Understanding Brands

–        The embodiment of all the information connected with a company, product or service typically including a name, logo, and other visual elements such as images, fonts, color schemes, or symbols.

–        It also encompasses the set of expectations from the product which typically arise in the minds of people. It is the promise of the product. Such people include employees of the brand owner, people involved with distribution, sale or supply of the product or service, and ultimately consumers.

                          Branding, Brand Experience and Brand Image: Creating a personality

•          Branding Policies            

–        Company name: IBM

–        Family branding: Cadbury's Dairy Milk

–        Individual branding: Seven-up, KFC, or one company having many brands like Unilever

–        Derived brands: 'Intel Inside'

•          Brand development

–        Brand extension: Lux – Soap, Shampoo, Conditioner, Cosmetics?

–        Multibrands: One company, many brands even under the same product

–        Cannibalism

•          Own brands : Food World, Marks and Spencers

•          Generics: Not branded

A good brand name

•          Legally protectable

•          Easy to pronounce

•          Easy to remember

•          Easy to associate with product category

•          Easy to recognize

•          Attract attention

•          Suggest product benefits or suggest usage

•          Suggest the company or product image

Distinguish the product's positioning relative to the competition.

Some terms

•          Brand Portfolio Management

•          Brand Leveraging

•          Brand Positioning

•          Brand Equity

•          Brand Monopoly

Understanding the Consumer

•          Who is a consumer?

–        Individuals or households in an economy who consumer products and services

•          Consumer has a budget and rationalises purchases to suit needs

•          Demographic:

–        Age

–        Income

–        Social strata

–        Gender

–        Education

–        Occupation

•          Psychographic:

–        Personality

–        Lifestyle

–        Values

–        Attitude

Consumer/ Market Segmentation

•          A process of grouping to aid marketing strategy

•          Requirements for segmentation

–        Homogeneity within the group

–        Heterogeneity between groups

–        Identifiable and Measurable

–        Accessible and Actionable

–        Profitable

•          Variables used for segmentation: Geographic, Demographic, Psychographic, Behavioural

•          Top down and Bottoms up approaches of creating segments

•          Price discrimination

Brand Positioning

•          The technique of "placing" a brand in the minds of the target audience so that they see the brand in a certain way vis a vis its competition

•          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.

Positioning Strategy

•          Positioning on specific product features

•          Positioning on specific benefits, needs, or solutions

•          Positioning on specific use categories

•          Positioning on specific usage occasions

•          Positioning on a reason to choose an offering over the competition

•          Positioning against another product

•          Positioning through product class dissociation

Positioning by cultural symbols

Positioning Concepts

•          Functional positions

–        Solve problems

–        Provide benefits to customers

–        Get favorable perception by investors and lenders

•          Symbolic positions

–        Self-image enhancement

–        Ego identification

–        Belongingness and social meaningfulness

–        Affective fulfillment

•          Experiential positions

–        Provide sensory stimulation

Provide cognitive stimulation

Positioning process

•          Functional positions

–        Solve problems

–        Provide benefits to customers

–        Get favorable perception by investors and lenders

•          Symbolic positions

–        Self-image enhancement

–        Ego identification

–        Belongingness and social meaningfulness

–        Affective fulfillment

•          Experiential positions

–        Provide sensory stimulation

–        Provide cognitive stimulation