The bottom line is that unless the role of a brand is simply to support other brands by providing credibility, the brand identity needs to provide a value proposition to the customer. What is a brand value proposition? Brand value proposition is a statement of functional, emotional, and self-expressive benefits delivered by the brand that provide value to the customer. An effective brand value proposition should lead to a brand–customer relationship and drive purchase decisions. The central concepts of functional, emotional, and self-expressive benefits of brand value proposition are explained below. 1. Functional Benefits The most visible and common basis for a brand value proposition is a func tional benefit–that is, a benefit based on a product attribute that provides functional utility to the customer. Such a benefit will usually relate directly to the functions performed by the product or service for the customer. For laser printers, functional benefits might Continue reading
Brand Management
Case Study of Apple Inc: “Think Different” Branding Campaign
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple on April 1, 1976. The two Steves, Jobs and Woz (as he is commonly referred to — see woz.org), have personalities that persist throughout Apple’s products, even today. Jobs was the consummate salesperson and visionary while Woz was the inquisitive technical genius. Woz developed his own homemade computer and Jobs saw its commercial potential. After selling 50 Apple I computer kits to Paul Terrell’s Byte Shop in Mountain View, CA, Jobs and Woz sought financing to sell their improved version, the Apple II. They found their financier in Mike Markkula, who in turn hired Michael Scott to be CEO. The company introduced the Apple II on April 17, 1977, at the same time Commodore released their PET computer. Once the Apple II came with Visicalc, the progenitor of the modern spreadsheet program, sales increased dramatically. In 1979, Apple initiated Continue reading
Case Study of Godrej: Brand that Went for a Makeover to Succeed
In 2008, the Rs 9,000-crore Godrej Group did something it has never done before: changed its brand identity. Flanked by daughter and executive director and president, marketing, Tanya Dubash, chairman of the Godrej Group Adi B Godrej, unveiled the group’s colourful new logo before the media and said, “With our new initiatives, we are targeting a growth of 25-30% annually. The purpose of the whole exercise is to make the Godrej brand relevant and contemporary. Tanya is the chief architect of the project.” Shedding its “frumpy old lady” image (chairman Adi Godrej admitted in a 2002 press meet that a Godrej as a brand has the image of “a frumpy old lady” and is looked upon as “an industrial brand”), the 111-year-old Godrej Group now sports a logo in bright colours-green, blue and ruby-a far cry from the staid look it has donned since the Group was founded at Lalbaug, Continue reading
Brand Building Process – Process of Building a Brand
The art of marketing is largely art of brand building. When something is not a brand, it will probably be viewed as a commodity. Then price is the thing that counts. When price is the only thing that counts then the low cost producer wins. But just having a brand is not enough. What does the brand name mean? What associations, performances and expectations does it evoke? What degree of preferences does it create? 1. Choosing a Brand Name A brand name first must be chosen then its various meanings and promises must be built up through brand identity work. In choosing a brand name, it must be consistent with the value positioning of the brand. In naming a product or service the company may face many possibilities: it could choose name of the person (Honda, Calvin Klein), location (American airlines), quality (Safety stores, Healthy choice), or an artificial name Continue reading
Brand-Product Matrix
To characterize the product and branding strategy of a firm, one useful tool is the brand-product matrix, a graphical representation of all the brands and products sold by the firm. In the brand-product matrix all products offered under different brands are represented by columns. This helps marketers understand the current brand line and explore further opportunity in expanding the product line. In the brand-product matrix all current existing brand are represented in form of rows referred to as brand portfolio. The brand portfolio analysis is essential to design and develop new marketing strategies to target a given product category. Brand-product matrix helps in showcasing different brands in any given product category. In that respect brand hierarchy is graphical representation of company’s products and its brands. Hierarchical structure starts with corporate brand and then showcases different product category and below brands. This sort of presentation helps devise marketing strategy at many Continue reading
New Products and Brand Extensions
When a firm introduces a new product, it has three main choices as to how to brand it: It can develop a new brand, individually chosen for the new product. It can apply, in some way, one of its existing brands. It can use a combination of a new brand with an existing brand. A brand extension is when a firm uses an established brand name to introduce a new product. When a new brand is combined with an existing brand, the brand extension can also be called a sub-brand. An existing brand that gives birth to a brand extension is referred to as the parent brand. If the parent brand is already associated with multiple products through brand extensions, then it may also be called a family brand. In line extension, the parent brand is used to brand a new product that targets a new market segment within a Continue reading