Brand Identity of the Sort Film Kony 2012 - Essay Example

? Branding, “KONY case study Branding, “KONY case study Brand identity and self branding are among the emerging most discussed marketing trends in the contemporary world (Fan, 2002). Branding refers to a marketing practice involving the creation of names, symbols and designs that identify and differentiate an organization and its products from others (Kunde, 2002). Self branding on the other hand can be described as the practice of organizations, individuals and products marketing themselves to their target audiences as being ideally different in terms of appearance and packaging in a manner that people can easily identify with and relate to (Fan, 2002). The main objective of this study is to answer the question how does self branding influence consumer behavior in relation to how they respond to advertisements. Successful branding occurs when a particular product, company name or symbol is easily identifiable and common among the target group to the extent that they relate to it. Successful brands influence consumer decisions in terms of what they wear, what they eat and what they associate themselves with (Fan, 2002). This is because of the role brand advertising plays in encouraging individuals to identify with a particular company and its brands. Different approaches are often employed by companies and organizations to bring out their messages to the masses through various media and try as much as possible to appeal to their emotions and impact on their actions and decisions regarding the brand. Each person has their own natural desire to express their own feelings and identify with the things they like. With this proposition in mind, companies have learned to position themselves and their brands in a manner that they can be relied upon by the people to express their character and identity (Fan, 2002). This research study aims at examining the reasons behind self branding and the impact it has had on consumer behavior across the globe. This study makes use of the ‘KONY 2012’ campaign as the main case study from which reliable observations can be drawn and analyzed. KONY 2012 is a short film produced by Invisible Children Inc to create awareness about Joseph Kony, an African militia and cult leader who is an international criminal and a fugitive of the International Criminal Court. By creating this awareness, the Invisible Children Inc would bring to light the atrocities committed by Joseph Kony in Central Africa in relation to kidnapping children and using them as child soldiers and sexual objects. The organization would then sensitize people to come together and stop Kony’s operations in Central Africa and bring him to justice. The video achieved unprecedented success having had over 97 million views on the video sharing website, YouTube and over 21.9 thousand likes on Vimeo. The KONY 2012 short video has been dubbed as the most viral video clip of all time. The video was released to the internet on March 5th 2012. It is one of the most successful advertising campaigns ever and largely helped invisible Children to further its mission. At the end of the campaign, about 3.7 million people across the globe had identified with KONY 2012 and the company behind the campaign and about 3.7 million people pledged their support for the campaign by purchasing action kits sold by the company. From this case study, this research observes and identifies a powerful strategy deployed by advertisers to position their brand in a way that it can be used by people who want to express certain aspects of their identity through the brand. When KONY 2012 set out to establish their brand they began by grabbing the viewers attention with an emotionally gripping story directed by Jason Russell who introduced a boy name Jacob from Uganda, Africa. He describes what he went through when the rebel group L.R.A (Lord’s Resistance Army), lead by Joseph Kony, kidnapped him and like many other children, boys and girls are captured and forced into the rebel army to become child soldiers and sex slaves. The company then produced a product people could use to display their support and involvement in an effort to stop and capture Joseph Kony. Supporters could purchase an advertising “Action Kit” filled with KONY 2012 paraphernalia. With this they could wear and display the KONY 2012 brand. By wearing and displaying the product the brand became part of their identity. Ultimately this self-branding is what gave the brand power and value as the more people there were that supported KONY 2012, the more power and persuasion they possessed through the commodity of individuals. First Main Idea: Successful Brand Identity Appeals To People’s Emotions The main essence of advertising is to arouse the emotions of the target group so that they can relate to the message being displayed (Fan, 2002). Some of the emotions used in advertising include fear, warmth, humor and guilt. Using emotions to pass a message can be very effective in public communication and can go a long way in enabling the people to relate to the brand and the company being advertised. People need to associate the brand and the emotions and believe that they can work with the company or the brand to overcome any such emotions (Schmidt, and Chris, 2002). The advert should be effective in appealing to the emotions of the target group and persuade them to join hands to reach a shared objective with the brand. In this way, the brand will be able to create its own identity among the people and enjoy a great brand awareness. KONY 2012 was very effective in using emotions to strengthen its brand. At the beginning of the video, a very emotional environment is created as we are introduced to the young boy Jacob, whose family has been a victim of Joseph Kony’s atrocities. The narration as well as the motion pictures in the short video clip effectively brings out fearful emotions towards the Lord’s Resistance Army and its activities in central Africa as well as evoking a sense of guilt among the target audience as to why no tangible action has been taken to stop Kony and his movement. These two emotions of fear and guilt are very instrumental in the way the message in the advert is perceived by the viewers as well as their overall perception of the brand KONY 2012 and the organization behind the campaign. A majority of the people around the world could relate to the advert because of the emotional attachment they had towards the innocent African children kidnapped by Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army. Emotional appeal in brand advertisement can be very persuasive by either making the message look very bad and ugly or by making it appear very good. Emotional persuasion should also be sentimental and nostalgic depending on the intention of the advertisers. This will help the message to touch the core of people’s feelings and if successful, most of the people would relate to the brand and identify with it. KONY 2012 was very persuasive to the extent that there was need for the world to join up together and put an end to Kony’s activities and save the little innocent African children. Second Main Idea: Brand Identity And Self Branding Also Depends On Psychology The advertisement should aim at establishing the brand in people’s minds for a very long time. Brands that have a psychological effect on people are always very successful in the sense that every time people get a similar message portrayed in an advert, the brand comes to mind (Kunde, 2002). This makes people identify with the brand by buying paraphernalia with the brand’s name, logo or tagline. A psychological effect can be attained through an advertisement by using appropriate colors and video editing techniques in order to create a lasting image of the brand in people’s mind. Psychology of colors is therefore very important in creating a lasting psychological effect of a brand. Colors have been known to have a big psychological effect and affect people’s decisions and emotions. KONY 2012 was very successful in having a psychological impact on its audience. The video clip was able to create a lasting image of Joseph Kony in people’s minds. People who had neither heard nor seen him were able to get images of his face. The colors used in the video to portray Kony are red and black which have a psychological effect of anger and death among the audience. These colors have been used in the video to paint an image of an individual who leads to death and one who ought to be stopped immediately. The green color has been used with the supporters of the campaign. In psychological terms, Green represents growth and empathy and has been used in the video to indicate the resolution of the campaign’s supporters. Third Main Idea: Brand Identity Can Be Strengthened Through Relationship Building A brand can develop and strengthen through relationship building. The main objective of branding is to create awareness among the people and establish a positive relationship between the brand and the people. Relationship building involves spread of the word about the brand among the target group, mostly through word of mouth (Kunde, 2002). This enables a conversation about the brand to take place among the people targeted thus enabling the individuals to have a better understanding of the brand and the message evoked through advertisements. Through discussions about the brand, people are able to bring out their emotions regarding the brand and discuss how best they can respond to the message in the advert. With developments in technology and the popularity of the internet and social media in particular, relationship building and branding across the internet has become much easier. People can ignite discussions about a brand on social media, share images, videos and brand messages across the internet and increase popularity of the brand (Schmidt and Chris, 2002). KONY 2012 owes a lot of its success to relationship building on social media. A lot of people got to know about the brand through social media where the video clip was shared as well as conversations regarding the brand on major social media sites. The brand was also successful because most of public figures and celebrities including Oprah Winfrey, and Brad Pit bought in to the message and helped to spread the message across to their fans. These kinds of relationships are often very instrumental in initiating debates about brands and creating awareness of various aspects of the brand through social media and word of mouth discussions. The Kony 2012 video went viral on the internet because of the relations it was able to build across the internet and the interest it generated from the people who vied it. Fourth Main Idea: Strategy Is Key To Any Branding Campaign The success of any brand depends on the strategies involved in the marketing and advertising process. Planning on how the advert will be spread and how it will impact on people is very important in creating brand identity (Kunde, 2002). Most branding campaigns fail to achieve their intended objectives due to poor planning and lack of a clear strategy. The main strategy employed by KONY 2012 revolved around creating an emotional advert that people would identify with and show support by purchasing the action kits and participating in creating awareness of Joseph Kony. Conclusion Self branding requires a lot of preparation, planning and attention to detail. The use of technology such as social media and the internet in establishing useful relationships is also fundamental in eliciting meaningful discussions and interest in a brand. The message created in an advert can have very different meaning for different individuals and key discussions about the brand and the message are also important in clearing the intended message and enabling it to sink into the minds of the people for a very long time. The emotional appeal of brands is the other most significant element of branding. Advertisements are effective only if they are able to arouse certain emotions from the target people and how the message passed across can be persuasive. People are most likely to identify with brands that they have an emotional attachment with and those whose images stick in their brains through psychological effects brought out from the advertisement. KONY 2012 was very successful because it incorporated all the elements of successful branding. People were able to relate to the brand and even support the brand by displaying it on posters, T-shirts and sharing images across social media sites. KONY 2012 is a very good case study for self branding and brand identity that people can relate with. References Douglas Holt. (June 2002). Why Do Brands Cause Trouble? A Dialectical Theory of Consumer Culture and Branding. Journal of Consumer Research, pp. 70-90. Fan, Y. (2002) “The National Image of Global Brands”, Journal of Brand Management, 9:3, 180–92. Finnegan, Amy C. (2013). Beneath Kony 2012: Americans Aligning with Arms and Aiding Others. Africa Today, 59(3), 137-162. Invisible Children. [Screen Name]. (2012, Mar 5th). 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Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Wheeler, Alina. (2012). Designing Brand Identity. Wiley. Retrieved from http://www.myilibrary.com?ID=401291 Read More