Introduction

What is a brand?

Brand is the "name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies

one seller's product distinct from those of other sellers. Initially, branding was

adopted to differentiate one person's cattle from another's by means of a

distinctive symbol burned into the animal's skin with a hot iron stamp and was

subsequently used in business, marketing, and advertising. A modern example

of a brand is Coca Cola which belongs to the Coca-Cola Company.

In accounting, a brand defined as an intangible asset is often the most valuable

asset on a corporation's balance sheet. Brand owners manage their brands

carefully to create shareholder value, and brand valuation is an important

management technique that ascribes a money value to a brand, and allows

marketing investment to be managed (e.g.: prioritized across a portfolio of

brands) to maximize shareholder value. Although only acquired brands appear

on a company's balance sheet, the notion of putting a value on a brand forces

marketing leaders to be focused on long term stewardship of the brand and

managing for value.

Brand Awareness

Brand awareness refers to customers' ability to recall and recognize the brand

under different conditions and link to the brand name, logo, and jingles and so

on to certain associations in memory. It consists of both brand recognition and

brand recall. It helps the customers to understand to which product or service

category the particular brand belongs and what products and services are sold

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under the brand name. It also ensures that customers know which of their

needs are satisfied by the brand through its products (Keller). Brand awareness

is of critical importance since customers will not consider your brand if they

are not aware of it.

There are various levels of brand awareness that require different levels and

combinations of brand recognition and recall. Top-of-Mind is the goal of most

companies. Top-of-mind awareness occurs when your brand is what pops into

a consumers mind when asked to name brands in a product category. For

example, when someone is asked to name a type of facial tissue, the common

answer is “Kleenex,” which is a top-of-mind brand. Aided Awareness occurs

when a consumer is shown or reads a list of brands, and expresses familiarity

with your brand only after they hear or see it as a type of memory

aide. Strategic Awareness occurs when your brand is not only top-of-mind to

consumers, but also has distinctive qualities that stick out to consumers as

making it better than the other brands in your market. The distinctions that set

your product apart from the competition is also known as the Unique Selling

Point or USP. Marketing mix modeling can help marketing leaders optimize

how they spend marketing monies to maximize the impact on Brand

Awareness or sales effects. Managing brands for value creation will often

involve applying marketing mix modeling techniques in conjunction

with brand valuation.

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Brand elements

Brands typically are made up of various elements, such as:

Name: The word or words used to identify a company, product, service, or

concept.

Logo: The visual trademark that identifies the brand.

Tagline or Catchphrase: "The Quicker Picker Upper" is associated with

Bounty paper towels.

Graphics: The dynamic ribbon is a trademarked part of Coca-Cola's brand.

Shapes: The distinctive shapes of the Coca-Cola bottle and of the

Volkswagen Beetle are trademarked elements of those brands.

Colors: Owens-Corning is the only brand of fiberglass insulation that can

be pink.

Sounds: A unique tune or set of notes can denote a brand. NBC's chimes

are a famous example.

Scents: The rose-jasmine-musk scent of Chanel No. 5 is trademarked.

Tastes: Kentucky Fried Chicken has trademarked its special recipe of

eleven herbs and spices for fried chicken.

Movements: Lamborghini has trademarked the upward motion of its car

doors.

Customer relationship management

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Brand trust

Brand trust is the intrinsic 'believability' that any entity evokes. In the

commercial world, the intangible aspect of Brand trust impacts the behavior

and performance of its business stakeholders in many intriguing ways. It

creates the foundation of a strong brand connect with all stakeholders,

converting simple awareness to strong commitment. This, in turn,

metamorphoses normal people who have an indirect or direct stake in the

organization into devoted ambassadors, leading to concomitant advantages

like easier acceptability of brand extensions, perception of premium, and

acceptance of temporary quality deficiencies.

Brand awareness is a key component of marketing efforts, as harried

consumers overwhelmed by the amount of commercial messaging they see or

hear use mental shortcuts to make their decision. Imprinting in their minds

what your brand is and what it stands for can increase sales, particularly in

areas where few obvious differences are apparent among competitors.

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Three Objectives of Brand Awareness

Marketing strategists agree that brand awareness in any industry gives that

company an edge. Brand awareness accomplishes several objectives for

companies seeking to increase sales in the marketplace. A brand awareness

campaign needs to be flexible enough to grow with the company and adjust if

needed. The company should seek to build customer awareness, promote its

website and add value.

Brand awareness follows a certain process, although customers do not usually

think through these steps when choosing a product. First, the customer has a

perceived need for a product. In many cases, he will seek information on what

product to buy. He will often evaluate his alternatives, although in some cases,

such as in buying a drink, he may simply buy what’s convenient. At the same

time, he will place a value, both financial and personal, on the product he

plans to buy. After he buys your product, he will review his purchase and

make adjustments. Sometimes these adjustments will be immediate; in other

cases, they are long term. For example, if he doesn’t like the drink he bought,

the next day, he will choose a different drink. But if he doesn’t like the vehicle

he purchased, it could be two to five years until he makes a different purchase.

Build Customer Awareness

Target the desired customer base. From there, the business can more easily

assess what it needs to do to increase customer awareness. For instance, a

customer awareness strategy will focus on different audiences depending on if

the product is toys, car products or walkers for those with mobility issues. In

each case, the business will use different advertising campaigns to increase

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customer awareness. Every business needs to overcome certain challenges so

the customer understands the benefits of working with that particular

company.

Promote the Website

A website helps create a worldwide customer base. Customers no longer limit

themselves to buying from a specific geographic location. A customer might

research a product and then follow up with a catalog or phone order instead of

a personal visit to the company location. Hiring a graphic designer can assist a

business in projecting the type of image they want to portray. Coordinating

business cards, marketing materials and additional advertising all further

enhance customer awareness. Consistency in design helps customers connect

that logo with the business and product.

Add Value

Every customer will determine value in different ways. Brand awareness can

give your business that “edge” in making your customers aware of the extra

value your company offers. This might be in the form of service, such as three

free oil changes in a year with the purchase of a motorcycle. Your packaging

might be slightly larger, which brings increased quantity. Your location might

be unique and easily accessible. The business may sponsor special events,

promote volunteer service or support a worthwhile organization. You will

need to decide which one of these avenues will work best for your company.

Finally, give the business the time needed to develop brand awareness. In

most cases, this process does not happen overnight. While the ultimate goal is

for the company to identify the success level of brand awareness campaigns,

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the business should always continue to appreciate and track even the slightest

progress.

Significance of Study

No matter the size of your company, you should market your products and

services with every tool in your arsenal. Brand awareness is one of the most

important of those tools; it has been proven effective in getting customers to

recognize and remember your brand. If you’ve recently opened a business and

are searching for a way to market it, consider using your brand by creating a

tagline or logo. Read on to learn more about brand awareness and why it’s

important.

Brand awareness is essential not only because it brings customers to your

business for the first time, it encourages them to keep coming back. People

like to buy from names they trust and that they can identify with; when your

logo and tagline are easy for them to remember, your brand comes to

symbolize your company and it’s the first thing to come to the consumer’s

mind when they’re ready to buy.

Brand awareness is the degree to which consumers in the marketplace are

familiar with particular brands. Small businesses can find their products at a

disadvantage compared with larger competitors' alternatives, which can be

backed by millions of dollars in advertising. Brand awareness has a number of

distinct effects on consumers' perception of different brands, and working to

build brand awareness is crucial for small business success.

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Rationale Behind the topic

Buying Behavior is the decision processes and acts of people involved in

buying and using products.

Need to understand:

Why consumers make the purchases that they make?

What factors influence consumer purchases?

The changing factors in our society.

Consumers make numerous product decisions every day. This decision-

making process depends on the information processing style employed. A key

factor here is the complexity of a consumer's cognitive structures i.e. the

sophistication of the structures used to organize information. Although this

construct, cognitive complexity, holds much promise for consumer behavior,

several questions remain to be answered and were addressed by the present

research. First, the results of the present research indicate that the Repertory

Grid, developed in social interaction contexts, is a reliable instrument for

measuring cognitive complexity in the consumer behavior domain. Second,

the results further suggest the presence of a generalizable—as well as a

context-specific—component of cognitive complexity. The generalizable

component of cognitive complexity indicates that these knowledge structures

are transferable across related product categories. As such, cognitive

complexity is likely to impact consumer processing of product information

and advertising messages.

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Questions Answered

How to Create Brand awareness?

How does Brand awareness affect Purchase decision?

Understand Consumer thinking pre-purchase behavior?

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Chapter 2

Literature Review

Brand awareness is the lowest level of brand recall. This is where the

brand recalls continuum begins, extending from simple brand recognition

to having complex cognitive structures constructed on the basis of

detailed information concerning the brand. 

The set of associations and facts about a brand is the direct result of a

company's marketing activity, but also of other factors beyond the company's

direct control, e.g. recommendations by other product users. The process of

building brand image among customers or consumers should be methodically

performed and monitored by the company's marketing department. 

Brand awareness is a dominant factor in purchasing choices 

Employing brand awareness as a shopping guide is a strategy applied by

consumers in order to save time and effort which, when dealing with an

unknown brand, they would devote to comparing the products in relation to

other attributes, such as quality, packaging and price. Brand awareness may be

therefore interpreted as cognitive simplification. Purchasing choices are made

by reference to such simplification, especially when the product is cheap and

easily disposable (food, hygienic and every day-use products). 

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Relying on brand awareness is a frequent tactical decision made when buying

a product for the first time. When making subsequent purchases the consumer

focuses on the product's practical attributes, such as quality, functionality,

taste or fragrance. Brand awareness has a stronger impact on the subsequent

purchasing choices, if the product once tried out fulfilled the consumer's

expectations. 

The attributes of the same product are more significant in the subsequent

purchasing decisions, especially when the products from which the consumer

can choose differ significantly from each other in relation to criteria to which

the person attaches great importance. This is why it is vital to understand

which product properties matter to the consumer. This requires additional

research. 

Good brand recall has a number of desirable effects: 

The recall of one brand blocks off the other brands from the range of

alternatives in which the consumer makes his/her selection,

Within a set of familiar brands consumers pick the ones better known to them,

especially if they cannot see any special differences between the competing

offerings,

Good brand recall forms the basis for a clear and attractive brand image,

Brand recall coupled with high customer satisfaction levels translates into

customer loyalty.

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What to Consider When Developing a Brand?

Increase customer awareness by developing brand recognition.  Creating a

brand for your company takes time and careful planning.  Your company

could be the next icon for your particular product or service.  When you have

a cut, you reach for the Band Aid even if the bandage may be made by a

different company.  Cool fruity gelatin desserts are referred to as Jello by most

Americans.  Look around you and notice the many brands around you.  What

makes them so popular?

Identify Target Market

What type of customers are you trying to attract?  The success of your

company’s branding efforts will rely on the customers you are pursuing. 

Trendy graphics and hip hop music may attract the younger consumer, but this

type of advertising might turn off the mature customers. Cater to the interests

of your potential clientele.

Legalities

Research your ideas so you do not infringe on another company’s brand. 

Developing your brand is a long term investment.  Register your trademark

legally to protect your company’s name from imposters and possible customer

confusion.

Logo and Color Scheme

Choose simple color choices and an easy to read font for your company logo. 

Choosing a graphic that says something about your business helps in creating

your unique brand name.  A good example of an effective logo is the swirled

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red, white and blue Pepsi circle.  The simple logo dominates the cans and

bottles it is printed on and the only reading required is to determine if it is

regular, flavored, diet or caffeine free.

Celebrity Endorsements

Visual stimulation will help prospective customers remember you. Grab their

attention with ads and commercials using a recognized person or character.

Hanes sales increased when Michael Jordan became a spokesperson for their

national campaign and television commercials.  Small businesses starting out

probably cannot hire a famous celebrity like Michael but there are other ways

to attract customers and create an identity for your business.  Create your own

character.  Animated celebrities like M&M candies have been brought to life

on television and online ads.  If you are directly involved with your customers

in a retail environment, you could be the face of your company.  If you are

uncomfortable using actual photos, consider turning your picture into a

cartoon.  There are several photo programs that can transform a picture into a

sketch with the click of a mouse.  You could also hire a professional to

animate your likeness and use it on all of your advertising.

Catchy Tag line or Jingle

“You deserve a break today” is not heard as often as it used to be but most

people still remember that catchy jingle.  That saying became popular before

there were fast food restaurants on every corner.  It was a treat for a woman to

pick up dinner at McDonalds and not have to cook.  What does your company

offer that can help the consumer?  Your tag line should be short, easy to

remember and send a message to your customer.  Turn your tag line into a

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musical jingle and your company will become the brand consumers will

remember

Brand awareness is a measure of the effectiveness of a company's marketing

activity. However, one has to be aware of the limitations of such a measure,

because consumers also perceive a brand through the prism of factors beyond

the company's direct control, e.g. recommendations by other consumers. 

Brand awareness is a starting point for customer satisfaction and loyalty

studies 

Customer satisfaction is measured as satisfaction both with various attributes

of the same product and with the customer's experience with the company. 

High brand recognition translates into customer loyalty. Customer loyalty is

stronger if the customers' positive associations with the brand and the

knowledge they had about a product before their first contact with it have been

confirmed and strengthened with the first purchase. 

High brand satisfaction and its presence in the consumer's range of

spontaneous recall translate into his/her loyalty – he/she is more willing to buy

other products of the same brand. 

Brand Awareness via Social Media

Social media had become an important venue for companies of all sizes in

building trust amongst their so-called “fans” or “followers’ who in essence are

their consumers. Social media offers an array of functions, which can benefit a

company’s reach and objectives. The Harvard Business review recently

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featured an article on how soft drink brands like Coke and Pepsi use social

media to build trust with their consumers. Facebook and Twitter, amongst

others, are effective tools for these brands to reinforce and expand their

identities ─ as well as enhance customer relationships.

Brand loyalty has an influence on consumer behavior, so it is important for

small businesses to build brands that can compete with the major branded

products on retail shelves. You will find many academic studies, such as those

from Texas Tech University and the University of Seville, that try to establish

the relationship between brand loyalty and consumer behavior. However,

commentators like Jonathon Salem Baskin argue that the power of social

media and Internet search may be weakening the influence of brand loyalty.

To ensure success for your products, you need to take account of both

findings.

Preference

A May 2011 study by Begoña Peral of the University of Seville, "If Families

are Price Sensitive Then They will be So Regardless of the Product," found

that the two main factors affecting consumer behavior are sensitivity to price

and preference for a specific brand. This research indicated that consumers

who are loyal to a brand for one type of product tend to shop by brand rather

than price in other categories. Consumers who shop by price will tend to look

for bargains in all categories.

Reinforce

Raising brand awareness helps to reinforce brand loyalty, according to a

January 2011 Texas Tech University study by Amy Reed, "Brand Knowledge

and The Influence on Tween's Consumer Behavior." The study found that

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tweens, 9 to 12 year olds, were exposed to more than 20,000 commercials

each year, making it difficult for brand messages to stand out. Repetition of

the brand message through regular advertising is important.

Habit

The implication of studies like those is that consumers make their choices

based on names and positive images associated with a brand. In a retail outlet,

where consumers face a number of choices for the same type of product, a

strong brand has a clear competitive advantage as it is difficult for your

competitors to copy. Competitors can match specifications and create copycat

products. However, creating brand awareness requires an investment in

advertising and other marketing activities that competitors can only match

after much time has elapsed.

Search

Despite the importance of brand awareness, Jonathon Salem Baskin asserts

that the growth of search engine tools can reduce the influence of branding.

The author claims that consumers who use the Internet to research products

will be influenced by products that rank highest in search engines, rather than

by traditional brand awareness. Social networking is having a similar effect as

consumers can read user generated product reviews to determine what

products to buy.

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Articles

REVIVING BRANDS THAT AREN'T QUITE FORGOTTEN

January 5, 2013 | By Ken Bensinger, Los Angeles Times

Twenty-five years ago, a new kind of sparkling water called Clearly Canadian

hit store shelves. In flavors such as Orchard Peach and Western Loganberry,

the drink soon was raking in $150 million a year in sales. But when faced by

growing competition, Clearly Canadian began to fade. By the early 2000s it

had all but disappeared. Enter Mark Thomann. Early last year, the Chicago

investor bought the Clearly Canadian name, hired a marketing team,

contracted a bottler and hammered out a distribution deal to get the drinks

back into U.S. supermarkets starting in March.

Sponsorship: Impact on Brand Awareness and Brand Attitudes

Sponsorship is a rapidly growing tool in both commercial and social

marketing areas, in Australia and overseas. Australian health promotion

foundations distribute substantial funds to arts, sports, and racing

organizations for the opportunity to have these organizations' events

sponsored by health promoting organizations. However, in spite of substantial

commercial and health expenditures, there has been little published systematic

evaluation of sponsorship. Recent years have seen far more attention to this

area. This article presents the results of a study designed to evaluate

sponsorship effectiveness in terms of its two main communication objectives:

brand awareness and brand attitude. Two health and four commercial

sponsorships were evaluated at two major sporting events. Overall, the data

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suggest that sponsorship can influence both brand awareness and brand

attitude, and that the health sponsorships had more impact than the

commercial sponsors studied. These and other data confirm the potential

usefulness for greater use of sponsorship in social marketing campaigns.

Exclusive interview with Philip Kotler (Summary)

In England, if you give someone a gift, they will likely thank you. In Germany

however, you will almost certainly be arrested. Why? In the minds of English

speakers, it is generally agreed that a 'gift' is a thing given out of kindness

while in the minds of German speakers, it is generally agreed that the word

'gift' means poison. Understanding the semantics of language reveal the

profound power of words. Hate, strength, pain and war... each of these

conjures up emotions and meaning in our minds, giving them unique personal

significance (supported by a definition and context which is largely agreed by

the other 'consumers' of our language). At a deeper level, the very shape of

each letter within each word has meaning. 愛 (the 'ai' symbol in Japanese text)

means very little to a non-speaker, but to a reader of Japanese, it means love.

Language provides us with a perfect metaphor for brands. Words themselves

are nothing, in truth they exist as thoughts with their physical manifestations

simply being a relatively organized clump of shapes on a given substrate. The

act of thinking itself creates meaning to the various sensory and emotional

inputs our biological system receives. In fact, we could argue that our very

existence hinges on the significance of the fact that we are able to think.

These intangible meanings also have a very real economic significance. The

top 10 global brands (as measured by the Interbrand index) have a combined

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value of $432 billion (against their total market capitalization of $1.7 trillion).

This means that (conservatively) just over 24% of the real economic value of

these organizations manifests from the thoughts of their market.

The truth is (as Thom Braun writes in his 2004 book 'The Philosophy of

Branding'), "...brands and branding are fundamental to the way we experience

modern life- and the way we give 'meaning' to it." He goes on to describe how

brands represent the world to us, "They quite literally 'label' for us what might

otherwise be a chaotic array of messages. Brands and branding is a feature of

the way the modern (western) mind thinks. It is impossible for the modern

mind to think without recourse to the sorts of models we commonly refer to as

brands. We continually look for ways in which we can 'edit' the world around

us. Today, however, it is far more pronounced than it has ever been in the past

simply because the number of inputs is growing at a frightening rate." So how

has branding become such an intrinsic part of human culture?

An interview with Martin Lindstrom

Martin Lindstrom, chairman and founder of Buyology Inc, was voted one

of the World's 100 Most Influential people by Time magazine

On Specific Areas of Branding Research

Q: To what extent are our senses involved with our engagement with

brands and hence decision making?

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[Martin Lindstrom] We, as human beings, are constantly sending so many

signals. When you and I meet, if I give you a limp handshake, you will

immediately evaluate me and conclude I am a wimp! As brand owners, we are

not thinking about signals in the same way... for example, if we have a flimsy

package design, or if the sound is really strange... or if I go to a website and

the page takes forever to download and my consumer concludes my service is

slow... and so on. The sensory aspect has a huge influence on how we perceive

things around us and brands have to take this into account. This isn't just an

idle theory, our research showed it to be true.

Today 67% of all British companies are using a sensory strategy. We now

know that the more senses I appeal to... not only do I more strongly believe in

the brand and the message... but the more I feel emotionally engaged and more

likely to buy. If you appeal to one sense such as sight, which is most used in

our world (which by the way is used by 87% of companies in isolation,

meaning 13% are left to use all four other sense) then... if I double or triple the

sense and add touch and sound, for example, I doubly my effect with the

brand. These are not just hypothetical numbers... these are based on three

individual studies using neuroscience and another quantitative study

involving interviews with 26,000 people over 14 countries. This was also

combined with concrete results from companies who have built brands using

sensory dimensions.

It's safe to say that these aspects have enormous influence. We're just reaching

the beginning of understanding how, in the future, our senses will become

more and more stimulated as we buy certain products or brands.

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Q: What is the relationship of our conscious and sub-conscious states to

our engagement with brands?

[Martin Lindstrom] It's safe to say that we're still struggling to understand

the balance between these two worlds. I estimate that 85% of everything we

do every day is irrational (emotional)... thus only 15% is rational. I estimate

that very few decisions we make are purely rational. Typically, we will

commit ourselves to something as being rational if we have done it over a long

period of time and it therefore becomes a habit. What we're really saying to

ourselves is, "I do this because I always have..." In reality that's deeply

irrational. There are very few decisions you can make with a totally rational

mind. Just think about the volatility every day in the stock market!

I think it's very safe to say that we haven't the 'link'. We know now the sub-

conscious has a huge influence and that's why the whole world of non-

conscious research is booming as it is. We know that most of the stuff we try

to predict such as elections, product sales and so on simply doesn’t behave as

we would expect, and so non-conscious research is trying to develop insights

into those challenges.

Awareness means having knowledge or perception of a situation or fact.

Hence awareness is a relative concept and comprises perception and cognitive

reactions to a condition or event. The level of awareness can be categorized in;

(1) partially aware, (2) subconsciously aware, and (3) acutely aware.

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Consequently, awareness does not equal understanding; it is the state of being

conscious

Awareness within brand management refers to the perception of a brand in the

mind of the stakeholders. Awareness reflects earlier experiences and affects

future perceptions, attitude and behaviour. Accordingly awareness fulfils an

important role within brand equity as demonstrated in brand models of

Kapferer . Aaker argues that brand awareness reflects the knowledge and

salience of a brand – the capacity to recognize - in the mind of customers. The

level of brand awareness is heavily affected by the synergy of the brand name

itself and the attached symbols, imagery and a brand slogan within the given

condition.

The specific activities to increase or to transit of each level of awareness,

depends on; the purchase cycle, on the decision making process, and on the

level of involvement. Awareness comes from customers who feel them self-

attracted and interested to the brand, is not just a matter of high pressure

advertising. It’s all about managing selective perceptions, exposure, attention

and memory. Brand recognition (aided awareness) and brand recall (unaided

awareness) is both very important and need to be in balance to take full

advantage of brand awareness. The relative power of recall against recognition

is shown in the Graveyard model as developed by Young and Rubicam

Europe as quoted in Aaker.

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The Graveyard model, as quoted in Aaker .

 

Brands in a product class tend to follow the curved line as plotted -

recognition (aided) versus recall (unaided). There are two exceptions of the

rule; both exceptions will demonstrate the importance of recall. The first

exception is related to healthy niche brands which are positioned below the

curved line. Although the brand is not widely known (low overall recognition)

it has a high recall among their loyal customer group. Low recognition under

these circumstances is not related to poor performance. The second exception

is situated in the left top corner, the graveyard area where brands have a high

mass recognition against a low recall. Brands in this position are in deep

trouble, the reason behind this has to do with the mind-set. As described mind

are limited, new additional information will not come through if it doesn’t

match the current mind-set. In the graveyard zone, minds are set. It is not

necessarily the result of a strong brand and/or marketing campaign. The most

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challenging is to create willingness among customers and prospects in

listening to new brand story due to the brand familiarity.

Keller also distinguishes brand recognition and brand recall performance

within brand awareness. Keller argues that most information in memory is

substantially more adapt at recognizing a brand then at recalling it. This is also

shown by the curved line in figure. The benefits of having a high level of

brand awareness is three folded, brand awareness delivers:

The learning advantage: the higher the level of awareness the easier

people learn about the brand and the better the brand is registered in the

mind.

The brand as part of the consideration set.

The choice advantage within low-involvement purchase decisions in

case of a lack of purchase motivation and/or ability.

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Chapter 3

METHODOLOGY

The methodology for carrying out the Report Work is simply Concept testing

and therefore it would adopt secondary data for conducting study.

All the data will be collected from secondary sources that are from internet,

books, and the materials published in the journals and magazines.

The data is collected from various secondary sources and then analyzed the

sources are mentioned above

The concept is analyzed and also supported with examples wherever required

which gives a proper insight of the concept.

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Chapter 4

FINDINGS

Importance of brand in an individual’s life

It's a new brand world…!

That cross-trainer you're wearing -- one look at the distinctive swoosh on the

side tells everyone who's got you branded. That coffee travel mug you're

carrying -- ah, you're a Starbucks woman! Your T-shirt with the distinctive

Champion "C" on the sleeve, the blue jeans with the prominent Levi's rivets,

the watch with the hey-this-certifies-I-made-it icon on the face, your fountain

pen with the maker's symbol crafted into the end.

You're branded, branded, branded, and branded.

It's time for me -- and you -- to take a lesson from the big brands, a lesson

that's true for anyone who's interested in what it takes to stand out and prosper

in the new world of work.

Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen

to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are

CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most

important job is to be head marketer for the brand called you.

It's that simple -- and that hard. And that inescapable.

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Behemoth companies may take turns buying each other or acquiring every hot

startup that catches their eye -- mergers in 1996 set records. Hollywood may

be interested in only blockbusters and book publishers may want to put out

only guaranteed best-sellers. But don't be fooled by all the frenzy at the

humongous end of the size spectrum.

The real action is at the other end: the main chance is becoming a free agent in

an economy of free agents, looking to have the best season you can imagine in

your field, looking to do your best work and chalk up a remarkable track

record, and looking to establish your own micro equivalent of the Nike

swooshes. Because if you do, you'll not only reach out toward every

opportunity within arm's (or laptop's) length, you'll not only make a

noteworthy contribution to your team's success -- you'll also put yourself in a

great bargaining position for next season's free-agency market.

Who understands this fundamental principle? The big companies do. They've

come a long way in a short time: it was just over four years ago, April 2, 1993

to be precise, when Philip Morris cut the price of Marlboro cigarettes by 40

cents a pack. That was on a Friday. On Monday, the stock market value of

packaged goods companies fell by $25 billion. Everybody agreed: brands were

doomed.

Today brands are everything, and all kinds of products and services -- from

accounting firms to sneaker makers to restaurants -- are figuring out how to

transcend the narrow boundaries of their categories and become a brand

surrounded by a Tommy Hilfiger-like buzz.

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Who else understands it? Every single Web site sponsor. In fact, the Web

makes the case for branding more directly than any packaged good or

consumer product ever could. Here's what the Web says: Anyone can have a

Web site. And today, because anyone can ... anyone does! So how do you

know which sites are worth visiting, which sites to bookmark, which sites are

worth going to more than once? The answer: branding. The sites you go back

to are the sites you trust. They're the sites where the brand name tells you that

the visit will be worth your time -- again and again. The brand is a promise of

the value you'll receive.

The same holds true for that other killer app of the Net -- email. When

everybody has email and anybody can send you email, how do you decide

whose messages you're going to read and respond to first -- and whose you're

going to send to the trash unread? The answer: personal branding. The name

of the email sender is every bit as important a brand -- is a brand -- as the

name of the Web site you visit. It's a promise of the value you'll receive for the

time you spend reading the message.

Nobody understands branding better than professional services firms. Look at

McKinsey or Arthur Andersen for a model of the new rules of branding at the

company and personal level. Almost every professional services firm works

with the same business model. They have almost no hard assets -- my guess is

that most probably go so far as to rent or lease every tangible item they

possibly can to keep from having to own anything. They have lots of soft

assets -- more conventionally known as people, preferably smart, motivated,

talented people. And they have huge revenues -- and astounding profits.

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They also have a very clear culture of work and life. You're hired, you report

to work, you join a team -- and you immediately start figuring out how to

deliver value to the customer. Along the way, you learn stuff, develop your

skills, hone your abilities, and move from project to project. And if you're

really smart, you figure out how to distinguish yourself from all the other very

smart people walking around with $1,500 suits, high-powered laptops, and

well-polished resumes. Along the way, if you're really smart, you figure out

what it takes to create a distinctive role for yourself -- you create a message

and a strategy to promote the brand called you.

WHAT'S THE REAL POWER?

If you want to grow your brand, you've got to come to terms with power --

your own. The key lesson: power is not a dirty word!

In fact, power for the most part is a badly misunderstood term and a badly

misused capability. I'm talking about a different kind of power than we usually

refer to. It's not ladder power, as in who's best at climbing over the adjacent

bods. It's not who's-got-the-biggest-office-by-six-square-inches power or

who's-got-the-fanciest-title power.

It influences power.

It's being known for making the most significant contribution in your

particular area. It's reputational power. If you were a scholar, you'd measure it

by the number of times your publications get cited by other people. If you

were a consultant, you'd measure it by the number of CEOs who've got your

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business card in their Rolodexes. (And better yet, the number who know your

beeper number by heart.)

Getting and using power -- intelligently, responsibly, and yes, powerfully --

are essential skills for growing your brand. One of the things that attract us to

certain brands is the power they project. As a consumer, you want to associate

with brands whose powerful presence creates a halo effect that rubs off on

you.

It's the same in the workplace. There are power trips that are worth taking --

and that you can take without appearing to be a self-absorbed, self-

aggrandizing megalomaniacal jerk. You can do it in small, slow, and subtle

ways. Is your team having a hard time organizing productive meetings?

Volunteer to write the agenda for the next meeting. You're contributing to the

team, and you get to decide what's on and off the agenda. When it's time to

write a post-project report, does everyone on your team head for the door?

Beg for the chance to write the report -- because the hand that holds the pen

(or taps the keyboard) gets to write or at least shape the organization's history.

Most important, remember that power is largely a matter of perception. If you

want people to see you as a powerful brand, act like a credible leader. The fact

is you are a leader..!

One key to growing your power is to recognize the simple fact that we now

live in a project world. Almost all work today is organized into bite-sized

packets called projects. A project-based world is ideal for growing your brand:

projects exist around deliverables, they create measurable, and they leave you

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with braggables. If you're not spending at least 70% of your time working on

projects, creating projects, or organizing your (apparently mundane) tasks into

projects, you are sadly living in the past. Today you have to think, breathe,

act, and work in projects.

Whatever you decide, you should look at your brand's power as an exercise in

new-look résumé; management -- an exercise that you start by doing away

once and for all with the word "résumé." You don't have an old-fashioned

résumé anymore! You've got a marketing brochure for brand You. Instead of a

static list of titles held and positions occupied, your marketing brochure brings

to life the skills you've mastered, the projects you've delivered, the braggables

you can take credit for. And like any good marketing brochure, yours needs

constant updating to reflect the growth -- breadth and depth -- of brand You.

WHAT'S LOYALTY?

Everyone is saying that loyalty is gone; loyalty is dead; loyalty is over.

Loyalty is much more important than it ever was in the past. A 40-year career

with the same company once may have been called loyalty; from here it looks

a lot like a work life with very few options, very few opportunities, and very

little individual power. That's what we used to call indentured servitude.

Today loyalty is the only thing that matters. But it isn't blind loyalty to the

company. It's loyalty to your colleagues, loyalty to your team, loyalty to your

project, loyalty to your customers, and loyalty to yourself. I see it as a much

deeper sense of loyalty than mindless loyalty to the Company Z logo.

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I know this may sound like selfishness. But being CEO of Me Inc. requires

you to act selfishly -- to grow yourself, to promote yourself, to get the market

to reward yourself. Of course, the other side of the selfish coin is that any

company you work for ought to applaud every single one of the efforts you

make to develop yourself. After all, everything you do to grow Me Inc. is

gravy for them: the projects you lead, the networks you develop, the

customers you delight, the braggables you create generate credit for the firm.

As long as you're learning, growing, building relationships, and delivering

great results, it's good for you and it's great for the company.

That win-win logic holds for as long as you happen to be at that particular

company. Which is precisely where the age of free agency comes into play. If

you're treating your résumé as if it's a marketing brochure, you've learned the

first lesson of free agency. The second lesson is one that today's professional

athletes have all learned: you've got to check with the market on a regular

basis to have a reliable read on your brand's value. You don't have to be

looking for a job to go on a job interview. For that matter, you don't even have

to go on an actual job interview to get useful, important feedback.

TIMES OF INDIA ARTICLE ON YOUTHS BECOMING CRAZY ABOUT

BRANDS…!

According to a survey conducted by industry body ASSOCHAM, brand-

conscious urban teenagers, belonging to the upper middle-class segment, have

been found to spend an average of Rs 4,000-Rs5,000 every month to upgrade

their wardrobes.

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About 40% of youth that were a part of this survey from cities like Mumbai,

Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai said they spent up to Rs4,000 a month on

buying branded clothes, while 35% spent Rs5,000 on the same.

"There is a lot of pressure on children to look good. Being able to say in a

social gathering that they wear only branded clothes and carry high-end

accessories is reflective of your social status. But as a parent, it burns a hole in

the pocket," said Arti Chawla, whose 15-year-old daughter is part of this 'in'

crowd.

The survey, with a sample base of 2,000 children, found that approximately

one-fourth of the respondents said that they spent about Rs2,500 every month

to buy new clothes so that they could stay ahead among their peers. A

majority of youngsters also admitted that they looked up to their favorite

movie stars, models and sportsmen for latest fashion ideas.

"Whether denims, shoes or regular T-shirts, I don't usually like wearing

anything other than top brands because when I'm with my friends, I prefer to

look good. As far accessories like my bag or water bottle are concerned, I

prefer shopping for them from among top sports brands," said Ishani Khanna

(name changed), a class 10 student of DPS, Mathura Road.

ASSOCHAM, however, claimed that the rise in consumption of branded

goods was related directly to the person's individuality. "Today, teens exhibit a

strong desire for individuality in their self-expression and end up spending a

major chunk of their allowance on clothes. Fashion-conscious teens, be it girls

or boys, are becoming more concerned about their appearance and are taking

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what they wear more seriously than ever before," Assocham secretary general

DS Rawat said.

Types of Buying Decision Behavior

Complex Buying Behavior: when consumers are highly involved in a

purchase and perceive significant differences among brands

High involvement means cases when the product is expensive, purchased

infrequently and highly self-expressive

Dissonance-Reducing Buying Behavior: when consumers are highly

involved in a purchase with an expensive, infrequent, or risky purchase, but

see little difference among brands

After purchase consumers might experience post purchase dissonance, by

noticing disadvantages of the purchased brand or hear favorable things about

competing brands not purchased

Habitual Buying Behavior: characterized by low consumer involvement and

little significant brand difference, choosing a certain brand happens

impulsively; if consumers keep reaching for the same brand, it is out of habit

rather than brand loyalty

Variety-Seeking Buying Behavior: characterized by low consumer

involvement, but significant perceived brand differences also characterized by

impulsive buying; lot of brand switching; evaluating brand during

consumption (e.g. cookie); switching occurs for the sake of variety rather

because of dissatisfaction

Influence of Peer Has Led To A Brand Conscious among the Youth of Today Essays and

Term Papers

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Clothes weigh on wallet, mind?

CHANDIGARH: If you are too choosy about what brand you wear, beware.

This brand consciousness could well turn into stress. A study conducted by

students of Centre for Public Health, under the Institute of Emerging Areas in

Science and Technology (IEAST), Panjab University reveals that out of 92%

students who used branded clothes and accessories, 49% were under stress

because of "brand consciousness".

73% PU students, who were interviewed, thought brands were impressive,

while an additionally 34% youngsters were too worried about how they look!

This study titled "Prevalence of brand consciousness and associated stress

among students of Panjab University" was done by Gunjan Grover and Swati

Sethi, both from PU.

Not only was branded stuff a cause of stress, not getting compliments too

added to their problems.

The study reveals that such was the prevalence of brand consciousness among

youngsters that 15% of them felt upset when nobody complimented them

despite being well dressed. Another 21% were stressed because they could not

buy clothes of brand of their choice.

"Our study revealed how students were stressed to meet expenses of branded

clothes. Also the stress caused because they could not buy the brand they

wanted to and when peers or their friends do not compliment them on their

branded clothes," said Gunjan, whose emphasis was to study the image and

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perception among youth. In some more interesting facts, this study revealed

that 31% students felt stressed about how to meet expenses of their chosen

brands. Of the total number of students interviewed, 46% preferred

international brands, while 37% preferred local ones.

Through a structured questionnaire brand prevalence among students was

determined and also the amount of money they spend and stress level

associated with the same.

Why people is brand conscious new fashion trend for youth in 2013. Street

wear is now gradually taking a back street. The new trend in the consumer

behaviour is going for brands which involve big name, trendy looks and style.

The market is now dominated by brands which the people in the earlier days

would not have thought of because of the prices and their mind set. However,

now the consumer preference has been pro brands for quite some time. The

kind of fierce brand loyalty that consumers have today for their respective

brands is commendable. The trend of being brand conscious is a similarity

between the youth and the working class. The prices and extensive promotions

of brands are also one of the main reasons for people to become brand

conscious. Being brand conscious helps in becoming the style icon of the

group. The kind of brands people prefer or opt for also define their societal,

personal and professional approach and status.

Being brand conscious is the new trend!

The youth of 21st Century believes strictly in the concept of being brand

conscious and fiercely brand loyal. However, in between all this, they are also

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very particular about the fact that a chic look or a desired punk and funky

look, is what their brands can provide them with. Why people are so crazy for

brands and being brand conscious. The people belonging to the working class

go for brands that give them a sophisticated and professional look, an

appearance that would enhance their personality and to some extent would

define their taste in the genre of dressing and approach to their work and life

as a whole. The impact of existing and emerging brands is huge as they create

an upsurge in desire for branded apparels, accessories, footwear, bags, winter

outfits, designer clothes, etc. which gives a new meaning to the fashion trend.

Nowadays, majority of us feel that brands define us completely and augment

our look manifold.

When you use a brand you not only get attached to the brand’s motto and

outlook as a whole but also they help in making you realise the kind of

products you opt for. The concept has now become that if we do not get

connected to any well-known brand we are still not hip enough to face the

changing scenario of the fashion world. Even kids nowadays have a say in the

type of dresses they will wear or products they will use and those products

would come from which brand family. The domination of brands has changed

the total societal mind set of the people. Today college going students are

more interested in brands rather than the prices at which they are available.

Even these famous brands in order to mould the thought process of people in

their favor give the apt tagline and opt for the appropriate brand ambassador

for the promotion of their product. All these factors as a package create a

demand for the brands and gradually owning branded product becomes first

the habit and then the necessity of the consumers.

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CHAPTER 6

CONCLUSION

After all the above discussion various points came forward and

brand awareness matters a lot.

Due to rising per capita income and Standard of living people are

Prefer to be having brand friendly and techno-savvy.

Customers love being called as brand conscious and brand loyal,

right from bed-tea and toothpaste till night’s sleeping mattress

people prefer all branded one to have. They come in contact with en-

number of brands everyday day-in-day-out some of it arising out of

habitually while other being a need of the hour. Customer Now-a-

days prefer everything branded like their clothes, shoes, watch,

Spectacles, food they eat, gift they want or provide others everything

even a piece of paper needs to be branded. And with rising need for

brands the marketers also felt the urge to market their product

leading to bombarded with advertisements creating brand awareness.

Hence whenever the Purchase process is begun the level of brand

consciousness-awareness plays a vital role in the process.

Brands are here Day-in-Day-out.

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WEBLIOGRAPHY

http://jdrazure.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/brand-awareness-the-influence-in-consumers%E2%80%99-purchasing-decisions/

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/effect-brand-awareness-consumer-buying-behavior-68186.html

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/brand-awareness-affects-perception-11388.html

http://www.instant.ly/blog/2012/08/the-top-5-benefits-of-increased-brand-awareness/

https://exploreb2b.com/articles/brand-awareness-the-influence-in-consumers-purchasing-decisions

http://www.van-haaften.nl/branding/corporate-branding/82-brand-awareness

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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