Branding

Why brand ?
Why do companies such as Coca-Cola, Microsoft, IBM and Disney seem to
achieve global marketing success so easily? Why does it seem such an
effort for others?
Why do we, as consumers, feel loyal to such brands that the mere sight of
their logo has us reaching into our pockets to buy their products?

Meaning of brands

Brands are a means of differentiating a companys products and

services from those of its competitors.
There is plenty of evidence to prove that customers will pay a substantial
price premium for a good brand and remain loyal to that brand. It is
important, therefore, to understand what brands are and why they are
important.

Importance of brands
McDonalds sums this up nicely in the following quote emphasizing the
importance of brands:
it is not factories that make profits, but relationships with customers,
and it is company and brand names which secure those relationships.
Businesses that invest in and sustain leading brands prosper whereas
those that fail are left to fight for the lower profits available in commodity
markets. If Coca-Cola were to lose all of its production-related assets in a
disaster, the company would survive. By contrast, if all consumers were to
have a sudden lapse of memory and forget everything related to CocaCola the company would go out of business. - Coca-Cola

What is brand ?
One definition of a brand is as follows: A name, term, sign, symbol or
design, or a combination of these, that is intended to identify the goods
and services of one business or group of businesses and to differentiate
them from those of competitors. Interbrand - a leading branding

consultancy - define a brand in this way: A mixture of tangible and

intangible attributes symbolized in a trademark, which, if properly
managed,
creates
influence
and
generates
value.

Brand equity
Brand equity refers to the value of a brand. Brand equity is based on
the extent to which the brand has high brand loyalty, name awareness,
perceived quality and strong product associations. Brand equity also
includes other intangible assets such as patents, trademarks and
channel relationships.

Brand image
Brand image refers to the set of beliefs that customers hold about a
particular brand. These are important to develop well since a negative
brand image can be very difficult to shake off.

Brand extension
Brand extension refers to the use of a successful brand name to launch a
new or modified product in a new market. Virgin is perhaps the best
example of how brand extension can be applied into quite diverse and
distinct markets.

Advantages of branding
-Sellers brand name and trademark provide legal protection of unique
product features
-Branding gives the seller the opportunity to attract a loyal and profitable
set of customers.
-Branding helps the seller segment markets.
-Strong brands help build corporate image, making it easier to launch new
brands and gain acceptance by distributors and consumers.

Advantages of branding for the buyer

-Help buyers identify the product that they like/dislike.
-Identify marketer
-Helps reduce the time needed for purchase.

-Helps buyers evaluate quality of products especially if unable to judge a

products characteristics.
-Helps reduce buyers perceived risk of purchase.
-Buyer may derive a psychological reward from owning the brand, IE Rolex
or Mercedes.

Building a brand
What factors are important in building brand value?

Quality
Quality is a vital ingredient of a good brand. Remember the core benefits
the things consumers expect. These must be delivered well and
consistently. The branded washing machine that leaks, or the training shoe
that often falls apart when wet, or a watch which needs frequent
adjustments will never develop brand equity.
Research confirms that, statistically, higher quality brands achieve a
higher market share and higher profitability than that of their inferior
competitors.
Positioning
Positioning is about the position a brand occupies in a market in the minds
of consumers. Strong brands have a clear, often unique position in the
target market.
Positioning can be achieved through several means, including brand name,
image, service standards, product guarantees, packaging and the way in
which it is delivered. In fact, successful positioning usually requires a
combination of these things.
Repositioning
Repositioning occurs when a brand tries to change its market position to
reflect a change in consumers tastes. This is often required when a brand
has become tired, perhaps because its original market has matured or has
gone into decline.
Collunications
Communications also play a key role in building a successful brand. We
suggested that brand positioning is essentially about customer

perceptions with the objective to build a clearly defined position in the

minds of the target audience.
All elements of the promotional mix need to be used to develop and
sustain customer perceptions. Initially, the challenge is to build awareness,
then to develop the brand personality and reinforce the perception.
First mover advantage
Business strategists often talk about first-mover advantage. In terms of
brand development, by first-mover they mean that it is possible for the
first successful brand in a market to create a clear positioning in the minds
of target customers before the competition enters the market. There is
plenty of evidence to support this.
Long term perspective
The need to invest in the brand over the long-term is utmost essential.
Building customer awareness, communicating the brands message and
creating customer loyalty takes time. This means that management must
invest in a brand, perhaps at the expense of short-term profitability.
Internal marketing
Finally, management should ensure that the brand is marketed internally
as well as externally. By this we mean that the whole business should
understand the brand values and positioning. This is particularly important
in service businesses where a critical part of the brand value is the type
and quality of service that a customer receives.

A brand is
-Is easy to pronounce
-Is easy to recognize and remember
-Is short, distinctive, and unique
-Has a positive connotation
-Reinforces the product image
-Is legally protectable

Branding strategies

Types of brands
There are two main types of brand manufacturer brands and ownlabel brands.
Manufacturer brands
Manufacturer brands are created by
producers and bear their chosen
brand name. The producer is
responsible for marketing the brand. The brand is owned by the
producer.
By building their brand names, manufacturers can gain widespread
distribution (for example by retailers who want to sell the brand) and
build customer loyalty (think about the manufacturer brands that you
feel loyal to). Advantages are: Develop customer loyalty, Attract
new customers, Enhance prestige, Ensure dealer loyalty

Own-label brands are created and owned by businesses that operate

in the distribution channel often referred to as distributors. Often
these distributors are retailers, but not exclusively. Sometimes the
retailers entire product range will be own-label. Own-label branding if
well carried out can often offer the consumer excellent value for
money and provide the distributor with additional bargaining power
when it comes to negotiating prices and terms with manufacturer
brands. Advantages are: Earn higher profits;Less pressure to mark
down prices;Ties customer to wholesaler or retailer.

Analysis of two different products commercialized in Morocco : Sidi Ali vs

Ain Soltane bottled water

The impact of colors

A series of tests aiming to assess the direct impact of background color on
brand personality and brand attribute beliefs revealed that red and blue
generated some predictable patterns among the belief scales. For
example, the brand advertised in the red ad was rated as having a slightly
more exciting personality than the blue ad . The brand in the red ad was
also perceived as having a more competent and sophisticated personality
than the brand in the blue. The ruggedness personality scale was also
higher for the brand advertised with a red background. On the other hand,
blue was found to be more sincere; i.e., the brand in the blue ad was
perceived as having a more sincere personality than the red ad. For
attribute-based brand beliefs, purity beliefs were higher for the brand
advertised with the red background versus the blue background. Also,
respondents perceived that the brand in the red ad was healthier than the
brand advertised with the blue background. Taste beliefs were significantly
higher for the brand advertised in the red ad than the brand advertised in
the blue background.The image beliefs toward the brand in the red ad
were higher than the image beliefs for the brand in the blue ad. On the
other hand, the brand in the blue ad was found to be more relaxing than
the brand in the red ad . Also, the brand advertised in the blue

background was rated as more refreshing than the brand advertised in the
red background . Energy beliefs were also higher for the brand in the blue
ad: i.e., the advertisement with the blue background generated more
energetic beliefs about the advertised brand than the advertisement with
the red background. Lastly, the brand in the blue ad was perceived as
cheaper: the low price beliefs were higher than the brand in the red ad.

So why did Ain Soltane opt for the red color ? The real reason is possibly
because red the opposite of blue on the color scheme.
As for the price, Ain Soltane is relatively cheaper than Sidi Ali. A survey
conducted on 30 students around campus showed that around 80% prefer
the taste of Sidi Ali, thus making the extra money worth spending.

Ecole des scineces de linformation

Marketing

Oumaima Kassabi