successful)

—excitement (daring, spirited, imaginative, up-to-date)

—sincerity (down to earth, honest, wholesome)

love vs. respect grid

—brands (low love, high respect)

—products (low love, low respect)

—fads (high love, low respect

—lovemarks (high love, high respect)

cobranding

can help the brand get into a segment they aren’t in yet and elevate the brand but can also hurt the brand if they associate with the wrong company/person

—essentially a team-up between brands

—ex: Betty Crocker cake mix with Hershey’s flavoring, Taco Bell tacos with Doritos hard shells, Dairy Queen Blizzard with Oreo pieces

—ex of bad cobrand: Kanye’s Yeezy being sold by Adidas

—ex: GoPro with Redbull, BandAids with cartoon and characters