Advertising and Brand Management

Unit I. Concept of IMC

Integrated marketing communication refers to integrating all the methods of brand promotion
to promote a particular product or service among target customers. In integrated marketing
communication, all aspects of marketing communication work together for increased sales and
maximum cost effectiveness. Various components of Integrated Marketing Communication:
• The Foundation - As the name suggests, foundation stage involves detailed analysis of
both the product as well as target market. It is essential for marketers to understand the
brand, its offerings and end-users. You need to know the needs, attitudes and
expectations of the target customers.
• The Corporate Culture - The features of products and services ought to be in line with the
work culture of the organization. Every organization has a vision and it’s important for the
marketers to keep in mind the same before designing products and services.
• Brand Focus - Brand Focus represents the corporate identity of the brand.
• Consumer Experience - Marketers need to focus on consumer experience which refers to
what the customers feel about the product. A consumer is likely to pick up a product
which has good packaging and looks attractive. Products need to meet and exceed
customer expectations.
• Communication Tools - Communication tools include various modes of promoting a
particular brand such as advertising, direct selling, promoting through social media such
as Facebook, twitter, Orkut and so on.
• Promotional Tools - Brands are promoted through various promotional tools such as
trade promotions, personal selling and so on. Organizations need to strengthen their
relationship with customers and external clients.

Steps in IMC Planning Process

Step 1: Know your target audience. As a general rule, there is no “general audience”. You always
want to communicate with a specific audience to make the most effective use of your resources.
Segmenting specific audiences into groups based on characteristics will help you identify who are
most likely to purchase or utilize your products and services.

Step 2: Develop a situation analysis. Commonly referred to as a SWOT Analysis, this is basically
a structured method of evaluating the internal strengths and weaknesses, and external
opportunities and threats that can impact your brand. A situation analysis can provide much
insight into both internal and external conditions that can lead to a more effective marketing
communications strategy.
Step 3: Determining marketing communication objectives. In this step, you basically want to
document what you want to accomplish with your IMC strategy. Objectives should be
measurable if you truly want to map your campaign’s effectiveness at the end of your plan’s term.

Step 4: Determining your budget. Having a realistic idea on what you have to work with is
important as it will shape the tactics you develop in the next step. Once you determine your
overall budget, you will want to come back to this after completing step five to further refine
your budget allocations.

Step 5: Strategies and tactics. Looking back at the objectives you created in step three, you will
want to develop strategies which are ideas on how you will accomplish those objectives. Tactics
are specific actions on how you plan to execute a strategy.

Step 6: Evaluation and measurement. Almost as important as the plan as a whole, you want to
outline a method of how you will evaluate the effectiveness of your IMC strategy. Sometimes
elements of your plan will not work. It’s important to know what did or didn’t, try to understand
why, and make note for future planning.

Importance of IMC
• Receive Better Results: In the traditional approach to marketing communications,
businesses and their agencies plan separate campaigns for advertising, press relations,
direct marketing and sales promotions. Integrated campaigns use the same
communication tools to reinforce each other and improve marketing effectiveness. In an
integrated campaign, use of advertising to raise awareness of product and generate leads.

• Creative Consistency Throughout Channels: In an integrated campaign, the different

tools feature the same creative treatment. By repeating the headlines, key phrases and
images in each communication, you ensure that prospects and customers receive
consistent messages each time they see one of the elements of the campaign. Creative
consistency helps reinforce the basic campaign themes by increasing the number of times
prospects see or hear the same message.

• Overall Cost Savings: Creative consistency in your integrated campaigns can also save you
money. By using the same images and adapting the same copy for different media, you
reduce copy-writing, design and photography costs. Expensive video production output
can be used in multiple media like television, YouTube and Facebook. If you work with
external communications suppliers, you reduce agency fees by working with a single firm
that offers integrated communications services, rather than separate specialist agencies.
• Aligning with Customer Preferences: An integrated campaign helps you provide
customers with information in the format they prefer. Consumers and business
customers can specify if they want to receive product information via email, direct mail,
text message or telephone. Clients that you do not reach directly can still benefit from
your campaigns by viewing your print ads or hearing your radio and TV spots. Integration
ensures that customers and potential customers receive the same information.

Challenges of IMC
• A shift in market place power from manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer power.
• A movement away from relying on advertising focused approach.
• Rapid growth of data base marketing.
• A shift in traditional promotions.
• Change in the way the advertising agencies compensated.
• Rapid growth of internet marketing.

Definition of Advertising
In Marketing, Promotion refers to any type of marketing communication used to inform or
persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or issue. The aim
of promotion is to increase awareness, create interest, generate sales or create brand loyalty.

According to American Marketing Association (AMA), "Advertising means any paid form of non-
personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor.

Importance of Advertising
• Advertising plays a very important role in today’s age of competition.
• Advertising is important for the customer awareness.
• Advertising is important for the seller and companies producing the products.
• Advertising helps increasing sales.
• Advertising helps producers or the companies to know their competitors and plan
accordingly to meet up the level of competition.
• Advertising helps creating goodwill for the company and gains customer loyalty after
reaching a mature age.
• The demand for the product keeps on coming with the help of advertising and demand
and supply become a never-ending process.

Types of Advertising
• Print Media (Newspaper and Magazine)
• Broadcast Media (Radio and Television)
• Directories
• Outdoor and Transit
• Direct mail, Catalogues and Leaflets
• Online

Types of Advertising Technique

• Emotional Appeal: This technique of advertising is done with help of two factors - needs
of consumers and fear factor. Most common appeals under need are:
need for something new
need for getting acceptance and need for not being ignored etc.

• Promotional Advertising: This technique involves giving away samples of the product for
free to the consumers. The items are offered in the trade fairs, promotional events, and
ad campaigns in order to gain the attention of the customers.

• Bandwagon Advertising: This type of technique involves convincing the customers to join
the group of people who have bought this product and be on the winning side. For e.g.
recent Pantene shampoo ad which says “15crores women trusted Pantene, and you?”

• Facts and Statistics: Here, advertisers use numbers, proofs, and real examples to show
how good their product works. For e.g. “Lizol floor cleaner cleans 99.99% germs” or
“Colgate is recommended by 70% of the dentists of the world” or Eno - just 6 seconds.

• Unfinished Ads: The advertisers here just play with words by saying that their product
works better but don’t answer how much more than the competitor. For e.g. Lays - no
one can eat just one or Horlicks - more nutrition daily. The ads don’t say who can eat more
or how much more nutrition.
• Weasel Words: In this technique, the advertisers don’t say that they are the best from
the rest, but don’t also deny. E.g. Sunsilk Hairfall Solution - reduces hairfall. The ad doesn’t
say stops hairfall.

• Endorsements: The advertisers use celebrities to advertise their products. The celebrities
or star endorse the product by telling their own experiences with the product. Recently a
diamond jewelry ad had superstar Amitabh Bacchan and his wife Jaya advertising the
product. The ad showed how he impressed his wife by making a smart choice of buying
this brand.

• Complementing the Customers: Here, the advertisers used punch lines which
complement the consumers who buy their products. E.g. Revlon says, “Because you are
worth it.”

• Ideal Family and Ideal Kids: The advertisers using this technique show that the families
or kids using their product are a happy go lucky family. The ad always has a neat and well-
furnished home, well-mannered kids and the family is a simple and sweet kind of family.

• Patriotic Advertisements: These ads show how one can support their country while he
uses their product or service. For e. g some products together formed a union and claimed
in their ad that if you buy any one of these products, you are going to help a child to go
to school.

Nature of Advertising
• Attention seeker: The term ‘advertising‘ is derived from the Latin word ‘advertere’ that
means ‘to turn the attention’. Every piece of advertising attempt to seek the attention of
your audience towards a product or service.

• Has a Unique Selling Proposition: Often, the advertiser need to have a unique selling
proposition (USP)? This unique selling proposition makes the product or service stand out
of the crowd. Advertising attempts to persuade and influence the audience through the
different kinds of appeal.

• Visually attractive: The visual and non-verbal elements play a dominant role in
advertising. An eye-catching advertisement uses crisp information and focuses on the
visual treatment to convey the message. The visual elements used in the advertisements
not only convey the information, but also tell a story.
• Consumer oriented: Advertising broadens the knowledge of the consumers. With this
nature of advertising, consumers can have the know-how of the products, brands or
services that exist in the market. In fact, every product or service is designed in a way to
keep the consumers satisfied.

• Uses various media: Apart from print platforms like newspapers and magazines, its
presence can now also be seen in audiovisual platforms like, films, hoardings, banners
and many such promotional campaigns.

Different Dimensions of Advertising

• Social dimension of advertising: It informs the society of various products available, their
technology, uses and how the society can benefit from new innovations, like credit cards,
debit cards, golden cards, global cards, mobile phones, travel offers etc. Advertising also
educates the people and the society against hazards of life. Cancer, “Smoking is injurious
to health”, hazardous driving, “Better late than never”. Similarly, we have driven against
pollution, against population explosion etc. Advertising should not deceive the society.

• Economic dimensions: A lot of money is spent on advertising specially when

expensive Media like T.V. is used to spread the message. There are various media which
can be used. A lot of employment is generated as people get involved in copy writing
mission, Message, Media, Money, Measurement of advertising effectiveness etc. are
coordinated. The most important thing to consider is how much money is to be spent on
various campaigns. Advertising makes the consumer aware of products and services and
provides information for making right decisions. It can encourage consumption and foster
economic growth.

• Psychological aspects: One aspect of psychological advertising is that drinking of Alcohol,

Beer, Wine should not be targeted on the children or those below the age of 21. Women
in society are also critical about absence ads and promoting sexual permissiveness in the
advertisement i.e. Calvin Klein. There is a lot of criticism on advertising against sexual
appeals and nudity. They demean women as being sex objects. Such ads can be for
cosmetics Lingerie and other products used by women. When a consumer tries to buy a
product. He has a lot of choices before him. He gets guided by the family, by friends, by
advertisements, by salesperson and the consumer gets confused and often feels that he
has made a wrong choice. He undergoes both pre and post purchase dissonance and the
marqueteries to remove his anxiety by reinforcing his choice.
• Communication task: Advertising communicates and captures the attention of the buyer.
It communicates through stories, through episodes, through tables and charts. The
communication must be interpreted in the same manner that it is intended. It also brings
attitudinal changes and changes the faiths and beliefs of the consumer.

• Triangle of communication: The triangle shows that the advertiser has resources which
helps him to create messages. These messages reach the audience with the help of a
media. The audience is exposed to the message to a certain extent and also gets
distracted by many factors like noise and other work. The audience then responds to the
message and the feedback goes to the advertiser. This leads to researches by the
advertiser and his agency.

Nature of Advertising Management

• Advertiser: It is the most important person as he is the customer and spends money on
it. He gives employment to a lot of people and supports the advertising agencies. The
advertiser also has a great social responsibility to create a sound social and economic
system.

• Objective: The advertising objectives are many in number. However, we shall mention a
few:
To increase sale.
To create awareness and interest.
Establishing and sustaining the product.
To help middleman.
To persuade, to remain and inform the masses.
• Activities: The activities included are mass communication, carrying message, image
building. It also persuades and reminds. The activities should be performed regularly and
economically.

• Art & Science: Management is both an art and science and Advertisement being a part of
marketing is also an art. It creates, it requires experience. It is a science because it is based
on certain social-psychological factors. Cause and effect relationship are studied in
advertising. The effect of advertising is also studied by experimentation. The results of
advertising can be measured. It is tested on scientific principle as well.

Scope of Advertising Management

Advertising is often regarded as the most important means of marketing a company’s services
and tools. The scope of advertising is to communicate a message to current customers or
potentially target new customers. It helps a company get a message or a piece of information
across to their customer base regarding a new product or special deal.
• Scope of advertising by budget: There is always a budget allocated for advertising and
promotion within the marketing budget. The budget allocated should be in coordination
with the type of advertisement the organization wants. The resources and other
requirements are to be kept in mind for the budget allocation.

• Scope of advertising by deliverables: Once the budget is decided, the marketing plan can
be projected further. A detailed scope of work that deliverables require can be outlined.
Agencies can now develop a proposed resource plan.

• Scope of advertising by allocating deliverables: For creative work, allocating the type of
deliverables (TV, online, mobile, press, magazine, etc) based on the previous campaign
requirements can be more insightful after the previous plan.

• Scope of advertising by strategy: Once the deliverables are allocated, advertising

agencies can define the strategic requirements by brand or category and develop a scope
of work based on past requirements and remuneration for similar strategic deliverables.

Benefits of Advertising
Advertising is a huge industry. It has created opportunities for various domains. The benefits of
advertising include:
• Launch of a new product: Advertising plays very significant role in the introduction of a
new product in the market. It stimulates the people to buy or know about a product.
• Increases markets: It helps the manufacturers to expand their markets. It opens the
horizons for new markets for the product or service.

• Mass sales: Advertising facilitates mass production to goods that ultimately results in a
raised volume of sales.

• Keeps the competitive spirit alive: Advertising helps in keeping the competition and the
competitors at bay. It keeps a regular check on the performance of your brand or product.

• Creates goodwill: Advertising builds goodwill of a brand. Advertising is a crucial source

through which the audience gets to know about a brand or product. If a company is
spending on advertisement, it means they care to make their consumers aware. This
increases the goodwill of a brand.

• Creative minds: Every place has a rich pool of strategic and creative minds, media and
professionals. And every advertising organization possesses such talents.

• Consumer awareness: Advertising is educational and dynamic in nature. It educates the

customers about the new products and their diversifications.

• Direct link: Advertising aims at establishing a direct link between the manufacturer and
the consumer. This rule out the possibility for a middleman to be involved in between.

Aim of Advertising - Setting of Advertising Objectives

• Informative Advertising: Informative advertising is especially relevant in the pioneering

stage of a new product category. The objective is to build primary demand. To support
this objective, informative advertising provides information about the features of a new
product or service in order to initiate the decision-making process of consumers. For
instance, the yogurt industry initially had to inform consumers of the nutritional benefits
of yogurt.
• Persuasive Advertising: Persuasive advertising becomes relevant in the competitive stage.
The company’s objective is to build selective demand for a particular brand. It has to
persuade consumers of the fact that its products or services offer more value than
competing products or services. For instance, BMW attempts to persuade consumers that
its cars deliver more driving pleasure than Mercedes-Benz cars.

Some persuasive advertising uses comparative advertising, which makes explicit

comparisons of the attributes of two or more brands. For instance, Burger King used
comparative advertising for its attack on McDonald’s: Burger King directly compared its
flame-broiled burgers to the fried ones of McDonald’s to gain advantage. In some
countries, comparative advertising is not permitted. In addition, a company should always
make sure that it can prove its claim of superiority and cannot be counterattacked in a
vulnerable area, which may result in an “advertising war”.

• Reminder Advertising: Finally, reminder advertising becomes relevant in the case of mature
products. At this stage, consumers are aware of and informed about the features of a
product. Also, they are persuaded of its benefits. However, these benefits must be
repeated to remind consumers to buy the product. For instance, Coca-Cola ads in
magazines are intended to remind people to purchase Coca Cola. A related form of
Reminder Advertising is Reinforcement Advertising, which aims to assure current
purchases that they have made the right choice. For instance, automobile ads often depict
satisfied customers enjoying special features of their new car

DAGMAR Model
DAGMAR is an advertising model proposed by Russell Colley in 1961. Russell Colley advocated
that effective advertising seeks to communicate rather than to sell. Advertisers discover whether
their message conveyed enough information and understanding of a product to their consumers
and also its respective benefits from clear objectives.

The DAGMAR Model

Awareness

Comprehension

Conviction

Action
• AWARENESS: Awareness of the existence of a product or a service is needful before the
purchase behaviour is expected. The fundamental task of advertising activity is to improve
the consumer awareness of the product. Once the consumer awareness has been
provided to the target audience, it should not be forsaken. The target audience tends to
get distracted by other competing messages if they are ignored. Awareness has to be
created, developed, refined and maintained according to the characteristics of the market
and the scenario of the organization at any given point of time. The objective is to create
awareness about the product amongst the target audience.

• COMPREHENSION: Awareness on its own is not sufficient to stimulate a purchase.

Information and understanding about the product and the organisation are essential. This
can be achieved by providing information about the brand features. Example: In an
attempt to persuade people to budge for a new toothpaste brand, it may be necessary to
compare the product with other toothpaste brands, and provide an additional usage
benefit, such as more effective than other toothpaste because it contains salt or that this
particular toothpaste is a vegetarian toothpaste, which will, in turn, attract more
customers. The objective is to provide all the information about the product.

• CONVICTION: Conviction is the next step where the customer evaluates different
products and plans to buy the product. At this stage, a sense of conviction is established,
and by creating interests and preferences, customers are convinced that a certain product
should be tried at the next purchase. At this step, the job of the advertising activity is to
mould the audience’s beliefs and persuade them to buy it. This is often achieved through
messages that convey the superiority of the products over the others by flaunting the
rewards or incentives for using the product. Example: Thumbs up featured the incentive
of social acceptance as “grown up”. It implied that those who preferred other soft drinks
were kids. The objective is to create a positive mental disposition to buy a product.

• ACTION: This is the final step which involves the final purchase of the product. The
objective is to motivate the customer to buy the product.

Functions of DAGMAR Approach

• Persuade a prospect to visit the showroom.
• Growth in market share.
• Improve sales turnover.
• Perform complete selling function.
• Advertise a special reason to buy.
• Stimulate impulse sales and Remind people to buy.
• Create awareness about the product and brand existence.
• Create favourable emotional disposition towards the product.
• Impart information regarding benefits and distinctive features of the product.
• Combat and offset competitive claims.

Objectives of DAGMAR Approach

Advertising Planning
An advertising plan is a strategy about how a company is planning to communicate to its
audience. In the plan you define your audience and the medium to reach out to them.
Communication mediums may include newspaper ads, billboards, email, social media like
Facebook, twitter, linked in, direct mail such as fliers or postcards.

How to write a plan

1. What do we want to achieve through the plan- Our objectives and goals?
The goal may be to increase the reach or the awareness of the product or to increase the
sales. An advertising plan need not be very complex, but it should be formal and written
to help the client understand about the approach of the plan.

2. How will we reach those targets? The cost, time required, resources will be discussed.
Budget: An advertising budget should be prepared very carefully. Firm should never
overspend on any one platform. Instead all the platforms should be used for small
promotions and based on the performance the budget should be increased. The results
take time for any campaign.
Audience: Depending upon the types of customer the medium should be used. It is ok to
be present on all platforms, but the focus should be on the one where your maximum
audience is available. Like whether you have to advertise on Newspaper or Facebook or
Television it depends upon the audience.

Message: Professional assistance may be helpful. The ads should be very simple to convey
the message to the common people without any difficulty. The ads should not be too
wordy, and some visual effects should be included to make it a bit interesting.

3. How to measure the results? Measuring the performance of the plan as per the targets
set.

Advertising Strategy Making

Every business or product needs promotion for reaching out to the consumers. Advertising
strategy is created to fulfill this very purpose. The period of an advertising strategy may range
from a few months to a year.

Steps to Develop an Advertising Strategy

• Defining the Product or Service: Before developing the plans and strategies for
advertising, the product or service offered by the company is clearly defined. This means
that the position of the product in the market is determined. You have to understand the
product and its customer base for effectively marketing it to the people at large. It is also
important to understand the primary objective of the product or company.

• Understanding the target audience: This is an important step in creating a strategy for
advertising. Various factors are to be considered for determining the target audience such
as demographic factors, psychographic factors, behavioral patterns, etc. The advertising
plan is created after considering these factors. For e.g. cosmetic and beauty products are
aimed at the women audience. The advertising strategy is derived accordingly.
• Market research: Once the target market is determined, the next step is to study the
market for that particular product. Research about the products already available in the
market, what problems are faced in getting those products, what does the consumer
desire from such products and such other issues. A marketing and advertising plan can be
derived with the help of this study. Also, find out the latest trends in the market.

• Developing a marketing plan: The strategies formed with the help of market research can
be put down as the plan of action for marketing the product. This means, a marketing
plan is created after determining the current trends in the market. The marketing plan
aims to create a niche of the product so that it stands out among the competition. The
plan of action also helps to establish the positioning of product.

• Deciding communication media: The marketing plan is put to action using various
channels of communication. It is important to choose the right media or a media mix for
advertising. This depends on the product or service that is being marketed. The choice of
the medium is made after considering the target audience and market research. If a
physiology equipment is to be marketed, its advertisement will be put up as flyers or
brochures in a doctor’s clinic or hospitals; in health magazines and websites and so on.

• Budget: The budget may be determined either before or after creating an advertising
strategy. It can be based on the resources available to the company. If the company has
an expensive budget, they can carry out high impact advertising extensively. They can
create effective advertising strategy without worrying about the finance. On the other
hand, if the company has limited budget, that alone dictates the advertising strategy.
Because, at every step of the market plan and advertising strategy, they have to consider
the budget.

• Marketing methods: Company can consider from among two types of methods to
advertise while creating the strategy. They are push method and pull method. They can
decide to go with either depending on their strategy and objective. Push method aims to
convince the retailers or sales person to promote the product, whereas pull method is
directly aimed at the consumers.

• Modifying advertising strategy: This process does not end on creating and implementing
the advertising strategy. One has to stay in touch with the trends in marketing and modify
the marketing strategy time to time.
Creativity
Creativity is one of the most commonly used terms in marketing communication as those who
develop marketing communication messages are often referred to as “creative types” and
agencies develop reputations for their creativity.

Creativity has been defined as “a quality possessed by persons that enables them to generate
novel approaches in situations, generally reflected in new and improved solutions to problems”.

The Creative Process

A number of marketing communication people have argued that creativity in marketing
communication is best viewed as a process and that creative success is most likely when some
organized approach is followed. While most marketing communication people reject and/or
resist attempts to standardize creativity or develop rules or guidelines to follow, most creative
people do follow some type of process when approaching the task of developing an
advertisement. The creative process contains five steps:
• Immersion
• Digestion
• Incubation
• Illumination
• Reality or verification

Importance of Creativity in Advertising

There are many reasons why creativity is important in advertising. With good visual effects it will
attract the target audience attention that creates interest by establishing feelings of desire to
bring about an action to purchase.
• It is a pillar to build the marketing mix - personal selling, sales promotion, direct
marketing, public relations and sponsorship.
• It differentiates the 'me too' products by influencing attitudes and feelings to position the
brand in preference above a competitor brand.
• It provides knowledge thereby stimulates thinking.
• It can persuade, be relevant and meaningful.
• It facilitates purchase and trial.
• It creates loyal customers.
• It transforms boring ads to interesting ads.
• Creative ads achieve objectives.
Creative Strategy Development and Implementation
Those who work on the creative side of marketing communication often face a real challenge.
They must take all the research, creative briefs, strategy statements, communication objectives
and other inputs and transform them into a marketing communication message. Their job is to
write copy, design layouts and illustrations and produce commercials that communicate
effectively. Marketers usually hire marketing communication agencies to develop and implement
their marketing communication campaigns because they are specialists in the creative function
of marketing communication.
Planning a Creativity Strategy

Development of Creativity Strategy

Execution of Creativity Strategy

Evaluation of Creativity Strategy

What Questions to Ask When Developing Your Creative Strategy?

• What is the story of my business?
• What are my primary objectives?
• Who is my target audience?
• What are my customers looking for?
• What calls to action will I utilize?
• What is the offering, what's in it for the consumer?
• What marketing channels will I use?
• What deliverables will I need?
• How much budget can I put towards my creative strategy?
• What reference materials will I use to create my creative strategy?
• What is the story?

Advertising Budget
An advertising budget is an estimate of a company's promotional expenditures over a certain
time period. More importantly, it is the money a company is willing to set aside to accomplish its
marketing objectives. When creating an advertising budget, a company must weigh the value of
spending an advertising dollar against the value of that dollar as recognized revenue.
Factors affecting advertising budget
• Degree of competitiveness in market: A monopoly firm does not have to worry about the
promotional spends as it is the only player in the market. For duopoly, where market is
dominated by two dominant players, the promotional budgets would be high to
outperform each other. In an Oligopolistic market, where the market is cluttered and
there are many players, promotional spends has to be higher as frequency of
advertisement has to be increased to get noticed among so many players.

• Market Share: Market leader/Market Follower: The advertising budget for a market
follower will be decided by the tactics of the market leader. To improve market share,
one of the investments is to increase promotional spent. Thus, where a company stands
is a deciding factor in advertising budget

• Product life-cycle stage: Introduction/growth/maturity/decline: The advertisement

budget would be higher at the introduction and growth stages as it has to introduce the
product in the market and establish itself among the competitors, so the frequency of
advertisements would be high and so would be the budget. As the product reaches
maturity and decline stages the promotional spent would be lower.

• Advertising Frequency: An ad can be played only once or can be multiple times. Also, it
can be daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly etc. Depending upon the requirement, the
advertising budget is altered.

Methods of advertising budget allocation

There are various approaches which businesses use to calculate their advertising budget:
• Percentage of Sales: In this method the advertising budget is calculated as certain fixed
percentage of the sales or estimated sales.
• Comparison with Competitor: In this method the advertising budget is estimated based
on competitors promotional spending. Either equal, more or less depending on the
objectives of the company.
• Affordability: In this method the budget for advertising is decided based on availability of
funds. Mostly for small companies the funds available varies from time to time based of
business performance. Hence marketing spend vary throughout the year based on
availability of funds.
• Goal and Task: If the organization has well defined objectives or goals it can use this
method of allocating advertisement spending. The tasks associated with the goals are
evaluated and cost calculations are done. Based on the cost estimates funds are allocated.
• Intuitive: In this method, seasoned managers take decisions of allocating advertising
budget for advertisements based on their experience and intuition. This method is based
on the past experiences of the company
• All available funds: In this, the organization is focused heavily on advertising and it
allocates all available funds for promotional activities. This approach might get the
organization noticed but on the other hand lack of funds stunts growth.

Advertising Budget Process

There are certain steps which can be followed in creating an advertising budget. They can be
explained as below:
1. Understanding advertising objectives based on the goals which have been set by the
company.
2. Determine the tasks, ad campaigns which could be done.
3. Formulating, evaluating and preparing the breakup of advertising budget.
4. Taking approvals form the senior management.
5. Allocation of funds for different activities under the advertising budget.
6. Monitoring and controlling the expenditure and revising it for better profit.
Unit II. Media Planning
Media planning refers to the best way to get the advertiser’s message across to the market. The
goal of the media plan is to find that combination of media vehicles that enables the message to
be communicated to the largest proportion of the target audience at the most effective cost. The
process of media planning involves the following stages.

Media Planning Process

Market Analysis

Setting Media Objectives

Developing Media Strategies

Evaluation of Different Media

Media Selection

Implementation of Media Plan

Evaluation and Follow-up

Step I. Market Analysis

Every media plan begins with the market analysis or environmental analysis. Complete review of
internal and external factors is required to be done. At this stage media planner try to identify
answers of the following questions:
• Who is the target audience?
• What internal and external factors may influence the media plan?
• Where and when to focus the advertising efforts?

The target audience can be classified in terms of age, sex, income, occupation, and other
variables. The classification of target audience helps media planner to understand the media
consumption habit, and accordingly choose the most appropriate media or media mix. And to do
that, one need to do the following:
• Demographic and segmentation
• Target market
• Market need
• Competition
• Barriers to entry
• Regulations
Step II. Setting Media Objectives
Media objectives describes what you want the media plan to accomplish. There are five key
media objectives that an advertiser or media planner has to consider - reach, frequency,
continuity, cost, and weight.
• Reach - Reach refers to the number of people that will be exposed to a media vehicle at
least once during a given period of time.
• Frequency - Frequency refers to the average number of times an individual within target
audience is exposed to a media vehicle during a given period of time.
• Continuity - It refers to the pattern of advertisements in a media schedule. Continuity
alternatives are as follows:
Continuous: Strategy of running campaign evenly over a period of time.
Pulsing: Strategy of running campaign steadily over a period of time with
intermittent increase in advertising at certain intervals, as during festivals or
special occasions like Olympics or World-Cup.
Discontinuous: Strategy of advertising heavily only at certain intervals, and no
advertising in the interim period, as in case of seasonal products.

• Cost - It refers to the cost of different media.

• Weight - Weight refers to total advertising required during a particular period.

Advantages of Setting Objectives

• Clear Plans
• Increased Awareness
• Specific Priorities
• Planning
• Organizing
• Quick Growth
• Direction

Step III. Developing Media Strategies

Media strategy is determined considering the following:
• Media Mix: From the wide variety of media vehicles, the advertiser can employ one
vehicle or a mix suitable vehicle.
• Target Market
• Scheduling: It shows the number of advertisements, size of advertisements, and time on
which advertisements to appear.
Seasonal Pulse: Seasonal products like cold creams follows this scheduling.
Steady Pulse: According to this scheduling one ad is shown over a period of time,
say one ad per week or one ad per month.
Periodic Pulse: A regular pattern is followed in such scheduling, as in case of
consumer durable, and non-durable.
Erratic Pulse: No regular pattern is followed in such scheduling.
Start-up Pulse: Such scheduling is followed during a new campaign or a launch of
a new product.
Promotional Pulse: It is for short time, only for a promotional period.

• Reach and frequency

• Creative Aspects: Creativity in ad campaigns decides the success of the product, but to
implement this creativity firm must employ a media that supports such a strategy.
• Flexibility: An effective media strategy requires a degree of flexibility.
• Budget Considerations: In determining media strategy cost must be estimated and
budget must be considered.
• Media Selection: It covers two broad decisions - selection of media class, and selection of
media vehicle within media class.

Step IV. Evaluation of Different Media

Here are some of the most popular channels that marketers choose when media planning, along
with their attributes.
Offline Media
• Magazines: They have a long shelf life and often stay in a consumer’s possession for two
to four weeks after being read. Information in this medium tends to be retained longer,
since people read faster than they can listen. Research has shown there is a higher
amount of trust in magazine ads than in other forms of media. Consumers are also less
resistant to these kinds of advertisements, as these often tie in with their interests.
Publications tend to be very targeted.

• Newspapers: When selecting this medium, marketers can choose which section of the
newspaper ads are placed for further targeting. If they want to target those interested in
fashion, they can select that section of the newspaper for their ad. Newspapers have a
desirable audience for many marketers. Consider the following:
Newspaper readers are more likely to have higher education and earn a higher
salary.
This can be important when selecting ad space based on demographics.

The older the demographic, the longer they will spend reading the newspaper.
• Radio: Radio ads have a local appeal, allowing you to target specific areas or regions of
the country. It is an easy medium to build frequency with your target audience. According
to research, exposure to a radio ad and time to purchase is the shortest of any medium.
Additionally, if paired with other forms of media, the overall campaigns were more
effective. This tends to be a lower-cost medium.

• TV & Cable: This media is highly visual and can demonstrate products in everyday life. For
example, if you sell a cleaning product, consumers can see the benefits of your product
and how these can be applied in their home. This is very pervasive, as the average
American watches approximately five hours of television a day.

• Out of Home: Media such as billboards are large and get attention. In a busy area, your
message can reach 10,000 people in a month. Out of home isn’t limited by billboards, only
your creativity is. It is an extremely mobile option.

Online Media
• Digital Publications: Many digital publications have opportunities for you to email their
database through a personalized email or newsletter. They can track open rates and
understand conversion rates to your site or asset. These are often specialized
publications, making it easy to reach your target audience, and are great tools for lead
generation campaigns.

• PPC: Advertisers can capitalize on search intent. Advertisers can retarget people who have
visited their site. PPC is an extremely cost-effective medium.

• Social Media: Like PPC, social media is an extremely cost-effective medium. It is also
extremely targeted, allowing marketers to target by interests, age, marriage status, etc.
Social platforms are constructed on a basis of community, which allows your brand to
connect more personally with consumers. It also gives your brand the chance for content
to go viral.

• Programmatic Advertising: Programmatic advertising is extremely targeted, using an

algorithm to find and target specific audiences across digital platforms. When looking into
this, there are two methods to consider:
Programmatic Bidding - uses demand side platforms to buy ads on the digital
market based on target audience.
Real-Time Bidding - allows advertisers to bid on impressions to their target
audience. If their bid wins, the ad is displayed right away.
Step V. Media Selection

• Budget: What is your overall budget for advertising? Will your budget give you the
coverage you want? A firm that has a limited budget for advertising will limit amount of
coverage certain media can provide. Need to strike balance between budget & coverage.

• Campaign Objectives: One factor that will influence the budget and coverage question is
the objective of the campaign. If the objective is to raise the brand awareness of the firm
amongst the teenage market, then this will influence any decisions you make above. You
may need to spend a little more on certain publications in order to meet your objectives.

• Target Audience: The media you selected is obviously influenced by the target audience.
A firm must select media that the target audience is associated with e.g. the magazines
or paper that they read, or the social networking site they use.

• Focus: What is the message focus going to be? Will the message be emotional and work
on guilt or will the message be clear cut and say why the firm is better than the leading
player?

• Readership of Media: What is the readership of the media you wish to select? Readership
is the number times a publication has been read, so if I pick up newspaper on the train,
read it and leave it on the train and that same newspaper has been read by 10 other
commuters, the readership in total is 11.

• Circulation of Media: A firm will need to find out what the overall circulation of the media
chosen is. So how many publications are sold, and exactly who reads them.

• Timing: When do you want the advertising campaign to start? Is it specific to a particular
time of the year e.g. Easter or Christmas?
Step VI. Implementation of Media Plan
The implementation of media plan requires media buying. Media Buying refers to buying time
and space in the selected media. Following are the steps in media buying:
• Collection of information: Media buying requires sufficient information regarding nature
of target audience, nature of target market, etc.
• Selection of Media/Media Mix: Considering the collected information and ad-budget,
media or media mix is selected which suits the requirements of both - target audience
and advertiser.
• Negotiation: Price of media is negotiated to procure media at the lowest possible price.
• Issuing Ad - copy to media: Ad - copy is issued to the media for broadcast or telecast
• Monitoring performance of Media: Advertiser has to monitor whether the telecast or
broadcast of ad is done properly as decided.
• Payment: Finally, it is responsibility of advertiser to make payment of media bills on time.

Step VII. Evaluation and Follow-up

Evaluation is essential to assess the performance of any activity. Two factors are important
in evaluation of media plan:
• How successful were the strategies in achieving media objectives?
• Was the media plan successful in accomplishing advertising objective?

Successful strategies help build confidence and serve as reference for developing
media strategies in future, and failure is thoroughly analyzed to avoid mistakes in future.

Media Buying
Media buying process is a set of strategic wholesale multi-platform ad space purchases,
negotiations, and arrangements aimed at finding the most advantageous placement at the
lowest price for the period.

Media buying falls into the paid media category and generally means the procurement of media
space and time for displaying ad creatives. When buying media, the goal is to find the right place,
time and the context to deliver relevant ads to the target audience and increase conversion rates,
sales or brand awareness. Media buying is time-based, meaning that the buyer is paying for
"renting" all possible placements on all possible platforms, so they must be available for the
timeslot when it is convenient for the advertiser to place the ad.

Generally, there are three media buying types:

• Directly buy the ad positions of a website: This is when a single site is bought for serving the
ad display purpose.
• Network Buy: Ads are placed in the network of sites to increase overall impressions.
• Self-serve Ad Buy: This kind of media buying allows you to have your own account and
place the ads as you wish.

Media Buying Process

Pre-Launching

Campaign Launching

Post-Launch Reflections
Step I. Pre-launching
Advertising decisions are not made overnight. In fact, the stage of meticulous preparation is the
most time-consuming and presupposes in-depth research and careful planning. In the pre-launch
phase, the media buyer considers and makes relevant media choices. The core focus is to ensure
that the chosen media outlets fit advertising objectives.
• Identify target audience and decide how to reach it
• Research competitors
• Design media buying strategy
• Choose media outlets and negotiate the price
• Allocate the budget and plan the campaign

Step II. Campaign Launching

During the launch phase, the main responsibility of the media buyer is to ensure effective media
delivery and constant monitoring of the campaign performance. At this stage, it is crucial to
analyze what works and what doesn’t and, based on those insights, make further decisions.
• Ensure Media Delivery: As a media buyer, you must make sure the advertisement
appeared in the desired location, in front of the target audience and in the right context.
Make sure to deliver highly relevant messages that bring value to consumers instead of
disturbance or irritation. Track the progress and the customer engagement.

• Respond to Customer Behavior or Competitor Activities: Sometimes potential customers

don’t interact with the advertisement in the way it was planned, and you don’t receive
the desired response. In this case, be ready to adapt and change the strategy according
to the consumer feedback. Furthermore, track the performance of your competitors, and
always be aware of the industry trends.
Step III. Post-Launch Reflections
The post-campaign stage is a time to reflect and think about the good, the bad and the ugly of
the advertising campaign in terms of delivery, media space, return on investment, customer
engagement and overall performance.
• Analyze the Effectiveness of the Campaign: Collect as much data as possible, and review
statistics and granular reports to see the strong and weak points of the campaign. Analyze
the effectiveness of the media space and whether it generated revenues that were
expected. Check how the target audience interacted with the product and assess
consumer behavior. Evaluate return on investment, and mark errors that have been made
to avoid them in future advertising campaigns.

• Collect Data and Draw Insights: When you have all the data, it is time to make use of it.
In digital advertising, data is used to build algorithms that help optimize advertising
campaigns and provide better targeting. Data is a marketer’s best friend, so look at it
carefully. Aggregate data and look for major and minor trends. Don’t look at singular
points, especially when they change the direction. Search for relationships among
variables or correlation and dependence patterns that help understand the logic. Finally,
look at data from different angles. Invite others to examine data and discuss your
impressions.

Measuring Advertising Effectiveness

The managerial responsibility in the area of advertising does not come to an end with the
execution of an advertising programme. Any sound managerial effort is finally interested in goal
attainment and, therefore, always ready to evaluate the results. Evaluation of advertising or
advertising effectiveness refers to the managerial exercise aimed at relating the advertising
results to the established standard of performance and objectives so as to assess the real value
of the advertising performance. This evolution exercise is also known as advertising research. It
is an attempt to know whether the message designed properly has reached the greatest number
of prospects at the least practical cost.

How to test?
Fortunately, the advertising has wide range of testing techniques or the methods to choose for
evaluation purpose. What methods or techniques he is going to use is dependent on when he is
going to measure the ad effectiveness. Accordingly, there can be three sets of methods to meet
his needs namely, pre-testing, concurrent testing and post-testing methods.
I. Pre-Testing Methods
• Check-list test: A check-list is a list of good qualities to be possessed by an effective
advertisement. A typical check- list provides rating scale or basis for ranking the ads in
terms of the characteristics. These characteristics may be honesty, attention getting,
readability, reliability, convincing ability, selling ability and the like. The ad that gets
highest score is considered as the best.

• Opinion test: Opinion test or consumer jury test is one that obtains the preference of a
sample group of typical prospective consumers of the product or the service for an ad or
part of it. The members of the jury rate the ads as to their head-lines, themes,
illustrations, slogans, by direct comparison. Getting preference from a juror is better than
getting it from a member of general public or an ad expert.

• Dummy magazine and port-folio test: Dummy magazines are used to pre-test the ads
under conditions of approximation resembling normal exposure. A dummy magazine
contains standard editorial material, control ads that have been already tested and the
ads to be tested. The sample households receive these magazines and the interviews are
conducted to determine recall scores. Port-folio test is like that of dummy magazine test
except that the test ads are placed in a folder that contains control ads. The respondents
are given these folders for their reading and reactions. The test scores are determined in
the interview. The ad with highest score is taken as the best.

• Inquiry test: It involves running two or more ads on a limited scale to determine which is
most effective in terms of maximum inquiries for the offers made. These inquiry tests are
used exclusively to test copy appeals, copies, illustrations, and other components. Any of
these elements may be checked. The point that is to be checked is changed and all other
components are unaltered, to get the score.

• Mechanical tests: These mechanical tests are objective in nature unlike the one already
explained. These help in provide good measures as to how respondent are eyes and
emotions reaching a given advertisement. The most widely used mechanical devices are:
Eye Movement Camera
Percept scope
Psycho-galvanometer and
Tachistoscope.
II. Post-Testing Methods
• Inquiry tests: It is controlled experiment conducted in the field. In inquiry test, the
number of consumer inquiries produced by an advertising copy or the medium is
considered as to the measure of its communication effectiveness. Therefore, the number
of inquiries is the test of effectiveness which can be produced only when the ad copy or
the medium succeeds in attracting and retaining reader or viewer attention. To encourage
inquiries, the advertiser offers to send something complimentary to the reader or the
viewer, if he replies.

• Split-run test: A split-run test is a technique that makes possible testing of two or more
ads in the same position, publication, issued with a guarantee of each ad reaching a
comparable group of readers. It is an improvement over the inquiry test in that the ad
copy is split into elements like appeal layout headline and so on. Here also, the readers
are encouraged to reply the inquiries to the keyed or the given address.

• Recognition tests: Recognition is a matter of identifying something as having seen or

heard before. It is based on the memory of the respondent. It attempts to measure the
ad effectiveness by determining the number of respondents who have read or seen the
ads before. To arrive at the results, readership or listenership surveys are conducted.

• Sales tests: Sales tests represent controlled experiment under which actual field
conditions than the simulated are faced. It attempts to establish a direct relationship
between one or more variables and sales of a product or service. It facilitates testing of
one ad against another and one medium against another.
• Recall tests: Recalling is more demanding than recognizing as a test of memory. It involves
respondents to answer as to what they have read, seen or heard without allowing them
to look at or listen to the ad while they are answering. There are several variations of this
test. One such test is Triple Association Test which is designed to test copy themes or the
slogans and reveals the extent to which they have remembered.

III. Concurrent Testing Methods

• Co-incidental surveys: This is called as coincidental telephone method also whereby a
sample of households is selected, calls are made during the time programme broadcast,
the respondents are asked whether their radio or television is on, and if so, to what
station or programme it is tuned? The results of the survey are used to determine the
share of response for the advertisement or the programme.
• Consumer diaries: This method involves giving the families selected in advance of diary
or individual diaries to the members of the family. The selected families and individual
respondents are asked to record the details about the programme they listen or view. The
diaries are collected periodically to determine the scores.

• Mechanical devices: The mechanical devices used to measure the ad differences

concurrently are more common to broadcast media. These are:
Audio meters
Psychogalvanometer
Tachistoscope
Truck Electronic Unit.

• Traffic counts: Traffic counts are of special applicability to outdoor advertising. One can
get good deal of information through traffic counts. This counting is done by independent
organizations may be private or public. This work is also undertaken by advertising
agencies. For instance, how many automobiles and other vehicles were exposed to a
bulletin board or a poster or a wall painting and how many times? Can be determined.

Social Aspects of Advertising

• Deception in Advertising: The relation between the buyers and sellers is maintained if
the buyers are satisfied with what they saw in advertise and what they got after buying
that product. If seller shows a false or deceptive image and an exaggerated image of the
product in the advertisement, then the relation between the seller and buyers can’t be
healthy. These problems can be overcome if the seller keep their ads clean and displays
right image of the product.

• The Subliminal Advertising: Capturing the Minds of the consumers is the main intention
of these ads. The ads are made in such a way that the consumers don’t even realizes that
the ad has made an impact on their minds and this results in buying the product which
they don’t even need. But “All ads don’t impress all consumers at all times”, because
majority of consumers buy products on basis of the price and needs.

• Effect on Our Value System: The advertisers use puffing tactics, endorsements from
celebrities, and play emotionally, which makes ads so powerful that the consumers like
helpless preys buy those products. These ads make poor people buy products which they
can’t afford, people picking up bad habits like smoking and drinking, and buy products
just because their favorite actor endorsed that product. This affects in increased the cost
of whole society and loss of values of our own selves.
• Offensiveness: Some ads are so offensive that they are not acceptable by the buyers. For
example, the ads of denim jeans showed girls wearing very less clothes and making a sex
appeal. These kinds of ads are irrelevant to the actual product. Btu then there are some
ads which are educative also and now accepted by people. Earlier ads giving information
about birth control pills was considered offensive but now the same ads are considered
educative and important.

Ethical Aspects of Advertising

• Pharmaceutical Advertising: They help creating awareness, but one catchy point here is
that the advertisers show what the medicine can cure but never talk about the side effects
of that same thing or the risks involved in intake of it.

• Children: Children are the major sellers of the ads and the product. They have the power
to convince the buyers. But when advertisers are using children in their ad, they should
remember not to show them alone doing their work on their own like brushing teeth,
playing with toys, or infants holding their own milk bottles as everyone knows that no one
will leave their kids unattended while doing all these activities. So, showing parents also
involved in all activities or things being advertised will be more logical.

• Alcohol: Till today, there hasn’t come any liquor ad which shows anyone drinking the
original liquor. They use mineral water and sodas in their advertisements with their brand
name. These types of ads are called surrogate ads. These types of ads are totally unethical
when liquor ads are totally banned. Even if there are no advertisements for alcohol,
people will continue drinking.

• Cigarettes and Tobacco: These products should be never advertised as consumption of

these things is directly and badly responsible for cancer and other severe health issues.
These as are already banned in countries like India, Norway, Thailand, Finland and
Singapore.

• Ads for social causes: These types of ads are ethical and are accepted by the people. But
ads like condoms and contraceptive pills should be limited, as these are sometimes
unethical, and are more likely to lose morality and decency at places where there is no
educational knowledge about all these products.
Legal Aspects of Advertising
• False, Not Misleading: The basic legal standard for advertising is that ads must be truthful
and not misleading. Several factors are considered when analyzing whether an ad is
truthful and not deceptive. These include whether the claim made by the advertisement
is express or implied, who the reasonable consumer is for the product and whether the
false or misleading content (if any) is material enough such that it would influence
consumer buying behavior.

• Evidence for Claims: The other legal standard for advertisements is reliable evidence that
supports any claims being made by the advertisements. Not every ad needs evidence.
However, if a garbage bag company boasts that its bags are 50 percent larger than the
leading competition, the garbage bag company needs to have actual evidence to support
such claim. According to the Federal Trade Commission, the exact level of evidence
needed varies depending on the claim. At the very least, an advertiser must be able to
produce the level of evidence it says it has. Using the previous example, the garbage bag
company must identify the leading competition and demonstrate that its bags are actually
50 percent larger.

• Ethical Considerations: Ethical considerations fall into a gray area for advertisements. It
is possible for an advertisement to be legally permissible (in that it is truthful, not
misleading and supported by objective evidence), but for it to be unethical. Ethical
considerations relate to the manner in which the content is being delivered and the
message of the advertisement. According to the International Charter, ads that play on
fear would be unethical. An advertisement for car tires that claim (truthfully) to be safer
from the competition in bad weather conditions may be unethical if it displays actual
photos from accident scenes with gory imagery and sensationalized, emotionally charged
content. It is also unethical to market products towards groups for which those products
would be inappropriate, such as advertising cigarettes to teens.

• Advertising Regulation: The Federal Trade Commission regulates advertising in the

United States. False, misleading ads fall into the sphere of the FTC’s jurisdiction.
Advertisers face criminal and civil penalties for illegal ads. The same penalties may not
apply for unethical ads. A legal ad that happens to be unethical could still harm the
business, however, particularly in the form of consumer backlash and damage to
reputation.
Unit III. Brand Concept
Naming of Brands
A great name can play an important role for a brand. While the brand name isn’t a substitute for
the reputation that comes with a good product or service, it can help it stand out in a competitive
market. A memorable brand name that resonates with consumers sets a powerful stage. The
brand name is the container of meaning. It is how people will talk about it.

Type of Brand Name

• Descriptive Name: Indicates what the company, product, or service is or does.
Descriptive brand names are the oldest class of brand names. John Deere, for example, is
the brand name for Deere & Company. The company was founded in 1837 and the name
is derived from its founder. Descriptive names are also effective for describing the
business. PayPal is a payment company. Subway serves submarine sandwiches. These
names clearly position the brands and make it easier for consumers to identify their
products and services and when to choose them. The pitfall of a descriptive name is it can
be constraining.

• Acronyms: An abbreviation of a descriptive name. Many of the world’s most recognized

brands are acronyms: GE, UPS, IBM, SAP, HP, and TD, to name a few. Most acronyms
evolve out of functional names. Either deliberately or organically, descriptive names can
be paired down into bite size chunks. For example, it’s easier to say AFLAC than American
Family Life Assurance Company, or GEICO than Government Employees Insurance
Company. An acronym can be quick to say, easy to remember, and easier to trademark.
But, and this is a big but, they lack a soul. The primary pitfall of acronyms is they are empty
vessels.

• Invented Names: A made-up word. Some of the most iconic brands are invented words:
Kodak, Xerox, Acura, and Google. They are names created specifically to represent a
brand. Invented words are very powerful, because they don’t come with any baggage.
They are empty vessels designed to represent a brand. But using invented words is very
tricky. Not all invented words make compelling brand names. It’s best to avoid invented
names with Greek or Latin roots such as Verizon, Cingular, or Agilent. Since, these types
of names are built on Greek or Latin morphemes, one need the advertising budget of a
gigantic global corporation to imbue them with meaning and get people to remember
them.
• Experiential Names: Build upon what the feeling or experience the brand delivers.
Experiential names are the most powerful class of names. This is where the most iconic
brands stand: Apple, Virgin, Caterpillar, and Oracle. These names are positioning
statements. They help a company stand out in their marketplace by setting an expectation
of what it’s like to choose them. The biggest obstacle of generating an experiential name
is connecting meaning to the brand. This requires a deep understanding of your business
and what it stands for before the naming process begins.

Naming Process
1. Intro: Start by describing the thing that you are naming. Is it a company, a product or a
service? What makes it unique? What do you want it to be best known for? Get a clear
idea of what your name needs to communicate. Map your competition. Understand the
landscape where your brand will exist. Which names are taken? Which ones are good?
How is the audience responding to them? Now it is time to put pen to paper.

2. Make a list: Divide your list by name categories. You can have as many categories as you
like. We normally use four: descriptive, suggestive, abstract and legacy.
Descriptive: names that describe what the company does like Snapchat, PayPal,
DirecTV, PlayStation and Toys R Us.
Suggestive: Set an evocative mood for brand like Apple, Sky, O2, Red Bull & Uber.
Abstract: these are made up words that have a strong memorable sound and have
the potential to gain new meaning like Google, Skype, Kodak, Yahoo and Rolex.
Legacy: these include founder’s names, nicknames and organisation acronyms
that may already be in use, even if not officially, like Ferrari, Chanel, Adidas etc.

3. Generating names: Once you have your categorised list you can start writing names
down.
Keep them short.
Easy to memorize.
Easy to say in any language.

Build your creative team. Bring people on board whose criteria you trust, but make sure
they will offer different points of view. Start a collaborative document where everyone
on the team can write down their ideas. Add everything that you come up with. Look up
synonyms and analogies. Search for interesting words. Write as many word combinations
as possible. Include syllables that add meaning. Create acronyms. Explore every possibility
without second guessing any of them.
4. Short list: Print out the list and gather the team. Some names will look very similar. Some
new combinations may appear. Let everyone pick their favourite names and veto the bad
ones. Once this process is done, you will have culled quite a few weak names. Then let
the team have another go at discarding. Pretty soon you will be left with just a few
favourite ones. Make sure you leave at least 5 names per category.

5. Background check: You have your short list of 20 names. Now it is time to find out if they
are viable. Do a search to see if they already exist. If they already exist in your sector they
are certainly not an option. This will help you get rid of some more. Research the names
in case they have a negative connotation in other cultures or languages. Finally, you need
to check if the domain is available. If you have budget to buy a taken domain, this is a
good option. If you don’t, you can either think creatively about domain choices, or go back
to the drawing board on the name. Keep editing your list until you have only one or two
names left per category.

6. Presenting: When presenting, lay out your final names in big Helvetica font. That way you
can test if they are visually attractive, without attaching any branding to them. The client
might discard a perfectly good name because they don’t like the style you chose for it.
Explain the rationale behind each concept and how you arrived at it.

Five Characteristics to Test Your Brand Name

Do a quick assessment of your brand names, and consider each by five characteristics:
• Distinctive: How does the name stand out amongst the competition?
• Sound: Say the name out loud. How does it sound? Is it easy to say? Is it poetic?
• Stickiness: Is the name easy to remember? How many times do you have to hear it before
you remember it?
• Expression: Does the name demonstrate what your brand is all about? Does it fit your
brand’s personality?
• Appearance: What does the word look like in print? Does it look as good as it sounds?

A brilliant brand name will excel in all five characteristics.

Importance of Brands
• Creates consumer preference for the product/service behind the brand: The multitude
of choices in every category leads to confusion and uncertainty. One-way consumers deal
with these issues is by gravitating towards brands they know and trust. Well-
known brands are considered less risky purchases and provide the peace of mind that the
product will perform as expected.
• Generates increased revenues and market share: A company can leverage the power of
their brand in many ways, such as entering new segments and geographical markets, co-
branding, gaining new distribution or brand licencing.

• Increases the company’s market value: A company’s physical assets and number of
employees play a limited role in its valuation. What really matters is brand equity. John
Stewart, the former CEO of Quaker once said that “If this business were split up, I would
give you the land and bricks and mortar, and I would take the brands and trademarks and
I would fare better than you.”

• Helps the company survive temporary crises: Toyota, a brand positioned on superior
quality, has had some serious product quality issues in 2009, which generated a PR
nightmare. However due to the many years of delivering on its “quality” brand promise
the company managed weather the storm and restore confidence in their product.

• Prevents new competitors from entering the market: A market segment dominated by
well-known brands is a serious barrier to entry for most new competitors. Being the first
to create the segment helps tremendously.

• Increases profitability by commanding a higher price: This is one of the strongest

arguments for the importance of branding. Customers are in most cases willing to pay a
premium for an established brand versus a no-name product.

• Helps create a unique and differentiated company image: A brand goes well beyond the
tangible product or service being offered. Emotional attributes could be the perfect
foundation of a strong differentiation strategy.

• Increases existing distributor’s loyalty: Independent distributors are in the “money

making” business. For them brand loyalty always comes second. However, if the brand is
demanded by the end user the chances of it being dropped from their portfolio are pretty
slim. It’s an easy sell after all.

• Helps the company attract new distribution for its products: A well-known brand with
proven consumer loyalty will have little problems finding distribution partners, both
locally and internationally. Everybody wants to sell a brand that consumers ask for and
provides a high turnover.
Types of Brands
Many kinds of things can become brands. Different types of brands include individual products,
product ranges, services, organizations, individual persons, groups, events, geographic places,
private label brands, media, and e-brands.
• Individual Brands: The most common type of brand is a tangible, individual product, such
as a car or drink. This can be very specific, such as the Kleenex brand of tissues, or it can
encompass a wide range of products. Product brands can also be associated with a
range of offerings, such as the Mercedes S-class cars or all varieties of Colgate toothpaste.

• Service Brands: A service brand develops as companies move from manufacturing

products to delivering complete solutions and intangible services. Service brands are
characterized by the need to maintain a consistently high level of service delivery.
Classic service brands (such as airlines, hotels, car rentals, and banks)
Pure service providers (such as member associations)
Professional service brands (accountancy, management consultancy)
Agents (such as travel agents and estate agents)
Retail brands (such as supermarkets, fashion stores, and restaurants)

• Organization Brands: Organization brands are companies and other entities that deliver
products and services. Mercedes and the U.S. Senate each possess strong organization
brands, and each has associated qualities that make up their brand. Organizations can
also be linked closely with the brand of an individual. For example, the U.S. Democratic
party is closely linked with Bill and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

• Personal Brands: A person can be considered a brand. It can be comprised of one

individual, as in the cases of Oprah Winfrey or Mick Jagger. Or it may be composed of a
few individuals, where the branding is associated with different personalities. With the
advent of the Internet and social media, the phenomenon of personal branding offers
tools and techniques for virtually anyone to create a brand around themselves.

• Group Brands: Group branding happens when there is a small group of branded entities
that have overlapping, interconnected brand equity. For example, the OWN group brand
of the Oprah Winfrey Network and the brand of its known members are strongly
connected. Similarly, the Rolling Stones represents a group brand that is strongly
associated with the personal brands of its members.

• Media Brands: Media brands include newspapers, magazines, and television channels such
as CNN.
• Event Brands: Events can become brands when they strive to deliver a consistent
experience that attracts consumer loyalty. Examples include conferences the TED series;
music festivals like Coachella or SXSW; sporting events like the Olympics or NASCAR. The
strength of these brands depends on the experience of people attending the event. Savvy
brand managers from product, service, and other types of brands realize the power of
event brands & seek to have brands associated with event brands through sponsorships.

• Geographic Place Brands: Many places or areas of the world seek to brand themselves to
build awareness of the essential qualities they offer. Branded places can range from
countries and states to cities, streets, and even buildings. Those who govern or represent
these geographies work hard to develop the brand. Geographic branding is used
frequently to attract commerce and economic investment, tourism and new residents.

• Private-Label Brands: Private-label brands, also called own brands, or store brands, exist
among retailers that possess a particularly strong identity (such as Save-A-Lot). Private
labels may denote superior, “select” quality, or lower cost for a quality product.

• E-Brands: E-brands exist only in the virtual world. Many e-brands, such as Amazon.com,
have a central focus on providing an online front end for delivering physical products or
services. Others provide information and intangible services to benefit
consumers. Typically, a common denominator among e-brands is the focus on delivering
a valued service or experience in the virtual environment.

Another nine types of brands, labeled by what characterizes or differentiates them the most:
• Disruptive Brand: Challenges the current ways of doing things and introduces new
concepts that substantively change the market.
• Conscious Brand: Is on a mission to make a positive social or environmental impact or
enhance people’s quality of life.
• Service Brand: Consistently delivers high-quality customer care and service.
• Innovative Brand: Consistently introduces advanced & breakthrough products & tech.
• Value Brand: Offers lower prices for basic quality.
• Performance Brand: Offers products that deliver superior performance & dependability.
• Luxury Brand: Offers higher quality at higher price.
• Style Brand: Is differentiated through way its products look & feel, as much as or more
than what they do.
• Experience Brand: Is differentiated through the experience it provides, as much as or
more than the product or service.
Strategic Brand Management Process
Strategic Brand Management is a function of marketing that uses techniques to increase the
perceived value of a product line or brand over time. Effective brand management enables the
price of products to go up and builds loyal customers through positive brand associations and
images or a strong awareness of the brand. Developing a strategic plan to maintain brand equity
or gain brand value requires a comprehensive understanding of the brand, its target market, and
the company's overall vision.

The process of strategic brand management basically involves 4 steps:

1. Identifying and establishing brand positioning. Brand Positioning is defined as the act of
designing the company's offer and image so that it occupies a distinct and valued place in
the target consumer's mind. Key Concepts:
• Points of difference convinces consumers about the advantages and differences
over the competitors.
• Mental Map visual depiction of the various associations linked to the brand in the
minds of the consumers.
• Core Brand Associations subset of associations i.e. both benefits and
attributes which best characterize the brand.
• Brand Mantra: that is the brand essence, or the core brand promise also known
as the Brand DNA.

2. Planning and Implementation of Brand Marketing Programs. Key Concepts

• Choosing Brand Elements: Different brand elements here are logos, images,
packaging, symbols, slogans, etc. Since different elements have different
advantages, marketers prefer to use different subsets and combinations of these
elements.
• Integrating the Brand into Marketing Activities and the Support Marketing
Program: Marketing programs and activities make the biggest contributions and
can create strong, favourable, and unique brand associations in a variety of ways.
• Leveraging Secondary Associations: Brands may be linked to certain source
factors such as countries, characters, sporting or cultural events etc. In essence,
the marketer is borrowing or leveraging some other associations for the brand to
create some associations of the brand's own and them to improve its brand
equity.

3. Measuring and Interpreting Brand Performance. Key Concepts:

• Brand Audit: Is assessment of the source of equity of the brand and to suggest
ways to improve and leverage it.
• Brand Value chain: Helps to better understand the financial impacts of the brand
marketing investments and expenditures.
• Brand Equity Measurement System: Is a set of tools and procedures using which
marketers can take tactical decision in the short and long run.

4. Growing and Sustaining Brand Equity. Key Concepts:

• Defining the brand strategy: Captures the branding relationship between the
various products /services offered by the firm using the tools of brand-product
matrix, brand hierarchy and brand portfolio
• Managing Brand Equity over time: Requires taking a long -term view as well as a
short-term view of marketing decisions as they will affect the success of future
marketing programs.
• Managing Brand Equity over Geographic boundaries, Market segments
and Cultures: Marketers need to consider international factors, different types of
consumers and the specific knowledge about the experience and behaviors of the
new geographies or market segments when expanding the brand overseas or into
new market segments.

Brand Identity Perspectives

Brand identity should establish a relationship between the brand and the customer by generating
a value proposition involving functional, emotional or self-expressive benefits.

Brand identity consists of a core identity and an extended identity. The core identity represents
the timeless essence of a brand .It is central to both the meaning and success of the brand. It
indicates the reasons why the brand has been brought into existence. It contains the associations
that are most likely to remain constant as the brand travels to new markets and products. The
elements of the core identity remain more resistant to change than the elements of the extended
identity. Thus, the core identity is timeless while the brand position or the communication
strategies might change. It is generally the first word that people behind the brand may utter
when asked what the brand stands for:
• Lux – Beauty bar for young women
• Dettol – Antiseptic, protection
• Johnson & Johnson – Trust and quality a baby need

The extended brand identity includes elements that provide texture and completeness. The core
identity usually does not possess enough detail to perform all of the functions of a brand identity.
In particular, a brand identity should help a company decide which program or communication
is effective and which be damaging or off the target. Even a well-thought-out and on-target core
identity may ultimately be too ambiguous or incomplete for this task. A brand personality does
not often become a part of the core identity. However, it can be exactly the right vehicle to add
the needed texture and completeness by being a part of the extended identity. It provides the
strategist with the opportunity to add full detail to complete the picture. Brand identity organized
around four perspectives:
• Brand as a product: Core element of a brand’s identity is usually its product thrust, which
will affect the type of associations that are desirable and feasible. A strong link to a
product class means that the brand will be recalled when the product class is cued. A
dominant brand will often be the only brand recalled.

• Brand as an organization: The brand as organization perspective focuses on attributes of

the organization rather than those of the product or service. The people, culture, values
and programs of the company create such organization attributes as innovation, a drive
for quality and concern for the environment. Some brand aspects can be described as
product attributes in some contexts and organizational attributes in other contexts.
Quality or innovation, for instance could be a product-related attribute if it is based on
the design and features of a specific product offering while if it is based on the
organizational cultures values and programs it would be an organizational-related
attribute. However organizational attributes are more enduring and more resistant to
competitive claims than are product attributes.

• Brand as a person: Brand personality is an important area of study for at least two
reasons. First, research has shown that a strong brand personality may justify a higher
price premium. Moreover, brand personality can play a key role in differentiating a brand
in a product category where there is actually little or no difference between
products. Prior research indicates that the greater the similarity between a consumer’s
personality characteristics and the characteristics that they believe comprise the brand,
the greater the preference for that brand. Brand-as-person perspective suggests a brand
identity that is richer and more interesting than one based on product attributes. Like a
person, a brand can be perceived as being upscale, competent, impressive, trustworthy,
fun, active, humorous, casual, formal, youthful or intellectual.

• Brand as a symbol: A strong symbol can provide cohesion and structure to an identity and
make it much easy to gain recognition and recall. Its presence can be a key ingredient of
brand development and its absence can be substantial handicap. Elevating symbols to the
status of being part of the brand identity reflects their potential power. Anything that
represents a brand can be a symbol including programs such as the Ronald McDonald
house. Symbols involving visual imagery can be memorable and powerful such as the
Nike’s “Swoosh” symbol and the McDonald’s golden arches. Each strong visual image
captures much of its respective brand’s identity because connections between the symbol
and the identity elements have been built up over time. It just takes a glance to be
reminded of the brand.

Kapferer Brand Identity Prism

In order to become a brand with loyal following or how Kapferer says ‘passion brand’ or ‘love
marks’, brands should not be just a name. Instead they should have a story or a deeper inner
inspiration which connects to its consumers. Brands should have their own character, their own
beliefs and their own identity. Kapferer Brand Identity Prism tells us how to build a story and give
the brand a much-needed identity considering six important facets of brand identity.

• Physique: A brand, first and foremost, should have ‘physique’ with physical specifications
and qualities. It is made of a combination of either salient objective features emerging
ones. Physical appearance is important, but it is not all. Nevertheless, the first step in
developing a brand is to define its physical aspect: What is it concretely? What does it do?
What does it look like? The physical facet also comprises the brand’s prototype: the
flagship product that is representative of the brand’s qualities.

Example: Coca Cola in all its communications lays special emphasis on the ‘Coke Bottle’
and how it looks. For markets where Coke entered for the first time, it always starts with
the traditional Coke bottle. In fact, to no surprise, Coke cans also have an outline of the
iconic coke bottle. Therefore, the physical appearance of the brand remains intact.
• Personality: A brand has personality. By communicating, it gradually builds up character.
The way in which it speaks of its products or services shows what kind of person it would
be if it were human. This is a tough task to implant a product as a human in the mind of
consumers. Therefore, brands rope in famous personalities to endorse the product. The
brand and the celebrity being roped should sync in personality therefore forming an
important facet of Kapferer Brand Identity Prism.

Example: Mountain Dew, a drink from PepsiCo, promises thrill and adventure and
therefore always loops in celebrities who are seen close to sports.

• Culture: A Brand should have its own culture and brands with strong culture end up being
‘cult’. Both product and communication should reflect this culture. Brands targeting
masses focus on culture which is common to a wider chunk of population or vice versa.
Late entrants to the market prefer choosing a niche targeting a particular culture and
evolve big in due course of time. Brand culture plays an essential role in Kapferer Brand
Identity Prism and helps differentiating brands. It indicates the ethos whose values are
embodied in the products and services of the brand.

Example: Royal Enfield motorcycles in India have a cult following as the brand has a very
strong culture. Though started slowing but the brand is the fastest growing in the
motorcycle industry in India both in terms of following as well as market share.

• Relationship: Indeed, brands are often at the crux of transactions and exchanges between
people. This is particularly true of brands in the service sector and also of retailers. Once
the consumers build a relationship with the brand, the brand can demand consumers to
do things which it believes in.

Example: Nike bears a Greek name that relates it to specific cultural values, to the
Olympic Games and to the glorification of the human body. Nike suggests also a peculiar
relationship, based on provocation: it encourages us to let loose (‘just do it’). Nike in India
created amazing TVC celebrating women athletes featuring Deepika Padukone. Here the
brand is in a position to ask its consumers to ‘Just Do It’ because it has nurtured a
relationship. The ad campaign was named Da Da Ding.

• Reflection: A brand is a customer reflection. When asked for their views on certain car
brands, people immediately answer in terms of the brand’s perceived client type: that’s
a brand for young people! for fathers! for show-offs! for old folks! Because its
communication and its most striking products build up over time, a brand will always tend
to build a reflection or an image of the buyer or user which it seems to be addressing.

Example: A majority of apparel brands portray a model in the age group of not who they
are targeting, but the age group which the consumer thinks he/she belongs on buying
that brand. In reference to the below ad, only a minuscule percentage of people in the
age group will buy a Louis Vuitton suit. The consumer group will be much older for the
product; however, all those consumers will perceive to look younger with an ad featuring
a young model.

• Self - Image: Finally, a brand speaks to our self-image. If reflection is the target’s outward
mirror (they are …), self-image is the target’s own internal mirror (I feel, I am …). Through
our attitude towards certain brands, we indeed develop a certain type of inner
relationship with ourselves. And therefore, these brands always communicate to push the
limits.

Example: BMW India launched a campaign for people who see themselves driving a
BMW, no matter now or future. The campaign went on TV as Don’t Postpone Joy. Below
is the TVC asking to drive a BMW sooner.

Identity Levels / Structure

The Core Identity

The core identity represents the timeless essence of the brand. It is the centre that remains after
you peel away the layers of an onion or the leaves of an artichoke. The core identity, which is
central to both the meaning and success of the brand, contains the associations that are most
likely to remain constant as the brand travels to new markets and products. For example, when
Black Velvet expands to new countries, it is super-premium brand, and it always delivers the “soft
and smooth” product and message.
The core identity for a strong brand should be more resistant to change than elements of the
extended identity. Ivory’s “99/100% pure” and “it floats” slogans reflect an identity that has
lasted for more than one hundred years. The brand position and thus the communication
strategies may change, and so might the extended identity, but the core identity is more timeless.

One brand strategist observed that if you get the values and culture of the organization right, the
brand identity takes care of itself. For many brands, there should be a close correspondence
between the values of the organization and the core identity. The core identity should include
elements that make the brand both unique and valuable. Thus, the core identity should usually
contribute to the value proposition and to the brand’s basis for credibility.

Sometimes a slogan can capture at least part of the core identity:

• “We’re number two; we try harder” suggests that Avis is committed to delivering the best
customer service.
• “The relentless pursuit of perfection” suggests that Lexus cars are built to the highest
quality standards with respect to workmanship, handling, comfort, and features.

The Extended Identity

The extended brand identity includes elements that provide texture and completeness. It fills in
the picture, adding details that help portray what the brand stands for. Important elements of
the brand’s marketing program that have become or should become visible associations can be
included. In the case of Saturn, the extended identity includes the product itself, the no-pressure
feel of the retail experience, the no-haggle pricing, the “different company” slogan, and the brand
personality. Each has a role to play as a driver of the brand identity, but none is as basic a
foundation as the core identity.

The core identity usually does not possess enough detail to perform all of the functions of a brand
identity. In particular, a brand identity should help a company decide which program or
communication is effective and which might be damaging or off target. Even a well-thought-out
and on-target core identity may ultimately be too ambiguous or incomplete for this task.
• Design
• Product
• Packaging
• Character
• Personality
• Slogan
• Logo, etc.
Concept of Brand Equity
Brand equity is a marketing term that describes a brand’s value. That value is determined by
consumer perception of and experiences with the brand. If people think highly of a brand, it has
positive brand equity. When a brand consistently under-delivers and disappoints to the point
where people recommend that others avoid it, it has negative brand equity. Positive brand equity
has value:
• Companies can charge more for a product with a great deal of brand equity.
• That equity can be transferred to line extensions – products related to the brand that
include the brand name – so a business can make more money from the brand.
• It can help boost a company’s stock price.

How Brand Equity Develops

Brand equity develops and grows as a result of a customer’s experiences with the brand. The
process typically involves that customer or consumer’s natural relationship with the brand that
unfolds following a predictable model:
• Awareness: The brand is introduced to its target audience – often with advertising – in a
way that gets it noticed.
• Recognition: Customers become familiar with the brand and recognize it in a store or
elsewhere.
• Trial: Now that they recognize the brand and know what it is or stands for, they try it.
• Preference: When the consumer has a good experience with the brand, it becomes the
preferred choice.
• Loyalty: After a series of good brand experiences, users not only recommend it to others,
it becomes the only one they will buy and use in that category.

Brand Equity = Brand Assets – Brand Liabilities

Importance of Brand Equity

• Asset: Brand equity is one of the most important intangible assets of the company and
just like other assets, this too can be sold, licensed or leased to others.
• Price Premium: A brand having a positive brand equity can charge more for its product
than the actual market price.
• Increases Market Share: A positive brand equity often results in more loyal customers
who prefer one specific brand over others and in-turn increases its share in the market.
• Easy Product Line Extensions: It becomes easier to launch new product lines under the
brand which has a positive brand equity. For example, Apple, which started off with macs,
was able to easily launch and lend its brand equity to iPhones.
Components of Brand Equity
• Brand Awareness: People will often buy a familiar brand because they are comfortable
with the brand. Or there may be an assumption that a brand that is familiar is probably
reliable, in business to stay, and of reasonable quality. A recognized brand will thus often
be selected over an unknown brand. The awareness factor is particularly important in
contexts in which the brand must first enter the consideration set. It must be one of the
brands that are evaluated.

• Brand Associations: People will often buy a familiar brand because they are comfortable
with the brand. Or there may be an assumption that a brand that is familiar is probably
reliable, in business to stay, and of reasonable quality. A recognized brand will thus often
be selected over an unknown brand. The awareness factor is particularly important in
contexts in which the brand must first enter the consideration set. It must be one of the
brands that are evaluated.

• Brand Loyalty: Central construct in marketing, is a measure of the attachment that a

customer has to a brand. It reflects how likely a customer will switch to another brand,
especially when that brand makes a change, either in price or in product features. As
brand loyalty increases, the vulnerability of the customer base to competitive action is
reduced.

• Perceived Quality: It refers to the customer’s perception about the total quality of the
brand. While evaluating quality the customer considers the brands performance on
factors that are significant to him and makes a relative analysis about the brand’s quality
by evaluating the competitor’s brand also. Thus, quality is a perceptual factor and the
consumer analysis about quality varies. Higher perceived quality might be used for brand
positioning. Perceived quality affect the pricing decisions of the organizations. Superior
quality products can be charged a price premium. Perceived quality gives the customers
a reason to buy the product. It also captures the channel member’s interest. For instance
– American Express.

• Other Proprietary Brand Assets: Patents, Trademarks and Channel Inter-relations are
proprietary assets. These assets prevent competitors attack on the organization. They
also help in maintaining customer loyalty as well as organization’s competitive advantage.
Measures of Brand Equity
• Brand Awareness: Customer knowledge of your products and services is an important
part of brand equity. But even better than customers knowing you is customers not being
able to avoid thinking about your brand. A leading indicator of the consumer's awareness
of your company is “conversation share,” or the amount of time your brand comes up in
everyday conversations about the products and services you offer. Measuring brand
awareness among your target customers can take many forms. Some methodologies used
to understand how aware your ideal customers are including:
Surveys and focus groups
Web traffic
Search volume for your brand and products
Social mentions and reviews

• Preference Metrics: Consumer preference is a powerful factor in daily purchase

decisions; it’s the reason a customer may decide to travel further and spend more money
to access a product or service they really like. Aspects of customer preference that can be
measured through focus groups, sales data and surveys can include:
Brand relevance: The extent to which your customers agree your brand provides
unique and specific value that is not offered by your competitors.
Accessibility: The ability to provide your target market with your products or
services.
Emotional Connection: Your strength in forming emotional connections with
customers, a key factor in loyalty.
Brand Value: A measure of how much your customers are willing to pay for your
products and services.

• Financial Metrics: Financial metrics surrounding brand equity are directly tied to sales
performance. If these indicators, related to the financial value of your brand, are
increasing your revenue is likely to be moving in the same direction. Ways to measure
brand equity through related financial aspects include:
Price premium over competition
Average transaction value
Customer lifetime value
Rate of sustained growth

• Output Metrics: What if your brand is investing time and budget into brand equity-
building and you don’t see results? Output is a measure of marketing activity, which
measures the marketing assets that get released to the public. Output looks at how often
marketing materials are released, and the type of asset released to the market place.
Output can also be measured through the impact of your brand-created offers in local
markets. Local activity impacts brand equity because assets that aren't being utilized by a
local store owner can't influence sales. Similarly, poor-quality output – such as a direct
mail offer that's amateurishly edited by a local franchisee – may have a serious negative
impact on your brand equity. Three ways to determine how your assets for local
marketers are translating into output are:
Local marketer campaign and asset utilization
Sales on promoted products
Customer adoption of loyalty programs

• Local Marketer Perception Metrics: There’s value in thinking of your local marketers as
customers. Your local representatives all have influence over your brand equity metrics;
their local advertising and in-store customer experience shapes awareness, preference
and financial habits. These factors influence their success and local customer experiences
– a dealer who doesn't prefer your brand is less likely to have success selling your products
to a customer. A franchisee who doesn't have an instinctive connection to your brand
may use your marketing assets improperly. Ways to measure local perception of your
brand include:
Surveys
Focus groups
Software adoption rates
Campaign deployment rates

• Competitive Metrics: Your competitors’ brand equity has a direct influence on how your
company's brand equity trends. If competition doubles-down and launches a campaign
advertising a pricing adjustment, your customer preference could dip for reasons that
have nothing to do with the work you're doing – and everything to do with your
competitor's brand. Competitive metrics can reveal areas where your competition is not
providing value to customers, such as missing products, poor customer experiences, or
pricing. It can also reveal tactics and campaigns that have resonated with your consumer
base. Metrics here include, but are not limited to:
Customer Acquisition Rate
Market Share
Sales Lift
ROI of Channels of Distribution
Sales Lift of Pricing, Discounts, and Annual Specials
Brand Assets
Brand Assets are the consistent signals that make it quite easier for the consumers to recognize
and identify the brand and recall the associations related to the consumer and the brand. They
are a set of unique elements of the brand that make it more familiar and distinguished giving the
brand an edge of exclusivity and distinctiveness in the market and in the minds of the consumers,
and when such unique elements are tied back to the brand working as its integral part, they are
called as Brand Assets.

Types of Brand Assets

• Brand Awareness
• Market Leadership
• Reputation for Quality
• Brand Relevance
• Brand Loyalty
• Brand Name and Logo
• Tagline and Mascot

Advantages of Brand Assets

• Unique Identity: Having the Brand Assets that are distinguished in nature gives a unique
identity to the brand in the market creating an emotional connection with the consumers.
With the unique Colour palette, mascot, tagline, and other such brand elements, the
consumers recognize brand with just one look amidst the tough and growing competition.

• Competitive Edge: With the market policies, business dynamics, and the ever-growing
competition in the market with the onset of the new brands, the brand gains the
competitive edge in the market owing to the fact that the consumers very well recognize
the brand & are aware of its assets, values, strengths & offerings of product and services.

• Customer loyalty and more profits: With the higher level of brand awareness and the
superior and aesthetically designed brand assets of the company, the consumers always
prefer to go with the brand that is always in the sight and is known to their family, friends,
and social circle; hence, there is a higher amount of sales of the products and services
offered that gains higher amount of profits resulting in the customer loyalty.
Protecting and Managing Your Distinctive Brand Assets
• Start by organizing them. Here are seven time saving tips for managing your brand assets.
• Know the difference between files and brand assets. It’s an important distinction, and one
that will help you down the line.
• Rely on what your consumers say about your brand’s uniqueness – do not rely on what
your marketing department has to say about it.
• Use your distinctive assets in every single marketing campaign – don’t change the
elements and heavily weigh the elements of a brand refresh.
• Use the same distinctive assets in advertising and packaging.
• Always make sure your competitors aren’t using a similar brand element – continue to
stay informed.
• When implementing a new brand element, always use it in combination with the name
of your brand.

Brand Liabilities
Brand liabilities are the consistent signals that make it difficult for the company to produce and
sell the brand and create a positive association related to the consumer and the brand. They are
a set of elements of the brand that makes negative image to the brand in the market and in the
minds of the consumers.
Types of Brand Liabilities
• Customer Dissatisfaction
• Product or service failure
• Questionable practices
• Poor record for social issues
• Negative associations

Aaker Model of Brand Equity

Aaker Brand Equity model was developed by Professor David Aaker of the University of California.
His model viewed the brand equity as a combination of brand awareness, brand loyalty and
brand associations, which then combines with each other to finally offer the value provided by a
product or service. For Aaker, brand management begins with building up a brand identity, which
is one of a kind arrangement of brand affiliations speaking to what the brand stands for and offers
to consumers a desiring brand picture.

Four Elements of Brand Identity as per Aaker Brand Equity Model

Aaker primarily sees brand identity as a combination of 8-12 elements which fall under four
perspectives:
• Brand as Product: This consists of product scope, product attributes, quality or value of
the product, uses, users and country of origin.
• Brand as Organization: it consists of organizational attributes, local workings versus
global activities.
• Brand as Person: it consists of brand personality and consumer brand relationships.
• Brand as Symbol: it consists of audio and visual imagery, metaphorical symbols and brand
heritage.

The motive of the Aaker Model is to help in making a brand strategy comprising of various brand
components or patterns, in order to illuminate, advance and separate a brand from its rivals. An
organization deliberately utilizes a few of these components to impart to the buyers what their
brand stands for.

5 Components of Brand value as per Aaker Brand Equity Model

Aaker states that brand value is controlled by associated five components. We will understand
the brand value in the next section in details but before that let’s understand these components
and how are they integrated with brand value. This is essential for understanding the general
picture of brand equity.
These components are:-
• Brand Loyalty – The extent to which people are loyal to a brand.
• Brand Awareness – The extent to which a brand is known among the public.
• Perceived Quality – The extent to which a brand is considered to provide good
quality products.
• Brand Associations – The associations triggered by a brand.
• Other Proprietary – Assets like patents and intellectual property rights, relations with
trade partners. The more proprietary rights a brand has accumulated, the greater the
brands competitive edge in those fields.

How brand Value is created as per Aaker’s Brand Equity Model?

As per Aaker’s model, brand assets create value for both customers and firm in different ways:
• Brand value can enable a customer to decipher, process, store, and recover a gigantic
amount of data about products and brands.
• It can influence the client’s trust in the purchase choices; a client will naturally be more
relaxed with the brand that was last utilized, is considered to have high quality or is
familiar.
• Perceived quality and brand affiliations offer value to the consumers by improving the
consumer’s satisfaction.
• Brand value can improve the productivity and adequacy of promotional programs. An
advertisement, for instance, will be more viable if it is a usual brand of a customer.
• Brand awareness, perceived quality and brand associations would all be able to reinforce
the loyalty towards the brand by expanding consumer loyalty and giving motivational
reasons to purchase the product.
• Brand equity will normally give higher edges to products, allowing premium pricing and
decreasing dependence on promotional activities. Brand value can likewise give a stage
to development by brand extensions and can help in the distribution channels as well.
• An established brand works as a strong barrier to switching to other competitors.

Therefore, all in all, Aaker model provides a deep insight into this whole concept of brand equity
and how to evaluate it. The model can be used at various stages of marketing like improving the
perception of a product performance, to increase the loyalty of customers towards a brand, and
sometimes to differentiate from competitors as well.
Customer Based Brand Equity
Brand Equity facilitates in the effectiveness of brand extensions and brand introductions. This is
because customers who trust and display loyalty towards a brand are willing to try to adopt brand
extensions. Breaking down customer-based brand equity means understanding your customers
wants and needs, even before they vocalize or demonstrate them with money.

Brand Equity facilitates in the effectiveness of brand extensions and brand introductions. This is
because customers who trust and display loyalty towards a brand are willing to try to adopt brand
extensions. Breaking down customer-based brand equity means understanding your customers
wants and needs, even before they vocalize or demonstrate them with money. This will help in:
• Brand Identity
• Brand Meaning
• Brand Responses
• Brand Relationship

Keller’s Model of Customer Based Brand Equity

The most common model for customer-based brand equity is the one created by marketing
professor Kevin Lane. Keller puts the model in a four-level pyramid, with the middle two layers
being divided equally between two factors.
Level One: Salience: Salience could be more accurately described using the question, “Who are
we?” It looks at the brand from the customer point of view and wonders what words buyers
associate when they hear a specific brand name. In short, it quantifies both the depth and the
breadth of customer awareness of a brand.
• Depth in Brand Awareness
Ease of recognition
Strength and clarity of category membership

• Breadth in Brand Awareness

Purchase Consideration
Consumption Consideration

Level Two: Performance and Imagery: Breaking the second level into two categories allows a
business to better consider brand reputation. Performance encompasses factors such as
customer service and satisfaction with a product. It also calls product functionality into question,
with reliability, durability, and price as factors for customer opinion. Imagery is slightly different
(but no less important) in creating meaning behind a brand. Imagery revolves around how
customers’ needs are met both socially and psychologically. While this can occur with customer
interactions with the product, imagery can also be the work of targeted marketing.
• Performance Dimensions
Primary characteristics and supplementary features
Product reliability, durability and serviceability
Service effectiveness, efficiency and empathy
Style and design
Price

• Imagery Dimensions
User profiles (Demographics & Psychographic Characteristics, Popularity)
Purchase and usage situation (Type of Channel, store, time, location, usage)
Personality and values (Sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication)
History, heritage and experience (Memories, nostalgia)

Level Three: Judgement and Feelings: The third level of Keller’s model–judgement and feelings–are
so closely related that it’s difficult to separate the two. In fact, the third level might be more
accurately broken into four categories:
• Either actual or perceived.
• Created through a customer’s measure of trust for a brand and its products.
• A judgement based on the relevancy of a product to everyone’s circumstances.
• Customers deciding where one brand falls in comparison to another.

Judgement and feelings consider personal opinions to decipher how customers think and feel
about a brand–whether it’s based on actual interaction or perceived reputation.
Level Four: Resonance: The likelihood that a customer remains loyal to one brand is considered
the pinnacle of Keller’s model. To become loyal customers, buyers assess their relationship and
interactions with a brand to decide that it is superior to other brands. Many factors go into
creating resonance with customers, including price, products, customer service, and previous
experience with the brand.
• Behavioral loyalty (Frequency and amount of repeat purchase)
• Attitudinal Attachment (Love brand and Proud of brand)
• Sense of Community (Kinship and affiliation)
• Active Engagement (Seek information, join club, visit website, etc.)

Brand Loyalty
Brand loyalty is the positive association consumers attach to a particular product, demonstrated
by their repeat purchases of it even when given choices of competing alternatives. To marketing
professionals, getting and maintaining brand loyalty for an established product are the ultimate
achievements.

True loyalty is tested during following circumstances-

• When the company increases the prices of their products and even then, the consumer is
willing to adjust the excess amount from his pocket.
• When the company starts offering substandard products and even then, the consumer is
willing to buy them without breaking his habits.
• When the company decreases the amount of the product, keeping the prices same and
even then, the buyer does not shift his loyalties even though it may prove a burden on his
budget.

Importance of Brand Loyalty

• Values: First things first, figure out what you stand for as a brand. Maintaining and staying
consistent with your values will not only attract the right customers but will keep them
around. Tell the public what you stand for and stick to it. Chances are, consumers who
agree with these values will continue to support the business.

• Customer Service: Secondly, ensure stellar customer service is provided at all times. Think
about your favorite stores or brands. Do they care about your business? Do they hire
respectful, helpful people to give your assistance when you need it ? Chances are, the
answer is yes. One way to do this is by listening and implementing change if needed. Most
people are happy to provide feedback on a service or brand. Display information where
it’s easy to find so that customers can get in touch whenever they need to.
• Transparency: Honesty is key. Nothing will drive customers away faster than lying or
covering up important information. Be honest with your consumers about everything,
even if it’s difficult. Communicate, provide updates, and be transparent with your
customers when things go wrong.

• Community: With multiple social platforms at your fingertips, there’s no reason to not
create a sense of community for your consumers. This is a great way to interact with your
customers and get them talking about your brand.

• Social Proof: According to Entrepreneur, brands achieve social proof in five different ways:
expertise, celebrity endorsements, user reviews, wisdom of the crowd, and wisdom of
your friends. By staying consistent with the ways in which you advertise your brand or
business, your consumers will stay consistent as well. TechCrunch describes social proof
as “the positive influence created when someone finds out that others are doing
something.” Simply put, word of mouth is powerful.

• Admit to Errors: Mistakes are inevitable. If you’re a consumer, chances are you know of
multiple brands or businesses you support that have made mistakes. Whether it’s small
or big, it’s important to own up to these errors and take responsibility. Nine times out of
ten, the customer will feel heard and supported, and will forget about the mistake that
happened in the first place. Avoid getting defensive should your company receive
negative feedback. Use this as a tool to become more solid as a whole.

• Employees: Now, this goes without saying. Hire awesome employees, produce awesome
results. In order to maintain customer loyalty, you will need stellar people working at your
company. The customer experience is crucial to keeping your consumers loyal and
supportive.

• Personalize: Think about your favorite online store. Do they send you a birthday message
every year with a coupon inside? If not, they’re missing out on some serious brand loyalty.
Customers are more inclined to stay true to your business if they feel they are recognized
on a personal level. Everyone loves a good coupon, discount, or free item. Take advantage
of these opportunities and get personal with your customers.

Advantages of Brand Loyalty

• As the sales figures increases, the production cost decreases. This results in further
addition of consumers as the company is able to hold on to their loyal customers as well
as are able to include further buyers in their family.
• Organizations that are confident of the brand loyalty for their products are able to save
money from their marketing budget. This money is utilized in different schemes to gather
further consumers for their products. Thus, the company is able to include new shoppers
for their products.
• Loyal consumers in it are the brand ambassadors of the products. The mouth publicity
generated by them is quite affective and proves a boon for the brand.
• When a brand is assured of their customer base, they can experiment with price hike or
make quantity changes. In most cases, the customers tend to stay with the existing brands
as they become comfortable dealing with it.
• The main advantage of brand loyalty is that a company can introduce premium priced
products, as they are secure in the knowledge that the buyer will not ditch them.

Measures of Brand Loyalty

Good measures of these aspects of your brand can help you identify areas of competition,
evaluate the stickiness of established customer bases in different markets, and understand the
strengths and weaknesses of specific product lines.
• Metric 1: Customer satisfaction. First, asking about overall customer satisfaction helps you
understand how, in general, your products and services are meeting or (better yet)
exceeding customer expectations. You might ask questions like:
How convenient is our company to use?
Compared to our competitors, is our product quality better, worse, or about the
same?
How well do our customer service representatives answer your questions?
How likely are you to recommend us to others?

Loyalty builds when customers become committed to your brand and make repeat
purchases over time. You want to understand what is inspiring that commitment.

Metric 2: Trust. All brands must earn and retain the trust of their customers to ensure
loyalty, but trust is especially important for brands that handle sensitive information, such
as banks, online retailers, or healthcare providers. If your brand handles sensitive
information, assess level of trust your customers feel for your brand. Ask questions like:
Do you trust our brand?
How did we earn your trust?
How do we keep your trust?

Use responses to questions about trust to inform the products you offer–and target your
brand messaging accordingly.
• Metric 3: Esteem. Brand esteem or goodwill is customers’ respect for and attraction to a
particular brand. It’s not to be confused with brand awareness or familiarity, which is the
level of recognition of a brand. While a brand might be well known (a good thing), it may
not in fact be well regarded (not a good thing). Brand esteem is about the favorable
sentiment toward a brand. You can use a series of questions to distinguish brand
awareness from brand esteem:
Have you heard of our brand before? (familiarity)
How well do you know our brand? (familiarity)
How positively do you regard our brand? (esteem)
Do you prefer our brand over our competitor? (esteem)

• Metrics 4 and 5: Perceived quality and value. A customer’s perceived quality of a brand is
their opinion of a particular product’s, service’s or brand’s ability to fulfill his or her
expectations:
How reliable would you consider our brand?
How would you rate the quality of our product?

Closely related is perceived value, which is a consumer’s opinion of a product’s value to

him or her specifically. For example, a person might view Tesla Motors as a brand that
produces innovative, attractive electric vehicles that amaze and delight and would rate
perceived quality quite high. However, if that same person considers the price tag to be
a bit too steep, the perceived value might be low for her or him specifically.

Brand Personality
Brand personality is a set of human characteristics that are attributed to a brand name. A brand
personality is something to which the consumer can relate; an effective brand increases its brand
equity by having a consistent set of traits that a specific consumer segment enjoys.

Types of Brand Personality

Customers show loyalty towards particular brands for a number of reasons. One reason could be
that customers perceive a particular brand to have traits. Traits can be categorized as follows:
• Youthful and carefree – relate to excitement.
• Thoughtful, kind, trustworthiness and innocence – relate to sincerity.
• Athletic, rough, outdoorsy traits – relate to a rugged personality.
• Leadership, successful, influential are traits that signify competence.
• Elegance, prestige, pricy – relate to sophistication.
• Allure, exclusivity and status – relate to desirability.
Importance of Brand Personality
• By differentiating your brand from the competition: A distinct brand personality can
make your brand appear to stand apart from your competition. You can make your brand
appeal to youth by inferring personality traits like carefree or spirited. A competitor’s
brand may be offering their similar product as athletic. By addressing different
personalities, this same product is now appealing to varied audiences.

• By communicating good traits about your brand: Personality traits such as trustworthy
and desirable can help build customer confidence. Brands that connect to the consumers
emotionally often carry the traits of desirability such as allure or exclusivity. With
trustworthiness a brand can strengthen its belief in consumers to maintain its quality
standards.

• By forming an emotional attachment with your brand: Consumers are more likely to
identify with brands that closely resemble them in terms of personalities. A brand that
showcases personality traits such as kindness or thoughtfulness is likely to be trusted by
families. Someone may prefer a brand of jeans that personifies ‘cool’ over another that is
all about status.

• By helping form sustained relationships with your brand: Apple used the power of brand
personality to great effect with its ad campaign to promote the Mac. It differentiated its
product from PC with the help of distinct personality traits. Justin Long represented the
stylish and young Mac that was instantly more relatable than older and traditional PC
represented by John Hodgman. It enabled consumers to decide which brand they wanted
to buy, depending on the traits they wanted to embody for themselves.

• By conveying your brand’s message: Your favorite childhood cookie brand could invoke
personal memories of warmth and comfort. This may be the reason you prefer one cookie
brand over another. When launching a new product, marketers can expand their reach
by assigning personality traits that the audience can connect with. Comfort foods such as
cookies need to display personality traits that invoke strong emotional responses in
consumers.

• By setting the tone for your brand : The tone of your brand is helpful in establishing
marketing strategies. For instance, if you want your brand to invoke the feeling of
sincerity – maybe something kind or thoughtful – then your marketing needs to focus on
this tone to send the same message to consumers. You can make your apparel brand
friendly and cool or sophisticated but fun.
Measures of Brand Personality

Formulation of Brand Personality

1. Brand summary: This first step is where you identify the brand’s/business’ core values.
For example, your core values may include honesty, integrity, excellent communication
and client satisfaction. Serious consideration should be given to these values, as they
become the cornerstone for developing your Brand Promise.

2. Brand audit: This is an internal and external evaluation process to determine how
prospects, customers and employees perceive your brand.

3. Develop your brand architecture: This is an evaluation of your brand’s features, plus its
functional and emotional benefits, resulting in a singular idea of what your brand ‘means’.
Brand architecture also defines your ‘value proposition’. There are three core types of
value that a company can deliver: operational efficiency, product leadership, or customer
intimacy. This step will determine which one your company is best equipped to deliver.

4. Create your brand personality traits: Next you will select the personality traits you wish
your brand to display to the market. Brand personality traits are conveyed in everything
you do and create, including how your employees interact with prospects and customers.

5. Develop a Brand Promise: This is a clear, engaging, unique, and relevant statement which
is aligned with your core, brand values. A brand promise states that if clients use your
services, they are assured certain things will occur.
6. Write your brand story: This is a short paragraph about what/who your company is, how
it got to where it is today and its vision for the future. As no company has the same story,
this forms part of your USP or point of difference. It has an underlying theme which
conveys your brand values, tells clients why they should care and importantly makes them
feel something. This can be used in many ways.

7. Create brand positioning statements: Part one of this step is creating a one or two
sentence statement that explains what you do, for whom you do it and how you uniquely
solve a need. It gives clients a compelling reason to do business with you and will be found
on many elements of your marketing collateral. The second part of this step is developing
a tagline. The best taglines tell a story or are aspirational and if possible, also emphasize
the brand name.
8. Select brand visual requirements: This is where you match colors, typestyles and logo
characteristics to visually reinforce brand. If you already have a logo, match
recommendations to the existing artwork to determine effectiveness, or create
recommendations to define a new corporate logo.

9. Define brand operational requirements: This step ties all previous work together, by
defining how you will deliver your brand promise through its daily operations. It is during
this step that procedures and processes are designed to ensure the company delivers
what it promises it will.

Brand Image
Brand image is the current view of the customers about a brand. It can be defined as a unique
bundle of associations within the minds of target customers. It signifies what the brand presently
stands for. It is a set of beliefs held about a specific brand. In short, it is nothing but the
consumers’ perception about the product. It is the manner in which a specific brand is positioned
in the market.

Advantages of building a strong brand image

• The perception of a consumer towards a particular brand is in direct relation to the image
of the brand.
• Having a strong brand image directly impacts the consumer buying behavior, and hence
premium brands as well as top brands have a target of building a strong and
positive image of the brand.
• A positive brand image can make the decision process easier, thereby promoting a lot of
repeat purchases as well as primary purchases.
• A promising brand image conveys the success of the product and gives results with
increased sales and revenues.
• A positive image gives confidence to the customers as they feel that the brand is sincere
and clear in its vision to create the best.
• It is possible to build brand image with strong advertisements because of which
companies are promoting their products through various famous personalities to
enhance their image of brand.

Problems of a good Brand Image

• If an organization is unable to depict a satisfactory brand image, then the consequences
can be felt quickly. The brand might fail in the short term itself if the brand image created
is negative.
• The product is principally dependent on its brand image and unfavorable or negative
image results in the disgrace of the company, and later on bringing the same brand
becomes difficult.
• The main disadvantage of a brand image is that the brand and its products will always be
identified with the image until further changes in the brand image are impelled.
• If in any circumstances the image is compromised, then sales and revenues will also be
hampered and therefore it is necessary to gather a right team that will create and
regularly maintain the brand image of a product.

Brand Image Dimensions

• Mind: At the very lowest level, mind share must be created in the consumer
consciousness. This means that, as a complex perceptual and conceptual construct, the
brand evokes an internal neural representation in the minds of consumers, leaving behind
certain brand impressions.

• Heart: This refers to the emotional relationship a consumer should develop with a
brand. Heart share is less a matter of a product’s functional utility and more a matter of
its symbolic attributes. The buyer of a Ferrari, for instance, will not develop an affection
for the car based purely on functional attributes, but rather as a result of
the values associated with the brand and the brand environment it operates in.

• Buying intentions: Brand identity must trigger a buying intention share in consumers.
After all, despite the importance of a brand’s mind and heart share, it only makes sense
for a supplier to invest in brand identity if consumers will also want to buy the brand.
• Self: Brand identity contributes to self-share, which means that the brand functions as a
manifestation of the self, a tangible expression of self-image within the social
environment. In this context, brands serve self-expression and self-design purposes,
differentiating the individual within the social group. Brands can easily serve similar ends
in the realm of business-to-business, where they bolster self-image in terms of a company
and its functions.

• Legend: Here, the brand shares in the existential search for meaning conducted by a
consumer in a world enlightened to the point of meaning-lessness and takes on a virtually
religious character. This aspect sheds light on the cultural-sociological proposition
that brand management is worshiping the customer. Brands allow consumers to achieve
social position or status, to partake of cultural expression, to create mythology
and shape meaning, and as a result, to weave themselves into the social and metaphysical
fabric of the world. In this context, a loyal customer is a member of a community and an
individual loyal to that community not just a customer who makes repeat purchases.

Stages of Concept Management for Functional Brands

A functional brand is typically bought to satisfy a functional need on the part of the consumer.
Automobiles, cell phones, and dish soap are examples of functional brands. Functional brands
are tied in the consumer’s mind to specific product categories and typically share the user’s
associations with other brands in the same category. For instance, all automobiles share in their
basic functionality; they are designed to transport passengers from point A to point B and they
all do the same thing in essentially the same manner.
• Performance: BMW is an automobile brand that maintains category leadership by
spending heavily on product research and design to produce cars that are faster, more
luxurious, and with greater cutting-edge design relative to the competition. BMW cars are
known for their sophisticated and elegant styling as well as their high-performance
components and when BMW launches a new model, it is positioned based on these
qualities and BMWs marketing.

• Economy: Kia is a South Korean automobile company which also produces many models
sold in the US and around the world, but this company competes based on perceived
economic value. Kia also spends a great deal of money on R&D, but the focus is on finding
ways to reduce cost through increased manufacturing efficiency, simpler design, and
more modest features. Kia has become a leader in the market, based on their ability to
introduce products at a price point that is attractive to many automobile buyers. Kia
competes by striving to produce a high-quality car at a low price.
• Building and managing a functional brand is dependent on focusing the marketing mix on
either the product itself (for superior performance) or on place and price (for superior
economy). Advertising and messaging must support the connection between the brand
and the category. but must also stress what it is that makes the brand superior, either in
functionality and features, or in price and overall value.

Stages of Concept Management for Symbolic/Image Brands

Image brands create value by building specific perception in user’s minds. Certain fashion, food,
and liquor products are image brands and they differentiate themselves because buyers perceive
them as offering a unique association or image. For instance, while clothing is typically a
functional product, many huh-end fashion brands are marketed based on the image used to
differentiate it from the competition.
• Feature-based. Many image brands create their image based on product features. A good
example of this is the Mazda Miata sports car. This car was designed to evoke the features
and feel of the classic British roadster – top down, and that great sense of speed when
driving. In addition, Mazda designed in features ranging from a special speedometer to a
specialized exhaust system which evokes the sound of the classic port cards from MG and
Triumph.

• User Imagery. Ralph Lauren is a clothing brand that is built on images of exclusivity, high
style, and luxury. Lauren uses imagery of country estates, antique cars, and beautiful
models to impress upon consumers the exclusive nature of the product and the

• Advertising. Many image brands use advertising specifically to create associations that
are not dependent upon features. Great examples of this are the Marlboro Man in
tobacco advertising and the current ads for Dos Equis beer. Both of these brands use an
actor to convey an image of individualism and rugged adventure, one through images of
the old west and the other with humorous ads extolling the virtues of “the most
interesting man in the world.”

Managing an image brand is a function of creating an emotional connection with the customer.
Image brands depend on their ability to tap into consumer’s desires to belong to a social group,
or to be admired by others, or to define themselves according to a particular image. Because of
this, advertising plays a huge role in building these brands, as well as other forms of
communication such as sponsorships and publicity.
Stages of Concept Management for Experiential Brands
Experiential brands differ from image brands in one important respect: where image brands
focus on what the product represents, experiential brands are all about how the product makers
the user feel when interacting with the brand. An experiential brand is not always a tangible
product, but in many cases is a place or a service which delivers a sensory experience or
encounter with the brand. Starbucks is an experiential brand; while the product is coffee and
other beverages and food items, the real product is the experience of the store itself.
Comfortable seeing, stylish design, Wi-Fi connectivity, work space, and music are all part of the
experience the brand provides. Another example of an experiential design is Six Flags amusement
parks. Here a consumer pays admission in exchange for the thrills and adrenaline-inducing rides
available in the park.

The dimensions of an experiential brand are primarily its potency (intense or mild) and its activity
(passive or active). Most experiential brands deliver a positive experience (think Disney or
Elizabeth Arden salons) but vary in the intensity of the experience as well as the activity involved.
Disney theme parks, while varying in intensity are, for the most part, active experiences, while
Elizabeth Arden provides as mild and passive experience.

Managing experiential brands are primarily a challenge of consistency. Starbucks takes great care
when hiring and training employees to assure a good cultural fit and the ability to convey the
brand values and deliver on the brand experience. Disney, too, is known for the care it takes in
hiring, training, and managing employees, as well as maintaining the spotless and cheerful
tamps[here of the parks.
Unit IV. Brand Positioning
Concept and Definition
Brand Positioning can be defined as the positioning strategy of the brand with the goal to create
a unique impression in the minds of the customers and at the marketplace. The Brand Positioning
has to be desirable, specific, clear, and distinctive in nature from the rest of the competitors in
the market. Examples of Brand Positioning:
• Colgate is positioned as protective.
• Patanjali can be trusted as it is fully organic.
• Woodland is tough and perfect for outdoors.

Steps to Create Brand Positioning

Identify Specific Market

Define your Market

Understand your Target’s Need

See Brand through Consumer’s Eye

Develop the Unique Selling Proposition

Formulate Statement and Expose Benefit to target Audience

3 Cs of Positioning
The 3C analysis business model was originally created by Kenichi Ohmae, a management
consultant. It has been used as a strategic business model for many years and is often used in
web marketing today. This method has you focusing your analysis on the 3C’s or strategic
triangle: the customers, the competitors and the corporation. By analysing these three
elements, you will be able to find the key success factor and create a viable marketing strategy.
Many variations have been derived from this method because of its simplicity.
The First C – Customer Analysis
Doing in-depth consumer research is the best way for you to figure out how to appeal to your
target market. Being able to create catchy catchphrases and creative ads is going to be your
bread and butter.

Demographic data plays a huge part in this analysis. Figuring out your business’s target market
and their desires will drastically improve the success rate of your marketing strategies after they
are put into circulation. Data such as disposable incomes, likes, dislikes, where they get
information, if they make impulse buys or not, and even how they respond to the client service
or product already available is invaluable.

Use answers from in-depth interviews, questionnaires and user tests to gain insight into the
consumer mind. Use that insight to create concept diagrams, communication designs and
personas that will boost your company’s popularity and hopefully help you spread your product
or service into the world. If they know and trust the corporation you’re promoting, their response
will be much more noticeable.
• Segmenting by objectives: The differentiation is done in terms of the different ways that
various customers use a product. Customer thinking is not one of the prime functions for
consideration.

• Segmenting by customer coverage: This segmentation normally emerges from a trade-

off study of marketing costs versus market coverage. There appears always to be a point
of diminishing returns in the cost versus coverage relationship. The corporation’s task is
to optimize its range of market coverage, geographically and/ or channel wise.

• Segmenting the market once more: In fierce competition, competitors are likely to be
dissecting the market in similar ways. Over an extended period of time, the effectiveness
of a given initial strategic segmentation will tend to decline. In such situations it is useful
to pick a small group of customers and re-examine what it is that they are really looking
for.

The Second C – Competitor Analysis

You can use the aforementioned websites and search engine results to discover rival brands
and companies in addition to the list of data your employer offers. Comparison websites are
popular in every industry and make investigating their products and services quite
straightforward. It’s important to note that, a hamburger shop for example, is going to have
competitors in not only the fast food industry but in the restaurant industry and supermarket
industry as well. You’ll have to narrow down your results so that you can put more emphasis on
how to compete with the top three to five rival businesses.

After determining the main competitors, analyze them. How much effort do they put into their
website? What catchphrase do they mainly use? What do they provide? What tools (e.g.,
newsletters and SNS) do they use to invite users to their website? What is their overall marketing
logic? Ideally, you’ll want to investigate the competitors from as many angles as possible so that
their marketing activities can be completely understood.

Competitor analysis is mainly done by visiting their websites, subscribing to their newsletters,
visiting their stores and/or receiving the service (heuristic analysis) they offer. In addition, you
can perform a user test to compare your client company with their competitor. It’s best to use
an SEO tool to find out how the competitor is talked about on the web as well as to obtain the
SEO-related information. For large-scale websites, you can use a competitor website analysis tool
such as Similar Web to obtain useful information.

Analysing competing businesses in this manner will allow you an inside look into what their
customer’s experience. This knowledge is invaluable. You’ll be exposed to the good and bad
decisions the rival marketing department made and you’ll be able to utilize that knowledge in
pursuit of success and profit.

The Third C – Corporation/Company Analysis

The last step you’ll want to take with this method requires you to analyze your own client’s
corporation. You’ll want to know what marketing strategies have worked for them in the past
and what ideas have failed. The best way for you to do this is, again, from the customer’s
viewpoint.

From the results of the customer and competitor analyses you have done so far, enumerate the
company’s “strong points” and “resources” which produce them. If you are having trouble finding
them, ask real customers for their opinions. By asking why they prefer you client’s product, you
can get points to compare with the competitors and how customers are responding to current
marketing activities. If you can check web analytics data with a tool like Google Analytics, it will
also help you. Contents you think attractive tend to have high values for the average session
duration and PV.

Based on such data, find out which pages of the company’s website the users are interested in
and which pages they are not. This can be a clue about products and services matching the needs
of the existing users.
Brand Positioning Strategies
• Positioning by product attributes and benefits: It is to associate a product with an
attribute, a product feature, or a consumer feature. Sometimes a product can be
positioned in terms of two or more attributes simultaneously. The price/quality attribute
dimension is commonly used for positioning the products. A common approach is setting
the brand apart from competitors on the basis of the specific characteristics or benefits
offered. Sometimes a product may be positioned on more than one product benefit.
Marketers attempt to identify salient attributes.

• Positioning by price/quality: Marketers often use price/quality characteristics to position

their brands. One way they do it is with ads that reflect the image of a high-quality brand
where cost, while not irrelevant, is considered secondary to the quality benefits derived
from using the brand. Premium brands positioned at the high end of the market use this
approach for positioning the product. Another way to use price/quality characteristics for
positioning is to focus on the quality or value offered by the brand at a very competitive
price. Although price is an important consideration, the product quality must be
comparable to, or even better than, competing brands for the positioning strategy to be
effective. Parle Bisleri — ‘Bada Bisleri, same price ‘ad campaign.

• Positioning by use or application: Another way is to communicate a specific image or

position for a brand to associate it with a specific use or application. Surf Excel is
positioned as stain remover ‘Surf Excel haina!’ Also, Clinic All Clear – ‘Dare to wear black’.

• Positioning by product class: Often the competition for a particular product comes from
outside the product class. For example, airlines know that while they compete with other
airlines, trains and buses are also viable alternatives. Manufacturers of music CDs must
compete with the cassette industry. The product is positioned against others that, while
not exactly the same, provide the same class of benefits.

• Positioning by product user: Positioning a product by associating it with a particular user

or group of users is yet another approach. Motography Motorola Mobile, in this ad the
persona of the user of the product has been positioned.

• Positioning by cultural symbols: This is an additional positioning strategy wherein the

cultural symbols are used to differentiate the brands. Examples are Humara Bajaj, Tata
Tea, and Ronald McDonald. Each of these symbols has successfully differentiated the
product it represents from competitors.
• Positioning by competitor: Competitors may be as important to positioning strategy as a
firm’s own product or services. In today’s market, an effective positioning strategy for a
product or brand may focus on specific competitors. This approach is similar to
positioning by product class, although the competition is within the same product
category in this case. Onida was positioned against the giants in the television industry
through this strategy. Onida Colour TV was launched with the message that all others
were clones and only Onida was the leader— ‘Neighbor’s envy, owner’s pride’.

Characteristics of Good Brand Positioning Strategy

• Relevant: The positioning strategy you decide should be relevant according to the
customer. If he finds positioning irrelevant while making purchase decision, you’re at loss.
• Clear: Your message should be clear and easy to communicate. E.g. Rich taste and aroma
you won’t forget for a coffee product gives out a clear image and can position your coffee
brand differently from competitors.
• Unique: A strong brand positioning means you have a unique credible and sustainable
position in the customers’ mind. It should be unique or it’s of no use.
• Desirable: The unique feature should be desirable and should be able to become a factor
which the customer evaluate before buying a product.
• Deliverable: The promise should have the ability to be delivered. False promises lead to
negative brand equity.
• Points of difference: The customer should be able to tell the difference between your and
your competitor’s brand.
• Recognizable Feature: The unique feature should be recognizable by the customer. This
includes keeping your positioning simple, and in a language, which is understood by the
customer.

Brand Positioning Errors

• Under positioning- This is a scenario in which the customers have a blurred and unclear
idea of the brand.
• Over positioning- This is a scenario in which the customers have too limited an awareness
of the brand.
• Confused positioning- This is a scenario in which the customers have a confused opinion
of the brand.
• Double Positioning- This is a scenario in which customers do not accept the claims of a
brand.
Brand Repositioning
Brand repositioning is when a company changes a brand's status in the marketplace. This
typically includes changes to the marketing mix, such as product, place, price and promotion.
Repositioning is done to keep up with consumer wants and needs.

Repositioning is the task of implementing a major change the target market’s perception of the
product’s key benefits and features, relative to the offerings of competitive products.

Brand Repositioning Steps

Analyze the Current Status of brand Positioning

Define your Market

Understand your Target’s Need

See Brand through Consumer’s Eye

Develop the Unique Selling Proposition

Formulate Statement and Expose Benefit to target Audience

Brand Repositioning Reason

• Change in consumer needs: Over time, there are changes in consumer needs and
lifestyles (as the next generation moves through), which may result in the key benefits of
a product no longer being as relevant to the target market.

• New/strong competition: A product may be challenged by a new (perhaps more

relevant) or stronger competitor in their positioning space, requiring the task of
repositioning to a less competitive arena.

• Lack of perceived differentiation: A firm may have found their products with many
points-of-parities and few points-of-differentiations, requiring a revised positioning in
order to highlight their particular advantages.

• Under or over positioned: Under positioned means that the positioning is too vague or
weak and over positioned means that the product is too narrowly defined. Either way
they are problems for the firm that can be addressed by a repositioning exercise.
• Change in macro environment: Significant changes in the macro environment may
require products to be repositioned. Economic conditions, technological advances, and
even legislative change may require the firm to change its product’s positioning.

• Improved product: If a firm invests in a substantial product improvement, it is likely that

additional benefits (or relative advantages) will be delivered, which means that product
repositioning could be warranted.

• Poor product launch: Any new product that is launched with disappointing results may
be considered for relaunch with a new positioning (that is, repositioned).

• New target market: Sometimes alternate target markets may be more attractive.
Therefore, a product may need to be repositioned to more directly appeal to the newly
defined target market.

• Broader/smaller target market: Some firms, as part of their target market selection
process, may decide to broaden (or more tightly define) their target market. This will
mean that the firm will probably need to construct a revised positioning for the product.

Common Pitfalls while Repositioning

• Insufficient research: Marketing research should inform your choices about how to shift
positioning in order to improve market perceptions of your product, service, or brand.
You should also conduct research to help you understand how your target segment will
react to the repositioning, so you’re not caught off guard by adverse reactions.

• A bridge too far: It can be tempting to get wild and crazy with repositioning, especially if
you’re trying to freshen things up. While this strategy can work, sometimes marketers go
so far in the new direction that customers no longer believe the claims. Their perceptions
of the offering can’t accommodate the new message or image, and the offering loses
credibility.

• Underestimating “back to basics”: Sometimes repositioning is undertaken because the

target segment isn’t sure what a product, service, or brand stands for. Instead of trying to
infuse more new ideas and new meaning, marketers are sometimes better served by
stripping positioning down to its bare essentials of competitive advantage, benefit, and
message. Reinforcing the simple “basics” can be very powerful: this is what customers
usually care about most.
• Overpromising: When faced with strong competitive threats, it can be easy for
repositioning to overpromise benefits that a product, service, or brand is really ready to
deliver. This can be disastrous because it creates customer expectations that the
organization cannot live up to. Rarely does this end well.

• Confusing positioning: Repositioning can introduce confusion between the old

positioning and the new, especially if they seem to contradict each other. Repositioning
needs to offer a clear message for customers; otherwise they are not sure what to believe.

Celebrity Endorsement
A form of brand or advertising campaign that involves a well-known person using their fame to
help promote a product or service. Manufacturers of perfumes and clothing are some of the most
common business users of classic celebrity endorsement techniques, such as television ads and
launch event appearances, in the marketing of their products.

How to Choose Right Celebrity Endorser

• Pick a high-character celebrity: Associating your brand with any celebrity inevitably carries
risk. They’re human beings after all, and how they’ve behaved in the past won’t always
predict future behavior. In a day when every person carries a camera and hackers are
constantly lurking, you’re only one compromising photo or text message away from your
unblemished celebrity endorser becoming tarnished for the foreseeable future.
Fortunately, many red flags can be uncovered before bringing a celebrity on board with
your brand. That’s why it’s crucial to do as much research as you can. Many times, more
minor complaints or accusations in the past can resurface years later or signal a troubling
pattern of behavior, even if they didn’t capture the attention of the media at the time.

• Make sure your message is clear and uncontroversial: Some of the most effective marketing
slogans are simple and uncontroversial. For example, there’s Apple’s “Think Different,”
Nike’s “Just do it” and L’Oréal’s “Because you’re worth it.” The same concept should drive
your celebrity endorsement campaigns. Make sure your creative content is clear and the
message is on point with your brand. Don’t try to do too much simply because you are
now using a celebrity endorser. For example, Kendall Jenner’s ad with Pepsi was pulled
after it was accused of trivializing the important work of activists. Marketers at Pepsi
didn’t think through how their content would be received and how it could offend their
audience. Once you’ve ensured that your message won’t offend different groups, use A/B
testing to see which advertisements will actually resonate the most with your key
demographics and drive consumers to your brand.
• Select a celebrity that truly fits your brand: As you hunt for the right celebrity to stand behind
your company, you’ll ideally be able to find a celebrity representative that is not just
desperate for cash but one that truly believes in your product and authentically supports
it. If your company makes clothes, for example, the celebrity ideally already wears your
shirts. If you make cars, look for celebrities that are already driving and are passionate
about your vehicles. This will make your partnership believable and establish credibility
with your audience.

Pros Celebrity Endorsement

• Builds credibility: People are attached to their favorite celebrity, and they are generally
well-trusted by their fans. If they use your product, it shows their fans that it is a product
worth using and builds trust in your brand. Seeing a celebrity attach their name to a
product also reassures consumers of the quality of your product.

• Makes your brand stand out: Using a celebrity to represent you helps to differentiate
your brand from competitors. It also can improve ad recall, making consumers remember
your ad and that your brand is connected to their favorite celebrity.

• Opens up new markets: Choosing the right celebrity can open up your brand to new
markets. For example, when Nike wanted to expand from primarily sponsoring tennis and
track, they partnered with Michael Jordan – and this partnership has been so successful.

Cons Celebrity Endorsement

• They may overshadow your brand: If a celebrity is too big, their popularity might instantly
overshadow your brand. If the ad focuses too much on the celebrity, it can cut out brand
recognition in the minds of consumers. This can also become a problem if a celebrity is
endorsing multiple products, as they see celebrity & associate it with another brand.

• Celebrity images change: When you sign on a celebrity to endorse your brand, you sign
on to everything that comes with them. While this usually means bringing in some of their
fan base as customers, it can lead to disaster if scandal occurs. Example: Tiger Woods in
2009, when rumors of his infidelity surfaced & brands began to drop him as sponsor to
avoid backlash from consumers.

• Endorsements are expensive: This may seem obvious but getting a celebrity
endorsement typically requires shelling out a pretty substantial chunk of money. Pepsi
decided it was worth the price when they signed on with Beyoncé for a whopping $50
million 10-year endorsement contract, but if you aren’t a multi-billion-dollar company.
Brand Extension
Brand extension is the use of an established brand name for a new product or new product
category. It's sometimes known as brand stretching.

A renowned/successful brand helps an organization to launch products in new categories more

easily. For instance, Nike’s brand core product is shoes. But it is now extended to sunglasses,
soccer balls, basketballs, and golf equipment. An existing brand that gives rise to a brand
extension is referred to as parent brand. If the customers of the new business have values and
aspirations synchronizing/matching those of the core business, and if these values and
aspirations are embodied in the brand, it is likely to be accepted by customers in the new
business.

Advantages of Brand Extension

• It makes acceptance of new product easy.
• It increases brand image.
• The risk perceived by the customers reduces.
• Cost of developing new brand is saved.
• Consumers can now seek for a variety.
• There are packaging and labelling efficiencies.
• The expense of introductory and follow up marketing programs is reduced.
• It revives the brand.
• It allows the subsequent extensions.
• The image of parent brand enhanced.
• It increase the market coverage.

Disadvantages of Brand Extension

• Brand extension in unrelated markets may lead to loss of reliability if a brand name is
extended too far. An organization must research the product categories in which the
established brand name will work.
• There is a risk that the new product may generate implications that damage the image of
the core/original brand.
• There are chances of less awareness and trial because the management may not provide
enough investment for the introduction of new product assuming that the spin-off effects
from the original brand name will compensate.
• If the brand extensions have no advantage over competitive brands in the new category,
then it will fail.
Process of Brand Extension
1. Measure Brand Equity: One of the biggest concerns when implementing brand
extensions is the risk of causing brand dilution, that is, when the new product category
fails and presents a negative impact on the brand as a whole. Thus, the first step is to have
a Brand Equity measurement in place in order to track possible future impacts.

2. Measure the potential risks: Run a scenario analysis to identify the positive or negative
effects on the business and brand equity. The goal is to implement a brand extension
whose risk of failure does not exceed any marketing efficiencies.

3. Leverage from business core competency: The new product should leverage all the skills
and know-how from the current business and marketing operations in order to gain a
competitive advantage in the new category. By identifying the business key
competencies, brand will be able to gain efficiencies and create market differentiation.

4. Invest in Marketing Research: In the eagerness to grow the business, brands forget about
making sure the new category has market potential, that there are clear opportunities or
unmet customer needs. When identifying key opportunities, make sure to understand
prospect and current customers and estimate their acceptance for potential brand
acceptance. Use marketing research also to test the possible new brand extensions.

5. Make the brand extension a logical fit: The new product must be a logical fit to the brand,
compatible, expected and follow the current brand story. The link between the new
product and the parent brand should be easily tracked. The biggest brand extension
pitfalls fall into this category.

6. Create a Brand Extension Strategy: After making sure the story follows a smooth path
between both categories, make sure you develop a brand management plan and a
compelling go-to-market strategy that will connect with your audience across multiple
touchpoints.

Branding Strategies
Branding consists of a set of complex branding decisions. Major brand strategy decisions involve
brand positioning, brand name selection, brand sponsorship and brand development. A brand is
a company’s promise to deliver a specific set of features, benefits, services and experiences
consistently to buyers. However, a brand should rather be understood as a set of perceptions a
consumer has about the products of a particular firm. Therefore, all branding decisions focus on
the consumer.
Brand Positioning – Branding Decisions
A brand must be positioned clearly in target customers’ minds. Brand positioning can be done at
any of three levels:
• on product attributes
• on benefits
• on beliefs and values.

At the lowest level, marketers can position a brand on product attributes. Marketing for a car
brand may focus on attributes such as large engines, fancy colours and sportive design. However,
attributes are generally the least desirable level for brand positioning. The reason is that
competitors can easily copy these attributes, taking away the uniqueness of the brand. Also,
customers are not interested in attributes as such. Rather, they are interested in what these
attributes will do for them.

A brand can be better positioned on basis of a desirable benefit. The car brand could go beyond
the technical product attributes and promote the resulting benefits for the customer: quick
transportation, lifestyle and so further. Yet, the strongest brands go beyond product attributes
and benefits. They are positioned on beliefs and values. Successful brands engage customers on
a deep, emotional level. Examples include brands such as Mini and Aston Martin. These brands
rely less on products’ tangible attributes, but more on creating passion, surprise and excitement
surrounding the brand. They have become “cool” brands.
Brand Name Selection – Branding Decisions
When talking about branding decisions, the brand name decision may be the most obvious one.
The name of the brand is maybe what you think of first when imagining a brand – it is the base
of the brand. Therefore, the brand name selection belongs to the most important branding
decisions. However, it is also quite a difficult task. We have to start with a careful review of the
product and its benefits, the target market and proposed marketing strategies. Having that in
mind, we have to find a brand name matching these things. Naming a brand is part science, part
art, and certainly a measure of instinct.

Although finding the right name for a brand can be a challenging task, there are some guidelines
to make it easier. Desirable qualities for a brand name include:
• It should suggest something about a product’s benefits and qualities. Think of the
wadding polish “Nevr Dull”. The brand name indicates the benefit of using this product:
the treated metal will never be dull.
• It should be easy to pronounce, recognise, and remember. iPod and Nike are certainly
better than “Troglodyte Homunculus” – a clothing brand.
• The brand name should be distinctive, so that consumers don’t confuse it with other
brands. Rolex and Bugatti are good examples.
• It should also be extendable. Think of Amazon.com, which began as an online bookseller
but chose a name that would allow expansion into other categories. If Amazon.com had
chosen a different name, such as books.com, it could not have extended its business that
easily.
• The brand name should translate easily into foreign languages. The Ford Pinto line had
some struggles in Brazil, seeing as it translated into “tiny male genitals”. Or the Mitsubishi
Pajero, which means in Spanish “man who plays with himself and enjoys it a bit too
much”. More famous: Coca-Cola reads in Chinese as “female horse stuffed with wax”.
• It should be capable of registration and legal protection. In other words, it must not
infringe on existing brand names.

After a decade of choosing quirky names (such as Yahoo!, Google) or fictional names, today’s
style is to build brands around names that carry real meaning. For instance, names such as
Blackboard, a school software, make sense. However, with more and more brand names and
trademark applications, available new names can be hard to find.

Brand Sponsorship – Branding Decisions

Branding decisions go beyond deciding upon brand positioning and brand name. The third of our
four branding decisions is the brand sponsorship. A manufacturer has four brand sponsorship
options.
A product may be launched as a manufacturer’s brand. This is also called national brand.
Examples include Kellogg selling its output under the own brand name (Kellogg’s Frosties, for
instance) or Sony (Sony Bravia HDTV). The manufacturer could also sell to resellers who give the
product a private brand. This is also called a store brand, a distributor brand or an own-label.
Recent tougher economic times have created a real store-brand boom. As consumers become
more price-conscious, they also become less brand-conscious, and are willing to choose private
brands instead of established and often more expensive manufacturer’s brands.

Also, manufacturers can choose licensed brands. Instead of spending millions to create own
brand names, some companies license names or symbols previously created by other
manufacturers. This can also involve names of well-known celebrities or characters from popular
movies and books. For a fee, they can provide an instant and proven brand name. For example,
sellers of children’s products often attach character names to clothing, toys and so on. These
licensed character names include Disney, Star Wars, Hello Kitty and many more.

Finally, two companies can join forces and co-brand a product. Co-branding is the practice of
using the established brand names of two different companies on the same product. This can
offer many advantages, such as the fact that the combined brands create broader consumer
appeal and larger brand equity. For instance, Nestlé uses co-branding for its Nespresso coffee
machines, which carry the brand names of well-known kitchen equipment manufacturers such
as Krups, DeLonghi and Siemens.
Brand Development – Brand Decision
Branding decisions finally include brand development. For developing brands, a company has
four choices: line extensions, brand extensions, multi-brands or new brands.

• Product line extension: A product line extension is introducing a new product – that is
similar to what the company already offers (that is, within an existing product
line/category) that is targeting an existing market by using the current brand name. This
is a very common approach in marketing. This is because the existing brand name has a
customer following, and new products/variations will tend to be relatively well received
by these loyal customers. We frequently see this approach with product sold through
supermarkets channels, where you variations of tastes/flavors and packaging sizes have
some appeal with the marketplace.

• Multi brand: A variation of the product line extension above, is to run a multiple brand
strategy within the same market. As you can see from the matrix, a multi-brand strategy
involves having more than one brand competing in the same product category. Again, this
is a relatively common approach for large companies. For example, a manufacturer of
frozen vegetables may have multiple brands – that to the consumer appeared to compete
against each other – but have the same corporate ownership.

The main reasons for this is that these brands can have different positioning in the market,
dominate the overall shelf space, and reduce opportunities for competitors to enter the
market or to win market share. The disadvantage of this multi brand strategy (as opposed
to a product line extension strategy) is the cost and time of developing a new brand name
successfully in the marketplace.
• Brand extension: A brand extension involves broadening the market’s understanding of
the brand. This is achieved by offering more products (of a different nature/category)
under the existing brand name. An example of this in recent years would be McDonald’s
competing in the gourmet coffee product category – effectively broadening the
positioning of McDonald’s from fast food only to being perceived as also competing
against Starbucks to some extent. Brand extensions they usually approached with care,
as the market may not fully accept the brand’s expertise in another product category. As
a hypothetical example, consider if the Coca-Cola brand was extended to shampoos and
detergents – the market would see little connection and the overall brand would be
damaged. Therefore, brand extensions work best if the new product category has some
relationship to the brand’s existing product category and perceived area of expertise.

• New brand: The final brand development strategy is a new brand. A new brand occurs
when the firm is expanding is offering – by developing a new product line that they
haven’t not offered before – and as a result, need to build a new brand.

Range Branding
A number of products or services in a broad category are grouped together under one brand
name and promoted with one basic identity.

Compared to product-line branding, product-range branded products carry out the basically the
same functions but at different performance levels like various cars in the Mercedes S, E, C and
A class and Intel’s Pentium & Celeron ranges of microprocessors. Therefore, advantage here is
that a single brand name allows some economies of scale in advertising and promotion as the
products tend to carry the same overall brand values and positioning.

Merits of Range Branding

• Formation of brand equity is the very important advantage of range branding. Products
under range branding share a common name. Brand building efforts do not get dissipated.
• Other new products which are consistent with the brand can easily be held in the embrace
of range branding. As a result, cost of introducing a brand in the marketplace is less. The
Ayurvedic concept for example is passed on to new products which share its idea at lower
expenditure.

Demerits of Range Branding

• The most important drawback is that when range branding embrace too many products,
the meaning of the concept may get diffused.
• Over stretching weakens the brands.
Umbrella Branding
An umbrella branding strategy is a marketing practice that involves selling many related products
under a single brand name. Unlike individual product branding, which uses different brand names
for different products, umbrella branding uses a single brand name, and in some cases logo, for
different products.

Umbrella branding offers several benefits to marketers. They include

• Extra Brand Creation not required
• Single spend on advertising (for all products)
• Dependant perception: The perception depends on the main brand
• Easier launch of new products
• Better response to new products when compared to individual branding

Umbrella branding involves creating huge brand equity for a single brand, and thereafter
leveraging that over multiple products. Umbrella branding is also known as family branding. It is
very common to find umbrella branding in FMCG products.

On the flipside, bad reputation of any one product, may affect the equity of all the other products
using the same brand name. In India, umbrella branding is used successfully by Amul for dairy
products, Tata for its FMCG products like Tata Tea, and Tata Salt, and Kingfisher for alcoholic
beverages, mineral water and Airlines. Wills also uses umbrella branding for its tobacco products,
apparels, accessories, and soaps & shampoo.

Disadvantages of Umbrella Branding

• Any organization, whether big or small, is unable to provide similar quality to all of its
products. This creates chances of quality fluctuation. An organization which focuses on
one product may sometimes neglect other products.
• Umbrella branding is useful for those products which involve some logical connection
with each other. For example, Starbucks started promoting snacks that are coffee or
beverage related. This will be accepted as the products are interrelated; however, if
Starbucks plans to promote tablets, laptops or desktops, consumers will be unable to
relate with the product as they perceive Starbucks to be in the coffee-related industry.
• A major drawback of umbrella branding is that if a single product has a poor reputation;
it will impact other products that are within the same brand. This can result in the
reduction of purchase of the brand.
Brand Reinforcement
The Brand Reinforcement majorly focuses on maintaining the Brand Equity by keeping the brand
alive among both the existing and new customers. This can be done through consistently
conveying the meaning of brand in terms of:
• What are the products under the brand? What are its core benefits and how it satisfies
the demand?
• How is the brand different from other brands? How it enables a customer to make a
strong, unique and favourable association in their minds?

Apart from innovation and research the brand reinforcement can be done through various
marketing programs such as:
• Advertising is one of the most common and easy tool of brand reinforcement. By showing
the ads frequently on TV, Internet, Bulletins, Billboard, Radio, etc. can make the brand
deep-rooted in the minds of the customer.

• Exhibition provides a vital platform to the brands where the product with any new feature
can be demonstrated to the customer. Products seen in real gives an experience to the
customer, and some image gets created in their minds.

• Event and Sponsorship act as an aide to the brand reinforcement. The companies sponsor
big events like sports, political rallies, education, award functions, etc. with objective of
reminding customer about product & creating positive image in minds of new prospects.

• Showroom layout also plays a vital role in strengthening the brand image in the minds of
the customer. The way the brands are placed in the retail outlets or stores reminds the
customer about the product and also influences new users through its appeal.
• Promotion is the most frequently used tool of brand reinforcement. Several companies
adopt this strategy wherein some special offers, freebies, discounts, gift packs, etc. are
given along with the product. This is done with the intention to retain the existing
customers and attract new customers simultaneously.

According to Keller (2012), Brand Reinforcement involves the following:

• Maintaining brand consistency– This helps to enhance brand’s positive reputation with
customers and without it, the meaning of the brand would vary across its several touch
points. Brand consistency leads consumers to get familiarized with the brand and enhance
their perception about brand uniqueness, resulting in brand reputation.

• Protecting sources of brand equity– Though brand should always try to defend the
existing sources of brand equity, they should also look for potentially powerful new
sources of equity. However, there is very little need to deviate from a successful
positioning, unless the current positioning is being affected by some internal or external
factor which is making it less powerful.

• Fortifying vs. Leveraging– Fortifying refers to enhancing brand equity in terms of

awareness and perception, whereas Leveraging refers to making money from a brand.
Failure to fortify a brand might result in brand decay and there would be no leveraging
from the brand any more. Therefore, there should be a proper balance between fortifying
and leveraging brands.

• Fine-tuning Supporting Marketing Program– This could be done through improving

product related performance associations and non-product related imagery associations.
This should also be done, only when the current ones are no longer creating the desired
results to maintain and strengthen brand equity.

Brand Revitalization of Advertisement

The Brand Revitalization is the marketing strategy adopted when the product reaches the
maturity stage of product life cycle, and profits have fallen drastically. It is an attempt to bring
the product back in the market and secure the sources of equity i.e. customers.

Example: Mountain Dew, A Pepsi product, was launched in 1969 with the tagline “Yahoo
Mountain Dew” that flourished in the market till 1990. After that the sales of mountain dew
declined due to which it was re-positioned, its packaging was changed, and the tagline was
changed to “Do the Dew”. It targeted the young males showing their audacity in performing the
adventurous sports. This led the Mountain Dew to the fifth position in the beverage industry.
Importance of Brand Revitalization
• Increased Competition in the market is one of the major reasons for the product to go
under the brand revitalization. In order to meet with the offerings and technology of
competitor, the company has to design its brand accordingly so as to sustain in the
market.

• The Brand Relevance plays a major role in capturing the market. The brand should be
modified in accordance with the changes in tastes and preferences of customers i.e. it
should cater the need of target market.

• Nowadays Globalization has become an integral part of any business. In order to meet
the different needs of different customers residing in different countries the brand has to
be revitalized accordingly.

• Sometimes Mergers and Acquisitions demand the brand revitalization. When two or
more companies combine, they want the product to be designed from the scratch in a
way that it appeals to both and benefits each simultaneously.

• Technology is something that is changing rapidly. In order to meet with the latest trend,
the companies have to adopt the new technology due to which the product can go under
complete revitalization.

• Some Legal Issues may force a brand to go under brand revitalization such as copyrights,
bankruptcy, etc. In such situations, the brand has to be designed accordingly, and the
branding is to be done in line with the legal requirements.

Ways to Revitalize
• The Usage of a product can be increased by continuously reminding about the brand to
customers through advertisements. The benefits of the frequent use of a product can be
communicated to increase the consumption, e.g., the usage of Head & Shoulders on every
alternate day can reduce dandruff.

• The untapped market can be occupied by understanding the needs of the new market
segment. The brand revitalization can be done to cater to the needs of new customers,
e.g.; Johnson n Johnson is a baby product company but due to its mild product line the
same can be used by ladies to have a soft skin and hair.
• The brand can be revitalized by entering into an entirely New Market. The best example
for this is Wipro, who has entered into a baby product line.

• Another way of getting the brand revitalized is through the Re-positioning. It means
changing any of the 4 P’s of marketing mix viz. Product, price, place and promotion. The
best example of re-positioning is Tata Nano. On its launch, it was tagged as the “cheapest
Car” that hurt the sentiments of customers, and the sales fell drastically. To revive the
sales, the new campaign was launched “Celebrate Awesomeness” that re-positioned its
image in the minds of the customer.

• A brand can be revitalized by Augmenting the Product and Services. The company should
try to give something extra along with the product that is not expected by the customer.
Some additional benefits can revive the brand in the market e.g. A plastic container comes
with a surf excel 1 Kg pack that can be used for any other purpose.

• The brand can be modified through the Involvement of Customer The feedback about
the product and services can be taken from ultimate consumer and changes can be made
accordingly. Customer’s involvement is best seen in service sector wherein feedback
forms are filled in at the time of availing the services such as hotels, restaurants, clubs,
flights, trains, etc.

Steps to Revitalize a Brand

Instill an Imperative for change

Own a mindset and create a sense of intimacy

Aspire to indispensability

Think as one – act as one

Nurture your brand

Managing Global Brands

In a world of globalisation, multinational companies and expanding online commercial and social
interactions, global brand management has evolved into a complex and ever-changing discipline.
Organisations with international brands in their portfolio have different approaches and systems
for global brand management, but the underlying principle is always to instil, build and maintain
consistency in the process.
• Managing brands over time: Managing brands in today’s inter-connected and complex
business environment is challenging. Brands are affected by heightened competition,
regulations, supply chain and distribution issues and manufacturing costs, while requiring
constant advocacy and reputation management. For companies to manage this plethora
of internal and external factors across multiple geographies, global brand management
practices need to be resilient, responsive, growth-oriented and future proof. To ensure
the intended impact of driving growth and long-term profitability, global brand
management practices should exhibit the following defining characteristics:

• Be adaptive and flexible: Brand management is not about rigid enforcement of

frameworks, rules and practices. Successful global brands are managed by balancing
‘consistent brand guardrails’ with the ‘freedom to adapt to leverage local growth
opportunities. Without the freedom to adapt to local needs and leverage emerging
opportunities, brands risk becoming obsolete and irrelevant. Any form of brand
adaptability, such as extensions, variants, and diversification, should not dilute the core
values of the brand and lead to a loss of equity. Constantly evaluating a brand’s strategy
against its guardrails, vision and core mission ensures consistency in the global brand
promise across countries and regions. Philips, for example, made a big impact in China,
where its local business developed a soy milk maker to the delight of consumers worried
about food safety.

• Leverage technology: The emergence of technology-enabled solutions has fundamentally

changed the practice of brand management. Forward-thinking organisations have
identified the benefits and scalability of technology in brand management and have
quickly adopted solutions. Unilever, for example, has used the marketing software
company Percolate to support its global brand management practices. Customer
Relationship Management (CRM), identity, licensing and activation systems have all seen
rapid advances in terms of technological innovation and global scalability.

• Use custodians: Ensuring consistency in brand identity, strategy, marketing and

activations should be the core role and responsibility of at least one individual in an
organisation. These people are the brand custodians and their job is not to act like a cruel
enforcer of rules but to be a strategic guide and mentor who can advise local brand
marketing teams on strategic issues such as managing brand guidelines, ensuring
consistency in brand positioning, adapting or localising brand communications,
integrating local marketing strategies into the global brand strategy and facilitating the
exchange of knowledge and best practices between local and global brand teams.
• Align organisational structures: People can only work to their fullest capacity when
organisational structures are designed and aligned to ensure this. Global, regional and
local brand management functions should be seamlessly integrated in an organisation.
The global versus local issue of local push-and-pull over strategic issues is well
documented and observed in management practices. The same tension can completely
damage the execution of the most effective brand management. Roles and
responsibilities in brand management structures should be clearly defined and overlaps
reduced. The challenge most global organisations face is the excessive number of
individuals responsible and involved, with no distinct demarcations between their roles
and responsibilities.

• Be proactive: Global brand management needs to be a proactive discipline rather than a

reactive one. The evolution of technology, social media, next generation customer
relationship management tools, social listening platforms, cultural and trend analysis, co-
creation, crowd-funding and disruptive innovation techniques have made it easier for
brand marketers to stay close to the consumer and become more accurate in spotting,
predicting and leveraging trends. Brand management practices need to be aligned to
these new and emerging tools and techniques and should be able to integrate them in
key phases of the function.

Essentials for Managing Global Brands in 21st Century

• Ask for opinion when it comes to creativity
• Requiring External Agencies, the Highest Quality: Train them and Engage them
• Following up regularly the Quality Status of any existing Brand Touch-point
• Planning Resources by Type of Work they require
• Continuously asking how the Brand can evolve
• Continuously asking what the Brand can do for the Business

Branding in Different Sectors

The humans have frequent needs as well as occasional needs in the life. They are varied in
number of ways such as day-to-day living needs, social needs, health and medication needs,
contemporary lifestyle needs, to name a few. According to this need-based market
segmentation, the brands are diversified in different sectors such as personal care, home care,
commodities, entertainment, healthcare, pharmaceutical, luxuries, and services.

Basic Approaches of Branding

There are two basic approaches of brands according to ownership –
Manufacturer’s Brands Private / Store Brands
They are created and owned by the They are created and developed by retailers,
producers. distributors, or wholesalers.
The retailer does not promote one single brand
Manufacturer promotes its own brand
extensively. He can put the products of different
extensively.
brands on the shelves.
Their budgets of research and development, There is very less budget allocated for ads. Similarly,
ads, sales promotion, distribution channels research and development, distribution channels
depth etc. are huge. Hence, there can be less depth are lower. Hence, these brands can have
profit margin. higher profit margins.
They are more advanced and work There is no manufacturing technology involved,
innovatively on manufacturing technology. hence they can be less innovative.
They do not communicate with the They work very closely with consumers hence they
consumers directly. have a better idea on what consumers demand.

The brands can be further categorized depending on the human needs or the context as given –
• Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) Brands: The FMCG items such as grocery,
toiletries, easy-to-cook foods, are essential for our daily lives. They are called fast moving
because they are the quickest to get sold from the supermarket shelves. They are also
called Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) brands. They are inexpensive and tangible
products which can be produced in advance and can be stored to be consumed later. The
brand managers need to handle these brands tactfully to generate more revenue as there
is fierce competition in the FMCG market. If a product does not meet the consumer’s
expectations, there is always other brand ready to take the advantage. Examples of FMCG
− Unilever’s Dove Body care, Colgate Palmolive’s oral care, Godrej, Dabur, Burges Olive
Oil, etc.

• Commodities: They are the products or services which consumers buy depending upon
their price. There is no quantitative differentiation for commodities across the market.
Milk, sugar, oil, grains and cereals, metals, wool and rubber, and natural gas, are all
commodities. Since it is not easy to pursue the consumers to pay more price for the
parallel product he can get at a lesser price, the sellers need to put in a lot of effort on
colors, logo, brand character, and packaging to differentiate the product so it makes a
significant impact on the consumers’ mind. Also, the seller needs to keep on adding value
to the product. Examples of commodities − TATA Salt, General Mill’s Pillsbury whole
wheat flour, etc.
• Luxury Brands: They are not essential but highly desired out of one’s own perception and
self-worth. The desirability is based on the consumer’s demand of high quality, fine
craftsmanship, exclusivity, precision, and beauty. Also, peer recognition, appreciation,
and approval of high status are the underlying needs which promote luxury brands. High-
end automobiles, jewellery, cosmetics, accessories, properties, and perfumes come
under luxury brands.
These brands are divided into three categories –
Prestige Brands− Mercedes-Benz, Rolex, Swarovski, etc. represent high
craftsmanship and lavishness. They are regarded as the mark of high social status.
Premium Brands− They are mass luxury brands. For example, Calvin Klein and
Tommy Hilfiger.
Fashion Brands− They bring fashion products such as apparels and accessories
under “hot trends” and target mass consumers. They bring products according to
the seasons.

Most luxury companies are small to medium sized enterprises. Presence of luxury brands
must be maintained all over the world to reinforce the brand image in the consumer’s
mind. They are available in flagship stores.

• Business to Business (B2B) Brands: Under these brands, a business makes a commercial
transaction with another business. Such transactions occur when one business provides
resources to another business for manufacturing some product, and when one business
supplies or rents out the products to another business. B2B companies must
pursue global branding as they have a smaller number of customers than B2C companies
and a greater number of transactions with other businesses. For example, restaurants
buy cooking energy, raw materials, crockery, furniture, lights, etc. from different
businesses. Retailers buy a product from original manufacturer for reselling it.
McDonalds, Pizza Hut, IBM, GE, Microsoft, and Oracle are B2B brands to name a few.

• Pharmaceutical Brands: These brands cover the products which are commonly known as
drugs or medicines used to diagnose, treat, and prevent a disease. There are more than
70,000 registered brands of drugs. Pharmaceutical brands are different than consumer
brands in various prominent ways. Unlike consumer products, where requirement can be
generated through creative advertising and other promotional means, a pharmaceutical
company cannot create a need that is not there. Any new pharmaceutical product cannot
create demand without underlying medical need.
In addition, the product features of prescription drugs cannot be changed to meet
consumer needs or preferences without clinical development outcomes and receiving
approval from the regulatory authorities. Examples of pharmaceutical brands − Simila
Expert Care nutrition for infants from Abbott Laboratories, USA and Dr Reddy’s Nise.

• Service Brands: The service sector has spurred the economic growth of many countries.
Services are produced and consumed in real time. The output of a service brand is
intangible, such as experience of the consumer. In service branding, the speed of
processing the consumer’s request, punctuality in delivery, quality, and degree of
attending special needs, and responsiveness are the factors the service provider caters
for. Because of its intangible nature and dependency on dynamic nature of humans who
provide it, branding of service is difficult. The domestic and industrial appliances,
automobiles, etc. are sold with the promise of quality servicing. The quality and cost
claimed by the services belonging to the same industry can vary to a great extent. Service
brands are categorized into the following types:
Classic Service Brands− They include banks, beauty salons, consultation services,
car rentals, and airline services.
Pure Service Brands− They include association memberships.
Professional Service Brands− They include advisors, consultants, travel agents,
estate agents, etc.
Retail Service Brands− They include restaurants, fashion stores, supermarkets,
etc.

Examples of service brands − Ford, Airtel, Axis Bank, Air India, Café Coffee Day by Coffee
Day Global Ltd., Lifestyle fashion retailing by Landmark, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance,
etc.

• E-Brands: These brands portray their entire image, such as the company’s value,
competency, vision, motives, missions, products/services etc. through web to the online
consumer. E-Brands work to create a direct relationship between the brand owner and
the customer via Internet. Due to their wide reachability, it is easy for the e-brands to
survive among competitors and gain reputation among consumers. The consumers are
loyal to the sellers whose online commercial transaction schemes are familiar, tested, and
established. When the e-Brands provide features such as facility to compare various
products, listing products within a specified cost or feature segment, easy and reliable
payment modes, then the e-Brands can make place in their consumers’ minds. Examples
of e-Brand − Flipkart, Amazon, etc.