Assignment

Dated: December 2009

Subject: Advertising Management

Topic: Advertising Issues

Submitted to: Prof Devaraj

Subject: Advertising Management
Department: Institute of Departmental Studies
University: Mysore
State: Karnataka

Submitted by: Pradeep Kumar V

Subject: Advertising Management
Course: MBA - Agribusiness
Department: Institute of Departmental Studies
University: Mysore
State: Karnataka

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 Corporate Communication

Corporate communication or the art of crafting and building brand identities and
corporate brands has been responsible for the worldwide success of American brands
such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, McDonald's, Wal-Mart, IBM, Microsoft, HP, Apple, Google,
General Electric and others. Corporate communication helps companies to shape and
mould corporate presence, identity and reputation in the minds of customers,
important stakeholders and other audiences. It is important for an organization to
invest in corporate communication initiatives to perpetuate its long-term corporate
image and brand identity.

Purpose

Corporate communication is often a key strategic enabler in today's highly

competitive and information-driven business environment. Sensible, thoughtful,
consistent and well-articulated communication messages reinforce a positive image
about a professionally run, well-managed enterprise or business. The larger PR and
advertising campaign sustains corporate communication efforts. Limiting the
negative fallout of crisis scenarios, corporate missteps, public mistakes or rash public
utterances by key executives is possible with strategic and timely corporate
communication exercises.

Function

The corporate communication department comprising a senior executive and brand

communication managers is in charge of devising and crafting a workable and
flexible corporate communication plan. The team drafts news releases, ghosts op-eds
and columns for top management, arranges interviews for key company personnel in
print publications and relevant programs on network and cable news channels. If
necessary, the team liaises with an externally appointed PR agency or firm to co-
ordinate nationwide PR campaigns and press conferences or road shows for product
launches.

Structure

The top management, key business executives and PR-oriented business managers
play a highly influential role in shaping the corporate communication agenda of an
organization. They understand the value of communicating key organizational
objectives, environmental obligations, community outreach programs to diverse
stakeholders and external audiences. Top executives often offer key inputs and
suggestions to fine-tune annual corporate communication plans and even allocate
budgets for mega advertising and promotional campaigns. They are ready to take up
speaking engagements and other external assignments that would boost the
organization's image.

Benefits

A well-managed, sustainable and consistent corporate communication agenda or

initiative can reap long-term dividends for a company. Annual shareholder meetings
are well-attended, and shareholders feel positive about the long-term prospects and
profitability of the company. The long-term reputation and legacy of the company
generally remains intact despite minor or short-term organizational mishaps or

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market mistakes. Customers are more prone to be loyal and long-term consumers of
the company's products and services.

What is corporate communication?

Corporate communication is an essential aspect of communication, which needs to be

studied and put to use in all the corporate organization for greater efficiency at work.
Corporate communication collectively refers to the communication processes that are
meant for corporate or business purposes. Corporate communication refers to the
communication within corporate organization (internal communication) as well as the
communication between different corporate entities (external communication).
Corporate communication can make use of different types of mass media.

Internal Corporate Communication

Internal corporate communication means the communication within a particular

company. Some of the commonly used tools for internal communication can include
business meetings, conferences, interviews, presentations or print media like
brochures, newsletters, memos, or business letters. Corporate communication is used
to make announcements, take decisions and in general share information, views and
opinions within organization. Corporate communication is a great way to create a
conducive work atmosphere, thus increasing the productivity of the organization.
Factors like work hierarchy come into picture during internal corporate
communication. Depending on the direction of communication, internal corporate
communication can be further classified as horizontal or vertical communication –
horizontal referring to communication within peers and vertical referring to
communication within different hierarchies in the organization.

External Corporate Communication

External corporate communication process includes communication of the corporate

organization with its current/potential investors, customers and other corporate
entities. The external corporate communication process includes elements like
advertising, marketing and public relations. The external communication is
responsible for the way the company portrays itself to the entire corporate world.
Thus, external corporate communication is instrumental in creating the brand image
or brand identity. The advertisement campaigns and promotional events can be
included in external corporate communication as well. Television ads, newspaper ads,
radio jingles, promotional events, or even business proposals, affiliation or
partnership proposals are included in external corporate communication.

Effective Business Communication

Effective Business Communication can enhance the productivity of a corporate

organization.

Business Communication can be described as any sort or verbal or nonverbal

communication. Business communication comprises of both external communication
and internal communication.

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External business Communication

Any exchange of information, or even advertising of any sort that an organization

establishes with the people outside the organization can be termed as external
business communication. External communication involves exchange of information
or transmission of messages to clients, investors, or any other organization, which is
directly or indirectly related to the performance of your business.

Modes of External Communication

Advertising: Advertising is perhaps a very crucial mode of communication as far as

the clients of the company are concerned. Advertisements in any form - prints, video
or audio can be used effectively to communicate your message to the clients/
customers. Advertising your products/services can help you to reassure your existing
clients as well as give you a chance to attract new customers. Advertising can be
done using the following media:

Print media: Newspapers, Magazines, Fliers, Brochures, Newsletters, and Catalogues

Electronic media: Internet, Telephone, Television, Radio or the emerging Podcasts

can be used effectively for external business communication.

Non-conventional: If your Business is looking for un-conventional communication

ideas, then investing in Trade shows, Promotional events, or setting up kiosks and
hoardings can be a good option.

Goals of External Business Communication

Creating a Corporate Image: Any external communication that a corporate

organization undertakes is instrumental in creating a corporate identity for the
business. Every form of communication and all its elements contribute to building a
corporate image. For example even the kind of colors a Company used for its
corporate stationary or the company logo will speak volumes about the kind of image
the company is trying to portray.

Retaining Old Customers and Attracting New Customers: External business

communication can be used effectively to reach out to your old customers and
strengthen their trust in the Business. The other objective is to reach out to the new
customers/clients. Thus ultimately effective communication will translate into
increased and steady inflow of revenues.

Tips:

• Be concise and clear during communicating. Explain your goals and objectives
very precisely.
• Do not bluff or make false claims. Failure to fulfill those claims will earn your
Business a bad reputation.
• While arranging meetings or conferences with your clients/customers, value
their time and consider their convenience

Internal Business Communication

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Communication within the organizational structure of a corporate company is called
internal business communication. Internal business communication is also one factor
that cannot be compromised upon if you want to ensure a successful business.

Goals of Internal Communication:

Creating Better Work Atmosphere: Workplace atmosphere can be enhanced by

effective business communication. Healthy flow of communication across all the peer
groups, subordinates and seniors ensures a healthy work atmosphere.

Increased Productivity: Better communication translates into better understanding of

the Corporate goals and objectives of the company. Hence if the communication
between work groups is clear and sound, that results into increased productivity for
the Business.

Modes of Internal Communication

Print: Memos, in-house newsletters, fliers, magazines or leaflets can be used

according to the Business needs.

Electronic: PowerPoint presentations, videoconferences, telephone; fax, emails or

even Internet messengers can be used for in-house communication.

Personal Communication: Regular meetings, conferences, brainstorming sessions or

even informal chats can be considered as effective communication tools at
workplace.

Internal business communication can be further classified into three categories of

communication:

Upward Communication

Communication within the organization that passes from a lower hierarchy to higher
hierarchy is called upward communication. For example subordinates passing on
information to their seniors will be considered as upward communication. Here are
some useful pointers to use while communicating with your seniors.

• Subordinates should communicate with their seniors with an amount of

respect. Although, we live in an age where workplace atmospheres are getting
more friendly and open, it is necessary that one must not cross their
boundaries.
• Try maintaining a healthy relationship with your senior. Always seek feedback
and at the same time make it a point to convey your own ideas and
suggestions to them

Downward Communication

Communication that flows from the higher hierarchy to lower hierarchy is called

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downward communication. Some points to keep in mind while communicating with
your subordinates at work:

• Treat your subordinates with respect

• Criticism if unavoidable should be kept constructive
• Regularly ask for suggestions or feedback

Horizontal Communication

Communication within peer groups can be terned as horizontal communication.

Bitching and gossiping may not be the only form of information exchange. Make not
of some useful tips while you are at your workplace:

• Do not indulge in mud slinging /back stabbing

• Try and avoid conversations that tend to de-motivate you or your colleagues
from work

Rural Advertising
Reaching rural India

As pointed out earlier, according to the 2001 Census, most of India (more than 72%
of the total population) lives in more than half a million (total 6,38,365) villages and
speaks in numerous tongues.

The dispersion phenomenon poses a twofold challenge for advertisers and mass
communicators wishing to reach rural audiences, namely, that of geographic
dispersion as rural audiences are scattered and remain beyond the reach of
conventional media (so that rural corporate giants that are champions of rural
marketing, such as Hindustan Lever are struggling to reach them); and linguistic
dispersion: India is a multilingual country with dozens of major languages and
hundreds of dialects/varieties.

There are other variables too, such as understanding the needs and aspirations of
consumers (consumer segmentation), and marketing the products that they need.
Therefore, the important issues for advertising in rural India that are of concern to
Indian advertisers and marketers include:

* To reach the as yet unreachable with the most suitable media to ensure maximal
spatial reach;

* To reach them linguistically and effectively;

* To unify this highly fragmented market through some standardized pan-Indian or

global advertising strategy; and

* To mobilize villagers to the point of sale or the focal point of action.

How to reach the unreachable

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The easiest solution would be to reach rural India by means of conventional electronic
media (radio and TV). However, there are several limitations in the use of
conventional media forms:

* Television

* TV is beyond the reach of rural India. Electricity is not yet accessible to many if not
most people living in remote rural areas. According to NRS 2005, TV reaches 108
million households, reflecting a 32% growth since 2002. Cable and satellite TV
penetration jumped from 40 million in 2007, 61 million in 2005. Nevertheless, the
reach of TV is still limited.

* More than half the reach of TV is created through secondary viewing programmes
such as community viewing.

* Reach and frequency of regional language and vernacular programming is still

limited.

* Channel surfing is common; viewer ship is not guaranteed; clash of value systems
results in special resistance to television advertising.

* Ownership of colour TV sets is extremely low, which places severe limitations on the
artistic delivery of the message.

* In spite of the emergence of interactive TV, viewers have low involvement with
advertised messages.

* Radio

* Although it has maximum reach, radio is still under much government control.

* Programmes options are limited.

* There is no visual content.

* Like TV, there is a low involvement level of the listeners with ad messages.

* Cinema

* Cinema is experiencing a downward trend in viewer ship.

* It is popular but primarily with young males.

* It is not free.

* Print media

* A low level of literacy and lack of availability at the right time and place are still the
major problems.

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 Advertising value system

Advertising increases value for consumers

By allowing companies to differentiate themselves and highlight their unique selling

points, advertising stimulates competition in the marketplace.

Competition, in turn, means companies need to keep improving the value of their
products for their consumers: pushing down prices and pushing up quality.

Just think how competition among TV manufacturers has brought about a steep fall in
the price of flat-screen televisions while simultaneously increasing both their image
quality and their size.

The link between advertising, competition and consumer value is immediate: when
bans on advertising were lifted in some US states, the prices of spectacles fell by 30-
40% thanks to increased public awareness and competition.

Advertising promotes choice

Clothes, car insurance, computers, holidays... we have never had so much choice as
consumers. Yet we all have different tastes and needs. No single product is right for
everyone.

Companies use advertising to tell us about the distinct products they offer in
response to this diversity. When you see an ad for coffee, for example, it can

• Inform you about lower prices (e.g. 'buy one get one free' promotion).
• Tell you about differences in quality (e.g. improved packaging that keeps the
coffee fresh longer).
• Tell you about the options that best fit your individual tastes and values (e.g.
coffee certified with the 'Fair Trade' label).
• Inform you about the options that best suit your lifestyle (e.g. coffee capsules
for instant espresso).

Advertising, in other words, allows companies to provide a much broader range of

options than would otherwise be the case. By telling us about them, advertising

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ensures that we don't need to settle for second best. It helps us exercise our right to
choose.

Advertising drives economic growth

In helping companies succeed, advertising plays a key role in a dynamic economy.

Successful companies create more jobs, pay more tax and contribute directly to
economic growth.

In fact, there is a proven link between advertising and economic growth:

• There is a positive correlation between the rates of investment in advertising

and GDP growth in major markets.
• Business sectors with the highest rates of investment in advertising are those
where competition, a recognized driver of growth, is liveliest.
• Countries where relatively little is invested in advertising are also those where
economic growth is weakest.

The advertising industry itself also contributes in a big way to economic growth. At
6.4% in 2007, the communications industry was the third-fastest growing sector of
the US economy – far above the 2.2% growth for the economy as a whole2.

Advertising creates jobs

Through its positive effect on economic growth, advertising helps generate jobs. For
example in the US advertising plays a key role in generating 18.2 million of the 126.7
million jobs.1

The wider advertising industry itself also has a positive effect on job creation. The ad
industry's contribution to employment growth is two to four times greater than the
average for the overall economy.

Advertising is the lifeblood of the media

Advertising funds a diverse, pluralistic media landscape. Without advertising, many of

the
world’s media as we know them would not exist.

• To replace advertising revenues, newspapers would have to double their cover

price.1
• On television and radio, the variety of sport, drama, news and children’s
programs that we have come to expect would be unthinkable without
advertising. An estimated 94% of revenues from children’s TV advertising in
the EU are directly reinvested in children’s programs.2

On the Internet, advertising funds new forms of communication, which are breaking
down borders and barriers across the world by giving a voice to many who was
voiceless before.

‘Advertising is an integral part of the freedom of expression. It is impossible in a

democracy to separate the freedom of publishing or broadcasting news, opinions or
entertainment, from the freedom of advertising.’

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Advertising funds sports and culture

Advertising and sponsorship play an essential role in enabling sporting events such
as the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup. The costs of running the 2012
Olympics in London – estimated at £2bn – will be entirely funded through sponsorship
and related revenues.1

Companies’ marketing spend also heavily subsidizes the transmission of such events
to a global audience.

In the arts, sponsorship subsidizes and pays for major exhibitions whether at the
Museum of Modern Art or the Guggenheim or for performances at La Scala or the
Opéra National de Paris.

Sponsorship also supports community sports teams, grassroots cultural events and
aspiring artists. Damien Hirst, today one of the most eminent contemporary artists,
started his career with a student exhibition made possible through sponsorship by
the London Docklands Development Corporation.

Social marketing for a better society

All over the world, public service advertising has proven to be an effective way to
increase AIDS awareness, promote energy saving, fight domestic violence, or reduce
road deaths by encouraging the use of seat belts.

In fact, many national governments are among the largest advertisers. Over the last
years, the British government has consistently spent more money on advertising than
all but two companies in the country, rising to second place in 2007.1

Companies too are using advertising to help address societal challenges. They are
increasingly conscious that, beyond selling brands and ideas, advertising can be used
to show how they can help make a difference.

Procter & Gamble's Ariel consumers in the UK reduced their energy use by 41% as a
result of the Ariel Cool Clean campaign, which encourages consumers to wash at
30°C without a loss in washing results. For a family of four this results in average
savings of around 43 kg of CO2 - the equivalent of driving 240 km - from being
released into the atmosphere per year.

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Campaign Planning
Many marketers don’t think about the campaign plan until everything else is
finalized. We will help you build the plan upfront, so what we deliver will deliver you
the best return on your marketing investment. Whether it’s an advertisement, direct
mail, e-zone, telemarketing or a highly integrated campaign with many elements,
planning the campaign up-front will improve your results, lower cost and reduce
waste. There’s also more than meets the eye to optimizing your campaign, so build a
detailed plan. Here are a few of the things to consider for the typical advertising
campaign.

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• Make sure you assess where you will get the highest return on your marketing
investment.

- Identify the publications that reach your target audience.

- Get a copy of their BPA statement, or if they haven’t got one their ABC statement.

- Use the results from your previous advertising campaigns, if available, to identify
the publications that offer the best value.

- Always negotiate a good position and don’t accept less. Book high traffic areas and
a right-hand page. Make sure your ad is facing matter not other advertising.

- Negotiate hard for deep discounts on published rates.

- Make block bookings, with cancellation options if possible.

- Make sure that all the details you have agreed with the publication are written on
the purchase order.

- Review the ad when published to make sure you got what you agreed. If you didn’t
then ask for a refund, credit or free ad.

- Make sure you negotiate all magazines with the same publisher at the same time.
Sometimes additional benefits can be gained.

- Evaluate the editorial integrity of the publication and look for editorial opportunities
at the same time.
- Look for other areas where you can cooperate with the publication.

- Remember marketing effects are cumulative – make sure you have the funds to
generate enough impressions. Optimize you campaign by selecting fewer, more
focused publications with a higher number of insertions.

• Keep the campaign focused to maximize your ROI. Don’t waste money on
publications that don’t reach your target audience or aren’t quite right. Use that
money elsewhere.

• Have a clear idea of the total cost to execute the campaign before you begin. We
have seen it many times. A company develops an ad only to find out later they don’t
have the money to run it sufficiently.
• Make sure the organization is geared-up for the customer response.

• If there is a fulfillment piece, make sure it’s ready before your advertisement
appears in the magazines.

• When building the media schedule consider the other activities that are happening,
such as tradeshows and new product introductions.

• Set up a measurement system to monitor the campaign effectiveness over time.

• Decide when you will assess how the campaign is performing and make a decision
on how to proceed from there.

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• If it is not working, STOP! It might sound obvious but all too often companies will
continue to advertise just because they haven’t thought through any alternatives or
because it’s what they have always done.

• Remember, advertising is only one option. Many marketing alternatives could give
you a better return on your investment.

Brand Positioning
Brand positioning and brand communication are important and difficult topics for
most marketers. How to position your brand and how to communicate that position
are critical to success. The art of personality projection has been used by many brand
managers to attempt to solve this problem. Projecting a personality onto a brand for
positioning and communication can be a good idea. However, the methods previously
used have been inadequate.

Much has been and continues to be written about the power of brands, and the
importance of brand positioning. Al Ries and Jack Trout coined the term positioning
over 30 years ago to describe the process of obtaining customer mind-space. Existing
brands have mind-space, new brands want mind-space. Knowing what your mind-
space actually is and how that compares to your competitor's mind space is critical to
brand success. Assuming you know what your brand's position is in customers'
minds, how do you communicate that position? What language do you use to
reinforce the position with existing customers and prospects, and how do you let new
prospects know where to place your brand in their mind?

And again, assuming you know, how do you make sure that everyone who "touches"
your brand uses the same language? Your advertising agency, your product
marketing and product management teams, your sales people, your customer service
people, the rest of your employees, all touch your brand and communicate the brand
to your "market." Do they do it with a common language? And if they do, is that
language reinforcing the position your brand holds with your customers? And this all
presupposes that you not only understand your position in the customer's mind, but
you have a language that can articulate that position.

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If that position is strong (such as with established brands like Coca Cola, Nike,
McDonald’s, Intel, HP, GE, etc.) then why do these companies continually change
their tag lines and basic advertising language? How many "tag lines" or messages
has Coca Cola had since "The Real Thing?" And what about McDonald’s where you
are now "Loving' It?" What's the difference in position between McDonald’s and
Burger King? You may know that Burger King will do it "Your Way" (well they used to),
and therefore you can assume McDonald’s does it "their way," but you'll love it
anyway.

What's the Solution?

What if you thought about brands as having a distinct personality? In fact, you
probably do think about them in that way to some degree, as do the brand stewards
within the company and its agencies. The problem is that brands are not usually
discussed in specific terms of their personality. Even when they are the language or
terms can be arbitrary or vague.

Many companies use personality projective techniques informally to discuss or

describe brand personality. Projective techniques have been used for many years to
help people describe a brand in terms other than just hard attributes/benefits. For
example, respondents might be asked if Budweiser were a person what would they
be like? Or if Corona were a car what kind of car would it be? These techniques have
proved helpful in creating a better understanding of brand personality.

However, they have limitations in that they are not quantitative or measurable, and
may not be repeatable. This can keep even those companies that use personality
projection techniques from fully discussing brands in specific personality terms.

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The deficiencies of projective techniques can be eliminated by assigning personality
traits that can be quantitative and measurable; and thus of more powerful and
repeatable use in brand communication than the projective techniques have allowed.

There is a substantial science in the use of measurable and quantifiable personality

traits of actual people. Personality traits are something that most people can agree
upon when discussing another human being.

If you know another human being, you can usually describe their personality to
someone else. And if that other person asked several other people about the same
person, they would likely get a similar personality viewpoint. With the exception of
certain Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde situations, but then again all people who see one or
the other will describe each personality similarly. Only those who see "both" are
confused. (As would someone seeing that dichotomy in a brand personality as well.)

Since personalities are something we can articulate, what if you could give those
personality traits specific, agreed upon names, and then determine to what degree a
given brand possessed those traits (in the mind of the customer)?

We suggest that this would be a powerful way to position (or reposition) a brand and
assure common language is used by all to reinforce the brand's personality, which is
then its position. By using an agreed upon, common set of personality trait names to
describe a brand's personality, a common language evolves that is also perceived by
the customer to be valid.

You can move beyond the limitations of projective techniques, which are vague, to a
technique, which is measurable and repeatable.

It turns out that you can do this now with a technique called, Brand Personification.
Using research done by several people over the last 10 years on personification
measurement and the application of "human" personality characteristics to brands, it
has been shown that you can accurately and consistently describe a brand based on
specific human personality characteristics. Further, these characteristics can be
compared to the personality position of so-called competing brands to determine
what the relative brand position is for a given brand within a competitive frame.

An Example

Using brands that most people are familiar with, and a measurement technique
known as discriminate analysis, we can create a perceptual map of three well known
“athletic” shoe brands1 That graphic is shown below.

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It is quite clear that the three brands are personified very differently from each other
and fairly consistently by gender. This perceptual map makes it very clear where
these brands stand. Leveraging that position is marketing's job. The discriminate
analysis method not only allows you to determine which of the pre-defined
personality traits best describes your brand, it also show how strongly that position is
held by your brand. Looking at the perceptual map you’ll notice that Brand C’s
descriptor projections (the vectors) are not as far out from the center as are Brand
A’s or Brand B’s. While Brand C holds a distinctly different position from Brands A and
B, that position is not held as strongly as Brand A and B holds their respective
positions.

As Ries and Trout said many years ago, it is far easier to take advantage of what
people already believe than to try and change their minds. Since each of these three
brands hold a unique position, mind changing is unnecessary anyway.2

The value of this personality map is that precise terms have been used (as opposed
to “what car is the shoe most like”) and the positioning difference is very clear.

If you learned that your shoe was most like a Corvette and your competitor’s was
most like a Lexus, what could you do with that information? While the positions are
clearly different, you now must interpret what you think the respondents meant by
Lexus or Corvette. Instead, using terms that have been proven over the years in the
field of human personality description, you can gain a better and actionable
understanding of brand positions.

So What?

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Armed with a precise brand personality, brand identity and execution becomes much
easier. Keeping the message consistent across media is now practical. In truth, the
personification allow for a common language around the specific personality to be
identified and consistently used.

Unless there is a need to reposition the brand (a very expensive proposition), all
messaging, and so-called branding activities can be compared against the brand
personality to ensure that the personality is being reinforced and not degraded. This
single-focused, powerful guidepost can keep the brand message and position on
target. It keeps the brand stewards on track and assures that the message and
position resonates with the customer and prospect.

Granted it does keep brand stewards from going wherever they might feel is
interesting, and some might suggest it limits creativity. But then, there is plenty of
creative opportunity in leveraging the brand's existing position and the
personification of the brand creates a useful, consistent, and understandable method
for achieving that goal.

Repositioning

Another obvious use for this technique is to find repositioning opportunities. Using
this personification technique a brand steward might learn that their brand's current
position is not distinguishable from other brands' positions, and is also not
competitively considered. This also-ran, redundant position leads to lower brand
value and the dilemma of repositioning.

Where to reposition to is always a key question. As strategists have suggested for

years, "hit them where they ain't." (Well they probably used more sophisticated
language, but you get the point.) The Brand Personification map (like the one shown
previously) can show the brand stewards exactly where the opportunities might lie. It
is up to them to determine if such "open positions" are valuable, but it takes the
guesswork out of where to consider moving.

The projective techniques described earlier and in more common use do not allow
this precise retargeting because they do not require a well defined position. Even
those projective techniques that ask the respondent to describe the brand as if it
were a person allow so much latitude in terms of description that it is difficult, if not
impossible to take consistent action based on the results.

Brand Personification moves this “describe the brand as a person” approach to an

actionable and repeatable level by restricting the descriptors to a limited number of
human personality terms that have been proven over time. Once a new position is
selected, it also provides a concise, precise framework to use to reposition the brand.
While brand repositioning is always difficult, this methodology can dramatically
accelerate the process.

New Brands

What about launching a new brand? The use of Brand Personification for the launch of
a new brand is similar to its use in repositioning. That is, by personifying the existing
brands in the market space, the marketer looking to launch a new brand can quickly
see where existing brands sit. They can look for weakly positioned brands or for open
positions that may be of value.

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The personification approach provides a measurable, repeatable framework to
describe brand position and the relative strength of that position among customers
and potential customers. With this clear knowledge in hand, the brand marketer can
focus the new brand where it is most likely to succeed, and can assure that all
messaging and positioning reinforce that brand position.

How Does This Work?

Brand Personification can be done using techniques that are similar to proven
personality profiles used on people. The science behind many of the existing profiles
is well established, repeatable, and reliable. Creating a personality profile for a brand
can be done in a similar fashion using a related methodology. Unlike personality
profile reports for humans that describe attributes and effective methods for
managing and communicating, the personality profile for a brand is designed to
provide insight and guidance as to how to leverage that position.

Also, unlike with humans, a brand's personality is best understood in relation to other
brands and their respective personalities. Knowing your brand's personality is
valuable and allows focused communication and positioning. Knowing that
personality and how it is mapped versus other relevant brands is an even more
powerful positioning tool.3

Final Thoughts

Brand Personification offers the brand marketer, whether dealing with an existing
brand, a brand repositioning, or a new brand, a proven, repeatable, useful approach
to brand positioning that goes well beyond projective method. Using precise
actionable insights from existing customers and potential customers, the marketer
can learn where their brand is positioned in the customer's mind and how to leverage
that position for best value.

Brand Personification provides brand stewards the ability to take the guesswork and
debate out of brand positioning, and allows all efforts across the enterprise to be
aligned for the success of the brand.

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