Comparative study of brand identities

FabIndia & Global Desi”

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Shailza dhaundiyalMfm 2nd sem

BrandA brand is a product, service, or concept that is publicly distinguished from other products, services, or concepts so that it can be easily communicated and usually marketed. A brand name is the name of the distinctive product, service, or concept. Branding is the process of creating and disseminating the brand name. Branding can be applied to the entire corporate identity as well as to individual product and service names.

Brands are usually protected from use by others by securing a trademark or service mark from an authorized agency, usually a government agency. Before applying for a trademark or service mark, you need to establish that someone else hasn't already obtained one for your name. Although you can do the searching yourself, it is common to hire a law firm that specializes in doing trademark searches and managing the application process, which, in the United States, takes about a year. Once you've learned that no one else is using it, you can begin to use your brand name as a trademark simply by stating it is a trademark (using the " TM " where it first appears in a publication or Web site). After you receive the trademark, you can use the registered (?) symbol after your trademark.

Brands are often expressed in the form of logos , graphic representations of the brand. In computers, a recent example of widespread brand application was the "Intel Inside" label provided to manufacturers that use Intel's microchips.

A company's brands and the public's awareness of them is often used as a factor in evaluating a company. Corporations sometimes hire market research firms to study public recognition of brand names as well as attitudes toward the brands.

Here is the famous advertising copywriter and ad agency founder David Ogilvy's definition of a brand:

The intangible sum of a product's attributes: its name, packaging, and price, its history, its reputation, and the way it's advertised

Brand identity

Brand Identity can be represented by a hexagonal prism with each side representing a specific character of the brand. These specific characters help to understand the perceptions of the brand in the consumer minds and at the market place. Thus these help to build a better brand image and position the products at a better level.

CHOOSING BRAND ELEMENTS TO BUILD BRAND EQUITYBrand elements, sometimes called brand identities, are those trademarkable devices that serveto identify and differentiate the brand. The main brand elements are brand names, URLs,logos, symbols, characters, spokespeople, slogans, jingles, packages, and signage. Independento f the decisions made about the product and how it is marketed, brand elements can bechosen in a manner to build as much brand equity as possible. That is, according to thecustomer-based brand equity model, brand elements can be chosen to enhance brandawareness; facilitate the formation of strong, favorable, and unique brand associations; or elicitpositive brand judgments and feelings. The test of the brand-building ability of brand elementsis what consumers would think or feel about the product if they only knew about its brandname, associated logo, and other characteristics. A brand element that provides a positivecontribution to brand equity, for example, would be one for which consumers assumed orinferred certain valued associations or responses.CRITERIA FOR CHOOSING BRAND ELEMENTS

In general, there are six criteria in choosing brand elements (as well as more specific choiceconsiderations in each case):1. Memorability2. Meaningfulness3. Likability4. Transferability5. AdaptabilityThe first three criteria ㅡ memorability, meaningfulness, and likeability ㅡ can be characterized as“brand building” in nature and concern how brand equity can be built through the judiciouschoice of a brand element. The latter three, however, are more “defensive” in nature and areconcerned with how the brand equity contained in a brand element can be leveraged andpreserved in the face of different opportunities and constraints. The following sections brieflyconsider each of these general criteria.MemorabilityA necessary condition for building brand equity is achieving a high level of brand awarenesstoward that goal, brand elements can be chosen that are inherently memorable and thereforefacilitate recall or recognition in purchase or consumption settings.In other words, the intrinsic nature of certain names, symbol, logos and the like ㅡ theirsemantic content, visual properties, and so on ㅡ may make them more attention getting andeasy to remember and therefore contribute to brand equity. For example, naming a brand ofpropane gas cylinders "Blue Rhino" and reinforcing it with a powder-blue mascot with adistinctive yellow flame is likely to stick in the minds of consumer.Meaningfulness

Besides choosing brand elements to build awareness, brand elements can also be chosenwhose inherent meaning enhances the formation of brand associations. Brand elements maytake on all kinds of meaning, varying in descriptive, as well as persuasive, content. For examplebrand names could be based on people, places, animals or birds, or other things or objects.Two particularly important dimensions or aspects of the meaning of a brand element are theextent to which it conveys the following:- General information about the nature of the product category. In terms of descriptive meaning,to what extent does the brand element suggest something about the product category?How likely would it be that a consumer could correctly identify the corresponding productcategory or categories for the brand based on any one particular brand element? In arelated question, does the brand element seem credible in the product category? In otherwords, is the content of a brand element consistent with what consumers would expect to seefrom a brand in that product category?- Specific information about particular attributes and benefits of the brand. In terms ofpersuasive meaning, to what extent does the brand element suggest something about theparticular kind of product that the brand would likely be, for example, in terms of keyattributes or benefits? Does it suggest something about a product ingredient or the type ofperson who might use the brand?Likability

The associations suggested by a brand element may not always be related to the product.Thus, brand elements can be chosen that are rich in visual and verbal imagery and inherentlyfun and interesting. Independent of its memorability and meaningfulness, how aestheticallyappealing do consumers find the brand element? Is it inherently likable, bothvisually, verbally, and in other ways? In other words, in dependent of the particular product orservice, how much would consumers like the brand element?In terms of these first three criteria, a memorable, meaningful, and likable set of brandelements offers many advantages. Because consumers often do not examine much informationin making product decisions, it is often desirable that brand elements be easily recognized andrecalled and inherently descriptive and persuasive. Moreover, memorable or meaningful brandnames, logos, symbols, and so on reduce the burden on marketing communications to buildawareness and link brand associations.The different associations that arise from the likability and appeal of the brand elementsalso may play a critical role in the equity of a brand, especially when few other product-relatedassociations exist. Often, the less concrete the possible product benefits are, the moreimportant is the creative potential of the brand name and other brand elements to captureintangible characteristics of a brand.TransferabilityThe fourth general criterion concerns the transferability of the brand element-in both a product

category and geographic sense. First to what extent can the brand element add to the brandequity of new products sharing the brand elements introduced either within the product classor across product classes? In other words, how useful is the brand element for line or categoryextensions? In general, the less specific the name, the more easily it can be transferred acrosscategories. For example, Amazon connotes a massive South American river and therefore as abrand can be appropriate for a variety of different types of products, whereas Toys”R”Usobviously does not permit the same flexibility.Second, to what extent does the brand element add to brand equity across geographicboundaries and market segments? To a large extent this depends on the cultural content andlinguistic qualities of the brand element. For example, one of the main advantages of nonmeaningful names (e.g., Exxon) is that they translate well into other language since they have noinherent meaning. The mistakes that even top companies have made in translating their brandnames, slogans, and packages into other languages and cultures over the years have becomelegendary. Companies must review all their brand elements for cultural meaning beforeintroducing the brand into a new market.AdaptabilityThe fifth consideration concerns the adaptability of the brand element over time. Because of

changes in consumer values and opinions, or simply because of a need to remain

contemporary, brand elements often must be updated over time. The more adaptable and

flexible the brand element, the easier it is to update it. For example, logos and characters can

be given a new look or a new design to make them appear more modern and relevant