CHAPTER 4: CHOOSING BRAND ELEMENTS TO BUILD BRAND EQUITY

Kevin Lane Keller Tuck School of Business Dartmouth College

4.1

Building Customer-Based Brand Equity

Brand knowledge structures depend on:

The initial choices for the brand elements

The supporting marketing program and the manner by which the brand is integrated into it Other associations indirectly transferred to the brand by linking it to some other entities

4.2

Criteria for Choosing Brand Elements

Memorability Meaningfulness Likability Transferability Adaptability Protectability

Marketers offensive strategy and build brand equity

Defensive role for leveraging and maintaining brand equity

4.3

Memorability

Brand elements should inherently be memorable and attention-getting, and therefore facilitate recall or recognition. For example, a brand of propane gas cylinders named Blue Rhino featuring a powder-blue animal mascot with a distinctive yellow flame is likely to stick in the minds of consumers.

4.4

Meaningfulness

Brand elements may take on all kinds of meaning, with either descriptive or persuasive content. Two particularly important criteria

General information about the nature of the product category Specific information about particular attributes and benefits of the brand

The first dimension is an important determinant of brand awareness and salience; the second, of brand image and positioning.

4.5

Likability

Do customers find the brand element aesthetically appealing? Descriptive and persuasive elements reduce the burden on marketing communications to build awareness. Fun and interesting Rich visual and verbal imagery

4.6

Transferability

How useful is the brand element for line or category extensions? (within and across product category. Ex: Amazon- a massive south American river) To what extent does the brand element add to brand equity across geographic boundaries and market segments? (Ex: Exxon-Nonmeaningful names.)

4.7

Adaptability

The more adaptable and flexible the brand element, the easier it is to update it to changes in consumer values and opinions. For example, logos and characters can be given a new look or a new design to make them appear more modern and relevant.

4.8

Protectability

Marketers should:
1.

2.

3.

Choose brand elements that can be legally protected internationally. Formally register chosen brand elements with the appropriate legal bodies. Vigorously defend trademarks from unauthorized competitive infringement.

4.9

Tactics for Brand Elements

A variety of brand elements can be chosen that inherently enhance brand awareness or facilitate the formation of strong, favorable, and unique brand associations. Brand names URLs Logos and symbols Characters Slogans Packaging

( Apple was a simple but will-known word that was distinctive in the product category which help to develop brand awareness. The meaning of the name also gave the company a friendly shine and warm brand personality. It could also be reinforced visually with a logo that would transfer easily across geographical and cultural boundaries.)
4.10

1. Brand Names

Like any brand element, brand names must be chosen with the six general criteria of memorability, meaningfulness, likability, transferability, adaptability, and protectability in mind. All the good ones are taken.

4.11

Brand Naming Guidelines

Brand awareness
Simplicity and ease of pronunciation and spelling (Cocacola_Coke, Aim_toothpaste) Familiarity and meaningfulness (Neon) Differentiated, distinctive, and uniqueness (Xrox, Exxon)

Brand associations

The explicit and implicit meanings consumers extract from it are important. In particular, the brand name can reinforce an important attribute or benefit association that makes up its product positioning. (Lexicaon- PowerBook, A small product that holds a lot of information. ) 4.12

Brand Naming Procedures

1.

2.
3. 4. 5. 6.

Define objectives Generate names Screen initial candidates Study candidate names Research the final candidates Select the final name

4.13

2. URLs

URLs (uniform resource locators) specify locations of pages on the web and are also commonly referred to as domain names. A company can either sue the current owner of the URL for copyright infringement, buy the name from the current owner, or register all conceivable variations of its brand as domain names ahead of time.
4.14

3. Logos and Symbols

Play a critical role in building brand equity and especially brand awareness Logos range from corporate names or trademarks (word marks with text only) written in a distinctive form, to entirely abstract designs that may be completely unrelated to the word mark, corporate name, or corporate activities

4.15

4. Characters

A special type of brand symbolone that takes on human or real-life characteristics. Some are animated like Pillsburys Poppin Fresh Doughboy, Peter Pan peanut butters character, and numerous cereal characters such as Tony the Tiger, Capn Crunch, and Snap, Crackle & Pop.

Disney

4.16

5. Slogans

Slogans are short phrases that communicate descriptive or persuasive information about the brand. Slogans are powerful branding devices because, like brand names, they are an extremely efficient, shorthand means to build brand equity
(Basundhara Group-For the people, for the Country)

4.17

Classic Slogans

Melts in your mouth, not in your hands (M&Ms) Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you dont (Almond Joy/Mounds) Wheres the beef? (Wendys) A mind is a terrible thing to waste (United Negro College Fund) Can you hear me now? (Verizon)
4.18

Source: Monty Phan, Celebrating Their Sweet Success, Newsday, 21 September 2004, A43.

6. Jingles

Jingles are musical messages written around the brand. Typically composed by professional songwriters, they often have enough catchy hooks and choruses to become almost permanently registered in the minds of listenerssometimes whether they want them to or not! Jingles are perhaps most valuable in enhancing brand awareness.
4.19

7. Packaging

Packaging is the science, art, and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. From the perspective of both the firm and consumers, packaging must achieve a number of objectives: 1. Identify the brand 2. Convey descriptive and persuasive information 3. Facilitate product transportation and protection 4. Assist at-home storage 5. Aid product consumption
4.20

Packaging Can Influence Taste

Our sense of taste and touch is very suggestible, and what we see on a package can lead us to taste what we think we are going to taste.

4.21

Packaging Can Influence Value

Long after we have bought a product, a package can still lead us to believe we bought it because it was a good value.

4.22

Packaging Can Influence Consumption

Studies of 48 different types of foods and personal care products have shown that people pour and consume between 18% and 32% more of a product as the size of the container doubles.

Valerie Folkes, Ingrid Martin and Kamal Gupta, When to Say When: Effects of Supply on Usage, Journal of Consumer Research, 20 December 1993, 467-477.

4.23

Packaging Can Influence How a Person Uses a Product

One strategy to increase use of mature products has been to encourage people to use the brand in new situations, like soup for breakfast, or new uses, like baking soda as a refrigerator deodorizer. An analysis of 26 products and 402 consumers showed that twice as many people learned about the new use from the package than from television ads.
4.24

Putting It All Together

The entire set of brand elements makes up the brand identity, the contribution of all brand elements to awareness and image. The cohesiveness of the brand identity depends on the extent to which the brand elements are consistent.

4.25

Critique of Brand Element Options

Criteria
Brand Names and URLs Memorability
Can be chosen to enhance brand recall and recognition Can influence almost any type of association, indirectly

Brand Elements
Logos and symbols
Generally more useful for brand recognition Can influence almost any type of association, indirectly

Characters

Slogans and Jingles

Can be chosen to enhance brand recall and recognition Can convey almost any types of associations explicitly

Packaging

Generally more useful for brand recognition Generally more useful for nonproduct related imagery and brand personality

Generally more useful for brand recognition Can convey almost any types of associations explicitly

Meaningfulness

4.26

Critique of Brand Element Options

Criteria
Brand Names and URLs Likability
Can evoke much verbal imagery

Brand Elements
Logos and symbols
Can provoke visual appeal

Characters Slogans and Jingles

Can generate human qualities Can be somewhat limited Can sometimes be redesigned Can evoke much verbal imagery

Packaging

Can combine visual and verbal appeal Good

Transferability

Can be somewhat limited

Excellent

Can be somewhat limited

Adaptability

Difficult

Can typically be redesign

Can be modified

Can sometimes be redesigned

Protectability

Generally good but with limits

Excellent

Excellent

Excellent

Can be closely copied

4.27