Brand Management
Over the past years, large groups of people have experienced an increase in their living standards. People have become wealthier and they posses a larger buying power. Nowadays, most consumers are more likely to choose branded products that are established over products of an unknown make. It is a norm that human beings tend to change their consumption patterns in different situations. In this case, they are better off now, than they were before, thanks to strong economic growth. Due to the current state of affairs, many businesses have employed skilled individuals, better known as brand managers, to anticipate this trend and in return, increase profits. Brand managers are people who formulate marketing plans for the product that they manage. However, these brand managers have come to realize that consumers are now demanding for products that focus on special values that enhance their loyalty towards that particular brand and its products. In other words, consumers are now demanding for products that are authentic. The term ‘authentic’ can be defined as conforming to fact and therefore worthy of trust, reliance, or belief.
Brands have always been commercial agents and brand managers take pride in their ability to meet the needs of their target market. However, these two desires are in conflict with the recent trend towards positioning brands as “authentic,” emphasizing the timeless values desired by consumers while downplaying apparent commercial motives. The dual problem for the firm is in creating images of authenticity while dealing with the challenge that authenticity presents for brand management (Beverland, 2005). Consumers believe that when a product has an acclaimed background, it is worthy of trust. There will be an increase in demand and loyalty for businesses that satisfy the above conditions. For example, the early support offered to the gay community by the Levi’s clothing company ensures that the brand continues to have relevant meaning to gays. According to Beverland (2005), brands that tried to exploit this segment when homosexuality became more generally accepted struggled because they were late to the party and were viewed as exploiting a community without paying the necessary dues.
As mentioned above, businesses have formulated many strategies in order to make their products look and sound authentic. Businesses should not make up assumptions that an authentic product that they marker will be successful. This is because there are different views regarding this matter. A product that is authentic to one individual may not be to another.
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.
The Titleist brand was inspired by an event which occurred in 1932. An amateur golfer, Phil Young, missed a putt while playing in a match with his friend. Convinced that it was the ball 's fault, Young and his opponent went to the hospital, x-rayed the golf ball in question and found that its core was, in fact, off-center.
A customer’s response falls in two categories, judgment and feelings. Consumers are constantly making judgments about a brand. These judgments fall into four categories: quality, credibility, consideration, and superiority (Keller, 2001). Customers judge a brand based on its actual and perceived quality, and customers judge credibility using the perception of the company’s expertise, trustworthiness, and likability. To what extent is the brand seen as “competent, innovative, and a market leader,” “dependable and sensitive to the interest of customers,” and “fun, interesting, and worth spending time with” (Keller,
Increasing awareness of a personal and unique identity distinguishes us from the pack. A brand mantra differs from a tagline, explains Guy Kawasaki, as a mantra describes internal business, a standard for a company to abide by. A tagline is for customers and what they can expect to be delivered (Martinuzzi, 2014). John Jantsch, founder of Duct Tape Marketing defines branding "the art of becoming knowable, likable and trustable” (Martinuzzi, 2014). Many specialists on the subject agree that trust building is essential in success. Being honest is one of the top five steps Forbe’s advises when it comes to brand building (Biro, 2013). Some suggestions to follow from, How to Build an Unforgettable Personal Brand (2014) include, making sure customers are provided what is promised, leading with unwavering quality and being consistent in making good on one’s word. The article also warns that the public will assign a default brand if a
Today, vast product selections require marketers to identify and understand their target market, and to ensure their message is specifically directed to, and clearly received by their target market. In Dove’s example, early marketing strategies targeted all woman who needed an alternative to harsh soaps. However, as soaps progressively became less harsh, the Dove brand required more strategic positioning in the minds of their consumer. When speaking to Dove’s re-positioning efforts, Flagg (2013), points out that while similar products associate brand image with slender, stereotypical models, Dove’s “2004 campaign for Real Beauty” (p.1) specifically targeted ordinary women, celebrating women’s diverse body shapes, and the importance of every woman feeling good about herself (p.1). With ever increasing product offerings entering the marketplace, marketers must clearly communicate to their target group why their product is right for them, as compared to other
Branding is very important aspects of any business because it gives identity to company and its products for example every person is different and have unique personalities similarly companies differentiate their products through branding. The brand I have selected to analyses for this assignment is GoCompare.com. I have selected this company because it has always displayed very catchy adverts on television and it will be interesting to analysis the brand using theoretical models. Gocompare.com was first launched back in November 2006 by Hayley Parsons. The main difference from competitors was to display more detailed quotes rather than just prices stacked together. It found big success in very short time and in 2013 it is estimated to worth over 450 million express, 2013.
Market opportunities for breakfast cereals is vast, some segments of the market have been neglected, most notably that of the over-50’s. Insightful presentations were given at the “Older, Richer, Wiser” Conference that would suggest the over 50’s market segment is targetable.
Lastly, brand awareness is a crucial consideration. And It may be thought of as a consumers’ ability to find a brand within a group in adequate detail to make a purchase. It is important to remember that adequate detail does not always need identification of the brand name. Often “brand awareness is no more than a visual image of the package that stimulates a response to the brand.” Moreover, recall of the name is not necessarily required because brand awareness in which can try via brand recognition. According to Emma Macdonald and Byron Sharp (2003), suggested, when a brand is recognized at point of purchase, its brand awareness does not need brand recall. This is a major point in the consideration of brand awareness as the most important communication objective. In fact, the difference is misunderstood by marketing and advertising managers. The difficulty is to relate to the essential difference between recognition and recall, that is extremely important to advertising strategy. Brand recognition and brand recall are two separate types of brand awareness. The difference depends upon the communication effect that occurs primarily in the consumers’ memory.
By communicating a new value proposition, brand management aims to change the brand’s former brand percep-tion and link the new brand image to the new position. Of course, also within re-positioning, new attributes have to demonstrate points of difference and superi-ority. By emphasizing the brand’s uniqueness, management enables the cus-tomer to perceive higher brand value in their mind (cf. Friis 2009, p. 19). If the brand elements are not relevant for the target audience or the brand proposition was not chosen correctly, brand identity will not be perceived as credible and communication will fail. Therefore, companies have to analyse their target groups accurately before choosing new attributes, which they want to communicate. Management has to find out what are the target audience’s needs, wants and desires and what do they believe in. The organizations values should in best case overlap with the values of the audience. New brand attributes have to follow specific communication objectives, which are focussed on changing the custom-ers’ perception (cf. Feddersen 2013, p.
This article studies the relationship between advertising and sales promotions and their impact on brand equity. A main priority for most companies is to establish and achieve a strong and powerful brand name. A company can build a strong brand name by creating the market for their customers want. By creating a strong brand name, a company will become more established. Brand equity is important to the producer, retailer and consumer. The consumer knowledge of the brand says how the producer will produce and market the product. The consumer knowledge of the brand name also determines the quantity the retailer will sale. Brand equity can have a positive or negative effect. A positive effect would be for everyone to recognize the name and purchase the product. The negative effect would be to have the product recalled. Brand equity is important because it can offer many advantages for a company. Brand equity can create a high demand for your product, reduce marketing cost and the company’s brand name will have high credibility.
Marketing professionals create, manage and/or enhance brands in order to create or bolster demand for the product. A successful marketing plan will help assure that consumers look beyond just the price or function of a product when making a purchasing decision, in part, a well planned marketing effort will create a “feel good” association about the product the consumer is about to purchase (Petty) A key part of a career in marketing is to understand the needs, preferences, and constraints that define the target group of consumers or the market niche corresponding to the brand. This is done by market research. This is accomplished through market research, essentially using survey techniques, statistics, psychology and social understanding to help gather information on what consumers want and/or need, and then designing products, or services, to hopefully meet ...
Brand positioning refers to “target consumer’s” reason to buy your brand in preference to others. It involves identifying and determining points of similarity and difference to ascertain the right brand identity and to create a proper brand image. A significant differential advantage can lead customers to focus on product benefits other than price. Brand Positioning is the key of marketing strategy. A strong brand positioning directs marketing strategy by explaining the brand details, the uniqueness of brand and it’s similarity with the competitive brands, as well as the reasons for buying and using that specific brand. Positioning is the base for developing and increasing the required knowledge and perceptions of the customers. It is the single feature that sets your service apart from your competitors.
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...
From the study it is clear that people often purchase branded products since they are aware of the brand performance or perhaps they have a good past experience about the brands. This makes customer’s become loyal with the specific brand.
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.