What is Brand?

A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition. For example, Coke, Nestle and Microsoft are well renowned brands. In technical speaking whenever a marketer creates a name logo symbol he or she has created a brand.

 Why do Brands matters? Brands really matter for both consumer and manufacturer. From consumer s point of view: Identification of source of product Assignment of responsibility to product maker Risk reducer Search cost reducer Promise, bond, or pact with maker of product Symbolic device Signal of quality

 Brands identify the source or maker of a product and allow consumers to assign responsibility to a particular manufacturer. From an economic perspective, brands allow consumers to lower search costs for products both internally and externally. Consumers offer their trust and loyalty with the implicit understanding that the brand will behave in certain ways and provide them utility through consistent product performance and appropriate pricing, promotion, and distribution programs and actions. Brands can serve as symbolic devices, allowing consumers to project their selfimage

 Certain brads are associated with being used by certain types of people and thus reflect different values or traits. Researched have classified products and their associated attributes into three major categories: search goods, experience goods and credence goods. Brands can reduce the risk in product decisions. These risks involve functional, physical, financial, social psychological and time risk

 search good is a product or service with features and characteristics easily evaluated before purchase. Search goods are more subject to substitution and price competition, as consumers can easily verify the price of the product and alternatives at other outlets and make sure that the products are comparable

 An experience good is a product or service where product characteristics such as quality or price are difficult to observe in advance, but these characteristics can be ascertained upon consumption. xperience goods pose difficulties for consumers in accurately making consumption choices. In service areas, such as healthcare, they reward reputation and create inertia. Experience goods typically have lower price elasticity than search goods, as consumers fear that lower prices may be due to unobservable problems or quality issues

 Post-experience goods, also called credence goods, are goods for which it is difficult for consumers to ascertain the quality even after they have consumed them, such as vitamin supplements. Potential consumers of these goods may require third-party information, provided by private rating agencies or government bodies.

 From manufacturer s point of view: Means of identification to simplify handling Means of legally protecting unique features Signal of quality level to satisfied customers Means of endowing products with unique associations Source of competitive advantage Source of financial returns

 Brands help manufacturers to organize inventory and accounting records. A brand also offers the firm legal protection for unique features of the product. A brand can retain intellectual property rights, giving legal title to the brand owner. Brands can signal a certain level of quality so that satisfied buyers can easily choose the product again. This brand loyalty provides predictability and security of demand for the firm and creates barriers of entry that make it difficult for other firms to enter the market.

 Companies sometimes want to reduce the number of brands that they market.This process is known as "Brand rationalization." Customer Based Brand Equity Customer based brand equity model is that the power of a brand lies in what customers have learned, felt, seen, and heard about the brand as a result of their experience over time. Customerbased brand equity is defined as the differential effect that brand knowledge has on consumer response to the marketing of that brand. There are three key ingredients of this definition: (1) differential effect, (2) brand knowledge, (3) consumer response to marketing.

Brand Equity as a Bridge

The power of a brand lies in the minds of consumers and what they have experienced and learned about the brand over time. Consumer knowledge drives the differences that manifest themselves in terms of brand equity. Brand equity can provide marketers with a means to interpret their past marketing performance and design their future marketing programs

Building a strong Brand

There are four steps of building a strong brand. These are as follows: 1.Ensure identification of the brand with customers and as association of the brand in customers minds with a specific product class or customer need. 2.Firmly establish the totality of brand meaning in the minds of customers by strategically linking a host of tangible and intangible brand associations with certain properties. 3.Elicit the proper customer responses to this brand identification and brand meaning. 4.Convert brand response to create an intense, active loyalty relationship between customers and the brand

These steps represent fundamental questions that customers can ask about brands as follow: 1.Who are you? (Brand identity) 2.What are you? (Brand meaning) 3.What about you? (Brand responses) 4.What about you and me? (Brand relationship)

Brand Building Blocks

Brand Salience Brand Performance Brand Imagery Brand Judgments Brand Feelings Brand Resonance

Brand Salience
Brand Salience is the degree to which your brand is thought about or noticed when a customer is in a buying situation. For example how often and easily the brand is evoked under various situations? Brand awareness refers to customers ability to recall and recognize the brand, as reflected by their ability to identify the brand under different conditions.

 Write down which brand comes to your mind when u go for purchasing a Soap Shirt Watch Cosmetics Restaurant

Brand Performance
Brand performance relates to the ways in which the product or service attempts to meet customers more functional needs. To create brand loyalty and resonance consumer experience with the product must at least meet. Reliability refers to the consistency of performance over time and from purchase to purchase. Durability refers to the expected economic life of the product. Serviceability refers to the ease of servicing the product. Performance may also depend on sensory aspects such as how a product looks and feels.

 Unaided brand awareness (for the categories in which the brand competes and perhaps for the customer benefits the brand delivers) Top-of-mind brand associations (your brand s true position in its customer s minds) Perceived brand delivery against the most important customer benefits Attitudinal loyalty toward the brand What customers think makes your brand unique (differentiation) Brand price sensitivity (a measure of brand strength) Brand vitality (a measure of brand marketplace momentum) Brand quality perceptions Brand value perceptions Brand accessibility perceptions Emotional connection to the brand Brand values alignment with its customers Brand distribution Brand market share Brand sales Brand profitability

 Which laptop , computer u feel which have the high brand performance Cars Bikes Liquors Cosmetics Mobiles Dress brands

Brand Imagery
Brand imagery deals with the extrinsic properties of the product including the ways in which the brand attempt to meet customer psychological needs. Brand imagery is how people think about a brand abstractly rather than what they think the brand actually does. Thus imagery refers to more intangible aspects of the brand.

 It is based on the proposition that consumers buy not only a product (commodity), but also the image associations of the product, such as power, wealth, sophistication, and most importantly identification and association with other users of the brand. Brand image can be reinforced by brand communications such as packaging, advertising, promotion, customer service, word-of-mouth and other aspects of the brand experience. Brand images are usually evoked by asking consumers the first words/images that come to their mind when a certain brand is mentioned (sometimes called "top of mind")

 Take a product according to your likeness and think 5 ways how u can improve its BRAND IMAGERY

Brand Judgments
Brand judgments focus on customers personal opinions and evaluation with regard to the brand. To create a strong brand four types of brand judgments summary are particular important: Quality, Credibility, Consideration and Superiority

Brand Feelings
Brand feelings are customers emotional responses and reaction with respect to brand. Brand feelings also relate to the social currency evoked by the brand. The following are six important types of brand-building feelings 1.Warmth: The brand makes consumers feel a sense of calm. 2.Fun: The brand makes consumers feel amused, playful, and cheerful and so on. Soo Soo 3.Excitement: The brand makes consumers feel energetic and feel that they are experiencing with something special. 4.Security: The brand produces a feeling of safety. 5.Self-respect: The brand makes consumers feel better about themselves. 6.Social approval: The brand results in consumers having positive feeling about the reactions of others

Brand Resonance
Brand resonance refers to the nature of the relationship and the extent to which customers feel that they are in sync with the brand. Brand resonance can be broken down into four categories Behavioral Loyalty Attitudinal Attachment Sense of Community Active Engagement

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 customer s minds. Positioning is all about identifying the optimal location of a brand and its competitors in the minds of consumers to maximize potential benefit to the firm. According to customer based brand equity model, deciding on a positioning requires determining a frame of reference by identifying the target market and the nature of competition and the ideal points-of-parity and points-of-difference brand association.

At the functional level, products and brands can position themselves in lot many a platforms
Pricing strategies Shipping/delivery services Post-sale services Product features/benefits Pre-sale process Promotional tie-ins, sponsorships, community goodwill Product quality Support services Guarantees/warranties Packaging Cultural symbols etc etc

Target Market
A market is the set of all actual and potential buyers who have sufficient motivation, ability and opportunity to buy a product. Market segmentation i nvolves dividing the market into distinct groups of homogeneous consumers who have similar needs and consumer behavior and thus require similar market mixes. All companies never target all of its segments. There is a criterion under which segments are targeted.

Identifiably: Can segment identification be easily determined? Size: Is there adequate sales potential in the segment? Accessibility: Are specialized distribution outlets and communication media available to reach the segment? Responsiveness: How favorably will the segment respond to a tailored marketing program?

From manufacturer perspective the model segments users of a brand is divided into four groups based on strength of commitment from low to high, as follows

1.Convertible: High likely to switch brands 2.Shallow: Not ready to switch, but may be considering alternatives 3.Average: Comfortable with their choice; unlikely to switch in the future 4.Entrenched: Highly loyal; unlikely to change in the foreseeable future

Core Brand Values

Core brand values are those set of attributes that characterize the five to ten most important aspects of a brand. Core brand values can serve as the basis of brand positioning in terms of how they relate to points of parity and points of difference. Core brand values can be identified through structured process. The first step is to create a detailed mental map of the brand. A mental map accurately portrays in detail all salient brand associations and responses for a particular target market. Mental maps must reflect the reality of how the brand is actually perceived by consumers in terms of their beliefs, attitudes, opinions, feelings, images and experiences.

Brand Mantras
A brand mantra is highly related to handing concepts such as brand essence used by others. A brand mantra is an articulation of the heart and soul of the brand. Their purpose is to ensure that all employees within the organization and all external marketing partners understand what the brand most fundamentally is to represent with consumers so that they can adjust their actions accordingly. Brand mantras are powerful devices. They can provide guidance what ad campaigns to run, where and how the brand should be sold and so on. Brand mantras can be broken down into three terms brand functions, descriptive modifier and emotional modifier. The brand functions describe the nature of theproduct. The descriptive modifier is a way to circumscribe the business functions term to further clarify its nature. Finally Femotional modifier provides another qualifier in terms of how the brand delivers these benefits. Example Nike brand function is performance, descriptive modifier is athletic and emotional modifier is authentic

 Criteria for Choosing Brand Elements There are six criteria in choosing brand elements which are as follows: Memorability Meaningfulness Likeability Transferability Adaptability Protect ability

Five B s from the Customer Perspective

1.Basic: There are some basic things which are required by customers. 2.Background: Customers have background when they are going to purchase. 3.Beaut y: Packaging should be such that attract customers. 4.Belief: Customer should be belief on the brand. 5.Benefit: Customers purchase those things which give them benefit

Five B s from Brand Manager Perspective:

1.Brave: He should be bold in respect of taking initiatives. 2.Brilliant: He should be adept in designing better brand strategies. 3.Backing: Company should support him in sensitive situations. 4.Bridge: He is a person that creates a link between customers and company and works as a bridge. 5.Beneficial: He should provide benefit to his company in which he is working

Options and Tactics for Brand Elements Be protected (or at least protect able) under trademark law
Be easy to pronounce Be easy to remember Be easy to recognize Be easy to translate into all languages in the markets where the brand will be used Attract attention Suggest product benefits (e.g.: Easy-Off) or suggest usage (note the tradeoff with strong trademark protection) Suggest the company or product image Distinguish the product's positioning relative to the competition. Be super attractive Stand out among a group of other brands < like that one compared to the others

Brand Names
A legally protected brand name is called a trademark. The word brand has continued to evolve to encompass identity - it affects the personality of a product, company or service.

 Types of brand names Brand names come in many styles.[7] A few include: Acronym: A name made of initials such as UPS or IBM Descriptive: Names that describe a product benefit or function like Whole Foods or Airbus Alliteration and rhyme: Names that are fun to say and stick in the mind like Reese's Pieces or Dunkin' Donuts Evocative: Names that evoke a relevant vivid image like Amazon or Crest Neologisms: Completely made-up words like Wii or Kodak Foreign word: Adoption of a word from another language like Volvo or Samsung Founders' names: Using the names of real people,and founder's name like Hewlett-Packard or Disney Geography: Many brands are named for regions and landmarks like Cisco and Fuji Film Personification: Many brands take their names from myth like Nike or from the minds of ad execs like Betty Crocker

Brand awareness
Brand awareness refers to customers' ability to recall and recognize the brand under different conditions and link to the brand name, logo, jingles and so on to certain associations in memory. It helps the customers to understand to which product or service category the particular brand belongs and what products and services are sold under the brand name. It also ensures that customers know which of their needs are satisfied by the brand through its products

Brand Awareness
Brand awareness improved the extent to which brand names are chosen that are simple and easy to pronounce. To enhance brand recall, it is desirable for the brand name to be simple and easy to pronounce. Pronunciation also affects the willingness of consumers to order the brand orally. Ideally, the brand name should have a clear, understandable and unambiguous pronunciation and meaning. The way a brand is pronounced can affect its meaning.

Brand promise
The marketer and owner of the brand has a vision of what the brand must be and do for the consumers Brand promise is what a particular brand stands for (and has stood for in the past). It has its roots from the identity that it gains over a period of time. for example, 'the best sparkling teeth', or 'the trusted bank to bank with for centuries', et al.

Promises Kept
A promise can define a company in the marketplace. Below are a few examples of companies that create expectations and consistently deliver on them. Can you think of others? FedEx - Your package will get there overnight. Guaranteed. Apple - You can own the coolest, easiest-to-use cuttingedge computers and electronics McKinsey & Company - You can hire the best minds in management consulting The Nature Conservancy - Empowering you to save the wilderness

Green brands
Green brands are those brands that consumers associate with environmental conservation and sustainable business practices. Such brands appeal to consumers who are becoming more aware of the need to protect the environment. A green brand can add a unique selling point to a product and can boost corporate image

Greenwashing
It is a term describing the deceptive use of green PR or green marketing in order to promote a misleading perception that a company's policies or products are environmentally friendly. The term green sheen has similarly been used to describe organizations that attempt to show that they are adopting practices beneficial to the environment.[1][2] Greenwashing may be described as "spin". One example is presenting cost cuts as reductions in use of resources

Global brand
A global brand is one which is perceived to reflect the same set of values around the world. Global brands transcend their origins and create strong enduring relationships with consumers across countries and cultures. They are brands sold in international markets. Examples of global brands include Facebook, Apple, CocaCola, McDonald's, Mastercard, Gap, Sony and Nike. These brands are used to sell the same product across multiple markets and could be considered successful to the extent that the associated products are easily recognizable by the diverse set of consumers.

Benefits of global branding

Economies of scale (production and distribution) Lower marketing costs Laying the groundwork for future extensions worldwide Maintaining consistent brand imagery Quicker identification and integration of innovations (discovered worldwide) Preempting international competitors from entering domestic markets or locking you out of other geographic markets Increasing international media reach (especially with the explosion of the Internet) is an enabler Increases in international business and tourism are also enablers

Global brand variables The following elements may differ from country to country: Corporate slogan Products and services Product names (in American the household cleaner Mr. Clean is called Mr. Proper here in Germany. Dawn dishwashing liquid is called Fairy, Burger King is called Hungry Jack's) Product features Positionings Marketing mixes (including pricing, distribution, media and advertising execution)

These differences will depend upon: Language differences Different styles of communication Other cultural differences Differences in category and brand development Different consumption patterns Different competitive sets and marketplace conditions Different legal and regulatory environments Different national approaches to marketing (media, pricing, distribution, etc.)

Ambient brand
An ambient brand is a movement, where the brand is organized around values and social needs instead of promoting a specific product. It is a virtual space, defined by values and occupied by a community of like minded people. Whereas a traditional brand is entirely dependent on products and their parent corporations, an ambient brand is an independent social movement that companies can participate in. They are not selling products, they are allowing their company to participate in a social movement and allow their brand to be identified with this.

URLs
URL stands for universal resource locator. It is also commonly referred to as domain names. URL must register and pay for the name with a service such asRegister.com. The major issue today facing most of the companies with regard to URLs is protection of their brands from unauthorized use in domain names. Forexample Nike not approve of its name appearing in the URL of a fictitious fan site www.nikerules.com

Logos and Symbols

There are many types of logos ranging from corporate names written in a distinctive form. For example the strong word marks include Coca-Cola, Dunhill,and Kit-Kat. There are some abstract logos which may be completely unrelated to the word mark. These are called non-word mark logos. The non-word marks logos are also often called symbols. Some logos are literal representations of the brand name, enhancing brand awareness such as Apple logos and American Red Cross.

Characters
Brand characters typically are introduced through advertising and can play a central role in these and subsequent ad campaigns. Brand characters come in many different forms. Some brand characters are animated where as others are live-action figures. Consequently brand characters can be quite useful for creating brand awareness. Characters often must be updated over time so that their image and personality remains relevant to the target market.

Slogans
Slogans are short phrases that communicate descriptive information about the brand. Slogans often appear in advertising but can play an important role on packaging and in other aspects of the marketing programs. Slogans can play off the brand name in a way to build both awareness and image. Some slogans become so strongly linked to the brand that it becomes difficult to subsequently introduce new ones. For example the slogan of Haleeb milk is the thickest milk

Ad agencies
Ogilvy & Mather is an international advertising, public relations and marketing agency established in 1948. This New-York based firm operates in 125 countries across the world, with its Indian operation centre Ogilvy Advertising in Mumbai. Ogilvy & Mather is the creative team behind India s most successful and renowned brands such as Hutch (Vodafone), Cadbury, Asian Paints and Fevicol. The O&M network offers services to countless Fortune Global 500 companies across the world. Ogilvy Advertising continues to remain India s number one advertising agency.

JWT, J Walter Thompson

Popularly known as JWT, J Walter Thompson is headquartered in New York having offices in over 90 countries. It was set up in 1864 and even today, continues to create, innovate and define the world of communication in India. JWT has many feathers in its cap including Nestle, Cadbury, Bayer, Ford, Nokia and Unilever. Among its several accolade, JWT was recently proffered with the Grand Prix award at the 2008 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival for the Lead India campaign.

Mudra Communication
Mumbai-based Mudra Communication was set up in 1980 with the aim of using the art of communication to express ideas that shape its brands. The Mudra team focuses on its consumers and their needs and experiences. Its four agency networks ensure a customized and collaborative approach to create a brand experience for its clients. Mudra Communication has promoted famous brands like Neutrogena, HBO, Philips, Reliance NetConnect, Big Bazaar and Mary Kay in such a way that it creates a lasting impression in the hearts of the its consumers

The mint with a whole. The world is in your pocket Kar Lo Duniya Muthi Mein I love u rasna

 FCB Ulka Advertising Ltd., since its inception in 1961, has continued to be among the top 5 advertising agencies in India. This company s aim has always been to create advertising that is noticeable and that is most relevant to the buyer, not the seller. Some of FCB Ulka s successful ads include Tata Indicom, Whirlpool, Zee Cinema, Santoor, Sunfeast and Amul, among others. FCB Ulka is considered as a turnaround specialist that indulges in more than just brand building. Rediffusion DY & R is a Mumbai-based advertising agency that was set up in 1973. It focuses primarily on integrated PR services and media relations. This firm stands proud at number 5.

 Grey Worldwide (I) Pvt. Ltd. is a Mumbai-based advertising agency specializing is providing effective advertising and marketing solutions. With offices in Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore and Ahmedabad, Grey Worldwide India Pvt. Ltd. is part of the larger family called the Grey Global Group. Following are some of the brands that feature on Grey India s noteworthy list of clients: Hero Honda, Maruti Suzuki, Nestle, Indian Oil, Ambuja Cement, UTV, P&G and Godrej.

The creative team of Leo Burnett India Pvt. Ltd. has, over the years, successfully offered consumers with powerful brand experiences using ads like McDonald s, Heinz, Complan, Bajaj and HDFC, to name a few. A regular award winner at the Cannes festival, India s Leo Burnett has been proclaimed as one of the most creative agencies of the country.

 Since its inception in 1986, Contract Advertising India Ltd. has skillfully delivered successful results to its high-profile clientele including Tata Indicom, Religare, Asian Paints, Domino s Pizza, SpiceJet, Samonsite and American Tourister. Contract Advertising India Ltd. is known for its one-of-akind specialty divisions that provide complete advertising solutions. These divisions include DesignSutra, iContract and Core Consulting.