‘A brand is the most valuable real-estate in the world, a corner of the consumer's mind’ [Bates. C]

‘A brand is the name, term, symbol or design, or a combination of them which is intended to signify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors’ [American Marketing Association]

The above definitions of a brand explain its main characteristics and what it intends to do. There are two recognizable dimensions on which a brand is based – i) Psychological Dimension and ii) Physiological Dimension.

When Colin Bates defines a brand in his poetic sense, he relates a brand to the perceptions of consumers and its importance to any profit making organization by terming it as ‘real estate’. Here, the keyword is ‘perception’ which is the psychological association of a consumer with a product or the company itself. Perceptions of consumers are said to be shaped by distinct parameters such as functional and emotional experiences. Thus, if the most valuable perception in the world occupies the right corner of a consumer’s mind, it becomes a brand.

The physiological nature of a brand is its logo or symbol. These are considered to be strong communication tools when it comes to brand management. How well a company conveys the nature of its products reflects in its name and symbol. With today’s world revolving around looks, appearance and visual attraction, it has become all the more important for companies to be able to differentiate themselves with a unique identity that will help create a lasting impression in the minds of consumers.

‘As economies become global and information more critical, intangible assets have replaced tangibles as a major source of shareholder value…Brands account for approximately one third of the value of today’s Fortune 500 companies’

[BRANDZ - Top 100 Most Powerful Brands by M/s. Millward Brown, 2007, Pg. 3]

Branding:

“The marketing practice of creating a name, symbol or design that identifies and differentiates a product from other products” is known as Branding [Lake. L, Marketing Guide at about.com]

“It is the intentional declaration of who you are” [BRANDING PROCESS by M/s. Carty Design Consultants, pg. 1]

People may say ‘what’s in a name’? But, branding is the process of creating a strong brand identity which will help a company differentiate itself from its competitors. Branding involves creating an image of the company in a way that it builds perceptions in the minds of customers that leads to positive buying behavior. A brand image can create perceptions

but to create that brand image requires branding and this is confirmed by Scott M. Davis when he says “Image and perception help drive value; without an image there is no perception”.

Branding comes about as a process that requires careful planning, strategic focus and integration within the organization. The process of branding, if carried out properly will give a company insurmountable benefits in terms of building a brand image and making and retaining customers. But, if the same process is not given justice to, it may prove to shake the company right from its roots.Some examples of branding initiatives that have gone good and some really bad have been mentioned as follows:

The initiative of Fiat Panda – The name could be pronounced in the same way in eight different languages of the world. [Metelski, 1980] and so it was a success

The initiative of Legacy Chocolates – The firm after changing their logo, saw sales jump 300% in the first month and the sales never fell thereafter

The Ford Edsel Disaster of 1957 – Ford decided to name its new car Edsel even though initial research showed that it was one of the least liked names.[BRAND FAILURE, Haig. M, 2003, pg. 16]

Thus branding is the combination of good research, good strategy and a strong visual identity.

Importance of branding to consumers

“The most powerful brands don't come from "marketing," but from great customer experiences” Product quality, consistency, creativity, performance, value, features, design, and style are the main drivers of today’s conspicuous consumer.

Consumers require branding as it helps them differentiate a product from the thousands available in the market. The consumers are so overwhelmed by the variety of products available to them that making the right choice on the basis of quality, price, stylishness, etc. becomes difficult.This is where branding comes into play and solves the problem of the consumer by differentiation.

“Google has perfectly executed a branding strategy which has proven to be one of the most brilliantly effective branding strategies witnessed by man” [Google’s Branding Strategy, V7Network Blog, 31st January, 2007]

The strategy that Google has been seen to use is the “I’m your friend” strategy. Where this is seen to be the most doubted approach to branding, it has worked for Google.

The consumers of Google, or in simple terms, its visitors, have been provided with a pool of information and a gateway to instant knowledge at the click of a button. It has a distinct logo, a popular name and has worked its way up to being the most differentiated as well as the most preferred search engine in the world. The fact that its convenience is incomparable makes it a strong, successful and an ethical brand. It has become a household name, at times replacing the original word or action it was meant for, ‘SEARCH’.

McDonalds “is made for you”; this branding platform has catapulted the company to new heights. However, with “I’m loving it” being its showcase slogan, McDonalds has used both these slogans to position itself in such a way that it displays a sense of responsibility to the consumer and the link between ‘I’m loving it because it is made for me’.

Complan, the famous nutrition drink developed by Glaxo not only is a brand in itself but also makes its consumers the same. A good strategy where consumers associated with it are also branded. Consumer branding is as important as product branding and the slogan “I’m a complain boy/girl” is one example.

Since consumers want to feel special and derive emotional value from everything they spend on. Branding is one of the main platforms where this is made possible and no matter in what way companies do it, it is never too good for the consumers and this makes it the driving force of corporate branding in the race for excellence where brand value can change overnight if the consumer backlashes.

Importance of branding to organizations

“A company's brand is its definition in the world, the name that identifies it to itself and the marketplace” [Web, 2009]

"Strong company reputations can contribute to the product being a safe choice" [Mike Stefaniak, vice president, client services and partner, with Milwaukee-based Scheibel Halaska Inc. commenting on Toyota’s brand management]

Toyota might not use extraordinary approaches to branding itself. But, its investment in the most ethical practices and culture reflects in the quality of the products and services. Academia on management and culture praises the Toyota Production system (TPS) and regards it as one of the best management practices in current times. Toyota, with a record earning of $120.9Bn has proved to be a self branded organization in its own respects.

Fashion retailer Zara’s branding strategy is very interesting as they do not give an option to their customers to shop online even though they have a website with one of the best aesthetics available to a fashion consumer. Encouraging customers to visit their stores is a very strategic move as expenses on website development are cut down and in-store sales are increased which is a popular mantra for today’s ferociously competitive organizations.

Both the organizations are examples of sustainable and highly competitive, yet strategically differentiated giants in their respective fields.

Where the value of a brand can easily exceed an organization’s assets, more and more companies are investing in branding activities than ever before. If a triple bottom model of sustainability is followed. People, Planet and Profits are the main proponents of growth. If through branding, companies cater to the three aspects, growth is inevitable. Projection of the right image can get the company to higher levels than any other strategy.

“Building brands rarely happens quickly. It requires a lot of planning and patience. But your future profits and market share are likely to be far greater by putting the effort into branding from the start”

 

References:

1. [Bates. C] MBA in Strategic Marketing from the UK Chartered Institute of Marketing http://www.sideroad.com/Branding/what_is_brand.html

2. [American Marketing Association]http://marketing.about.com/cs/brandmktg/a/whatisbranding.htm

3. [BRANDZ - Top 100 Most Powerful Brands by M/s. Millward Brown, 2007, Pg. 3]http://www.millwardbrown.com/Sites/optimor/Media/Pdfs/en/BrandZ/BrandZ-2007-RankingReport.pdf

4. [Lake. L, Marketing Guide at about.com]http://marketing.about.com/cs/brandmktg/a/whatisbranding.htm

5. http://www.cartydesign.com/Branding08.pdf

6. http://www.slideshare.net/brierman/before-and-after-by-david-brier

7. http://books.google.ae/books? id=6o7SrLdgx8gC&pg=PA6&lpg=PA6&dq=biggest+branding+disaster&source=bl&ots=tcTsax5WxG&sig=ECIJI6yHnnbMMTu__8vMdAip_UQ&hl=en&ei=sWQTS6DPLoeBkQWZzImjBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CBYQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=biggest%20branding%20disaster&f=falseBrand failures: the truth about the 100 biggest branding mistakes of all timeBy Matt Haig

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