Brand Audit

ByGurpreet Pan j ra th

Hs in Y ing L inPornt ip Chantawech

Agendao Company Backgroundo Brand Valueso Brand Positioning VS. Competitors

Positioningo Target Marketo Points of Parity and Points of Differenceo Core Brand Associationso Sources and Outcomes of Brand Equityo Brand Identityo Brand Personalityo Brand Elements Analysiso Marketing Communicationso Secondary Brand Associationso Facebook Application Reviewo Brand Report Cardo Recommendations

Part 1 Company Background

Company Profile

Found• June 2008 by

Camille Landau

Service• Connects Post-

ers and Refer-ers

Creative Model• Incentives for

Refer-ers

Strengths• Entrepreneurial,

strategy and marketing skills

• Creative business model

Weakness• Weak brand• Low customers

awareness

Opportunities• The growth of social

networking websites• Customers’ behaviors

toward recession period

Threats• Low barrier in market• Alternative options for

customers exist

SWOT Analysis

Part 2 Current State of Brand

and Brand Inventory

Creativity Classy Innovative

Brand Values

Brand Values: The brand value reflects how a product's name, or company name, is perceived by the marketplace, whether that is a target audience for a product or the marketplace.

Brand Positioning

Brand Positioning: Act of designing the company’s offer and image so that it occupies a distinct and valued place in the target customers’ minds.

ReferQuest’s Positioning Statement

“For busy professionals who need to outsource the pain, win time, stay organized, and enjoy maximize accountability from searching for goods or services, ReferQuest is the free online broker which provides the place where customers can search for whatever they want in a more cost-effective, quick, and reliable way than any other online classified advertising websites because only ReferQuest lets buyers offer rewards to motivate an “army of Refer-ers” to involve and find effective solutions on their behalf.”

Positioning Perceptual Map

High Reliability

Low Reliability

Slow Fast

Positioning Perceptual Map: A graphics technique used by asset marketers that attempts to visually display the perceptions of customers or potential. Typically the position of a product, brand, or company is displayed relative to their competition.

Target Market

Individuals Segment

Business Segment

Target Market - Individuals

Source: www.sric-bi.com/VALS/types.shtml

1. Post-ersThinkers - seeking durability, functionality, and values in products

2. Refer-ersExperiencers - seeking variety and socializing

Target Market - Business

Industry:

Technology

Medicine

Legal

Etc.

Company size:

Small

Medium

Location:

Worldwide

Category POPs

• Web-based application that users can post request about something they are looking for

Competitive POPs

• Offer integrated application with social networking websites

• Process the money transaction by Paypal

PODs

• Offer rewards for Refer-ers who are able to match the product/service

Points of Parity: Attributes or benefits that are not necessarily unique to the brand but share with other brandsPoints of Difference: Attributes or benefits that customers strongly associate with a brand and believe that they could not find with a competitive brand

POPs and PODs

Core Brand Associations

ReferQuest

Reward for Refer-ers

Facebook Application

Twitter

Post requests for free

Cut agency cost

Monetize social capital

Brand Awareness

Brand Recall: The brand is fairly new

and difficult to recognize and associate it

Brand Recognition:The words ‘refer’ and

‘quest’ are easily recall and can be associated

with

Brand Image

Brand Attributes: Descriptive features

Brand Benefits: Value and meaning

Sources of Brand Equity

Outcomes of Brand Equity

Greater Loyalty

Increase Marketing

Communication Efficiency

More Favorable Brand

Extension

Brand Identity

Brand Identity: The combination of all brand elements including the name, logo, tagline, URL, jingle, packaging, spokespeople and other aspects.

Brand Name URL

Logo Tagline

“ReferQuest”

www.ReferQuest.com

Brand Identity

Excitement Daring (trendy)Spirited (cool/young),Imaginative (unique)Up-to-date(independent/contemporary)

Brand Personality

Brand Personality: is inevitably influenced by the nature of the product category itself

Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of facebook

Describes function of the service literally

Suggest the benefits or function of the

service

A combination two meaningful words: “Refer” and “Quest”

Landor’s Brand Name Taxonomy

Descriptive Suggestive Compounds

Brand Name Analysis

CriteriaAchiev

ePros Cons Remark

Simplicity and Ease of Pronunciation and Spelling

Yes - Reduce encoding and storing process in consumers’ brain

- Increase ability to recall and recognize brand name

 - Could be misspelled ex: “RefereQuest”

Familiarity and Meaningfulness

Yes - Improve brand’s recallability

- Facilitate customers to create association between brand name and service’s functions

   

Differentiated, Distinctive and Unique

No   - The brand name is come from the common words which is not complex nor distinctive

Marketers should select other brand elements that facilitates customersto discriminate between brandsBrand Recall: Ability to retrieve the actual brand element from memory when given some related probe or cue

Brand Recognition: Ability to identify the brand under a variety of circumstances and can rest on identification of any brand elements

Brand Name’s Linguistic Review

ReferQuest

Short “e” evokes speed and lends

crispness

“f” is fast sound

The full stop of “t” connotes slowness

Brand Name Analysis

Effective shorthand means

Reduce encoding and storing process in consumers’ brain

Increase ability to recall and recognize brand name

Facilitate customers to create association between brand name and functions

Benefits

Could be misspelled with “Referequest”

No association with PODs

Difficult to distinguish from other brands

Drawbacks

URL Analysis

www.ReferQuest.com

The same with brand name Protect brand from

unauthorized use

Increase brand recognition

Tagline Analysis

request, refer, reword

Use rhythm to create strong links & aid brand

recall

Too specific the tagline to be transferred across

categories

Rich in verbal imagery

Describe its particular service & key benefits

directly Not flexible enough to update for fulfilling

changes in consumer values

Logo Analysis

Font: Century GothicHighly readable,

comforting though not exciting

Blue:Confidence, Secure and

TrustworthyOrange:

Creative and enthusiasm

Symbolic2-way communication

Interactive

ElementsMemorabl

e Meaningf

ul Likable

Transferable

Adaptable

Protectable

1. Brand Name“ReferQuest”

           

2. URLwww.ReferQuest.com

           

3. Logo

           

4. Tagline

           

Brand Element Analysis

Marketing Communications

Marketing Communication: The mean by which firms attempt to inform, persuade, and remind customers – directly or indirectly – about the brands they sell.

Public Relations and Publicity• Press Release

Online Ads• Its own website• Social networking

sites

ReferQuest

Marketing Communications

Marketing Communications

Marketing Assessment

No apparent investment

in keyword buys Or

natural/organic searches

Secondary Brand Associations

Co-Branding: Two or more existing brands are combined into a joint product or are marketed together in some fashion.

Facebook

Twitter

Paypal

Advantages:

• Borrow needed expertise• Leverage equity you don’t

have• Increase access points• Reduce cost of production

Disadvantages:

• Risk the brand equity dilution• Loss of control• Negative feedback effectsCo-

Branding

Brand Report Card

Questions Score Remarks

Is the brand proper positioned? 4- Re-positioning the brand in order to achieve reliable position in consumers’ perception

- Select brand elements that can help to improve the positioning in reliability aspect

Is the brand reliable? 2

Can you recognize or recall the brand name “ReferQuest”?

4Keep the name but recommend options to encode the service and still retain its recallability

How strongly can you relate the logo with the core brand value of “ReferQuest”?

3

Create a new logo by using symbol such as money symbolic or magnifier icon to create strong links to reinforced benefits of the brand

Do you like the full logo (with the tagline)? 3

Create new tagline to make it formal; enhance it to be completely descriptive so that consumers will know exactly what the site does and what are the benefits

Do you like the tagline – “request, refer, reword”?

2

Does the tagline facilitate you to create association between brand and benefits?

2.5

Part 3 Desired State of the

Brand and Recommendations

Brand Positioning

High Reliability

Slow Fast

Low Reliability

Competence

Reliable (hard

working/secure)

Intelligent

(technical/corporate)

Successful

(leader/confidence)

Innovative

Professional

Brand Personality

Larry Page, Founder and CEO of Google

Brand Name

OptionsCurrent

“ClawBuzz”

“Qureka”

“ReferQuest”

Brand Name Options

Name Criteria Achieve Pros Cons

“ClawBuzz” Simplicity and Ease of Pronunciation and Spelling

Yes - Reduce encoding and storing process in consumers’ brain

- Increase ability to recall and recognize brand name

Familiarity and Meaningfulness

Yes - Improve brand’s recallability

- Facilitate customers to create association between brand name and service’s functions

 

Differentiated, Distinctive and Unique

Yes  - The name is unique (Combination of unexpected words) which is easily to distinguish

- Other brand elements must be able to facilitate customers to create the association with brand’s benefits

Brand Name Options

Name Criteria Achieve Pros Cons

“Qureka” Simplicity and Ease of Pronunciation and Spelling

Not really - Reduce encoding and storing process in consumers’ brain

- Increase ability to recall and recognize brand name

- Easy to mispronounce to “Q-u-re-ka”

Familiarity and Meaningfulness

Yes - Improve brand’s recallability

- Facilitate customers to create association between brand name and service’s functions

 

Differentiated, Distinctive and Unique

Yes  - The name is unique (Fancy) which is easily to distinguish

- Other brand elements must be able to facilitate customers to create the association with brand’s benefits

Brand Name Recommendation

Brand Name

Memorable Meaningful LikableTransferabl

eAdaptable Protectable

ReferQuest

5 5 3 1 1 2

Enhance brand recall and

recognition

Can reinforce mostly of

associations

Can evoke much verbal imaginary

Difficult DifficultCan be easily

copied

ClawBuzz

4 2 3 1 1 2

Somehow enhance brand

recall and recognition

Can reinforce some of

associations(indirectly)

Can evoke much verbal imaginary

Difficult DifficultCan be easily

copied

Qureka

5 3 5 3 1 5

Enhance brand recall and

recognition

Can reinforce some of

associations(indirectly)

Rich verbal imaginary

Can be transferred

across product categories

Difficult Excellent

Options

Current

Tagline

“Get what you quest, Reward when you refer”

“Free request, Quick refer, Great reward”

“Refer, Request, Reward”

Tagline Recommendation

Tagline Memorable Meaningful LikableTransferabl

eAdaptable Protectable

Refer, Request, Reward

5 2 3 1 5 2

Enhance brand recall and

recognition

Can convey some

association but limited

Rich in verbal imagery and

inherently fun and interesting

Difficult to transfer across

categoriesExcellent

Can be easily copied

Get what you quest,

Reward when you refer

5 5 3 1 5 2

Enhance brand recall and

recognition

Can convey mostly type of associations

Rich in verbal imagery and interesting

Difficult to transfer across

categoriesExcellent

Can be easily copied

Free request, Quick refer, Great reward

5 5 4 1 5 2

Enhance brand recall and

recognition

Can convey mostly type of associations

Rich in verbal imagery and

inherently fun and interesting

Difficult to transfer across

categoriesExcellent

Can be easily copied

Logo

Brand Identity

Brand Name URL

Logo Tagline

“ReferQuest”

www.ReferQuest.com

Brand Identity

Marketing Communications

Online Marketing• SEO• Online Ads• Digital Assets• Email

Buzz Marketing

Mobile Marketing

Public Relation• Blogs• Newsletter• Events

Web Personalization

Outsource the pain, win time, stay

organized, and enjoy maximize

accountability

Search for whatever you need in a more

cost-effectively, quickly, and reliably

way

ReferQuest

• Borrow needed expertise• Leverage equity: Professional and Reliable• Increase access points

Co-Branding

• Secure and publicize reliable ratings• Improve perceptions and attitudes toward

brands.

Other third-party sources

Secondary Brand Associations

• User can specify category that they want to post asking for referral

• The text labels are informative and useful

• Pages are cluttered and not organized

• Not user friendly and hard to navigate

• No pagination • The add widget section is

very confusing• User can search for the posts

by only one criteria• Dead-end page• The forms are not well-

organized

Facebook Application Review

Benefits Drawbacks

Facebook Application Review

• Provide search criteria that users can select to view the posts such as post title, category, location, and amount of reward

• Define the maximum records that will display in each page and implement the pagination

• The posts list should be display only the title because users will be able to choose what they want to see instead of loading all posts’ details.

Recommendation

Keller, Kevin Lane. Stragegic Brand Management: Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity. 3rd ed. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.

Stone, B., & Jacobs, R. (2008). Successful Direct Marketing Methods (8th ed.). Two Penn Plaza, NY: Mc Graw Hill.

A New Facebook Application Offers Users a Chance to Convert "Social Capital" into Money , Anonymous.  Business Wire.  New York:Jul 1, 2009.

New ABCs of Branding, Sharon Begley, Wall Street Journal, 8/26/02

Erickson, David. "LinkedIn Best Practices For Business." Weblog post. EStrategy Internet Marketing Blog. 18 May 2009. Web. 31 July 2009. <http://e-strategyblog.com/2009/05/linkedin-best-practices-for-business/>.

LinkedIn Corporation. LinkedIn Professional Network Reaches 10 Million Users. Press.linkedin.com. LinkedIn Corporation, 11 Apr. 2007. Web. 31 July 2009. <http://press.linkedin.com/pressreleases/linkedin-reaches-10-million-users>.

References

Thank You