Branding & Athlete Branding Lecture Notes

Defining a Brand

• A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of these, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors.

  • Example: Coca-Cola evokes associations like polar bears, Santa Claus, the color red, and American tradition, while Pepsi is associated with youthfulness, the Super Bowl, and figures like Beyoncé.

What Can Be Branded?

• Commodities: Salt, bananas, flour, pickles, pineapples (e.g., Dole, Chiquita).
• Physical Goods: Pepsi, Ford trucks and cars.
• Services: Visa, Hilton Hotels.
• Retailers and Distributors: Walmart, Amazon.
• Online Products and Services.
• People and Organizations: Michael Jordan, the Kardashians.
• Sports, Arts, and Entertainment: Harry Potter, the Phoenix Suns.
• Geographic Locations: Las Vegas (e.g., \"What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas\").
• Ideas and Causes: World Wildlife Fund.

Importance of Brands to Firms

• Identification: Simplifies handling and tracing of products.

• Legal Protection: Protects unique product features.

• Signal of Quality: Allows for premium pricing.

  • Example: Starbucks charges $$6 for a drink due to its brand perception, while similar products elsewhere cost much less.

• Unique Associations: Endows products with unique associations.

• Competitive Advantage: Creates a competitive edge.

• Market Segmentation: Helps segment the market.

  • Example: Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic target different consumer segments within the same brand portfolio.

Benefits of Brands to Consumers

• Identification of Source: Helps identify the product's origin.

• Assignment of Responsibility: Assigns accountability to the product maker.

• Risk Reducer: Reduces risk in purchasing decisions.

• Search Cost Reducer: Simplifies the search process.

  • Example: Branding helps differentiate peanut butter types like Skippy, Peter Pan, and Jif.

• Promise, Bond, or Pact: Creates a relationship, fostering loyalty.

• Symbolic Device: Signals quality and social image.

Brand Associations

• Brand associations should be strong, favorable, and unique.

  • Example: Disney evokes associations like family, Disney princesses, magic, castles, turkey legs, and Mickey Mouse.

Visual Brand Elements

• Include brand names, slogans, logos, and characters.

  • Evaluated based on being meaningful, memorable, likable, protectable, transferable, and adaptable.

Brand Names, Logos, and Symbols

• Examples:
  • McDonald's logo: Memorable and abstract, facilitating brand transfer to new categories.
  • Cheerios: Unique name with visual integration.
  • NBC peacock.
  • Coca-Cola: Adaptable script name over a century.
  • M\&M's: Iconic, likable character.

Adapting Logos

• Uber's logo evolution reflects the trend toward simplicity and adaptability for new services like Uber Eats.

Slogans, Jingles, and Packaging

• Slogans:
  • Nike's \"Just Do It\": Triggers brand associations with athletes and products.
• Jingles:
  • State Farm's \"Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there\": Well-known jingle.
• Packaging:
  • Chipotle: Unique packaging for bags, cups, and foil-wrapped burritos.
  • Apple: Innovative and sleek packaging, enhancing brand perception.

Key to Successful Branding

• Consumers perceive differences among brands in a product category.
• Unique branding helps consumers differentiate and prefer specific brands like Coca-Cola or Pepsi.
• Overlap can cause confusion and cannibalization; marketers may need to remove or refine brands.

Careers in Brand Management

• Brand Manager: Tracks market trends, extends the brand, updates messaging, repositions the brand, and moves into new market segments.
• Other roles: Brand strategist, product manager, brand marketing specialist, digital branding specialist, and marketing manager.

Athlete Branding

Definition

• Athlete branding is the public persona of an individual athlete who has established his or her own symbolic meaning and value using their name, face, and other brand elements in the broader marketplace.
• Symbolic meaning distinguishes athletes from other athletes and celebrities.

Dimensions of Athlete Branding

1. Athletic Performance: Influences how an athlete is perceived based on on-field or on-court performance.
2. Physical Attractiveness: Base on physical attractiveness.
3. Marketable Lifestyle: Refers to anything that happens off the field for the athlete.

1. Athletic Performance

• Individual achievement and athletic capability on the field.

  • Example: Tiger Woods' brand was built on winning, despite lacking in other dimensions.

Sub-Headers

• Style of Competition: Relates to the way in which an athlete plays with either aggressive nature or an effort.
• Sportsmanship: Virtuous behaviors perceived as appropriate by fans. Generally seen as positive. However, some athletes like Dennis Rodman has been seen as a player with a bad sport, contributing to his personal brand.
• Rivalry.

Examples

• Marquette King: Used his swagger and style after a great punt, which contributed to his unique style.
• Steph Curry: Unique style of play and elite performance. Has elite ball handling skills along with intense competition.
• Serena Williams: Intense and competitive style contributed to the overall brand.

2. Attractive Apperance

• How an appearance influences perceptions of athletes' brand.

Subheaders:

• Physical Qualities: Qualities of an individual that are attractive to the user.
• style and Symbol: An athlete's attractive personal style that includes their fashion or expression.
• Body Fitness: Contributions of athletic brand depending on fitness.

Examples

• Cristiano Ronaldo: Physical attractiveness.
• Cam Newton: a unique sense of style that contributes to his overall brand.

3. Marketable Lifestyle

• Refers to anything right off the court.

  • fans are interested in the off the field life.
  • not to be extravagant but it does not necessarily have to be that way either.

Subheaders:

• Life Story: The appealing, interesting, off-the-field life story may include a message of an athlete's personal values.
• Role Model: Athletes' virtue is viewed by younger generations and that increases their lifestyle.
• Relationship Effort: Cultivating relationships with fans before and after the game to increase their off-the-field efforts.

Examples

• Damar Hamlin: Overcame cardiac arrest on the field.

• Simone Biles: Overcame alcoholism, which isn't that's told as much.

  • She has turned those struggles into a rallying cry for many people, and they look to her as a role model.

• David Beckham: One of the soccer's most engaging stars, engaged to Spice Victoria Beckham.

Organizational Branding

Defining Branding

• Branding is a term, sign, symbol, design, or any combination of these intended to simply identify the goods and services of a seller and to differentiate them from the competition.

The Goal of Brand Management

• To cultivate loyalty, generating repeat customer purchases or engagement.

Components that help distinguish Sport Brands

• Name.
• Logos.
• Colors.
• Mascots.
• Buildings.
• Individual People.
• Rituals.
• Uniforms.
• Products.

Name

• Team names can have different associations based on location and brand awareness.

Logos

• Logos carry important brand associations.
• Logos serve as a brand to differentiate that brand from a competitor.

Colors

• Color is crucially important when it comes to organizational branding.
• The purpose of branding is to differentiate organizations from one another.

Mascots

• Mascots play a crucial role in the associations of consumers.
• Mascots serve a fun and unique way for brands and for fans to associate with their favorite team.

Buildings

• Many non sports organizations, buildings don't serve to distinguish a brand from another, but in sports it can.

People

• People can serve as an important way to distinguish sports organizations from another.
• When we see a photo of an athlete coach, we often immediately recognize a associate that individual with a team.

Ritual

• One of the aspects of branding sports is the element of rituals to exist.
• There are certain rituals that become embedded with certain sport properties.

Uniforms

• Uniforms are an essential component of the team
• Certain uniforms become almost sacred amongst certain team names.

Products

• Products can serve as distinct features for certain organizations.
• Sometimes, organizations create a product that will become a flagship item for their team's brand.