INTRODUCTION A brand is a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service

as distinct from those of other sellers." Branding began as a way to tell one person's cattle from another by means of a hot iron stamp. A modern example of a brand is Coca Cola which belongs to the CocaCola Company. Marque or make are often used to denote a brand of motor vehicle, which may be distinguished from a car model. A concept brand is a brand that is associated with an abstract concept, like breast cancer awareness or environmentalism, rather than a specific product, service, or business. A commodity brand is a brand associated with a commodity. Got milk? is an example of a commodity brand. Creating [a brand] reputation requires expenditures on product quality, service, advertising, and so on. Once the reputation is created, the firm will obtain greater profits because repeat purchases and word-ofmouth references will generate higher sales and because consumers will be willing to pay higher prices for lower search costs and greater assurances of consistent quality. If the law does not prevent it, a free riding [competitor]will eventually destroy the information capital embodied in a [brand], and the prospect of free riding may therefore eliminate the incentive to develop a valuable trademark in the first place.

BRAND MANAGEMENT Brand management begins with having a thorough knowledge of the term brand. It includes developing a promise, making that promise and maintaining it. It means defining the brand, positioning the brand, and delivering the brand. Brand management is nothing but an art of creating and sustaining the brand. Branding makes customers committed to your business. A strong brand differentiates your products from the competitors. It gives a quality image to your business. Brand management includes managing the tangible and intangible characteristics of brand. In case of product brands, the tangibles include the product itself, price, packaging, etc. While in case of service brands, the tangibles include the customers experience. The intangibles include emotional connections with the product / service. Branding is assembling of various marketing mix medium into a whole so as to give you an identity. It is nothing but capturing your customers mind with your brand name. It gives an image of an experienced, huge and reliable business. It is all about capturing the niche market for your product / service and about creating a confidence in the current and prospective customers minds that you are the unique solution to their problem. The aim of branding is to convey brand message vividly, create customer loyalty, persuade the buyer for the product, and establish an emotional connectivity with the customers. Branding forms customer perceptions about the product. It should raise customer expectations about the product. The primary aim of branding is to create differentiation. Strong brands reduce customers perceived monetary, social and safety risks in buying goods/s ervices. The customers can better imagine the intangible goods with the help of brand name. Strong brand organizations have a high market share. The brand should be given good support so that it can sustain itself in long run. It is essential to manage all brands and build brand equity over a period of time. Here comes importance and usefulness of brand management. Brand management helps in building a corporate
2

image. A brand manager has to oversee overall brand performance. A successful brand can only be created if the brand management system is competent. HISTORY The word "brand" is derived from the Old Norse brand meaning "to burn." It refers to the practice of producers burning their mark (or brand) onto their products. The oldest generic Brand, which is in continuous use in India, since Vedic period, 900010000 years ago is known as 'Chyawanprash'. It is widely used in India and many other countries and is a herbal paste of 45 herbs made for revered Rishi named Chyawan. This brand was developed at Dhosi Hill in North India, on an extinct Volcanic Hill. The Italians were among the first to use brands, in the form of watermarks on paper in the 1200s. Although connected with the history of trademarks and including earlier examples which could be deemed "protobrands" (such as the marketing puns of the "Vesuvinum" wine jars found at Pompeii), brands in the field of mass-marketing originated in the 19th century with the advent of packaged goods. Industrialization moved the production of many household items, such as soap, from local communities to centralized factories. When shipping their items, the factories would literally brand their logo or insignia on the barrels used, extending the meaning of "brand" to that of trademark. Bass & Company, the British brewery, claims their red triangle brand was the world's first trademark. Lyles Golden Syrup makes a similar claim, having been named as Britain's oldest brand, with its green and gold packaging having remained almost unchanged since 1885. Another example comes from Antiche Fornaci Giorgi in Italy, whose bricks are stamped or carved with the same proto-logo since 1731, as found in Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. Cattle were branded long before this. The term "maverick," originally meaning an unbranded calf, comes from Texas rancher Samuel Augustus Maverick whose neglected cattle often got loose and was rounded up by his neighbours. The word spread among cowboys and came to be applied to unbranded calves
3

found out wandering alone. Even the signatures on paintings of famous artists like Leonardo da Vinci can be viewed as an early branding tool. Factories established during the Industrial Revolution introduced mass-produced goods and needed to sell their products to a wider market, to customers previously familiar only with locally-produced goods. It quickly became apparent that a generic package of soap had difficulty competing with familiar, local products. The packaged goods manufacturers needed to convince the market that the public could place just as much trust in the non-local product. Campbell soup, Coca-Cola, Juicy Fruit gum, Aunt Jemima, and Quaker Oats were among the first products to be 'branded', in an effort to increase the consumer's familiarity with their products. Many brands of that era, such as Uncle Ben's rice and Kellogg's breakfast cereal furnish illustrations of the problem. Around 1900, James Walter Thompson published a house ad explaining trademark advertising. This was an early commercial explanation of what we now know as branding. Companies soon adopted slogans, mascots, and jingles that began to appear on radio and early television. By the 1940s, manufacturers began to recognize the way in which consumers were developing relationships with their brands in a social/ psychological/ anthropological sense. From there, manufacturers quickly learned to build their brand's identity and personality, such as youthfulness, fun or luxury. This began the practice we now know as "branding" today, where the consumers buy "the brand" instead of the product. This trend continued to the 1980s, and is now quantified in concepts such as brand value and brand equity. Naomi Klein has described this development as "brand equity mania". In 1988, for example, Philip Morris purchased Kraft for six times what the company was worth on paper; it was felt that what they really purchased was its brand name. Marlboro Friday: April 2, 1993 - marked by some as the death of the brand - the day Philip Morris declared that they were cutting the price of Marlboro cigarettes by 20% in order to compete with bargain cigarettes. Marlboro cigarettes were noted at the time for their heavy advertising campaigns and wellnuanced brand image. In response to the announcement Wall Street stocks nose-dived for a large number
4

of branded companies: Heinz, Coca Cola, Quaker Oats, and PepsiCo. Many thought the event signalled the beginning of a trend towards "brand blindness", questioning the power of "brand value." CONCEPTS Proper branding can result in higher sales of not only one product, but on other products associated with that brand. For example, if a customer loves Pillsbury biscuits and trusts the brand, he or she is more likely to try other products offered by the company such as chocolate chip cookies. Brand is the personality that identifies a product, service or company (name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or combination of them) and how it relates to key constituencies: customers, staff, partners, investors etc. Some people distinguish the psychological aspect, brand associations like thoughts, feelings, perceptions, images, experiences, beliefs, attitudes, and so on that become linked to the brand, of a brand from the experiential aspect. The experiential aspect consists of the sum of all points of contact with the brand and is known as the brand experience. The brand experience is a brand's action perceived by a person. The psychological aspect, sometimes referred to as the brand image, is a symbolic construct created within the minds of people, consisting of all the information and expectations associated with a product, service or the company providing them. People engaged in branding seek to develop or align the expectations behind the brand experience, creating the impression that a brand associated with a product or service has certain qualities or characteristics that make it special or unique. A brand is therefore one of the most valuable elements in an advertising theme, as it demonstrates what the brand owner is able to offer in the marketplace. The art of creating and maintaining a brand is called brand management. Orientation of the whole organization towards its brand is called brand orientation. The brand orientation is developed in responsiveness to market intelligence.
5

Careful brand management seeks to make the product or services relevant to the target audience. Brands should be seen as more than the difference between the actual cost of a product and its selling price - they represent the sum of all valuable qualities of a product to the consumer. A brand which is widely known in the marketplace acquires brand recognition. When brand recognition builds up to a point where a brand enjoys a critical mass of positive sentiment in the marketplace, it is said to have achieved brand franchise. Brand recognition is most successful when people can state a brand without being explicitly exposed to the company's name, but rather through visual signifiers like logos, slogans, and colors. For example, Disney has been successful at branding with their particular script font (originally created for Walt Disney's "signature" logo), which it used in the logo for go.com. Consumers may look on branding as an aspect of products or services, as it often serves to denote a certain attractive quality or characteristic. From the perspective of brand owners, branded products or services also command higher prices. Where two products resemble each other, but one of the products has no associated branding (such as a generic, store-branded product), people may often select the more expensive branded product on the basis of the quality of the brand or the reputation of the brand owner. BRAND AWARENESS Brand awareness refers to customers' ability to recall and recognize the brand under different conditions and link to the brand name, logo, and jingles and so on to certain associations in memory. It consists of both brand recognition and brand recall. It helps the customers to understand to which product or service category the particular brand belongs and what products and services are sold under the brand name. It also ensures that customers know which of their needs are satisfied by the brand through its products (Keller). Brand awareness is of critical importance since customers will not consider your brand if they are not aware of it. There are various levels of brand awareness that require different levels and combinations of brand recognition and recall. Top-of-Mind is the goal of most companies. Top-of-Mind Awareness occurs when
6

your brand is what pops into a consumers mind when asked to name brands in a product category. For example, when someone is asked to name a type of facial tissue, the common answer is Kleenex, which is a top-of-mind brand. Aided Awareness occurs when a consumer is shown or reads a list of brands, and expresses familiarity with your brand only after they hear or see it as a type of memory aide. Strategic Awareness occurs when your brand is not only top-of-mind to consumers, but also has distinctive qualities that stick out to consumers as making it better than the other brands in your market. The distinctions that set your product apart from the competition is also known as the Unique Selling Point or USP. BRAND ELEMENTS Brands typically are made up of various elements, such as: Name: The word or words used to identify a company, product, service, or concept. Logo: The visual trademark that identifies the brand. Tagline or Catchphrase: "The Quicker Picker Upper" is associated with Bounty paper towels. "Can you hear me now" is an important part of the Verizon brand. Graphics: The dynamic ribbon is a trademarked part of Coca-Cola's brand. Shapes: The distinctive shapes of the Coca-Cola bottle and of the Volkswagen Beetle are trademarked elements of those brands. Colors: Owens-Corning is the only brand of fiberglass insulation that can be pink. Sounds: A unique tune or set of notes can denote a brand. NBC's chimes are a famous example. Scents: The rose-jasmine-musk scent of Chanel No. 5 is trademarked. Tastes: Kentucky Fried Chicken has trademarked its special recipe of eleven herbs and spices for fried chicken.
7

Movements: Lamborghini has trademarked the upward motion of its car doors. GLOBAL BRAND A global brand is one which is perceived to reflect the same set of values around the world. Global brands transcend their origins and create strong enduring relationships with consumers across countries and cultures. They are brands sold in international markets. Examples of global brands include Facebook, Apple, Pepsi, McDonald's, Mastercard, Gap, Sony and Nike, Adidas. These brands are used to sell the same product across multiple markets and could be considered successful to the extent that the associated products are easily recognizable by the diverse set of consumers. BENEFITS OF GLOBAL BRANDING In addition to taking advantage of the outstanding growth opportunities, the following drives the increasing interest in taking brands global: Economies of scale (production and distribution) Lower marketing costs Laying the groundwork for future extensions worldwide Maintaining consistent brand imagery Quicker identification, recognition and integration of innovations (discovered worldwide) Pre-empting international competitors from entering domestic markets or locking you out of other geographic markets Increasing international media reach (especially with the explosion of the Internet) is an enabler Increases in international business and tourism are also enablers Possibility to charge premium prices Internal company benefits such as attracting and retaining good employees, and cohesive company culture

GLOBAL BRAND VARIABLES The following elements may differ from country to country: Corporate slogan Products and services Product names Product features Positioning Marketing mixes (including pricing, distribution, media and advertising execution)

These differences will depend upon: Language differences Different styles of communication Other cultural differences Differences in category and brand development Different consumption patterns Different competitive sets and marketplace conditions Different legal and regulatory environments Different national approaches to marketing (media, pricing, distribution, etc.)

BRAND NAME The brand name is quite often used interchangeably with "brand", although it is more correctly used to specifically denote written or spoken linguistic elements of any product. In this context a "brand name" constitutes a type of trademark, if the brand name exclusively identifies the brand owner as the commercial source of products or services. A brand owner may seek to protect proprietary rights in relation to a brand name through trademark registration and such trademarks are called "Registered

Trademarks". Advertising spokespersons have also become part of some brands, for example: Mr. Whipple of Charmin toilet tissue and Tony the Tiger of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes.

Relationship between trademarks and brand: Branded objects are mainly goods and services. As far as corporate brands are concerned branded objects are e. g. the staff or the architecture of a company. The branded objects bear trademarks and can therefore be assigned to a brand name (which is a trade mark itself). The trademarks are held by the trade mark(s) holder. Branded objects have properties: actual properties, pretended properties (according to the trade mark(s) holder) and
10

putative properties(according to the target group members and stakeholders).

In some of these properties branded objects differ from competitive objects of other brands. These competitive edges (= brand level 2), along with the trade marks (= brand level 1), make up a brand (as is defined by marketing). The trade mark(s) holder perceives the major portion of the actual and the pretended properties of the branded objects. These properties shape the brand identity. The target group members and stakeholders perceive portions of the actual and the pretended properties as well as putative properties of the branded objects. These properties shape the brand image. An essential goal of brand management is to align the brand image to the brand identity which was shaped by the trade mark(s) holder. TYPES OF BRAND NAMES Brand names come in many styles. A few include: Initialism: A name made of initials such as UPS or IBM Descriptive: Names that describe a product benefit or function like Whole Foods or Airbus Alliteration: and rhyme: Names that are fun to say and stick in the mind like Reese's Pieces or Dunkin' Donuts Evocative: Names that evoke a relevant vivid image like Amazon or Crest Neologisms: Completely made-up words like Wii or Kodak Foreign word: Adoption of a word from another language like Volvo or Samsung Founders' names: Using the names of real people, and founder's name like Hewlett-Packard, Dell or Disney
11

Geography: Many brands are named for regions and landmarks like Cisco and Fuji Film Personification: Many brands take their names from myth like Nike or from the minds of ad execs like Betty Crocker The act of associating a product or service with a brand has become part of pop culture. Most products have some kind of brand identity, from common table salt to designer jeans. A brandnomer is a brand name that has colloquially become a generic term for a product or service, such as Band-Aid or Kleenex, which are often used to describe any brand of adhesive bandage or any brand of facial tissue respectively. BRAND IDENTITY The outward expression of a brand including its name, trademark, communications, and visual appearance is brand identity. Because the identity is assembled by the brand owner, it reflects how the owner wants the consumer to perceive the brand and by extension the branded company, organization, product or service. This is in contrast to the brand image, which is a customer's mental picture of a brand. The brand owner will seek to bridge the gap between the brand image and the brand identity. Effective brand names build a connection between the brand personalities as it is perceived by the target audience and the actual product/service. The brand name should be conceptually on target with the product/service (what the company stands for). Furthermore, the brand name should be on target with the brand demographic. Typically, sustainable brand names are easy to remember, transcend trends and have positive connotations. Brand identity is fundamental to consumer recognition and symbolizes the brand's differentiation from competitors. Brand identity is what the owner wants to communicate to its potential consumers. However, over time, a product's brand identity may acquire (evolve), gaining new attributes from consumer perspective but not necessarily from the marketing communications an owner percolates to targeted consumers. Therefore, brand associations become handy to check the consumer's perception of the brand. Brand identity needs

12

to focus on authentic qualities real characteristics of the value and brand promise being provided and sustained by organizational and/or production characteristics. VISUAL BRAND IDENTITY The recognition and perception of a brand is highly influenced by its visual presentation. A brands visual identity is the overall look of its communications. Effective visual brand identity is achieved by the consistent use of particular visual elements to create distinction, such as specific fonts, colours, and graphic elements. At the core of every brand identity is a brand mark, or logo. In the United States, brand identity and logo design naturally grew out of the Modernist movement in the 1950s and greatly drew on the principles of that movement simplicity (Mies van der Rohes principle of "Less is more") and geometric abstraction. These principles can be observed in the work of the pioneers of the practice of visual brand identity design, such as Paul Rand, Chermayeff & Geismar and Saul Bass.

The visual brand identity manual for Mobil Oil (developed by Chermayeff & Geismar), one of the first visual identities to integrate logotype, icon, alphabet, color palette, and station architecture.

13

BRAND TRUST Brand trust is the intrinsic 'believability' that any entity evokes. In the commercial world, the intangible aspect of Brand trust impacts the behaviour and performance of its business stakeholders in many intriguing ways. It creates the foundation of a strong brand connect with all stakeholders, converting simple awareness to strong commitment. This, in turn, metamorphoses normal people who have an indirect or direct stake in the organization into devoted ambassadors, leading to concomitant advantages like easier acceptability of brand extensions, perception of premium, and acceptance of temporary quality deficiencies. The Brand Trust Report is a syndicated primary research that has elaborated on this metric of brand trust. It is a result of action, behaviour, communication and attitude of an entity, with the most Trust results emerging from its action component. Action of the entity is most important in creating trust in all those audiences who directly engage with the brand, the primary experience carrying primary audiences. However, the tools of communications play a vital role in transferring the trust experience to audiences which have never experienced the brand, the all important secondary audience. BRAND PARITY Brand parity is the perception of the customers that some brands are equivalent. This means that shoppers will purchase within a group of accepted brands rather than choosing one specific brand. When brand parity is present, quality is often not a major concern because consumers believe that only minor quality differences exist. EXPANDING ROLE OF BRAND It was meant to make identifying and differentiating a product easier. Over time, brands came to embrace a performance or benefit promise, for the product, certainly, but eventually also for the company behind the brand. Today, brand plays a much bigger role. Brands have been co-opted as powerful symbols in larger debates about economics, social issues, and politics. The power of brands to communicate a
14

complex message quickly and with emotional impact and the ability of brands to attract media attention, make them ideal tools in the hands of activists. Cultural conflict over a brand's meaning have also been shown to influence the diffusion of an innovation. BRANDING APPROACHES COMPANY NAME Often, especially in the industrial sector, it is just the company's name which is promoted (leading to [citation needed] one of the most powerful statements of branding: saying just before the company's downgrading, "No one ever got fired for buying IBM"). This approach has not worked as well for General Motors, which recently overhauled how its corporate brand relates to the product brands. Exactly how the company name relates to product and services names is known as brand architecture. Decisions about company names and product names and their relationship depends on more than a dozen strategic considerations. In this case a strong brand name (or company name) is made the vehicle for a range of products (for example, Mercedes-Benz or Black & Decker) or a range of subsidiary brands (such as Cadbury Dairy Milk, Cadbury Flake or Cadbury Fingers in the United States). INDIVIDUAL BRANDING Individual branding, also called individual product branding or multibranding, is the marketing strategy of giving each product in a portfolio its own unique brand name. This contrasts with family branding, corporate branding, and umbrella branding in which the products in a product line are given a single overarching brand name. The advantage of individual branding is that each product has an image and identity that is unique. This facilitates the positioning of each product, by allowing a firm to position its brands differently. Examples of individual product branding include Procter & Gamble, which markets multiple brands such as Pampers, and Unilever, which markets individual brands such as Dove. Each brand has a separate
15

name (such as Seven-Up, Kool-Aid or Nivea Sun (Beiersdorf), which may compete against other brands from the same company (for example, Persil, Omo, Surf and Lynx are all owned by Unilever). ATTITUDE BRANDING AND ICONIC BRANDS Attitude branding is the choice to represent a larger feeling, which is not necessarily connected with the product or consumption of the product at all. Marketing labeled as attitude branding include that of Nike, Starbucks, The Body Shop, Safeway, and Apple Inc.. In the 2000 book No Logo, Naomi Klein describes attitude branding as a "fetish strategy". "A great brand raises the bar -- it adds a greater sense of purpose to the experience, whether it's the challenge to do your best in sports and fitness, or the affirmation that the cup of coffee you're drinking really matters." - Howard Schultz (president, CEO, and chairman of Starbucks) Iconic brands are defined as having aspects that contribute to consumer's self-expression and personal identity. Brands whose value to consumers comes primarily from having identity value are said to be "identity brands". Some of these brands have such a strong identity that they become more or less cultural icons which makes them "iconic brands". Examples are: Apple, Nike and Harley Davidson. Many iconic brands include almost ritual-like behaviour in purchasing or consuming the products. There are four key elements to creating iconic brands (Holt 2004): 1. "Necessary conditions" - The performance of the product must at least be acceptable, preferably with a reputation of having good quality. 2. "Myth-making" - A meaningful storytelling fabricated by cultural insiders. These must be seen as legitimate and respected by consumers for stories to be accepted. 3. "Cultural contradictions" - Some kind of mismatch between prevailing ideology and emergent undercurrents in society. In other words a difference with the way consumers are and how they wish they were.

16

4. "The cultural brand management process" - Actively engaging in the myth-making process in making sure the brand maintains its position as an icon.

The color, letter font and style of the Coca-Cola and Diet Coca-Cola logos in English were copied into matching Hebrew logos to maintain brand identity in Israel. "NO-BRAND" BRANDING Recently a number of companies have successfully pursued "no-brand" strategies by creating packaging that imitates generic brand simplicity. Examples include the Japanese company Muji, which means "No label" in English (from "Mujirushi Ryohin" literally, "No brand quality goods"), and the Florida company No-Ad Sunscreen. Although there is a distinct Muji brand, Muji products are not branded. This no-brand strategy means that little is spent on advertisement or classical marketing and Muji's success is attributed to the word-of-mouth, a simple shopping experience and the anti-brand movement. "No brand" branding may be construed as a type of branding as the product is made conspicuous through the absence of a brand name. "Tapa Amarilla" or "Yellow Cap" in Venezuela during

17

the 1980s is another good example of no-brand strategy. It was simply recognized by the color of the cap of this cleaning products company. DERIVED BRANDS In this case the supplier of a key component, used by a number of suppliers of the end-product, may wish to guarantee its own position by promoting that component as a brand in its own right. The most frequently quoted example is Intel, which positions itself in the PC market with the slogan (and sticker) "Intel Inside". BRAND EXTENSION AND BRAND DILUTION The existing strong brand name can be used as a vehicle for new or modified products; for example, many fashion and designer companies extended brands into fragrances, shoes and accessories, home textile, home decor, luggage, sunglasses, furniture, hotels, etc. Mars extended its brand to ice cream, Caterpillar to shoes and watches, Michelin to a restaurant guide, Adidas and Puma to personal hygiene. Dunlop extended its brand from tires to other rubber products such as shoes, golf balls, tennis racquets and adhesives. There is a difference between brand extension and line extension. A line extension is when a current brand name is used to enter a new market segment in the existing product class, with new varieties or flavors or sizes. When Coca-Cola launched "Diet Coke" and "Cherry Coke" they stayed within the originating product category: non-alcoholic carbonated beverages. Procter & Gamble (P&G) did likewise extending its strong lines (such as Fairy Soap) into neighbouring products (Fairy Liquid and Fairy Automatic) within the same category, dish washing detergents. The risk of over-extension is brand dilution where the brand loses its brand associations with a market segment, product area, or quality, price or cachet.

18

MULTI-BRANDS Alternatively, in a market that is fragmented amongst a number of brands a supplier can choose deliberately to launch totally new brands in apparent competition with its own existing strong brand (and often with identical product characteristics); simply to soak up some of the share of the market which will in any case go to minor brands. The rationale is that having 3 out of 12 brands in such a market will give a greater overall share than having 1 out of 10 (even if much of the share of these new brands is taken from the existing one). In its most extreme manifestation, a supplier pioneering a new market which it believes will be particularly attractive may choose immediately to launch a second brand in competition with its first, in order to pre-empt others entering the market. Individual brand names naturally allow greater flexibility by permitting a variety of different products, of differing quality, to be sold without confusing the consumer's perception of what business the company is in or diluting higher quality products. Once again, Procter & Gamble is a leading exponent of this philosophy, running as many as ten detergent brands in the US market. This also increases the total number of "facings" it receives on supermarket shelves. Sara Lee, on the other hand, uses it to keep the very different parts of the business separate from Sara Lee cakes through Kiwi polishes to L'Eggs pantyhose. In the hotel business, Marriott uses the name Fairfield Inns for its budget chain (and Ramada uses Rodeway for its own cheaper hotels). Cannibalization is a particular problem of a "multi-brand" approach, in which the new brand takes business away from an established one which the organization also owns. This may be acceptable (indeed to be expected) if there is a net gain overall. Alternatively, it may be the price the organization is willing to pay for shifting its position in the market; the new product being one stage in this process.

19

PRIVATE LABELS Private label brands, also called own brands, or store brands have become popular. Where the retailer has a particularly strong identity (such as Marks & Spencer in the UK clothing sector) this "own brand" may be able to compete against even the strongest brand leaders, and may outperform those products that are not otherwise strongly branded. INDIVIDUAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL BRANDS There are kinds of branding that treat individuals and organizations as the products to be branded. Personal branding treats persons and their careers as brands. The term is thought to have been first used in a 1997 article by Tom Peters. Faith branding treats religious figures and organizations as brands. Religious media expert Phil Cooke has written that faith branding handles the question of how to express faith in a media-dominated culture. Nation branding works with the perception and reputation of countries as brands. CROWDSOURCING BRANDING These are brands that are created by the people for the business, which is opposite to the traditional method where the business create a brand. This type of method minimizes the risk of brand failure, since the people that might reject the brand in the traditional method are the ones who are participating in the branding process. NATION BRANDING (Place Branding and Public Diplomacy) Nation branding is a field of theory and practice which aims to measure, build and manage the reputation of countries (closely related to place branding). Some approaches applied, such as an increasing importance on the symbolic value of products, have led countries to emphasise their distinctive characteristics. The branding and image of a nation-state "and the successful transference of this image to its exports - is just as important as what they actually produce and sell."

20

BRAND EQUITY Brand equity is a phrase used in the marketing industry to try to describe the value of having a wellknown brand name, based on the idea that the owner of a well-known brand name can generate more money from products with that brand name than from products with a less well known name, as consumers believe that a product with a well-known name is better than products with less well known names. Another word for "brand equity" is "brand value". Some marketing researchers have concluded that brands are one of the most valuable assets a company has, as brand equity is one of the factors which can increase the financial value of a brand to the brand owner, although not the only one. Elements that can be included in the valuation of brand equity include (but not limited to): changing market share, profit margins, consumer recognition of logos and other visual elements, brand language associations made by consumers, consumers' perceptions of quality and other relevant brand values. Consumers' knowledge about a brand also governs how manufacturers and advertisers market the brand. Brand equity is created through strategic investments in communication channels and market education and appreciates through economic growth in profit margins, market share, prestige value, and critical associations [disambiguation needed]. Generally, these strategic investments appreciate over time to deliver a return on investment. This is directly related to marketing ROI. Brand equity can also appreciate without strategic direction. A Stockholm University study in 2011 documents the case of Jerusalem's city brand. The city organically developed a brand, which experienced tremendous brand equity appreciation over the course of centuries through non-strategic activities. A booming tourism industry in Jerusalem has been the most evident indicator of a strong ROI. Brand equity is strategically crucial, but famously difficult to quantify. Many experts have developed tools to analyze this asset, but there is no universally accepted way to measure it. As one of the serial challenges that marketing professionals and academics find with the concept of brand equity, the disconnect between quantitative and qualitative equity values is difficult to reconcile. Quantitative brand
21

equity includes numerical values such as profit margins and market share, but fails to capture qualitative elements such as prestige and associations of interest. Overall, most marketing practitioners take a more qualitative approach to brand equity because of this challenge. In a survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, only 26 percent responded that they found the "brand equity" metric very useful PURPOSE The purpose of brand equity metrics is to measure the value of a brand. A brand encompasses the name, logo, image, and perceptions that identify a product, service, or provider in the minds of customers. It takes shape in advertising, packaging, and other marketing communications, and becomes a focus of the relationship with consumers. In time, a brand comes to embody a promise about the goods it identifies a promise about quality, performance, or other dimensions of value, which can influence consumers' choices among competing products. When consumers trust a brand and find it relevant, they may select the offerings associated with that brand over those of competitors, even at a premium price. When a brand's promise extends beyond a particular product, its owner may leverage it to enter new markets. For all these reasons, a brand can hold tremendous value, which is known as brand equity. CONSTRUCTION There are many ways to measure a brand. Some measurements approaches are at the firm level, some at the product level and still others are at the consumer level. Firm Level: Firm level approaches measure the brand as a financial asset. In short, a calculation is made regarding how much the brand is worth as an intangible asset. For example, if you were to take the value of the firm, as derived by its market capitalizationand then subtract tangible assets and "measurable" intangible assetsthe residual would be the brand equity. One high-profile firm level approach is by the consulting firm Inter brand. To do its calculation, Inter brand estimates brand value on the basis of projected profits discounted to a present value. The discount rate is a subjective rate determined by Inter

22

brand and Wall Street equity specialists and reflects the risk profile, market leadership, stability and global reach of the brand. Product Level: The classic product level brand measurement example is to compare the price of a noname or private label product to an "equivalent" branded product. The difference in price, assuming all things equal, is due to the brand. More recently a revenue premium approach has been advocated. Consumer Level: This approach seeks to map the mind of the consumer to find out what associations with the brand the consumer has. This approach seeks to measure the awareness (recall and recognition) and brand image (the overall associations that the brand has). Free association tests and projective techniques are commonly used to uncover the tangible and intangible attributes, attitudes, and intentions about a brand. Brands with high levels of awareness and strong, favourable and unique associations are high equity brands. All of these calculations are, at best, approximations. A more complete understanding of the brand can occur if multiple measures are used. Positive brand equity vs. negative brand equity Brand equity is the positive effect of the brand on the difference between the prices that the consumer accepts to pay when the brand known compared to the value of the benefit received. There are two schools of thought regarding the existence of negative brand equity. One perspective states brand equity cannot be negative, hypothesizing only positive brand equity is created by marketing activities such as advertising, PR, and promotion. A second perspective is that negative equity can exist, due to catastrophic events to the brand, such as a wide product recall or continued negative press attention (Blackwater or Halliburton, for example). Colloquially, the term "negative brand equity" may be used to describe a product or service where a brand has a negligible effect on a product level when compared to a no-name or private label product.

23

Family branding vs. individual branding strategies The greater a company's brand equity, the greater the probability that the company will use a family branding strategy rather than an individual branding strategy. This is because family branding allows them to leverage the equity accumulated in the core brand. Aspects of brand equity include: brand loyalty, awareness, association and perception of quality. Examples In the early 2000s in North America, the Ford Motor Company made a strategic decision to brand all new or redesigned cars with names starting with "F." This aligned with the previous tradition of naming all sport utility vehicles since the Ford Explorer with the letter "E." The Toronto Star quoted an analyst who warned that changing the name of the well known Windstar to the Freestar would cause confusion and discard brand equity built up, while a marketing manager believed that a name change would highlight the new redesign. The aging Taurus, which became one of the most significant cars in American auto history, would be abandoned in favour of three entirely new names, all starting with "F," the Five Hundred, Freestar, and Fusion. By 2007, the Freestar was discontinued without a replacement. The Five Hundred names was thrown out and Taurus was brought back for the next generation of that car in a surprise move by Alan Mulally. In practice, brand equity is difficult to measure. Because brands are crucial assets, however, both marketers and academic researchers have devised means to contemplate their value. Some of these techniques are described below.

24

METHODOLOGIES Brand Equity Ten (Aaker) David Aaker, a marketing professor and brand consultant, highlights ten attributes of a brand that can be used to assess its strength. These include Differentiation, Satisfaction or Loyalty, Perceived Quality, Leadership or Popularity, Perceived Value, Brand Personality, Organizational Associations, Brand Awareness, Market Share, and Market Price and Distribution Coverage. Aaker doesn't weight the attributes or combine them in an overall score, as he believes any weighting would be arbitrary and would vary among brands and categories. Rather he recommends tracking each attribute separately. Brand Equity Index (Moran) Marketing executive Bill Moran has derived an index of brand equity as the product of three factors: 1. Effective Market Share is a weighted average. It represents the sum of a brand's market shares in all segments in which it competes, weighted by each segment's proportion of that brand's total sales. 2. Relative Price is a ratio. It represents the price of goods sold under a given brand, divided by the average price of comparable goods in the market. 3. Durability is a measure of customer retention or loyalty. It represents the percentage of a brand's customers who will continue to buy goods under that brand in the following year. Brand Asset Valuator (Young & Rubicam) Young & Rubicam, a marketing communications agency, have developed the Brand Asset Valuator, a tool to diagnose the power and value of a brand. In using it, the agency surveys consumers' perspectives along four dimensions: 1. Differentiation: The defining characteristics of the brand and its distinctiveness relative to competitors.
25

2. Relevance: The appropriateness and connection of the brand to a given consumer. 3. Esteem: Consumers' respect for and attraction to the brand. 4. Knowledge: Consumers' awareness of the brand and understanding of what it represents. Brand Valuation Model (Inter brand and Brand Finance) Inter brand, a brand strategy agency, draws upon financial results and projections in its own model for brand valuation. It reviews a company's financial statements, analyzes its market dynamics and the role of brand in income generation, and separates those earnings attributable to tangible assets (capital, product, packaging, and so on) from the residual that can be ascribed to a brand. It then forecasts future earnings and discounts these on the basis of brand strength and risk. The agency estimates brand value on this basis and tabulates a yearly list of the 100 most valuable global brands. The Royalty Relief approach of Brand Finance, an independent brand valuation consultancy, is based on the assumption that if a company did not own the trademarks that it exploits, it would need to license them from a third party brand owner instead. Ownership therefore relieves the company from paying a license fee (the royalty) for the use of the third party trademarks. The royalty relief method involves estimating likely future sales, applying an appropriate royalty rate to them and then discounting estimated future, post-tax royalties, to arrive at a Net Present Value (NPV). This is held to represent the brand value. The independent consultancy publishes yearly lists by industry sector and geographic region as well as a top 500 global list. Conjoint Analysis Marketers use conjoint analysis to measure consumers' preference for various attributes of a product, service, or provider, such as features, design, price, or location. By including brand and price as two of the attributes under consideration, they can gain insight into consumers' valuation of a brandthat is, their willingness to pay a premium for it.

26

BRAND LOYALTY The American Marketing Association defines brand loyalty as: "The situation in which a consumer generally buys the same manufacturer-originated product or service repeatedly over time rather than buying from multiple suppliers within the category" (sales promotion definition) "The degree to which a consumer consistently purchases the same brand within a product class" (consumer behavior definition) In a survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, 69 percent responded that they found the "loyalty" metric very useful PURPOSE Brand loyalty, in marketing, consists of a consumer's commitment to repurchase or otherwise continue using the brand and can be demonstrated by repeated buying of a product or service, or other positive behaviors such as word of mouth advocacy. Examples of brand loyalty promotions: My Coke Rewards Pepsi Stuff Marriott Rewards

CONSTRUCTION Brand loyalty is more than simple repurchasing, however. Customers may repurchase a brand due to situational constraints (such as vendor lock-in), a lack of viable alternatives, or out of convenience. Such loyalty is referred to as "spurious loyalty". True brand loyalty exists when customers have a high relative attitude toward the brand which is then exhibited through repurchase behaviour. This type of loyalty can
27

be a great asset to the firm: customers are willing to pay higher prices, they may cost less to serve, and can bring new customers to the firm. For example, if Joe has brand loyalty to Company A he will purchase Company A's products even if Company B's are cheaper and/or of a higher quality. From the point of view of many marketers, loyalty to the brand in terms of consumer usage is a key factor. Usage rate Most important of all, in this context, is usually the 'rate' of usage, to which the Pareto 80-20 Rule applies. Kotler's 'heavy users' are likely to be disproportionately important to the brand (typically, 20 percent of users accounting for 80 percent of usage and of suppliers' profit). As a result, suppliers often segment their customers into 'heavy', 'medium' and 'light' users; as far as they can, they target 'heavy users'. Loyalty A second dimension, however, is whether the customer is committed to the brand. Philip Kotler, again, defines four patterns of behaviour: Hard-core Loyals - who buy the brand all the time. Split Loyals - loyal to two or three brands. Shifting Loyals - moving from one brand to another. Switchers - with no loyalty (possibly 'deal-prone', constantly looking for bargains or 'vanity prone', looking for something different). Factors influencing brand loyalty It has been suggested that loyalty includes some degree of pre-dispositional commitment toward a brand. Brand loyalty is viewed as multidimensional construct. It is determined by several distinct psychological processes and it entails multivariate measurements. Customers' perceived value, brand trust, customers' satisfaction, repeat purchase behaviour, and commitment are found to be the key influencing factors of
28

brand loyalty. Commitment and repeated purchase behaviour are considered as necessary conditions for brand loyalty followed by perceived value, satisfaction, and brand trust. Fred Reichheld, One of the most influential writers on brand loyalty, claimed that enhancing customer loyalty could have dramatic effects on profitability. Among the benefits from brand loyalty specifically, longer tenure or staying as a customer for longer was said to be lower sensitivity to price. This claim had not been empirically tested until recently. Recent research found evidence that longer-term customers were indeed less sensitive to price increases. Industrial markets In industrial markets, organizations regard the 'heavy users' as 'major accounts' to be handled by senior sales personnel and even managers; whereas the 'light users' may be handled by the general salesforce or by a dealer. Portfolios of brands Andrew Ehrenberg, then of the London Business School said that consumers buy 'portfolios of brands'. They switch regularly between brands, often because they simply want a change. Thus, 'brand penetration' or 'brand share' reflects only a statistical chance that the majority of customers will buy that brand next time as part of a portfolio of brands they favour. It does not guarantee that they will stay loyal. Influencing the statistical probabilities facing a consumer choosing from a portfolio of preferred brands, which is required in this context, is a very different role for a brand manager; compared with the much simpler one traditionally described of recruiting and holding dedicated customers. The concept also emphasises the need for managing continuity.

29

CAUTIONS One of the most prominent features of many markets is their overall stability or marketing inertia. Thus, in their essential characteristics they change very slowly, often over decades sometimes centuries rather than over months. This stability has two very important implications. The first is that those who are clear brand leaders are especially well placed in relation to their competitors and should want to further the inertia which lies behind that stable position. This, however, still demands a continuing pattern of minor changes to keep up with the marginal changes in consumer taste (which may be minor to the theorist but will still be crucial in terms of those consumers' purchasing patterns as markets do not favour the over-complacent). These minor investments are a small price to pay for the long term profits which brand leaders usually enjoy. The second, and more important, is that someone who wishes to overturn this stability and change the market (or significantly change one's position in it), massive investments must be expected to be made in order to succeed. Even though stability is the natural state of markets, sudden changes can still occur, and the environment must be constantly scanned for signs of these. BRAND ENGAGEMENT Brand engagement is a term loosely used to describe the process of forming an attachment (emotional and rational) between a person and a brand. It comprises one aspect of brand management. What makes the topic complex is that brand engagement is partly created by institutions and organizations, but is equally created by the perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours of those with whom these institutions and organizations are communicating or engaging with. As a relatively new addition to the marketing and communication mix, brand engagement sits in the space between marketing, advertising, media communication, social media, employer branding, organizational development, internal communications and human resource management.

30

There is still lack of clarity and debate about whether this is a soft or hard measure, and whether it can be linked to any consumer or employee behaviour change e.g. sales activity, trial, or recommendation. CO-BRANDING Co-branding refers to several different marketing arrangements: Co-branding, also called brand partnership, is when two companies form an alliance to work together, creating marketing synergy. As described in Co-Branding: The Science of Alliance: "The term 'co-branding' is relatively new to the business vocabulary and is used to encompass a wide range of marketing activity involving the use of two (and sometimes more) brands. Thus co-branding could be considered to include sponsorships, where Marlboro lends it name to Ferrari or accountants Ernst and Young support the Monet exhibition." Co-branding is an arrangement that associates a single product or service with more than one brand name, or otherwise associates a product with someone other than the principal producer. The typical co-branding agreement involves two or more companies acting in cooperation to associate any of various logos, colour schemes, or brand identifiers to a specific product that is contractually designated for this purpose. The object for this is to combine the strength of two brands, in order to increase the premium consumers are willing to pay, make the product or service more resistant to copying by private label manufacturers, or to combine the different perceived properties associated with these brands with a single product. Ultimately, co-branding is a strategy built upon a sharing of brand equity; two partners each contributing some aspect of their brand (permissions, expertise, distribution, status, etc.) to create an offering that neither could develop as effectively on their own.

31

BRAND POSITIONING In marketing, positioning has come to mean the process by which marketers try to create an image or identity in the minds of their target market for its product, brand, or organization. Re-positioning involves changing the identity of a product, relative to the identity of competing products, in the collective minds of the target market. De-positioning involves attempting to change the identity of competing products, relative to the identity of your own product, in the collective minds of the target market. The original work on positioning was consumer marketing oriented, and was not as much focused on the question relative to competitive products as much as it was focused on cutting through the ambient "noise" and establishing a moment of real contact with the intended recipient. In the classic example of Avis claiming "No.2, We Try Harder," the point was to say something so shocking (it was by the standards of the day) that it cleared space in your brain and made you forget all about who was #1 and not to make some philosophical point about being "hungry" for business. The growth of high-tech marketing may have had much to do with the shift in definition towards competitive positioning. An important component of hi-tech marketing in the age of the world wide web is positioning in major search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing, which can be accomplished through Search Engine Optimization, also known as SEO. This is an especially important component when attempting to improve competitive positioning among a younger demographic, which tends to be Web oriented in their shopping and purchasing habits as a result of being highly connected and involved in social media in general. Although there are different definitions of brand positioning, probably the most common is: identifying a market niche for a brand, product or service utilizing traditional marketing placement strategies (i.e. price, promotion, distribution, packaging, and competition).

32

Positioning is also defined as the way by which the marketers create an impression in the customers mind. Positioning is a concept in marketing which was first introduced by Jack Trout ( "Industrial Marketing" Magazine- June/1969) and then popularized by Al Ries and Jack Trout in their bestseller book "Positioning - The Battle for Your Mind." (McGraw-Hill 1981) BRAND POSITIONING PROCESS Effective Brand Positioning is contingent upon identifying and communicating a brand's uniqueness, differentiation and verifiable value. It is important to note that "me too" brand positioning contradicts the notion of differentiation and should be avoided at all costs. This type of copycat brand positioning only works if the business offers its solutions at a significant discount over the other competitor(s). Generally, the brand positioning process involves: Identifying the business's direct competition (could include players that offer your product/service amongst a larger portfolio of solutions) Understanding how each competitor is positioning their business today (e.g. claiming to be the fastest, cheapest, largest, the #1 provider, etc.) Documenting the provider's own positioning as it exists today (may not exist if startup business) Comparing the company's positioning to its competitors' to identify viable areas for differentiation Developing a distinctive, differentiating and value-based positioning concept Creating a positioning statement with key messages and customer value propositions to be used for communications development across the variety of target audience touch points (advertising, media, PR, website, etc.) PRODUCT POSITIONING PROCESS Generally, the product positioning process involves:
33

Defining the market in which the product or brand will compete (who the relevant buyers are) Identifying the attributes (also called dimensions) that define the product 'space' Collecting information from a sample of customers about their perceptions of each product on the relevant attributes

Determine each product's share of mind Determine each product's current location in the product space Determine the target market's preferred combination of attributes (referred to as an ideal vector) Examine the fit between: The position of your product The position of the ideal vector

BRAND COMPETITION Firms marketing differentiated products frequently develop and compete on the basis of brands or labels. Coca Cola vs. Pepsi-Cola, Levi vs. GWG jeans, Kelloggs Corn Flakes vs. Nabiscos Bran Flakes are a few examples of inter-brand competition. Each of these brands may be preferred by different buyers willing to pay a higher price or make more frequent purchases of one branded product over another. Intra-brand competition is competition among retailers or distributors of the same brand. Intra-brand competition may be on price or non-price terms. As an example, a pair of Levi jeans may be sold at a lower price in a discount or specialty store as compared to a department store but without the amenities in services that a department store provides. The amenities in services constitute intra-brand non price competition. Some manufacturers seek to maintain uniform retail prices for their products and prevent intra-brand price competition through business practices such as resale price maintenance (RPM), in order to stimulate intra-brand non price competition if it will increase sales of their product.

34

BRAND STRATEGY Your brand is more than your logo, name or slogan its the entire experience your prospects and customers have with your company, produce or service. Its what you stand for, a promise you make, and the personality you convey. And while it includes your logo, color palette and slogan, those are only creative elements that convey your brand. Instead, your brand lives in every day-to-day interaction you have with your market: The images you convey The messages you deliver on your website, proposals and campaigns The way your employees interact with customers A customers opinion of you versus your competition

Branding is crucial for products and services sold in huge consumer markets. Its also important in B2B because it helps you stand out from your competition. It brings your competitive position and value proposition to life; it positions you as a certain something in the mind of your prospects and cu stomers.
35

Your brand consistently and repeatedly tells your prospects and customers why they should buy from you. Think about successful consumer brands like Disney, Tiffany or Starbucks. You probably know what each brand represents. Now imagine that youre competing against one of these companies. If you want to capture significant market share, start with a strong and unique brand identity or you may not get far. In your industry, there may or may not be a strong B2B brand. But when you put two companies up against each other, the one that represents something valuable will have an easier time reaching, engaging, closing and retaining customers. A strong brand strategy can be a big advantage. Successful branding also creates brand equity the amount of money that customers are willing to pay just because its your brand. In addition to generating revenue, brand equity makes your company itself more valuable over the long term. By defining your brand strategy and using it in every interaction with your market, you strengthen your messages and relationships.

BEST CASE

NEUTRAL CASE

WORST CASE

Prospects and customers know The market may not have a You dont have a brand strategy exactly what you deliver. Its consistent view or impression of and it shows. Its more difficult easy to begin dialogue with new your product and company, but in to communicate with prospects prospects because they quickly general you think its positive. understand what you stand for. and convince them to buy. They dont have an impression of your product or why its better.

You close deals more quickly You havent thought a lot about What you do, what you say and

36

because

your

prospects branding

because

it

doesnt how you say it may contradict

experience with you supports necessarily seem relevant, but each other and confuse your everything you say. you admit that you can do a prospects. better job of communicating consistently with the market.

You can charge a premium Youre not helping yourself but Competitors who communicate because your market knows why youre youre better and is willing to pay either. for it. not hurting yourself more strongly have a better shot at talking with and closing your prospective customers.

37

KEY CONCEPTS AND STEPS Before you begin Before working on your brand strategy, make sure youve identified your competitive positioning strategy your brand strategy will bring it to life. If you have a brand strategy, make sure its as effective as possible Poll your customers, employees and vendors. Are their impressions consistent with your strategy? If not, work on the elements you can improve. Develop your brand around emotional benefits List the features and benefits of your product / service. A feature is an attribute a color, a configuration; a benefit is what that feature does for the customer. Determine which benefits are most important to each of your customer segments. Identify which benefits are emotional the most powerful brand strategies tap into emotions, even among business buyers. Look at the emotional benefits and boil them down to one thing that your customers should think of when they think of you. Thats what your brand should represent.
38

Define your brand Think of your brand as a person with a distinct personality. Describe him or her, then convey these traits in everything you do and create. Write positioning statements and a story about your brand; use them throughout your company materials. Choose colors, fonts and other visual elements that match your personality. Determine how your employees will interact with prospects and customers to convey the personality and make sure your brand lives within your company. After Brand Strategy Together with your competitive positioning strategy, your brand strategy is the essence of what you represent. A great brand strategy helps you communicate more effectively with your market, so follow it in every interaction you have with your prospects and customers. STRATEGIES FOR HARNESSING LOCAL BRAND Given the complexities of branding for developing markets, how can companies best leverage their local and global brands to create opportunities? The following sections discuss some strategies. Strategy #1: Make Your Global Brands Local Companies such as MTV and HSBC have shown the power of creating a global, recognized brand that is tailored to individual markets. HSBC uses a decentralized management structure to ensure that local brands are responsive to their markets, a strategy reflected in its tagline of the worlds local bank. As an indication of the breadth of its reputation, in 2004 HSBC was named Global Bank of the Year by The Banker magazine, the Most Admired Corporate Brand by Asiamoney magazine, and the Worlds Best Bank by Euro money. Five years after the launch of the global brand in the late 1990s, HSBC was already rated among the top 50 global brands. The HSBC logo may look the same around the world, but this similarity masks the fact that it is seen as a local brand across more than 90 countries. In most
39

countries in which we operate, we are perceived to be a local brand, said Aman Mehta, former CEO, in an interview. It has been a great success story in branding. For the strategy to be successful, HSBC has to have a superior product behind the brand, and operations really have to be local. The main point in talking about a local bank is demonstrating to the customer that you are totally steeped in the local economy, Mehta said. Even if a company talks about being local, it cannot wave a magic wand and become local. People have to be convinced of that over a very long period of time. HSBCs approach can be contrasted to Citibank, which created a more homogeneous culture and retained its identity as a U.S. bank. Mehta said that this global brand was not established overnight. In most of the geographies in which we operate, we have been working there for a very long time, often 100 to 150 years, he said. We adopted a global brand strategy only when we were quite sure it would be more powerful than local brands. When HSBC decided to use a global brand, intense debates resulted. One of the brands in the UK, Midland, had been in use since the 17th century. But the global brand with a local strategy prevailed. This was not done lightly, he said. In a speech in May 2004, HSBC Holding Group Chairman Sir John Bond noted that the same telecommunications and other technologies that have brought developing market outsourcing firms to the developed world are bringing global brands back home to the developing world. The value of branding in a globalized world is enormous, he said, adding that brand value will be more profitable than the value gained through off shoring service jobs. Recognizing the diverse languages of different parts of the world, MTV has localized its brand around the world, Think Young. MTV India broadcasts primarily in Hindi, the dominant language of India, but it faces competitors broadcasting in Tamil, Telugu, and Punjabi. The company is considering launching or acquiring stations to reach listeners who dont speak Hindi, which is the primary tongue of only 30 percent of the population. Microsoft created a platform for localizing the language of its Windows XP software. Through its Local Language Program, the company announced plans in March 2004 to develop Windows and Office software in 40 languages over the following year, building on versions in the Ethiopian language of Amharic and Ukrainian and other languages. The company announced plans in November 2004 to roll out software in the 14 official languages of India. The brand is still Microsoft, but the
40

experience will be quite different for people in different regions. This tailoring of the brand to these local markets within markets, making it relevant, will help Microsoft respond to the threat of open-source software such as Linux and expand the use of computers in these countries. Although they are smaller than the total national market, these local markets are not small by any means. The Telugu-speaking area in Andhra Pradesh has a population of nearly 76 million people a market about the size of Egypt. The Tamil-speaking region of Tamil Nadu has more than 60 million people, about the population of the UK. As the market matures, MTV envisions that the Indian market might be treated like Europe, with different programs for different countries. Plans for Disneys Hong Kong Disneyland theme park call for local foods and programs in two Chinese languages in addition to English. Disney also consulted a feng shui master in designing the park. After learning hard lessons with the initial missteps of Euro Disney, Disney realized that it needed to find a delicate balance between preserving the attraction of a distinctly American brand and tailoring the experience to local tastes. Strategy #2: Use Local Brands to Establish a Market Presence Local brands can be a great asset, particularly in building a presence in a market. Anheuser-Busch recognized the value of local brands in acquiring Harbin. HSBC spent a century working with local brands in different countries before bringing them under the banner of its global brand. Around the world, Coca-Cola has relied heavily on local brands to go where its flagship brand could not go. By 2004, the company owned more than 400 brands in 200 countries, earning about 70 percent of its income from outside the U.S. In Africa, the company sells 80 brands, with local beverages such as Sparletta, Hawai, and Splash. Coke has taught the world to sing, but in different languages. In China, Coca -Cola offers water and tea products under its locally developed Tian Yu Di (Heaven and Earth) brand, a successful carbonated juice-flavoured drink called Smart, and a noncarbonated juice drink called Qoo, developed in Japan. It became the leading Asian juice drink in just two years. These global sales are increasingly important to Coca-Colas future. While its 2003 sales growth was just 2 percent in the U.S., sales grew 16 percent in China, 22 percent in India, 14 percent in Thailand, and 10 percent in Mexico. Groupe Danone
41

SA, the French-based maker of cookies, yogurt, and mineral water, built a growing business in China by acquiring shares in local brands and by developing products for China under its own brand. By 2002, China had become its third-largest market, about equal to its sales in the U.S. The company reported growth in China of 10 percent over the prior year and profi ts higher than the global average. Its growth was driven by the acquisition of controlling stakes in Hangzhou Wahaha Group and Guangdong Robust Group, the leader in the nations bottled water business. eBay has entered India, China, and other parts of the world through local acquisitions. Its international strategy has been to look for mini eBays, local companies that reflect the spirit of the original online auction company. This includes the acquisitions of EachNet and Baidu in China, the acquisition of Baazee in India, and a majority stake in Internet Auction Co. in Korea. Despite eBays strong brand recognition around the globe, these local brands represented particularly important portals into countries with growing Internet presence and limited retail reach. The complexities for global companies in managing these local brands can be seen in the arrest of the head of eBays Baazee unit in India in 2004 after a pornographic video clip was offered by a seller on the site. The manager, a U.S. citizen, faced up to five years in jail or a fine of 100,000 rupees (about $2,285) for violating Indias Information Technology Act. Did the high profile of the parent brand contribute to the official attention? Strategy #3: Grow Your Own Local Brands When Possible As Anheuser-Busch found with Harbin, acquiring local brands can be an expensive strategy. While some local brands are based on century-old local dynasties, it is possible to create new local brands that pay close attention to market needs. In India, the detergent brand Nirma was created in the 1960s by Karsan Patel, a chemist who made detergents in his backyard and sold them on a bicycle. Today, the brand has 15 percent of the Indian detergent market. In response to the success of Nirma and other brands, Hindustan Lever established its own lowpriced local brand, Wheel, in the 1980s. This new brand allowed the company to meet the needs of price-sensitive consumers without eroding the position of its established brands. Wheel, with a freestanding organization, became one of the dominant brands in the country.
42

Nirma built its brand by recognizing an opportunity in the consumer shift from lowcost laundry soap to more expensive washing powder in the 1970s. Hindustan Lever and other major global fi rms concentrated on the high-income segment that was already using washing powder while most Indians still used economical laundry soaps. The laundry soap market was large and growing, but no one was making an effort to convert users to washing powder. Nirma moved into this local vacuum. Strategy #4: Recognize That Brands May Mean Something Completely Different Global brands may lose something (or gain something) in translation. Brands that may stand for certain qualities in the developed world may have a completely different meaning in the developing world. Companies often expect their established brands to be greeted with open arms as a sign of development and sometimes they are. But global brands may be virtually unknown in rural areas, conveying little advantage. In many cases, the value added by a global brand is homogenized to one key value proposition its foreignness. To the extent that this foreignness may add value, the brands may have value in developing markets, but for different reasons than in the developed market. For example, fast-food brands such as McDonalds, Pizza Hut, and KFC are considered upscale in developing markets. Their Western image raises the level of their brand among customers who want to be connected to the global village. This is contrary to their image and reputation in the developed world, where they are near the bottom of the food chain in luxury dining. Because of these differences in how brands are interpreted, companies need to take care in rolling out brands in the developing world. Managers need to carefully assess what the brands mean in different regions. Strategy #5: Address the Liabilities of Global Brands While global brands appear to have many advantages such as developed-world cachet and broad recognition they also suffer from liabilities. Multinational companies need to address these liabilities, while local rivals may be able to benefit from them. For example, anti-American sentiments helped Mecca Cola challenge Coke and Pepsi among Muslim customers in Paris and other parts of the world. As well as aiding Quibla Cola in the UK and Zamzam Cola in Iran. These products are purchased by
43

customers who like the appeal of cola but object to Coca-Colonization. The complexity of global and local branding can be seen in the success of Cola Turka in the Turkish soft drink market. This brand was launched in 2003 with advertising featuring U.S. actor Chevy Chase (popular in Turkey for his National Lampoon movies). It was a decidedly nationalistic brand promoted by an American celebrity who sang a traditional Turkish Boy Scout song and a Turkish-language version of Take Me Out to the Ballgame in advertising spots. This odd mix of local and global positioning led to a highly successful launch, provoking signifi cant price cuts by Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Global brands also have to be careful about attacks on local rivals and sensibilities. When a Toyota ad in a Chinese magazine showed a Toyota truck towing a Chinese rival up a muddy hill, Chinese customers were not amused by this direct attack on a local brand. Toyota apologized and pulled the ads. Similarly, a Nike television ad showing U.S. basketball player LeBron James defeating a cartoon kung fu master and a pair of dragons was banned by the government for offending the national dignity. Local brands sometimes are helped by local distribution networks and regulators, who favour local players. Government regulators often side with the local brands over large foreign rivals. For example, Chinese courts in Beijing ruled against Toyota when it charged that local competitor Geely had ripped off the Japanese car companys marquee. The court ruled that the logos were not that much alike and that consumers were not dumb enough to confuse Geely cars with pricier Japanese models. Although it is important to recognize the impact of anti-global and anti-American sentiments on the value of brands, this impact should not be overestimated. As protesters are throwing rocks at American fast-food restaurants, their compatriots are continuing to purchase dinner there. A 12-country study of 1,500 consumers by Douglas Holt, John Quelch, and Earl Taylor found that the antiglobal segment (not anti-American) constituted just 13 percent of the market. Global citizens, who believe global brands, signal high quality, made up 55 percent. Global dreamers, who see global brands as a way to connect with the global village, accounted for 23 percent of the market. This means that nearly 80 percent of the market continues to find value in global brands.

44

Strategy #6: Stretch Brands Without Breaking Them Companies also need to be able to stretch their brands without breaking them. In 2004, Coke moved out of the major cities in China and India to push deeper into the smaller cities and towns, offering small bottles and low prices of about 12 U.S. cents per serving. The challenge was to address these markets without eroding its urban image. One Coca-Cola advertisement for rural Chinese markets shows a popular comic actor drinking Coca-Cola and closing the ad with a burp. The spot is in sharp contrast to its urban advertising, which positions Coke as a sophisticated drink for the rising middle class. While Pepsi has focused more on the cities, Coke holds a 55 percent share of Chinese sodas overall, compared to 27 percent for Pepsi. But will its more countrified image in rural areas erode the brand among urban customers? Procter & Gamble was able to navigate this brand-stretching successfully in China. It moved its Crest toothpaste brand, which held more than half of the high-end segment by 2000, into the middle and low ends of the market. The company launched a cheaper, rural offering under the same brand, using cheaper ingredients, priced 30 percent below its premium brand. Its marketing emphasized cavity protection over the whiter teeth that were important in the premium segment. Crests share of the middle market in China more than doubled from 5 percent to 12 percent from 2000 to 2002 while its premium products also increased market share from 5 to 8 percent. Surrogate brands can also be used to stretch brands. Because of constraints on liquor and cigarette advertising in many parts of the world, companies have launched surrogate brands. The company can market soda or distilled water under the same brand as the alcohol. This builds awareness of the brand without violating rules against liquor advertising. Religious restrictions often require creative solutions to branding. In Islamic countries, womens apparel, jewellery, and fashion accessories are advertised without using models because a womans face cannot b e shown. Advertisers work around this by showing silhouettes or women with their faces turned to the side, or they use Western models, because the restrictions dont apply to them. These ads can be creative and effective. While typical Western advertising focuses on diamonds and other jewelry as a sign of caring, such emotional appeals do not work in Islamic markets. Instead, jewelry is positioned as an expression of wealth, prosperity, and security. Dubais Emirates Airline, using its central location to b ecome one of the
45

fastest-growing airlines in the world, has worked around concerns about hiring Muslim women as flight attendants by relying primarily on foreigners. Strategy #7: Put the Brand on Wheels (or Legs) To develop brands in rural villages, companies have used banner advertisements on elephants and video vans to build brand awareness. Colgate-Palmolive, for example, drives vans into rural villages to build brand and product category awareness. These vans, designed to introduce villagers in India to the concept of brushing teeth, show half-hour infomercials on the benefits of toothpaste and then distribute free samples. Whereas the company might fight for a share of the supermarket shelves in cities or developed markets, in these rural villages, competition comes from local preparations made from charcoal powder and the neem tree. These local rivals have a significant advantage in distribution because their products can be found in the surrounding countryside. Companies also team up with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to promote tooth brushing or other aspects of personal hygiene by combining product promotion with social action. In media deprived areas of the world, brands may rely much more on word of mouth and village leaders to develop the brand. Brands on the Run Branding in emerging markets defines simple formulas. These markets are neither entirely local nor entirely global, but a mix of global, national, and local brands. The success of small local brands can build new national and even global brands, such as Samsung, LG, and Haier. For certain segments and products, global brands are more appealing, but even these needs to be positioned and tailored to local culture and tastes. The important thing is to recognize that markets tend to be more fragmented and branding and positioning more localized than in developed markets. It may seem obvious that companies need to think about their branding strategy country by country and even local market by local market within countries. Companies need to develop a coherent portfolio of global and local brands. Such portfolios are apparent on the websites of companies with sophisticated global branding strategies, such as LG Electronics and Sony. They offer diverse home pages tailored to different countries showing
46

different languages, customers, and products based on the countrys specific needs. While LG Electronics overall tagline Lifes good is the same, what a good life means is interpreted market by market. In contrast to this extensive tailoring, some companies merely translate language or have only a local identity online. The portfolio of global and local brands should be shaped by the companys brands and the demands and characteristics of specific markets within a given country. Companies need to become skilled at managing and balancing these complex portfolios based on insights from specific parts of the market. One key is to understand the roots of success for products and brands that are already successful in each market and to recognize that brands may have different meanings in these markets. What makes these brands attractive to this specific segment? RESULTS The brand as business management approach delivers quantitative and qualitative results in all business areas -- top-line, bottom-line, and behind the scenes. Attracting and retaining more customers because your offerings are grounded in rich insights about how to meet changing demand Sustaining price premiums and higher margins because customers prefer you Strengthening competitive advantage by leveraging market relevance and differentiation Increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of business processes by reducing conflicts and silo thinking within the organization Increasing the market value of the business to investors and M&A prospects based on the stronger customer equity, more efficient business processes, and intangibles/goodwill which a brand produces Experiencing better results in employee recruiting, training, and retention shoring up negotiation power with suppliers, channels, etc. due to a stronger market position Having more significant and lasting impact by explaining why you do what you do in a way that gives more meaning to your relationships with customers and stakeholders alike
47

CONCLUSION This project has examined the key principles that make up the fundamentals of branding. By exploring marketing concepts and trends, it aims to equip the reader with an understanding of how to apply these principles to the ongoing management of a brand. The process of creating and developing brands is not necessarily a linear one. It requires good teamwork and an understanding of the many skills and disciplines that play a part in creating and maintaining a brand. For example, the designer needs to understand the writing and narrative process; the strategist must understand how the creative teams work; the creative team needs to understand the business vision and reasoning. Brand projects work well when each skill is translated to the other and there is a sharing of ideas and cross-working. Good teamwork also makes the process fun. Essentially, however, branding is about communicating on many different levels. The brand must communicate to the audience in a relevant and effective way. There must also be clear communication from those who manage the brand, to its stakeholders. There must be good communication between the client and agency. And there must be effective communication within the brand creation team. A strong brand will also encourage its audience to communicate positively about it. Any sustainable organisation needs ongoing brand management as part of its business. Branding is not a short-term, quick-hit process a brand must be managed from its inception and throughout its lifetime. The launch is only the start. It is an area that is still evolving within many organisations, but is increasingly being understood as a fundamental part of any organisation. However, branding is not about following a trend or particular way of speaking. It is about innovation, translating ideas, understanding your audience, and communicating in the most effective way possible. Take the time to build up your knowledge and experience of brands, no matter which area you choose to specialise in. Stay on top of the trends by staying informed of social and cultural influences, and of trends among the brands you see. Dont limit yourself to working with one client or one company the best experience is gained by working across different brands and across different sectors. And seek inspiration for ideas from unusual places. Branding is an exciting area to work in. Enjoy it.

48

FUTURE PROSPECTS Our society is in the process of a transformation after enduring some rapid and shocking changes, such as the collapse of the financial system and the stark realisation that our resource needs will not be met if we continue to consume at our current rate. This is already having a huge impact on business. It is likely that the coming decade will also be a transformative decade for brands as companies reposition during an economic downturn to offer products and services in new ways. New business models and areas such as the development of digital technologies will also inevitably affect the way that brands are being managed. A brand will need to stay relevant and true to its audience across a number of different markets and mediums. Yet the key qualities of creating a good brand remain the ability to formulate and deliver on the brand promise; to understand the ever-changing, knowledgeable customer base and market; and deliver a consistent and pleasing experience of the brand through all brand touch points. Areas such as partnership and collaboration that potentially minimise risk will be on the increase, as will the need to measure, evaluate and recognise the return on brand building investment. Measurement may be divided across the different channels of media and community. However, there is likely to be a resurgence in the need to gauge a brands reputation and trust among its stakeholders, as this has become a key concern for consumers. Many people now look beyond the brand to understand the workings and reputation of the business behind it. The emphasis in the coming years will also focus on how the brand is communicated. Brands need to continually communicate in an economic slowdown rather than cut budget in this area. They need to communicate on issues such as environmental sustainability and inform consumers (and other stakeholders) how they are dealing with issues such as climate change. They need to communicate and adapt to new areas of technology to create new brand experiences and ensure that the brand is at the forefront of the next generation. Many of the challenges faced by large brands today will also impact smaller brands as they grow and adapt to changing landscapes. It is important that the fundamentals are understood at the outset of any brand building: clarity, consistency and simplicity in communications and execution are key, coupled
49

with a long-term vision and the flexibility to adapt to an ever-changing brand environment. The ability for a brand to remain authentic and true to its core values often becomes more challenging as the brand grows and expands. But today, in a world where communication is multi-channel and multidimensional, it is those brands that have a simple, strong message coupled with a great experience that will stand out. This also makes the brand easier to recall and for word to spread about it among those loyal to it. To achieve this, brands need to work with their audiences, to continually innovate and to remain true to themselves.

50

REFERENCE AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

Internet Google Wikipedia Library Genesis Marketsci.highwire.org www.scribd.com www.deniseleeyohn.com

Books Marketing Management Philip Kotler, Kevin Lane Keller, Abraham Koshy, Mithileshwar Jha Brands and Branding Rita Clifton and John Simmons The Fundamentals of Branding Melissa Davis Strategic Brand Management Kevin Lane Keller, M.G. Parameswaran, Isaac Jacob What is Branding? Matthew Healey

51