BRANDS

BRAND NAME & LOGO

Face of brand word, letter, group of words or letters that can be vocalised.

Logo unique to the product

A LEGAL INSTRUMENT
A trademark is legal version of a brand. Can be registered & protected from being used by others. AMA defines TRADEMARK A brand that is given legal protection. (usually represented by symbol - Brand can be called trademark only when it is legally protected.

ADVANTAGES OF BRANDING

Clarifies your position in the marketplace and ensures sustainability Validates your organizations mission, core values and strategic priorities Builds brand loyalty and enthusiasm among your constituents Creates a work environment that attracts and retains top talent Connects your organization with the partners and constituents who will benefit the most Operationalizes your strategic plan Delivers on your brand promise Aligns your organizations internal culture with your external reputation, and aligns your organizations verbal identity with your visual identity

DISADVANTAGES OF BRANDING

Branding is expensive, and adds costs which must be borne by the consumer or by the donor. i.e. value of Coca Cola is largely the value of the brand. Branding requires long term support, and donors will not be willing to sustain support. If social concerns start competing with commercial firms in marketing they unlevel, the playing field because they are playing with donor money. If social products knock commercial firms out of the market, what happens when the donor support ends and revenues are not sufficient to maintain the product in the marketplace?

DIFFERENT TYPES OF BRANDS

Product Brands Service Brands E-brands Media Brands Not-for-profit Brands Nation Brands Government Brands Global Brands Organization Brands

PRODUCT BRANDS: FMCG

Characteristics: Cost Inexpensive. Balance of product to service Almost exclusively tangible product, although service component can be present (eg, customer-care lines). How purchased Mainly through conventional fmcg distribution networks supermarkets, other shops, vending machines, relatively large volume outlets.

PRODUCT BRANDS (FMCG: CONT.)

Frequency of purchase : Frequent.

Degree of research/thought/search prior to purchase

Typically none, the brand is part of the consumer repertoire, likely to be habitual. Degree of customisation Very little. Often wide range of variants but no real customisation for individual customers.

PRODUCT BRANDS (BIG TICKET ITEMS)

Characteristics: Cost Expensive. Balance of product to service

ROLEX

Service is likely to take on a more important role, before, during and after purchase.

PRODUCT BRANDS (BIG TICKET ITEMS)

How purchased Traditionally through specialised outlets (luxury = high status outlets) but increasingly more widely distributed. Frequency of purchase Infrequent. Degree of research on purchase A great deal of thought, research and comparison goes into the decision, although with luxury goods, investment is more emotional than financial. Degree of customization Can be considerable.

SERVICE BRANDS
Service brands are characterized by the need to maintain a consistently high level o service delivery throughout hundreds, or even thousands of staff. Although a product component may be involved, it is essentially the service that is the brand. These are more complex than product brands for two reasons: because it is always harder to brand something you cant touch because they are delivered directly by employees.

SERVICE BRANDS
Characteristics: Intangibility
Service brands can seldom be tried out in advance, which requires the establishment of a greater degree of trust. Inseparability of production and consumption Services cannot generally be stockpiled in advance but are produced and consumed in real time. Inconsistency Since humans are usually instrumental in delivering services.

DIFFERENT CATEGORIES OF SERVICE BRANDS:

Classic service brands eg, airlines, hotels, car rentals and banks. Pure service providers eg, member associations Professional Service Brands eg, advisors of all kinds accountancy, management consultancy. Agents eg, travel agents and estate agents. (This category of a brand has become endangered by the rise of the Internet.) Retail brands eg, supermarkets, fashion stores and restaurants. Retail Brands are complex and multifaceted. Consumers have a much more involved and interactive experience with retail brands. The meanings of retail brands are more heavily derived from consumers direct experience rather than from advertising.

BRANDS FROM OTHER SPHERES

E-brands

The Internet is a medium that presents new challenges for brand owners, but the underlying principles of branding are unchanged. The Internet is developing a more direct style of relationships between customers and brand owners, and all those interactions give an opportunity for strengthening the brand identity.

A distinction needs to be made between e-tailers,

- e-brands primary activity is to deliver physical products like Amazon.com - e-brands focus on delivering a service or experience, like CITEMAN

In both cases, however, it is the intangibles, the brand values that will attract online customers.

Media brands eg, newspapers, magazines, television channels. Not-for-profit organization brands

Non-profits are often at a disadvantage when it comes to branding. they dont have the deep pockets of corporations who can afford to hire brand specialists they dont have staff whose job it is to protect the integrity of the brand, and promote it at every turn. But successful branding can have a great effect on raising awareness of the charity and its mission, and on fund-raising

Nation brands
New ways of thinking lead to countries being positioned as tourist destinations, enhancing status of goods and services produced, and aiding under-developed countries. Government brands

Governments and political parties often have strong brands as they are centerd on passionately held core values, Branding is important in both securing votes and in international diplomacy. Global brands

Companies have been marketing their products and brands in different countries for decades. However they were almost always marketed according to local conditions.

FEATURES OF GLOBAL BRANDS

[QUELCH, 1999]

Strong in home market cash flow generated from domestic market enables the company to fund a global roll-out At least minimum level of awareness, recognition and sales all over the world The products meet the same human needs world-wide, even though the physical product may be adapted locally (eg, McDonalds). Consistent positioning Consumers value the provenance of the brand, its country of origin, and even associate the countrys expertise with specific products (eg, German cars, American jeans). Focus on a specific product category Use single corporate brand name.

ACT LOCAL, THINK GLOBAL

While there are global brands that have a global presence, they dont have global consumers. The brands core values can be global, although the brand needs to have local relevance. To bring it to life you need to be flexible and re-enact the brand as appropriate. It is the think global, act local strategy.
[Gavin Emsden, Nestle UKs head of consumer insight and planning for beverages]