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BRANDING MKTG3120 WHAT IS A BRAND? – Week I Brand components that differentiate a brand:

• Name, logo, symbol, package design or other characteristic • Branding is universal and pervasive in different product categories • Applicable to both tangible and intangible offerings of an organisation • Technological developments have impacted the way firms market their offerings

Through branding we:

• Create perceived differences of product • Develop customer loyalty • Create value that can translate to financial profits

Brand vs product

Brand Product Has dimensions to differentiate itself from other products to satisfy the same need – contains all the product lines and an intangible asset

Anything available in the market for use or consumption, that may satisfy a need or want

Differentiated on the basis of: • Packaging • Services provided • Customer advice • Financing • Delivery arrangements • Warehousing • Other things valued by customers

Categorised into 5 levels: e.g. toilet paper wipes

1. Core benefit level àfundamental need or want that satisfies a need or want

2. Generic product level àbasic version of the product containing only those attributes or characteristics absolutely necessary for its functioning but with no distinguishing features

3. Expected product level àset of attributes you expect to get i.e. softer, quilted etc

4. Augmented product level à attributes that distinguish the product from competitors e.g. flushable wipes

5. Potential product level à all the augmentations and transformation that a product might ultimately undergo in the future

Brand: tangibles and intangibles

• Dimension may be rational and tangible – related to product performance of the brand • Intangible: more symbolic, emotional and intangible related to what the brand represents

Why do brands matter? Consumers

• Include individuals and organisations • On the basis of attributes products can be classified as:

o Search goods à deciding what we are going to buy e.g. look and search at fruit and veg and pick the best one or what type of laundry detergent to buy.

o Experience goods à evaluate in terms of durability, service, quality, safety, handling e.g. tyres how much they cost how long they will last etc.

o Cadence goods à e.g. private health insurance and comparing Bupa between others

• Reduce risks in the product decision. These risks can be categorised as o Functional à didn’t perform what it said it would i.e. didn’t remove stains o Physical à product poses a physical threat to someone e.g. hot carry mug burns you

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o Financial à not worth the price I paid for it e.g. saw the same product for $10 less. o Social psychological à e.g. child got bullied for wearing bonds socks now wears no brand socks o Time à already spent time researching it and now it doesn’t perform so have to start again.. waste of

time Organisations/ businesses

• Organisations reap financial benefits from positive brand images. Physical goods

Business to business products

Ensure we understand that the brand message is really strong when selling to business

High-tech products

High-tech branding. Apple is the leader in its field. There are many types of smartphones on the market (apple, Samsung galaxy, android, google, LG, Sony, Nokia, Huawei etc)

Services Marketing services is less tangible than a product Role of branding

• I.e. When the hotel sends you back your teddy = loyalty to certain services Professional services

• Ensure services are standardised to ensure you are protecting and supporting the brand and providing a consistent service.

Strong brands • Brands that have been market leaders in their categories for decades • Any brand is vulnerable and susceptible to poor brand management.

Factors responsible for branding challenges

1. Savvy customers 2. Economic downturns

Changes in economy impact consumer purchasing power i.e. switch to less expensive products 3. Brand proliferation

Added so many products to the brand umbrella that you don’t know what is going on 4. Media transformation

Traditional media= newspaper new media= podcasts. 5. Increased competition

Product lifecycle and the fact that we are an increasingly disposable society e.g. Topshop didn’t work in Aus because we rather buy online

6. Greater accountability

Strategic brand management process Steps Key concepts 1. Identifying and

establish brand positioning and values

Identifying and developing brand plans: • Brand positioning model à how to create intense brand-loyal customers • Brand resonance model à • Competitive frame of reference: PODs vs POPs • Core brand association • Brand mantra à CRUCIAL. Your chance in 3-5 words to capture the essence of the

brand. The key points of difference. VERY NB. This is internal but the slogan is external.

2. Plan and implement brand marketing programs

• Choosing brand elementsà logo, colour, image etc • Integrating brand into marketing activities à things about the brand that demonstrate

what the brand is about. • Leveraging secondary associations

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Choose the brand to hero and how you will do it through marketing activities. What you are doing with marketing most meet what your brand promises to do.

3. Measure and interpret brand performance MOST NB and NB for group project

• Brand value chain • To manage brands profitably, managers must implement a brand equity measurement

system, this involves: Ø Brand audits à evaluate the brand ito its health, sources of equity and how we can

improve Ø Brand tracking à measuring brand performance across key measurements Ø Brand equity management systems à

Must have research from the beginning to show the bottom line which should then translate to increased profits.

4. Grow and sustain brand equity

How to grow the brand: • Brand architecture • Brand portfolios and hierarchies • Brand expansion strategies • Brand reinforcement and • Managing brand equity over timeà what are the outside forces that are affecting the

brand? Is the whole industry affected?

Watch Kevin Lane Keller’s videos—the author of our textbook. Video 1: ‘Brand planning’

§ POPs vs PODs Poins of Parity vs Points of Difference. • POP- When you break even with your customer • POD- desirable, deliverable in terms of the company, and how differentiating it is from a competitor

perspective Sometimes when we brand, colour is the most NB to choose. Video 2: ‘sharing economy’

• One of the biggest disruptions that brands face in 2018 along with artificial intelligence (AI)

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CUSTOMER-BASED EQUITY AND BRAND POSITIOING - Week II Customer-based brand equity: Defining customer based brand equity (CBBE)

• Brand equity are the added values endowed to product or service à building brand loyalty as a core • Approaches brand equity from the perspective of the consumer • Stresses that the power of a brand lies in what resides in the minds and hearts of customers • Differential effect that brand knowledge has on consumer response to the marketing of that brand

o There is a possibility of having negative brand equity Marketing advantages of strong brands:

• Improved perceptions of product performance • Great loyalty • Less vulnerability to competitive marketing

actions • Less vulnerability to marketing crises • Larger margins • More inelastic consumer response to price

increases • More elastic consumer response to price

decreases • Greater trade cooperation and support • Increased marketing communication

effectiveness • Possible licensing opportunities • Additional brand extension opportunities

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Brand equity as a Bridge

• Brand as a reflection of the past (it’s the quality not the quantity of the investment) • Brand as a direction for the future (better brand knowledge that is catered to the contexts of the time)

Brand knowledge:

• Key to create brand equity à creates the differential effect that drives brand equity • Marketers need an insightful way to represent how brand knowledge exists in consumer memory • Use the McDonalds à branding their burgers “100% pure beef”

Associative Network Memory Model

• Views memory as a network of nodes and connecting links o Nodes: represent stored information or concepts o Links: represents the strength of association between the nodes

• Brand associations are informational nodes linked to the brand node in memory Sources of Brand Equity

• It has layers – such of an onion, and is aimed at achieving brand loyalty after brand awareness is enforced Brand Awareness: related to the strength of the brand node or trace in memory

• Advantages includes: o Learning advantages o Consideration advantages o Choice advantages

Brand recognition: consumers’ ability to confirm prior exposure to the brand when given the brand as a cue Brand recall: consumers’ ability to retrieve the brand from memory when given the product category, the needs fulfilled by the category, or a purchase or usage situation as a cue Brand Image:

• Strength of brand associations: more deeply s person thinks about product information and relates it to existing brand knowledge, stronger is the resulting brand association

• Favourability of brand associations: is higher when a brand possesses relevant attributes and benefits that satisfy consumer needs and wants

• Uniqueness of brand associations: “unique selling proposition” of the product à provides brands with sustainable competitive advantage

Brand Positioning: Positioning requires that markets define and communicate similarities and differences between their brand and its competitors

• Frame of reference: identifying the target market and relevant competition o Category membership of a product or which product category a brand competes with o It is the framework used by consumers to make sense of the brand/product in question and explains the

context in which this sensemaking takes place o First identify the frame of reference used by the TA in evaluating the product or service o Then, marketer will position the product or service in line with that frame of reference

• Points of parity (POP): identify the optimal points of parity and points of difference o Not unique to the brand itself but shared by others in the product category

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o Minimum category barrier – EG: Nivea Deodorant, I will save you from social embarrassment and we are gentle on skin

§ EG drink –I am thirst quenching (POP) and also healthy (POD) o Provides another perspective in how to make or keep a brand relevant • o Point of difference a competitor has over your brand that needs to be counteracted o Category point of parity

§ Necessary category features a brand must have o Competitive point of parity

§ Designed to negate a competitor point of parity o Correlational point of parity

§ Potentially negative associations that arise from the existence of other more positive associations • Point of Difference (POD)

o In terms of attributes, benefits or values – relevant, distinctive and believable o Important to establish a POD, it is equally important to nullify the competition by matching them on the

POP o Something about the brand that makes it difference à and this difference is valued by consumers o Generally defined in terms of customer benefits o Benefits that consumers strongly associate with a brand, positively evaluate, and believe they could not

find to the same extent with a competitive brand o Points of different will not matter without the requisite point of parity

• Brand manta: summarise the position and value of the brand o Requires defining desired or ideal brand knowledge structures and establishing POD and POP o Identify your target market