Brands and Marketing Commodities
A commodity is a good or even a service whose widespread availability typically leads to smaller profit margins and diminishes the importance of factors other than price, such as brand name. By definition, commodities lack differentiation and the consequent ability to charge a price premium distinguishing them from strong brands. Brands also ensure repeat buying and publicity thus ensuring a predictable and grow-able share of the market based on their unique positioning strategy rather than based on just cost competition.
Even with commodities, there are quite a few parameters which brands can use to position themselves to capture a place in the consumer’s memory and consequently in their shopping basket. A few of the more widely accepted of them are: Consistency of Product Quality, Customization of the product to the extent possible, Providing a wider range of products, Identifying the most profit generating segments of the market and modifying or adding an offering to cater to their specific needs, Unique packaging, Emotional Branding and even basing branding on building a unique image to the extent of professing to have a brand personality. In fact focusing on getting consumers to build an emotional identification with the brand and its personality has a far longer lasting effect and builds far greater loyalty than focusing on just functional and utility attributes which a competitor would also able to easily match if not surpass.
Hamam is a typical example of such a strategy of building a strong brand image to appeal to the consumers. Hamam has captured the consumer’s mind space by building around itself an image of Honesty and Protection even while it is seen that the product itself offers scope for very little unique or differentiating features which would ensure that a consumer remains loyal to the brand because given the plethora of players in this market any new successful variant would be instantly taken up by the competitors too. Even in the currently evolving face of the brand to gear up to the challenge of trying to appeal to the youth segment, the core value of Trust that its brand equity over the years has been heavily based on, is still being stressed to the possible extent.
Hamam: A Brief History
Hamam is one of the oldest established soap brands in India. It was launched in 1930s alongside Cinthol (from Godrej). At the time of its inception, Hamam was owned by TOMCO (Tata Oil Manufacturing Company).
Companies realize what people need and they take it as sources to produce commodities. However, companies which have famous brands try to get people’s attention by developing their products. Because there are several options available of commodities, people might be in a dilemma to choose what product they looking for. In fact, that dilemma is not real, it is just what people want. That is what Steve McKevitt claims in his article “Everything Now”. When people go shopping there are limitless choices of one product made by different companies, all choices of this product basically do the same thing, but what makes them different is the brand’s name. Companies with brands are trying to get their consumers by presenting their commodities in ways which let people feel impressed, and that are some things they need to buy. This is what Anne Norton discussed in her article “The Signs of Shopping”. People are often deceived by some famous brands, which they will buy as useless commodities to feel they are distinctive.
Brands have become subjects of increasing interest to marketers over the years. There have been extensive studies to understand the idea of what a brand is. While taking into consideration the success of a brand, the marketers must ask whether - sales, contribution to market share, additional profit margin, loyalty generated, and awareness or corporate image contribution are the key factors that drive the success or failure of a brand. However, today marketers must look from a different viewpoint - not from the viewpoint of those who create, develop and nurture brands but from the point of view of the ultimate audience, the consumers of brands. Therefore, a successful brand understands its perception and therefore the people who perceive it (Keller, 2003).
Higher level needs influence future human behavior much greater than lower level needs. It is the brands that can fulfill human needs on the higher levels of the hierarchy that become irreplaceable in the mind of the consumer.
In every given business, the name itself portrays different meanings. This serves as the reference point and sometimes the basis of customers on what to expect within the company. Since personality affects product image (Langmeyer & Shank, 1994), the presence of brand helps in the realization of this concept. Traditionally, brand is a symbolic manifestation of all the information connected with a company, product, or service (Nilson, 2003; Olin, 2003). A brand is typically composed of a name, logo, and other visual elements such as images, colors, and icons (Gillooley & Varley, 2001; Laforet & Saunders, 1994)). It is believed that a brand puts an impression to the consumer on what to expect to the product or service being offered (Mere, 1995). In other application, brand may be referred as trademark, which is legally appropriate term. The brand is the most powerful weapon in the market (LePla & Parker, 1999). Brands possess personality in which people associate their experience. Oftentimes, they are related to the core values the company executes.
Every company seeks to create its own brand - a unique and effective image. Purpose of brand is attracting and retaining customers in its market share. Branding in marketing is a complex technology, aimed at making advantageous position a brand from the competition. Facilitating the search for the necessary goods to the buyer, branding in marketing becomes more effective if the consumer product features meet market requirements. It is especially necessary to identify the goods, for a case of unprepared buyer which can not assess the competitive characteristics (for example, high-tech products). The development of technology has had a huge impact on human society. It is reflected in the fact that we are surrounded by complex technical devices that we use every day and sometimes we have no idea of how this thing is located within. Here the brand comes to help the consumer that stands out from all those product characteristics that are important to the consumer and facilitates the understanding of the product.
[a] company may have a unique vision, a superior product, strong management and an efficient distribution system – yet if it is not able to convey the core benefits of the brand to its target audience it will ultimately fail. [5]
A brand is a powerful tool to be able to rely on its strength for its approach to consumer. Getting your target market choose you over the competitor is essential but getting your brand has a prospect to fulfill consumer needs and wants as their main solution is important. To assess the current position of a local brand and global brand in Indonesia, it is crucial to analyze how the brand is recognized, how the brand is appraised and to what extent consumers are entrust to the brand. (Dillon, Madden, Kirmani, & Mukherjee, 2001) give a model to analyzed brand based on two components: brand-specific associations and general brand impressions. The model can give a benefit too:
The development of branding was created as a vehicle for companies to create and distinguish their products and services at the same time it is a way to set them apart from those of the competitors. A brand also offers consistency and quality in the eyes of the customer thereby setting the stage for a long and prosperous relationship, for example: McDonald’s, Startbucks, KFC etc offer customers the same quality and consistency on their products regardless of the geographical location, qualities that customers have come to expect when they visit any of these establishments (Mccabe and Boyle, 2006).
Tanner and Raymond (2014) describe branding activity as “strategies that are designed to create an image and position in the consumers’ minds” (c.6). When branding messages coincide with its offerings’ characteristics, it establishes consumer trust, and brand strength. For example, when first introducing Dove brand in 1957, by labeling its product as a “beauty cleansing bar . . . [with] ¼ moisturizing cream, that rinses cleaner than soap” (Unilever, 2016), we can see that marketers associated the brand to moisturizing and beauty, and disassociated the brand from common soap. Over the years, this consistent message coinciding with product performance has strengthened the Dove brand. Strong brand equity is derived from consistent, strategic branding that establishes perceived quality and emotional attachment (Entrepreneur, 2016); therefore, consumers are more likely to pay higher prices, as well as purchase new offerings connected to the
Companies input information about the brand through their brand and product and want the consumers to perceive the brand following their guidelines. Consumers first receive that information and come out with their perception of the brand, indicating the brand personality that marketers build for the brand might be different to what consumers perceive. Therefore, it is necessary for marketers to explore how brand personality is received by consumers and what are their favorite brand personality toward to particular product type. To understand customer perceived brand personality is the first step for firms to build and maintain a positive brand
Maintaining Brand Consistency almost certainly, the most significant considerateness in reinforcing brands is constancy in the nature and quantity of marketing sponsorship the brand obtains. Brand consistency is essential to sustaining the strength and favorability of brand associations. Brands with diminishing exploration and expansion and marketing consultation budgets are in jeopardy of becoming industrially underclass or else obsolete on top of dated, inapt, or overlooked. (Keller,
The second step deals in creation of proper brand meaning through powerful and unique brand connection with the customers. The third step involves invoking positive brand response while the fourth one involves engaging the customers so as to build a brand affiliation aimed at enhancing active brand loyalty. However, some building blocks are requisite in order to achieve these steps. These...
In order to be a dominant brand in the market, the brand needs to have not only sufficient market share but also needs to have an adequately large amount of budget to defend their position. Brand loyalty is like a tool to build up a strong competitive barrier to entry (Gasca, 2014). By nature, consumers tend to stick with the brand that they used to consumed and feel satisfied with, as most of consumers acted as risk averse (Khoury, 2014). Although framework of brand loyalty is still vague, it is clear that brand loyalty is a key to the competitiveness of a brand. Brand loyalty customers tend to have relatively inelastic demand and are willing to pay more for the products. The brand could also generate a higher market share and higher return (Chaudhuri and Holbrook,
Many studies defined the term brand image in myriad ways, but they were closely related definitions. Aaker (1997) defined brand image as an image that can be recalled by the public, which is relevant and easily remembered as well as considered a positive brand. Brand image consists of “functional and symbolic brand beliefs” (Dobni and Zinkhan, 1990). The brand image is also described as the perception of the customer based on reason or rationality which causes the customer to attach more emotions towards a specific brand (Aaker, 1997). Brand image is important because it takes part the consumer’s decision making which finally determines to buy the product or leave it (Dolich, 1969), and in this way, it affects the individual’s buying
The shifting of the consumer’s taste of simple products to high quality branded products is not sudden. It grew out in the middle of the 20th century and the companies selling various products needed a new way to differentiate their products from the others giving it a unique identity.