BRAND MARKETING DECISIONS

The objective of brand marketing is to increase consumer product or service awareness in order to generate increased and predictable demand leading to consumer willingness to buy and display loyalty. Brand marketing decisions involve a wide range of issues.

What is a brand?

A brand is a name, logo, sign or shape which singularly, or in combination, allow the consumer to differentiate the product or service from others in the marketplace.

What is a brand name?

A brand name is either a word or numbers in some combination which can be verbally expressed (for example, 3Com is a brand name).

What is a brand mark?

A brand mark is a symbol, graphic image, or shape, often used as a logo, which describes either a brand manufacturer or product.

What is brand loyalty?

Brand loyalty is repetitive consumer buying behavior resulting from consumer satisfaction with a particular brand.

What is brand recognition?

Brand recognition allows consumers to differentiate a branded product from other brands or those which are not branded.

What is brand acceptance?

At the minimum, marketers hope to generate brand acceptance where the consumer finds the brand meets their expectations. Therefore, they will purchase the product and not resist it.

What is brand preference?

Successful brand marketing causes brand preference where consumers prefer a particular brand over another.

What is brand insistence?

Extremely successful brand marketing may cause brand insistence where consumers insist on having one brand over another. True brand insistence is extremely difficult to generate.

What is brand rejection?

Brand rejection occurs when the consumer is familiar with a particular product but refuses to purchase it because of dissatisfaction with previous purchases. Brand rejection is extremely costly and difficult to reverse since the buyer`s bias prevents him or her from considering any more purchases.

What is brand equity?

Brand equity is added value brought to a product by a brand name. This can be enhanced through the use of labels and logos. (Certain clothing and sports accessory manufacturers prominently display their name and/or logo on the product.) Brand equity often will allow the manufacturer to charge a premium price for its products.

How is branding useful?

Branding is an overwhelming market force. It gives the seller numerous advantages:

• Brands divide products into identifiable classes providing the ability to accurately measure sales and provide follow-up.
• Brands provide a methodology for market segmentation.
• Brands can be legally protected and trademarked preventing competitors from usurping products and their respective market share.
• Brands encourage consumer familiarity and loyalty.
• Brands help to create a company image.

How are branding decisions made?

Normally, a firm makes branding decisions only after extensive debate, research and discussion. Occasionally, companies even offer a public contest to choose a brand name (for instance, Ford Motor Company offered a national contest when it sought a brand name for the car that later became known as the Edsel). Companies often use marketing research firms as well as more specialized brand name consultants to choose a brand name.

What is brand strategy?

Brand strategy is the marketing objective sought by giving or associating products or services with a particular brand. There are at least four brand strategies that a firm can pursue: corporate blanket brand, family blanket brand, product range brand, and new product brand.

• Corporate blanket brand. A corporate blanket brand occurs when a company uses its name as the primary identifier of its products. The products, such as breakfast cereals, are usually in just one market and the corporation seeks corporate brand identification.
• Family blanket brand. Family blanket brand is used to cover a series of products in a variety of markets. One brand name covers them all.
• Product range brand. Product range brands are used to describe a series of products having clear links in one market. An example would be a variety of shampoos having the same brand name but formulated for differing hair conditions.
• New product brand. A new product brand is used when a firm introduces a new product in a totally different market that has no relationship to previous products the firm has on the market. If the firm expects the product will have a long product life cycle, and that it will generate sufficient profits to warrant a separate launch, a new product brand may be justified.

How do you measure the worth of a brand?

Corporate Branding, a U.S. consulting firm, measures the worth of a brand by tracking business people`s perceptions of a company name-which for many businesses is its brand-and rating this as a percentage of its market capitalization. According to the survey, 3M, the large Minnesota-based manufacturer, owns the most valuable brand of any broad-based industrial company in the U.S. 3M has several thousand products, ranging from sticky tape for the home to specialist optical film for industry, sold by the company`s 45 business divisions. The 2004 annual survey of 10,000 business people, gives the brand value attached to the 3M name as $7.3 billion. Tyco comes in the distant second as $4.8 billion. This shows that companies put a lot of effort into building up their brands across a number of product divisions. They can also use a system of “multiple” brands to create a variety of messages for consumers and industrial buyers. Leveraging the value of brands across a company is where the magic in brand management happened.