chapter - 1 brands & branding
TRANSCRIPT
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CHAPTER - 1
BRANDS & BRANDING
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Chapter 1 – Brands and Branding
Introduction
One of the most valuable assets that companies have are the brands that they have
created, invested in, and nurtured. Gone are the days when firms believed that their
factories and other physical assets like land and machinery were their most valuable
assets. Brands are rising in the value hierarchy of assets. Whilst the physical assets of
Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) are worth around Rs 3512 crores, revenue for FY
2011-12 at Rs 22,116 crores and net profit at Rs 2691 crores (HUL annual report
2011-2012) its market value is much higher at approximately Rs 101520 crores (BSE
India website, August 2012) owing mainly to the value contributed by its strong
brands like Wheel, Lux, Lifebuoy, Surf, Kissan, Lipton, Liril, Fair & Lovely, Close
Up, Pepsodent, Sunsilk, Denim, Axe and Rin. The same is the case with companies
like Parle Industries, Godrej, Pepsico, Marico Industries, L&T, ITC and Coca Cola.
Also, companies are paying much larger sums to buy brands than to buy physical
assets. HLL paid Rs 110 crores for Lakme’s brands and only Rs 29 crores for their 2
manufacturing plants. Philip Morris bought the Kraft brand for $ 12.9 billion and
Nestle acquired Rowntree for $ 4.5 billion.
Creating (or buying) and developing brands over a period of time is invaluable due to
the enormous returns that brands provide companies. This is due to the ability of
brands to simplify consumer purchase decision process, reduce the risk they perceive,
and satisfy their needs and wants resulting in consumers preferring brands to
unbranded alternatives.
History of Branding
Branding has been used for centuries to identify the offerings of one seller vis-à-vis
other competing sellers, long before the term ‘brand’ existed. In fact, the term brand
gets its origin from the old norse word ‘brandr’ which means ‘to burn’ (Interbrand
2012), as livestock owners burnt unique identification marks into the skin of their
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animals. This practice is prevalent even today in many farming
communities. Baptism, christening, and a variety of child naming ceremonies have
been performed all over the world. These were the first instances of brand naming –
each name representing a unique human being. In addition to helping in identification
of individuals, these names also represented the country (Sanchez, Gomez from Spain
or Mexico; Kim, Park from Korea; and Schmidt, Schroeder, Kohl from Germany) and
in most cases the region from which the individual originated (Patel, Shah from
Gujarat; Chatterjee, Banerjee, Mukherjee from Bengal; Naik, Desai, and surnames
suffixed with kar from Maharashtra), the religion followed (Islam - Ali, Iqbal,
Mohammed; Sindhi – Advani, Santani; Jains – Jain; Sikhs – Chadha, Singh), or the
caste and sect they belonged to. In some cultures, a lot more information about the
person is revealed by their names.
The Origins of branding of products can be traced back to ancient Egypt and Europe
when craftsmen used symbols on their products in order to identify the maker
(Farquhar 1989). Goods from India have been found with marks identifying the
producer from a period dating back to 1300 BC. During the same era, Chinese
porcelain and pottery jars from ancient Greece and Rome also carried identification
marks of the makers.
In medieval Europe, trade guilds used trademarks on their produce. This offered the
consumer an assurance of quality and the producer legal protection from competition.
Bakers in England were forced by a law passed in 1266 to put an identifying mark on
every loaf of bread so as to give consumers and producers legal protection (Keller
2008).
When Europeans moved to America, they carried the practice of branding goods
along with them. Tobacco and medicines were the first products to be branded in the
US. Brand names such as Swaim’s Panacea, Fahnestock’s Vermifuge, and Perry
Davis’ vegetable painkiller were popular prior to the American civil war.
Brand names were first used in the early sixteenth century by whiskey distillers who
shipped their produce in wooden barrels with the distillers name burnt onto them. This
ensured protection from substitution done by tavern owners with cheaper products.
The family name of the creator of the product used to be the brand name. Brands
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which took names of their creators include Ford automobiles, Smirnoff vodka, Sears,
Bakers, Waterman fountain pens, Ponds, Mercedes, Edison phonograph and
Hammond typewriters. Similarlyestablished Indian brands like Godrej, Tata, Birla,
Singhania and Jindal were named after their creators.
Brands evolved in the eighteenth century as producers names began to get replaced by
names of places, famous people and animals with a purpose of making the products
easier for the consumer to remember and differentiate from those of competitors. Till
the eighteenth century, a brand was used only as a product and producer identifier. In
the nineteenth century, brands began to be used to enhance the perceived value of
products by virtue of its associations. In 1835, a brand of scotch called ‘Old
Smuggler’ was introduced to make the most of the excellent quality reputation that
smuggled whiskey brewed by bootleggers enjoyed in America.
Prior to the beginning of the twentieth century, brands were not the same, as we know
them today. Modern branding originated and thrived as a result of opportunities
presented by the following macro-environmental changes:
Advertising: Before the emergence of strong regional and national newspapers
and magazines and later the advent of radio and television advertising, there
were very few brands as we know of them today. Brands till then were
products with names of their manufacturers on them such as Ford, Campbell
and Kodak. These manufacturers did not make conscious efforts to build
‘brand images’. Mass media prompted the start of modern brand building,
brands were no longer products with names as efforts were beingmade to
‘position the brand’ in the mind of the customer. This was done by creating
various associations for the brand in their advertising, such as the use of
particular colors (Kodak, Campbell), symbols (Ford), jingles, advertising by
lines, usage situations, and product benefits. Mass media allowed marketers to
reach out to customers far and wide (Farquhar 1994).
Availability: In the early 1800s, product distribution was very limited.
Consumers bought products either directly from the producer, from local
stores that carried an assortment of goods from various local suppliers, and
from traveling salesmen who carried hard-to-find novel products. Thus,
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producers found to difficult to expand beyond local markets and hence few
branded goods existed at this time. Improvements in transportation towards
the end of the nineteenth century due to the expansion of the railroad system
made it easier for manufacturers to distribute their brands to consumers across
regional and national boundaries.
Production: Industrialization made it possible to mass-produce products rather
economically and also with consistent quality. Backed by advances in
communication (proliferation of mass media) and distribution (wide
geographical availability of products due to improvements in transportation),
these brands catered to national demand.
Retailing: Emergence of new types of retail stores like department stores,
variety stores and national mall order houses made shopping a more attractive
proposition for customers and gave a boost to brands.
Increase in disposable incomes: Industrialization in the west resulted in a spurt
in the incomes of people. This made them move away from old customs of
self-production (making foods, clothing, and household utilities themselves at
home) to buying most of the things they needed. Since unbranded goods were
of unpredictable quality, brands became popular.
What is a brand?
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as “a name, term, design,
symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from
those of other sellers. The legal term for brand is trademark. A brand may identify one
item, a family of items, or all items of that seller. If used for the firm as a whole, the
preferred term is trade name” (AMA website - http://www.
marketingpower.com/live/mg-dictionary.php). This definition views a brand primarily
as a means of identification and differentiation of goods and services of one-seller vis-
à-vis competitors. The focus is on the product and the producer whilst the consumer is
left out of the picture and hence this definition is restrictive in its scope.
A brand is more than a name or label or symbol employed by a manufacturer to
distinguish its products in the eyes of their customers. Brands are images that reside in
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the minds of consumers of functional and psychological attributes of the seller’s
offerings (Chernatony 1998). Brands are a consumer’s perception of the product and
because of the perceptual process; the consumer’s interpretation of the brand may
differ from that intended by the marketer. Pitcher (1985) states that a brand “is not the
producer’s, but the consumers idea of a product”. Consumers do not react to reality,
but to what they perceive as reality. Both Nike and Adidas make sneakers or sports
shoes in addition to a lot of other products. However to a consumer, these brands are
not merely sports shoes, neither are they viewed as similar competing products.
Whilst Adidas is about sports and performance, Nike is about bringing out the best in
the user (irrespective of whether you are playing a sport, running, walking or merely
competing) and it also makes the user feel more flamboyant, stylish and having
achieved up to their potential. Brands are not always what the producer thinks they
are, they are what the consumer perceives them to be.
A brand is a promise to the consumer that it offers more value than any competing
product – the kind of value that is aligned with their functional, emotional and self-
expressive needs and what /that/ they are willing to pay for. Whilst a product offers
functionalutility to the consumer, the brand promises the consumer that it will meet
their needs and wants, make them feel good emotionally, in some instances allows
them to express their values (politicians use khadi to make voters perceive them to be
patriotic, advertising executives dress differently or sport a pony tail or a unique
hairdo to express their creative prowess and individuality) and portray their self-
image to others. The consumer perceives competing brands representing products
from the same category and price range to be different and unique from each other.
Even though Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola and Thums Up are very similar to each other in
terms of tangibles such as color, taste, effervescence and flavor (and very few
consumers have been able to identify the brand on the basis of blind taste tests), loyal
consumers of each of these brands are convinced that the brand he or she uses is
unique and has no substitute. The brand as a promise is illustrated in Table 1-1
below.
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Table 1-1: Examples of the ‘brand as a promise’ to the consumer
Brand Target Consumer The ‘Brand Promise’
ARIEL Urban upper middle class
housewife
Washes clothes whiter &
faster, without damaging
them; thereby satisfying her
need to dress her family in
sparkling clean clothes
without compromising on
her time, which is symbolic
of her love for her family &
her efficiency as a smart
woman
CLASSIC CIGARETTES Upwardly mobile male
smokers
Offers sophisticated full
flavored smoke and social
grace for those who value
taste
DETTOL Middle class housewife &
mother
Protects her family,
especially children, from
germs and thereby ensures
their health and well being
TITAN All adults and children Offers them the latest
international styles in
watches coupled with great
quality
KRACK Cream Women with cracked foot
soles
Keeps foot soles smooth by
preventing them from
cracking and thereby
preventing public
embarrassment
MAGGI NOODLES Mother of school going
active children
Allows the mother to
instantly (in just 2 minutes)
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satisfy the hunger of her
young ones with tasty
noodles
APPLE (Computers) Trendy computer users Offers a humanistic
computer – a computer that
is very user friendly with
aesthetics that are not
machine-like as is the case
with traditional computers.
ALLEN SOLLY White-collared executives Offers them vibrant office
clothing options that makes
them feel more comfortable
and look smart at the
workplace
The brand is a promise that provides the consumer a combination of functional,
emotional and self-expressive (symbolic) benefits.
Functional benefits are based on physical product attributes that give functional
utility to the customer. Some brands which differentiate themselves on the basis of
the functional value they give include Skypak couriers who deliver anywhere in the
world, Duracell batteries which last longer, Natural ice-creams which are 100 percent
natural and Fevikwik which sticks anything in a flash. Functional benefits are directly
linked with the usage situation and brands that own key functional benefits can
dominate product categories (eg Dove moisturizes and Colgate prevents tooth decay
and fights bad breath).
Emotional benefits are the feelings aroused in a consumer as a result of identifying
with the brand through purchase or use. Association with the brand creates feelings of
happiness, love, peace etc. in the consumer. Thus a consumer feels excited when
watching Channel V, auspicious about painting the house with Asian paints, at home
when flying with British Airways and confident with Ponds Dreamflower talc.
Emotions add meaning to the experience of using a brand. Dandi salt, without its
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associations of Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘dandi march’ would revert to being a commodity.
The name ‘Dandi’ evokes images of India’s freedom struggle and ‘satyagraha’,
resulting in an enriched experience in owning and using the brand.
Self-expressive benefits Brands are also bought and used by consumers to express
values about their own selves. For instance, a consumer who wants to project himself
as macho and rugged rides a Bullet Enfield motorcycle, smokes Marlboro cigarettes
or uses Denim aftershave. The brand plays an important role in establishing &
communicating the users identity and values (Belk 1988). The brand confers a distinct
self-expression onto its users and provides the user a way to communicate his or her
self-image. People have multiple facets to their persona. For example, a sales
executive may also be a doting father, tennis player, social worker and engineer. For
each of these personas, the person will have a need to express his self-concept. Use of
brands is one way of achieving this.
Table 1-2 illustrates the difference between Emotional & Self-expressive benefits
Emotional Benefits Self-expressive benefits
These are feelings based benefits (feel
nice, feel patriotic, feel natural).
These are based on the self-image/ self-
identity of the consumer (consumer uses
these products to extend their self-
concept/ self-image – Belk 1988, Sirgy
1982).
Not necessarily socially visible
consumption.
Public settings – socially visible
consumption (so that the consumer can
express something about themselves to
others by the use of the brand ).
Inner directed (i.e, the feelings are
towards oneself – feeling patriotic,
natural, at ease, homely etc)..
Other directed – see self through other
eyes (since these an expression of the self
to others).
Memories of the past (these are based on
nostalgic connections of the past such as
a brand reminds a consumer of a
grandparent, a country, an era or period in
Aspirational (the consumer uses the brand
to extend their self-image/ concept from
the actual perceived self-image to their
ideal-aspirational self-image).
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their lives etc.).
Based on consequences of using the
product.
Based on the act of using the product.
Commodities, Products and Brands
The Oxford business dictionary defines a commodity as “a raw material traded on a
commodity market, such as grain, coffee, cocoa, wool, cotton, jute, rubber, pork
bellies, or orange juice or metals and other solid raw materials.” A commodity is very
basic and rudimentary and satisfies only the core need of the customer
Figure 1-1: Commodities, Products and Brands – What is the difference?
A product is a differentiated commodity. Usually this differentiation is functional and
tangible in nature. Rice, coffee, salt, metals can all be differentiated, for example
basmati rice, instant coffee, free flowing granular salt, iodized salt. A product is
defined as “anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or
consumption that might satisfy a need. It includes physical objects and services”.
Products not only include physical goods and services, but also include retail outlets,
persons, organizations, places, experiences and ideas.
Marketers define a product as “anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy a
want or need.” What then is the differentiating line between a commodity and a
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product? Products are created when differentiation is created within a commodity. For
example, table salt was a commodity till the advent of iodized salt, granular free
flowing salt, and 100 percent vegetarian salt. The extent of differentiation results in
different levels of products as defined by Ted Levitt (1980) in the HBR Classic
‘Marketing success through differentiation of anything’:
1. Generic Product – this level corresponds to what has been referred to as
‘commodity’ earlier in this section. A generic product is the minimum offering
needed in order to exist in the market. It is a basic, stripped down version of
the product. Examples of generic products include agricultural produce
(wheat, rice, pulses, fruits, vegetables), table salt, wheat flour, fish, and a lot of
other basic products that are not differentiated at all from one another,
irrespective of the producer or marketer. These products can be differentiated
in many ways; for example, mangoes can be differentiated on the basis of the
variety (Alfonso, Malda, Langda, Totapuri), geographic location where grown
(Ratnagiri Alfonso mangoes from Maharashtra, Goa Mankurad mangoes,
Patna Malda mangoes). The degree of differentiation decides the product
level.
2. Expected Product – are the attributes and benefits consumers expect when
they purchase a product. When consumers purchase vegetables, they expect
the vegetables to be fresh, clean, and free of worm-infestation. Whilst a
consumer primarily expects food from a restaurant, the consumer also expects
cleanliness, good service, adequate lighting, hygienic handling of the food and
comfortable seating. All these attributes together make up the expected
product.
3. Augmented Product – the product can be further differentiated from
competitors by including additional attributes and benefits; thereby, what is
offered to the consumer is more than his expectation. In competitive markets,
companies have to constantly outdo competitors by offering customers more
than the competition in the form of additional features and services. Thus, a lot
of food take-away outlets offer consumers home delivery, facility of ordering
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over the telephone, guarantee of delivering in a fixed period of time
(Domino’s promises to deliver pizza within 30 minutes from the time the
consumer places an order), extend credit facilities, and so on. Product
augmentation is an ongoing activity that companies undertake in their bid to
counter competition. Product augmentations come at a cost and producers
have to take care to ensure that the customer values the augmentation and the
customer is willing to pay for these augmentations. As companies raise their
prices for augmented products, some competitors revert back to offering a bare
stripped-down version of the product that is affordable to a particular segment
of customers. Such examples include ‘no-frills’ airlines like Southwest in the
US; Ryan Air, Easyjet and Go in Europe; and Air Deccan in India.
4. Potential Product – includes all possible future augmentations of the product.
The augmented product describes the product inclusive of augmentations as of
today whilst the potential product consists of all the possible augmentations
that can evolve over a period of time. Companies constantly search for
potential ways of augmenting their augmented products.
Table 1-3 illustrates the four product levels using hotels as a product category.
Table 1-3: Product Levels for Hotels as a category
Level Product Offered
Generic Product A room to relax
Expected Product Expects a clean room, with beds, clean
linen, an attached bathroom & laundry
facilities.
Augmented Product The product can be augmented by
including a basket of fruits, stacked
refrigerator, toiletry kit, access to internet.
Potential Product Potential benefits could include ability to
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personalize the room, linen & service to the
taste of the resident.
What then is a Brand? It is a product that has added dimensions, which differentiate it
from other products. The brand is more than a product: it is both a physical as well as
a psychological entity; whilst the physical aspect of the brand is real, the
psychological part of the brand is perceptual in nature and exists in the mind of the
consumer (Sal 1993). The physical aspect of the brand is tangible in nature and
consists of the attributes of the product (size, shape, weight, colour, fragrance) and its
packaging. The perceptual aspect of the brand consists of all the intangibles that are
part of the brand such as the image of the brand, its perceived quality, consumer
emotions that are evoked by usage or exposure to the brand, the perceived personality
of the brand and so on.
A product offers a functional benefit whilst a brand is a name, sign, symbol or design
that enhances the value of a product beyond functionality. Is a brand then a product
with a name, sign, symbol or design? Contrary to this popular belief, a brand is not
merely a product, service or idea with a name. “A brand name is more than the label
employed to differentiate among the manufacturers of a product. It is a complex
symbol that represents a variety of ideas and attributes. It tells consumers many
things, not only by the way it sounds (and its literal meaning if it has one) but, more
important, via the body of associations it has built up and acquired” over a period of
time (Gardner and Levy 1955). A brand is a differentiated product, service or idea that
is unique from competition. This uniqueness is perceived by consumers and not
created in a laboratory or factory. Whilst products exist in the marketplace, brands
reside in the consumers mind. The uniqueness is meaningless unless it is valuable to
the buyers and users of the brand. Thus, the key differentiator between a brand and
product is its uniqueness that stems from a combination of tangible and intangible
differences the brand has over its competitors. Table 1-4 differentiates between
products and brands.
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Table 1-4: Differences between a Product and a Brand (Hawking 1984)
Product Brand
A product is made in a factory A Brand is what a consumer buys
Is assessed objectively (eg Draught beer,
Brown bread)
Is assessed subjectively (eg. Fosters – The
Australian beer, Coke – The Real Thing)
A product can be copied A brand is unique
A product has a distinct life cycle (eg
Typewriters)
A brand can be timeless (eg. Lux, Levis)
Product development employs existing raw
material, on existing plant, with existing
expertise.
Brand development focuses on delivering
new or improved satisfaction to users
A brand achieves this uniqueness through the various associations it has like the
product it features, country of origin, parent company, packaging, symbol and
advertising. Sony, LG, Samsung, Thomson, BPL, Videocon and a lot of other
companies market television sets with similar physical attributes and functions like
picture tube size and characteristics (like flat screen and screen sizes), number of
channels, audio configuration and other innovative features such as picture-in-picture
facility, bio-friendly emissions, video and internet compatibility and so on. However,
in spite of the barely noticeable difference in the physical attributes and functions of
these televisions, in the mind of the consumer each of these brands is unique to itself
owing to the intangibles bestowed on the brand due to its varied associations such as
country of origin (Sony is Japanese and Japanese electronic gadgets are perceived to
be better than South Korean brands such as LG or Samsung, which in turn are
perceived to be better than Indian brands in this category), organizational associations
(even though Akai is a Japanese brand, the perceived reputation of the organization is
not associated with premium quality products and here the organizational associations
hamper the positive impact of country of origin), advertising (Pepsi is perceived to
have a younger personality than Coca Cola and Thums Up is perceived to be stronger
than Pepsi and Coke owing to its consistent masculine, adventurous advertising
theme), and so on.
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Even though a brand may share a particular association with another brand (both LG
and Samsung have South Korea as their country of origin), the strength of this
association could vary (whilst the pharmaceutical companies Dr Reddys labs, Cipla,
and Wockhardt are all Indian in origin, the consumer would perceive Dr Reddys Labs
to be most Indian, Cipla to be less Indian and probably Wockhardt to be German due
to the way Wockhardt is spelt) and the entire set of brand associations for each brand
will always be unique for all strong brands. Figures 1-2 & 1-3 illustrate the difference
in the association sets of the liquor brands Royal Challenge and Bagpiper (Parulekar
2005).
Figure 1-2 & 1-3: Brand Association sets of Bagpiper and Royal Challenge
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The characteristics of a product are its attributes (Videocon television has Bazooka
sound, Brittania cheese is made of cow’s milk), functional benefits (FeviKwik sticks
fastest, Surf Excel detergent washes whitest), scope (Colgate for all dental care, IBM
provides business solutions), uses (Milkmaid is used for making deserts, Aspirin for
aches and in lower doses for cardiac patients to reduce formation of clots in the
blood), and quality/ value (Classic Ivory soap of P&G is promoted as being 9944/100 %
pure).
Brand characteristics include largely functional product characteristics and additional
psychological characteristics. These additional characteristics are shown in Figure 1-4
below:
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Figure 1-4: The Product and the Brand (Aaker & Joachimsthaler 2000)
Country of origin effects
Products made or originated in different countries are evaluated differently by
consumers. Consumer’s attitudes towards competing products having common
attributes but made in different countries differ widely (Bilkey and Nes 1982).
Where the country has a favorable reputation for a particular technology,
resource, area of expertise or product category, its reputation gets carried over
to the brands made or originating from that country. This is the case for
German cars (Mercedes, BMW), Brazilian coffee, Russian vodka
(Stolichnaya), Indian spices (Everest), Italian design (Ferrari cars, Versace
creations), Japanese electronics (Sony, Hitachi) and Swiss watches (Rolex,
Swatch). This country of origin effects are related to the product that the brand
features. For example, Japanese electronics are rated better than Japanese
food, German beer is favored to German apparel, and Malaysian rubber is
regarded higher than Malaysian cars (Kaynak & Cavusgil 1983).
User Imagery
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Is the image consumers carry in their minds of typical users (people who are
normally seen using the brand) or idealized users (the projected users – models
portrayed using the brands in advertising for the brand). For example,
Mercedes user imagery is upscale corporate executives whilst that of a Ferrari
is a younger flamboyant millionaire heir. User imagery has a large influence in
shaping consumers perception of the personality of the brand. Brands can
influence brand personality by changing the users portrayed in their
advertising. Levis moved away from their established brand personality based
on rugged miners and ranchers in durable denims by using urban, hip user
imagery in their communications aimed at the younger generation (Aaker
1996).
Organizational Associations
Like their set of values, culture, people, assets, competences and goodwill can
provide a basis for creating differentiation in instances where the product as
such is difficult to differentiate. This is true for business-to-business, service,
high technology, and consumer durables brands. In all these industries
competition easily overcomes differentiation by way of product attributes and
it is these organizational associations that are almost impossible to copy.
These firms add a lot of intangibles to the product through their reputations of
being innovative, responsible socially, dynamic, competitive, committed to
customers and the environment (Aaker 1996).For example, computer brand
Apple symbolizes humanistic values in a mechanical world of computers –
this has a positive rub-off on the products featured in the Apple brands like I-
Mac & I-Book.
Brand Personality
Is the visualization of the brand as a person. Consumers perceive certain
human traits in brands like ‘masculinity’ (Axe is masculine and so is Denim),
‘sophistication’ (Axe is more sophisticated than Denim – the product,
packaging, user profile and advertising of Axe are all more sophisticated than
that of Denim), ‘ruggedness’ (Denim is more rough, tough and rugged, whilst
Axe is more suave), ‘youth’ (Dabur is old, Indian and wise, whilst Pepsi is
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young, American and energetic). These characteristics include demographic
characteristics like gender, age, social class, and personality traits like
excitement, competence, sincerity, sophistication and ruggedness (Aaker
1997). Brand personality makes a brand interesting, memorable and unique.
Personality adds on valuable intangible benefits to a brand and forms the basis
for brand-customer relationships.
Symbols
Can be any visual representation of a brand and includes logos (the bitten
apple of Apple computers, the red heart of Maggi), colors (the colors of the
American flag for Pepsi, plain red for Coke), taglines (Hamara Bajaj, Jara sa
Rin), characters (Gattu of Asian Paints, Ronald McDonald of MacDonald’s,
Olympics mascots), jingles (Titan jingle, the long running Nirma jingle),
gestures (‘V’ gesture for Channel V, thumbs up sign for Thums Up),
packaging (Coke bottle, Catch salt and pepper containers, packaging of Titan
Fastrack watches in special tins), scenes or pictures (Marlboro country). A
symbol can enhance the memorability (recognition and recall) of a brand.
Brand-Customer Relationships
Brand-customer relationships are based on the positive feelings (love, passion,
friendship, fun) that a brand evokes in the customer. Brand-customer
relationships of a personal nature are also common. “A brand of air freshener
that grandmother kept in her bathroom, a floor cleaner that an ex-husband
always used – these brands can become so strongly associated with the past
that the person’s spirit comes to dwell in the brand and is evoked reliably with
each use (Fournier 1998). Most brand-customer relationships emanate when
the brand is considered as an organization (since organizations have person
like characteristics and traits) or person. Consumer’s feelings, concerns, and
life experiences make them likely to develop relationships with brands that
add meaning in their lives. Put otherwise, consumers do not choose brands
they choose lives. For example, advertising for Everest masala plays on the
nostalgia of providing the same flavor and taste as the food cooked by your
own mother.
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Emotional benefits
Emotional benefits are based on the ability of the brand to evoke feelings in
the user or buyer when they purchase or use the brand. For example, Camlin
brings back nostalgic memories of school days, consumers feel safe in a
Volvo, patriotic in Khadi garments and a women consumer feels like an
actress after bathing with Lux soap. For the consumer, these feelings result in
an enhanced experience with the brand.
Self-Expressive benefits
Exist when consumers associate themselves with some brands that allow them
to express themselves and portray their self-image. A person may express an
image of being daring and adventurous by smoking Red & White cigarettes,
drinking Thums Up, wearing Killer jeans and driving a Jeep. The distinction
between emotional and self-expressive benefits has been discussed earlier in
this chapter in Table 1-2.
Figure 1-5 distinguishes between a product and brand using Marlboro cigarettes
as an example
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Over a period of time, competitors will try to eliminate the uniqueness of a brand by
copying the functional & psychological associations it has created (Keller et al. 2002).
Any brand uniqueness generates plagiarism from competitors and then attributes that
were once a point of parity can quickly become a standard that all competing brands
adopt and customers grow accustomed to. Ranbaxy, the biggest Indian pharmaceutical
company, was the first company to market the antibiotic ciprofloxacin in India,
branded as Cifran. Cifran went on to become the most successful launch of 1989.
However, the phenomenal success of Ciprofloxacin as an antibiotic attracted more
than 50 companies to this market, resulting in the launch of many competing brands
to Cifran. The Alcipro brand of Alkem Laboratories, which was priced significantly
lower than Cifran, made a significant dent in the sales of Cifran since consumers
perceived hardly any differentiation between the two brands and hence the lower price
of Alcipro tilted the consumers purchase decision in its favor.
Consumer brands, which are category pioneers, are most susceptible to these
phenomena. At launch, these brands are relatively basic, yet differentiated from
49
competition. Over a period of time, these brands become category identifiers (like
Xerox for photocopying and Colgate for toothpastes) and generic in nature (they
enjoy high recognition & recall, but low perceived difference) and run the risk of
being substituted by retailers and consumers (Kapferer 2000) with cheaper or similar
alternatives that offer the retailer better returns. In India, the brand name Bisleri has
become synonymous with bottled water. The widespread awareness of Bisleri should
have resulted in Bisleri easily being the largest selling brand in India; however Bisleri
ranks a far third in the market in terms of sales, behind Kinley and Aquafina. When
the consumer asks for Bisleri, the retailer can freely substitute the brand with any
other competing brand largely because the consumer doesn’t perceive any difference
between Bisleri and other brands such as Bailey, Aquafina and Kinley. This is
because Bisleri has not been able to maintain its differentiation and uniqueness vis-à-
vis these brands.
Benefits of Branding
Branding (the process of creating and managing brands) involves a lot of additional
costs, which are needed to create awareness, recognition, recall, a brand image and a
position in the mind of the consumer. What makes firms and customers opt for brands
in spite of the higher cost?
Consumer Perspective
Brands allow the consumer to identify the maker or seller of a product and protect
them by enabling them to assign responsibility of product performance on the
producer. More importantly, brand names help consumers to shop more efficiently by
relying on their past experiences with the brand and through the advertising and
promotion program of the brand over the years. Due to this exposure and experience
to the brand, consumers have some knowledge about the brand (attributes, benefits,
quality, price and so on), this saves them the trouble (and cost) of searching for and
processing information to make a purchase decision. This knowledge helps them find
out which brands are likely to satisfy their needs and wants and which brands will not.
50
When a consumer buys an unbranded product, like unbranded salt, the consumer
needs to engage into more information search and processing in order to ascertain its
quality, reliability, taste and other relevant features. In the case of branded products
such as Tata salt, the consumer associates the brand name with trust and quality.
When a consumer needs battery cells that last longer, the consumer purchases and
uses Duracell and doesn’t need to find out information to compare various competing
batteries on their long lasting performance. Brands simplify the purchase decision and
thereby gain time for the consumer thereby providing the consumer a shorthand
device for making purchase decisions (Chernatony & McWilliam 1989).
Well-known brands can reduce perceived risk of buying complex products and
services where the prospective consumer finds it difficult to evaluate the attributes of
the product. When consumers travel to new countries where they need to make a
choice between local brands (which they are unaware of) and brands that are
marketed in the country as well as their home country, since consumers are familiar
with the brands that they have had a previous experience with, they would prefer
buying and using these brands instead of the local brands as they perceive lower risk
with purchase and usage of these brands. Hence, transnational brands such as
McDonalds, Dominos, Nike, Coke, Pepsi, Sony, and Mercedes get customer
patronage across geographical boundaries from customers for whom these brands are
well known and who associate lower risk with the purchase and consumption of these
brands.
Consumers can evaluate tangible product characteristics like size, shape, color,
weight, sturdiness, composition, and style by physical inspection of the product.
However, evaluating equally important intangibles like reliability, compatibility,
quality of service, image, social acceptability, and status is a rather difficult task for
the prospective buyer. In these cases, the prospective buyer relies on the brand image
and advertising of the brand. The consumer knows only advertising and through the
position the brand occupies in his or her mind that Coke is ‘the real thing’ (the
original cola), Louis Philippe is for ‘the upper crest’ (successful white collared
professionals), smoking Marlboro cigarettes is seen by others as more macho than
smoking Gold Flake cigarettes, and driving a Mercedes is perceived to be more
prestigious than driving a Toyota. For all these brands, the consumer can evaluate the
51
tangible differences between these products but has to rely on perception and
advertising for the intangibles that are an essential part of brands.
Products have three different types of characteristics:
Physical characteristics, which can be evaluated by visual inspection before
purchase
Experience characteristics like performance, ease of use, comfort – which can
be evaluated by product trial (experience of using the product)
Credence characteristics, which cannot be evaluated and are accepted on the
basis of trust, and external indicators like advertising and word of mouth.
The first type of characteristics include style, size, color, material used, price which
are all tangible in nature and consumers can evaluate these attributes by physical
examination of the product. There is hardly any advantage that brands offer in such
products.
When deciding on the purchase of an automobile, a consumer can assess style,
physical features and price before purchase. However, characteristics like pleasure of
driving, comfort, ease of handling, reliability and quality can only be partially
assessed by experiencing a test drive. The test drive experience when supplemented
by a reassurance through word of mouth and advertising exposure allows the
consumer to make a complete evaluation of the product. This is where brands play a
role. Finally, credence characteristics for premium products (expensive cars, apparel,
perfumes, art) include snob value, the feeling of success (of ‘having arrived’ or
achieved in life) as a result of buying and owning premium brands like a Mercedes,
Armani suit or Luis Vuittton bags; are purely a function of your trust and faith. It is a
belief that the buyer has and is generally shared by other buyers and non-buyers. The
inability to evaluate product characteristics increases the perceived risk consumers
experience during product purchase.
52
The risk perceived by consumers in a purchase situation can be of many kinds
(Loudon & Della Bitta 2002):
Functional or performance risk – the product may not perform up to the level
of consumers’ expectation
Monetary or financial risk – the product is not worth the price paid for it
Physical risk – the product or its side-effect is harmful or injurious to the users
health
Social risk – when association with the product through ownership or usage
negatively affects the way others think about the consumer
Psychological risk – when the product causes anxiety and affects the mental
well-being of the consumer
Time risk – is the time and effort the consumer has to expend in replacing the
product with an alternative in case the fails to perform
The degree of risk perceived varies depending upon the context of product usage. For
example, there is higher risk when buying a shirt for a job interview than for a
weekend outing with friends. Consumers use various strategies to reduce perceived
risk. One such strategy to cope with risk is to only buy well-known brands and rely on
their /its/ reputation. Another risk reduction method is to buy a brand that the
consumer has used in the past and has found satisfactory or has had favorable
experiences with. Brands thrive as the perceived risk increases. Once the risk
disappears, the brand loses its importance.
Brands also have special meanings to customers. Strong brand preference is created
on the basis of what the brand means to the customer and the relationship between a
customer and a brand is analogous to that between two people. Just as the behavior of
a person affects his or her perception by others, similarly the behavior of a brand also
53
affects the way it is perceived by its consumers. For instance, if the brand is
frequently available on sale or discount, the consumer perceives it to be cheap and
uncultured; if the brand advertises extensively, offers strong customer service and has
ease of handling and use, the consumer perceives it to be more approachable and
friendly than a high priced and exclusively distributed brand. This relationship
between the consumer and a brand is based on an implicit understanding that the
brand will provide the consumers ‘need satisfaction’ consistently. In return, the
consumer puts his trust and loyalty in the brand. However, this relationship is
reciprocal and would be damaged in cases of product stock-out or due to changes in
the brand that are not acceptable to the consumer. For example, when most Indian
lower middle consumers think of health soap, what comes to mind is the distinct
reddish, brick-shaped Lifebuoy soap with a carbolic odor (similar to the odor in a
hospital ward). However, after the repositioning of the Lifebuoy brand, the original
Lifebuoy soap was taken off the market to be replaced by a more sophisticated range
of family soaps. This may hamper the relationship of Lifebuoy with many consumers
who were brand loyalists.
Brands also allow consumers to project their self-concept. By associating with these
brands, consumers can communicate to others the kind of person they are (actual self-
concept) or the type of person they aspire to become (their ideal self-concept). This is
illustrated by this 40 year old man’s view of the importance of his Porsche 928 car
(Stein 1985):
“when I pass by teenage girls (in my Porsche 928) on suburban streets, they stare
and smile. When I pull up next to a snooty beauty in a black Rolls convertible, she
winks. When I am out of the car in my own skin, the same women look at me, look
through me, and virtually scream “who is this geek with the gray hair and the
glasses?”
Table 1-5: lists down the benefits of branding for consumers
Function of Brand Benefit to Consumer
54
Identification of producer or seller of
product
Protects consumers by allowing them to
assign responsibility for product
performance
Shorthand device for decision
making
Allow savings of time and energy
through reduced information search and
processing
Promise of consistent quality Consumer is sure of same quality
irrespective of when and where the brand
is purchased
Risk reducer Choosing brands reduces perceived risk
when evaluation of features and benefits
of the product is difficult
Relationship with the consumer Satisfaction as a result of familiarity,
intimacy and identifiability of the
consumer with the brand
Symbolic device Enables the consumers to express their
self-concept
Benefits of Branding – Marketers Perspective
Branding provides firms several valuable advantages. Brands serve an identification
function, thereby making it easier for the producer, seller or distributor to process and
track the product, help organize inventory and maintain accounting records (Kotler
2004). For example, Coca Cola India markets more than 35 different types of
beverage SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) across the country. These SKUs cater to the
needs and wants of different customers, for example, Diet Coke is consumed by
weight or calorie conscious consumers and the 2 litre bottles of Coke, Limca, Sprite
and other soft drinks are bought for consumption at parties (many times to mix with
liquor) and for family consumption. As these numerous SKUs are marketed under
55
various brand names (Coke, Diet Coke, Thums Up, Fanta, Limca, Sprite, Sunfill and
Kinley), it makes it a lot easier and efficient for the company to organize inventory,
track an individual SKU, and manage accounting records.
A brand can be legally protected against copying of unique aspects of the product and
the brand (such as the name, logo, unique product attributes, jingle and various other
brand elements). This protection is available in the form of trademarks (for the brand
name, logo, symbol), copyrights (for packaging, design, taglines), and patents (for the
manufacturing process or product attributes). This allows the firm to safely invest in
the future of the brand – in research, innovation and brand building, without the fear
of copying by competitors. Firms can also earn substantial royalties by granting
licenses of these legally protected assets to partnering firms, thereby enabling entry
into newer markets where the brand is well known but the firm doesn’t have a
presence. UCB pharma, a Belgium based pharmaceutical company having market
presence mainly in Europe synthesized a new generation anti-allergic molecule called
Cetrizine. UCB marketed cetirizine in Europe under the brand name Zyrtec that soon
became one of the largest selling anti-allergics in Europe. UCB decided to introduce
Cetirizine in the United States where they had a very weak presence and hence
decided to enter the market by licensing the brand name Zyrtec to Pfizer. The
transnational burger chain McDonalds has a presence across the globe through the
licensing of the Mac brand name to business partners. Honda entered the Indian
market through a partnership with Kinetic engineering for marketing scooters (Kinetic
Honda) and Hero motors for motorcycles (Hero Honda). The association with the
Honda brand resulted in the consumers preferring and willing to pay a premium for
the two-wheelers of Kinetic engineering and Hero motors.
Brands fetch a price premium over unbranded products as consumers are willing to
pay higher prices for the perceived unique benefits that it provides them (Davis 2000).
Pillsbury atta costs a customer more than unbranded wheat flour. It is also the case
with Tata or Captain Cook salt. Tanishq jewelry costs a consumer at least 20 per cent
more than a comparable item at a family jeweler.
Since brands are a basis for identification and a promise of consistent quality
(irrespective of when and where the brand is bought) for consumers, in most cases
56
satisfied buyers of the brand choose the brand repeatedly, leading to creation of brand
loyalty. Brand loyalty results in repeated purchase of the brand by the loyal consumer.
The company does not need to constantly woo the customer through advertising
thereby resulting in savings and increased profitability for the company. Moreover,
these satisfied brand loyal customers function as ambassadors for the brand by
influencing a large number of prospective buyers through word-of-mouth. This brand
loyalty improves the predictability and sustainability of demand for the firm resulting
in greater control of inventory, production and marketing. This results in cost
efficiency due to lower customer acquisition and retention costs, and lower production
and inventory costs. The cost advantage and brand loyalty creates barriers of entry
against competitors. Brand loyalty also results in better bargaining power for the firm
with their buyers (distributors, dealers, retailers, brokers and salesmen) because there
exists a “pull” effect for the product which reduces the dependence on trade partners.
Brands can thereby become a source of competitive advantage. Additionally, strong
brands have the resilience to endure difficult situations like economic downturn and
product mishaps. Coca-Cola survived product quality problems in Europe in mid
1990s. In 2003, Pepsi and Coca-Cola survived reports of the presence of pesticides
above limits in their bottles and cans. Even if strong brands are not promoted for a
short period of time, they do not immediately lose out on consumer patronage. In
1993, Coca Cola bought the leading cola brand Thums Up from Parle Industries with
the objective of eliminating the brand and thereby reducing competition in the cola
market. However, in spite of not being advertised and promoted for a couple of
months, consumers still continued to patronize the brand. Although the visibility for
the Coca-Cola brand is higher than that for Thums Up, Thums Up still manages to
outsell Coke by 30 percent.
Brands find easier acceptance by the trade (distributors, wholesalers and retailers)
resulting in wider product availability, lower slotting allowances and more shelf space
(Gibson 1988). Strong brands have the ability to pull customers into the stores that
carry them whilst products are unable to do so. This is because of the uniqueness of
the brands which prevents the retailer from finding a substitute to the brand that is
acceptable. Whilst at a product level Lux and Nirma offer the consumer a beauty
soap, the consumer perceives each of these brands to be distinct from one another –
57
Lux being the soap that film actresses use and Nirma being an affordable and efficient
beauty soap but not premium enough for a budding film actress. Hence, supermarkets
and convenience stores need to carry the brand (Lux) even if HLL doesn’t agree to
pay slotting fees or give higher margins. In the pharmaceutical sector, all brands that
market a drug are bound by the Drug and Control Act to comply to the same stringent
quality standards and hence competing products have hardly any functional
differentiators from each other. In spite of this, very few consumers will accept any
other paracetamol brand than Crocin and this undermines the bargaining power that
retailers have over firms that market these brands.
Marketers can do segmentation of markets by introducing a number of products from
the same category, each under a different brand name and image that caters to a
specific market segment. Arvind Mills makes different brands of jeans, each targeted
at a different income segment. The various branded jeans Arvind Mills markets are
Ruf-n-Tuf, Newport, Flying Machine, Wrangler and Lee. Similarly Hindustan Lever
use its brands Active Wheel, Rin, Surf and Surf Excel to segment its detergent buyers
into distinct segments.
Brands, unlike products, do not have a life cycle – they can live forever if managed
well (Arnold 1992). Products have a distinct life cycle which consists of four phases –
introduction, growth, maturity and decline. The relationship between the sales and
profitability vis-à-vis the stage of the life-cycle the product is in is illustrated in table
1-6 below.
Table 1-6: Product Life Cycle – Impact on Sales, Profitability and Marketing
Strategy
Parameter Introduction Growth Maturity Decline
Type of
Customers
Innovators Mass Markets Mass Markets Laggards
Sales Growth
Rate
Moderate Fast No Growth Negative
Growth
Marketing
Strategy
Creating
Awareness
Creating
Preference
Low Pricing Specialised –
targeted at a
58
over
competitors
niche
Pricing High Lower Lowest Rising
Profitability Negative Higher Peak profit
and then
declines
Declining
profits
(Adapted from John Smallwood, “The Product Life Cycle: A Key to Strategic
Marketing Planning,” MSU Business Topics, Winter 1973, pp: 29-35)
In the introduction stage, the product has to be made aware to consumers and this
involves an advertising outlay. However at this stage, the sales are relatively low. As
a consequence, during introduction, the company operates at a loss and invests for the
future. As the product gains acceptance, sales grow at a fast rate. This is the growth
phase of the life cycle. This stage also attracts a lot of competitors who promote the
product and this added advertising and promotion of the product results in accelerated
sales growth. Over a period of time, the market gets saturated or competitors develop
newer superior alternate products, which better satisfy the needs of the market. This
results in stagnation of the sales of the existing product. This period of stagnation is
the maturity phase. Gradually newer products and technology cut into the sales of this
existing product resulting in decline of the product (decline stage) and ultimately
leading to obsolescence of the product. When the product that the brand represents
reaches stagnation or decline (due to technological obsolescence or because
consumers preferences have changed) the brand can replace the obsolete product with
a newer product that can satisfy the consumer needs and preferences. Consumer
durable brands like BPL, LG, Sony, and Videocon keep changing the products
associated with their brand name whenever technology or the consumer makes the
older product obsolete. Brands can also facilitate revenue growth through
‘extensions’. Denim extended from after-shave lotion to shaving cream, toilet soap
and talc. Nike extended from shoes to sportswear, bags, eyewear and time-wear.
Burnol antiseptic cream has been very strongly related to burns – it has a strong
perception in the minds of consumers as an antiseptic to be used in cases of burns.
The brand is very firmly entrenched as the leader in the antiseptic for burns category,
however due to the limited appeal of the category, the sales of Burnol were stagnant
59
for sometime. After Boots sold the brand to Dr Morepen, the company has tried to
expand the appeal of Burnol as an antiseptic for multiple purposes and not just burns.
As the product goes into the maturity and decline phase, the brand can drop the
product and move to another product that is in the introduction or growth phase.
Gillette has moved from shaving rounds to shaving cream, shaving foam and shaving
gel as shaving rounds became obsolete. Similarly, Colgate has toothpowder, cream-
based toothpaste and the currently popular gel-based toothpaste.
Today brands are one of the most valuable assets of firms. Brands can be bought and
sold by companies, thereby providing firms security of sustained earnings in the
future. It is for the same reason that the most valuable assets of companies today are
their brands rather than their fixed assets like factories, equipment and offices. The
value of all the brands of Hindustan Lever is far greater than either their annual
turnover or the book value of all their offices, godowns and manufacturing facilities.
The Table 1-7 lists down the ten most valuable brands in the world:
Table 1-7: The World’s top 10 Brands
Rank Brand Sector Brand Value
2011 ($ Bn)
1 Coca-Cola Beverages 71.9
2 IBM Business Services 69.9
3 Microsoft Computer
Software
59.1
4 Google Internet Services 55.3
5 GE Diversified 42.8
6 McDonald’s Restaurants 35.6
7 Intel Electronics 35.2
60
8 Apple Electronics 33.5
9 Disney Media 29.0
10 HP Electronics 28.5
(2011 Ranking of the 100 Top Brands, Interbrand 2011)
Companies pay hefty sums of money for acquiring brands. Some recent examples of
brand acquisitions in India are presented:
In 1993, Coca-Cola paid close to Rs 175 crore to buy soft drink brands
Thumbs Up, Limca, Citra and Gold Spot from Parle
In 1994, Godrej soaps paid Rs 12 crore to pocket Goodknight (the mosquito
repellant brand from Transelektra
In 1995, Smithkline Beecham paid Rs 42 crore to bag Crocin from Duphar-
Interfran
In 1997, Hindustan Lever Limited paid Rs 110 crores for Lakme’s brands and
only Rs 29 crores for their 2 manufacturing plants.
Ranbaxy paid Rs 80 crore to Gufic Laboratories for their antibiotic brands
Mox, Zole, Excel and Suprimox
Table 1-8 summarizes the benefits of branding for companies
Benefits of Branding for Companies
Means of identification to simplify operations
Brands command a price premium
Branding can be used to segment markets
Source of competitive advantage
Brands can create entry barriers for competitors
Means of legal protection of product uniqueness
Create customer loyalty
61
Better bargaining power over trade partners
Brands can be bought or sold
Resilience to endure crisis
Longevity through extensions
Easier trade acceptance and wider product availability
Types of Brands
Firms engage in various types of brand strategies. Whilst at one extreme there are
firms that brand all their products with the corporate name (Samsung, Philips, Ford),
there are also firms like Procter and Gamble where each product has a different brand
name (Ariel, Tide, Camay, Crest, Pringles). Table 1-9 highlights the salient features
of each of these types of brands.
Table 1-9: Types of Brands
Type of Brand Characteristics Examples
Corporate
Monolithic Brand
All products are
branded with the
corporate name
Reliance – Salt, Trucks, Tea,
Coffee, Infotech, Steel, Cement,
Chemicals
Samsung – Televisions, Cameras,
Refrigerators, Microwaves,
Computer drives & monitors,
Cellphones, Washing Machines,
Laptops
Corporate Endorsed
Brand
Combine the corporate
name and a unique
name for each product
Cadburys Dairy Milk, Cadburys
Drinking Chocolate, Cadburys
Perk, Cadburys Temptations,
Cadburys Gems
Honda Activa, Honda Dio, Honda
62
Eterno, Honda City, Honda
Accord, Honda CRV
Individual Brand The brand features only
a single product
Marico – Parachute, Revive, Hair
N Care, Keo Karpin
Godrej – Navtal, Cinthol, Ganga,
Ezee, Colorsoft
Range Brand Many related products
share the same brand
name (where the brand
name is not the
corporate name)
Maggi – Seasoning Cubes,
Noodles, Soups, Sauces, Pickles,
Dosa Mix
Kissan – Sauces, Jams,
Marmalades, Squashes, Tomato
Puree, Atta
Summary
A brand is/as/ a differentiated product, wherein this differentiation is a combination of
tangible characteristics like size, shape, color, design and features of the brand and
intangibles like the image, quality, personality and symbolic meanings of the brand. A
brand is a promise to the consumer that it will provide a combination of certain
functional, emotional and self-expressive benefits that are unique and consistently
better than any competitive offering. A brand is unique from any other offering and
when it loses its uniqueness, it gets relegated to product status.
A brand is not merely a named product. It is a unique product that achieves its
uniqueness through a combination of tangible and intangible attributes such as the
functions it performs, its physical attributes (such as size, shape, color, taste), country
of origin, user imagery, organizational associations (the producer and seller of the
brand), brand personality, symbols of identification of the brand, the relationship
between the customer and brand, and lastly, the emotional and self-expressive
benefits the brand provides the consumer.
63
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