Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity - Essay Example

Brand management report Contents Contents 2 Task one 3 Task two 5 Task four 8 Task Five 10 References 13 Appendices 14 Task one From the mental map done by the sun and satellite analysis it is very clear that when the brand of apple comes to the mind it associates different factors. Apple is very innovative as it is focusing on innovation. People feel passion and excitement when they are using Apple (Peter and Rodney, 2012, pp. 78-85). Apple always produces superior quality of product so often higher price is not an issue for Apple. It is very trendy in nature. People feel a sense of reliability out of this brand. It is very trust worthy. Nestle Brand Essence Model shows that reason to be create an excitement and passion in the mind of consumer. Target customers are the high-end customers of the society thrive for lifestyle trendy products like Apple. Innovative and technological attributes of the Apple products are reinforcing the brand. The personality of the brand Apple is very different from other competitor brands. It is unique in nature. Trust worthiness of Apple products are very important benefit for the brand as can be seen in appendix. Innovative technologies provide intellectual development for consumers. Brand mantra of Apple is described on the basis of three factors those are 1) Brand Function, 2) Descriptive Modifier and 3) Emotional Modifier. Brand function of apple describes it as an example of innovation. Descriptive modifier for the brand Apple is technology. Emotional modifier is the passion for Apple products. Customer feels very passionate about possessing Apple products (Michael, 2005, pp. 145-152). On the base of the above analysis the brand identity of Apple is unique in nature. Apple products are generally costlier than its competitors. Still people feel passionate about buying this product because people get excitement and emotional attachment with the brand. The brand identity of Apple is unquestionable and unique in nature. Apple uses a different strategy of Blue Ocean that makes it different from other brand. The brand focuses on emotional aspects of the customers. It is very much related with life style kind of product. People feel that Apple is a very reliable brand. Customers fells lots of trust worthiness out of Apple. Customers feel very excited for the particular brand. Customers are so emotionally attached with the brand that they feel Apple as an important part of their life. Continuous innovation in technology is making this brand more and more superior in nature. Customers are always expecting something new from the brand and the brand always coming up with some new innovations. Technological innovation is a significant brand identifier for Apple. Different stylish and sophisticated products of the Apple are making this product very trendy. As lots of customers for the brand are below the age of 35 it is very important for the brand to focus on the aspect of contemporary design of products. Consumer can easily identify this band. The brand enjoys top of the mind brand awareness of customers. Customers feel the brand is very reliable and worth for spending extra bit of money. The brand is a global icon. Apple is an American brand as the company was founded in America. But since its inception and over the years the company has broken that barrier of any single country. Now Apple has become a global iconic brand. The brand is very much famous in every part of the world. It is a cult brand. The company has strong and very interesting heritage. The company was founded in a garage. The company has the rich history of almost 35 years. The brand was founded by a very charismatic leader called Steve Jobs. Continuous innovation in technology is making this brand very cool in nature. The brand is unique in nature. Products and the services which are offered by Apple are very different in nature (Jan, 2010, pp. 145-157). Different unique products of Apple making this brand cool. The brand is a trend setter for the industry. All the products of the Apple are very stylish and trendy in nature, making the brand very cool. Quality of Apple products are unquestionable and making it very cool. The brand is very consistent in nature (Ratneshwar, and David, 2005, pp. 112-117). The performance of the brand always very consistence and ups and downs are less. The brand is having a global presence. Obliviously the brand has connection with a wider culture. The brand provides emotional experience to its customers. Customers are generally very emotionally attached with the brand. All the above aspects are clearly showing that Apple has all the qualities to be a cool brand. Task two Here the CBBE pyramid model would use for Apple. Here the model would be discussed in step by step manner. The picture which is given below is showing flow of the model. (Source: Saurabh, 2008, pp. 79) In the first step the bottom of the pyramid is called as salience stage. In this stage customer relates the word technology with the brand name of Apple. It shows that the Apple is having a huge brand image relating to technology. It also shows that the customers are well aware of the brand. It means that the customers are having top of the mind awareness about the brand. Consumer can easily recall the name of the brand. Next two things come simultaneously those are brand performance and imagery. In terms of performance of the brand Apple is a trend setter for other brands. Its brand performance is superior and very much consisting in nature. All the products of Apple are very high quality and very trust worthy in terms of quality. Apart from quality apple also provides different products which are very easy to use. Products of the Apple are also very stylish in nature. It provides lots of options to its customers. All the apple products are very competitive with its competitor’s products. The main differentiating factors for Apple are its different supplementary attributes which are making the brand significantly different than other brands. In this aspect the brand is far ahead of other brands. Serviceability of the brand is also a different maker for the company. Service of the brand is superior and incomparable with any other brands in the market. All the apple products are very durable in nature. Generally all the Apple products are long lasting in nature. Now comes the imagery part of the brand. The brand is closely associates with technology and sophistication. Generally the brand is liked by or bought by fashionable and computer savvy customers. These kinds of people want something very especial out of their computers and mobile phones. These consumers are generally looking for more and more applications and functions out of their brand. Apple is consistently providing those functions and applications to its consumers. The simple but famous logo of the brand is also providing a good brand personality for the brand to its consumers around the world. Then comes brand judgement and feelings of customers about the brand. Customers judge Apple in terms of four different aspects. Those four aspects are 1) Quality of Apple products are very superior in nature. It is the trend setter in terms of product quality is concern. Customers are very satisfied with quality of Apple products. 2) Credibility of the brand is very high as far as consumers are concern. It is a very trust worthy brand for consumers around the world. All the qualities and innovation backed up by rich heritage of the brand making this brand very credible for customers. 3) Consumers are having very high consideration for all Apple brands. The brand is innovating continuously it is the core value of the brand. Consumer is even ready to pay more for the brand. It shows that the brand is having highest consideration in the mind of the customers. 4) It is the most superior brand in the world. The brand has enjoyed number one position for very longer period of time the brand is very famous among its consumers around the world. Apple gives a feeling of pride to its customers. People want to take pride out of Apple product. It gives a sense of excitement among the customers. Customers eagerly wait for the new product launch of Apple. It provides excitements to its customers in terms of different applications and style. Customers feel emotional attachment for the brand. Customer feels very energetic and enthusiastic about the brand. Overall consumers are having very good feelings about the different products of Apple. Consumer feels it as an important part of their life. Resonance is the last and highest level of the pyramid. This stage of the pyramid shows consumer’s loyalty, attachment, community and engagement towards the brand. Consumer loyalty towards Apple brand is very high. It is often being noticed that although different competitors are coming up with almost same features of Apple product in lesser price but still consumer are buying Apple products only. Consumers ready to pay extra amount of money for possessing Apple products. It shows that the consumer loyalty towards the brand is very firm. Consumers are very closely attached with Apple brands (Kevin, Parameswaran and Isaac, 2011, pp. 123-128). Task four In the year 2004 the famous rock band U2 collaborated with Apple and endorsed Apple IPod. It was a surprising celebrity endorsement by Apple. Generally the rock band is declined for using their music for any commercial purpose but that was the first time the rock band was attached with any kind of brand endorsement. The usage of this celebrity endorsement attracted people from the all section of the society towards the brand. It was a unique endorsement strategy for Apple. As the people were not habituate with the commercial use of U2 so it was a surprise and consumer felt very special about the product (Klaus and Nadine, pp. 145-158). It was a very strange but effective kind of celebrity endorsement from Apple. It played an important role and Eventually Apple came up with U2 branded iPods and IPads. U2 is an Irish rock band from Dublin. The band was created in 1976. The band consists of Bono (vocalist and guitarist), Adam Clayton who plays the bass guitar, The Edge who plays the guitar and keyboards and Larry Mullen, Jr. who plays the drums and percussion). The band has come up with 12 albums. The band is among all time best sellers already sold 150 million records worldwide. The group have bagged as many as 22 Grammy Awards which was the highest number in 2005 by any other bands. Oprah Winfrey in her talk show also endorsed the Apple Ipad. It was not an official contract but as Oprah Winfrey is a very famous celebrity it helped the brand immensely. At that point of time the Apple Ipad was performing very well in the market and the endorsement done by Oprah Winfrey was like an icing on the cake for the Apple. It boasted the sale of the product further more. It played a very important role for the Apple. Lots of people felt very much attracted towards the brand as a celebrity like Oprah Winfrey endorsed the brand in her famous talk show. It also sent a clear cut communication about the brand in the market. It attracted huge viewers of the famous T.V. show and increased a significant amount of consumer within a very small period of time. Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor. She is an actress, Host of talk show, philanthropist and producer. She was born in Mississippi. She is the chairperson of Harpo Productions. Her talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show was highest rated talk show from 1986 to 2011. She has been awarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. Oprah Winfrey passed her child hood in great poverty and from there she has reached to the pinnacle of success. Recently Apple decided to recruit Zooey Deschanel and high profiled celebrity, Samuel L. Jackson to promote capabilities of Siri’s. Two advertisements are short and sweet. In these advertisements both Jackson and Deschanel were ordering Siri like other common people. This advertisement was specifically meant by the company to attract common people. The main focus about the celebrity endorsement was to communicate that even simple common people can achieve some un-common and special result with the help of Apple products. It was great success for the company to communicate its brand among the huge segment of middle class people in the society (Paul, 2011, pp. 56-62). It played a very vital role for the company. Zooey Deschanel is an American Musician and actress. She is also a song writer. In the year 1999 she did her first movie. She was born in 1980. She bore in Los Angeles, California. Her Music group is She & Him. She is having a French connection. Deschanel performed in the jazz cabaret for few years. She is a Roman Catholic. Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American film actor and as well as a film producer. He was born in 1972 in Washington DC. Jackson has appeared more than hundred films including very famous films like Jurassic Park, Pulp Fiction, Star Wars and Inglorious Bustards. According to me world footballer of the year Cristiano Ronaldo can be used for future celebrity endorsement. Presently the Portuguese footballer is very famous among the people of world. This celebrity would able to give an extra bit of advantage to the company to endorse it brand. People would feel very excited and would feel lots more attraction towards the brand. In 2014 FIFA world cup is coming so the whole world would feel the heat of the soccer at that point of time it would a master stroke for the brand. Celebrity like Cristiano Ronaldo can be used for the purpose of Apple’s advertisement endorsing boundary less communication (Michel and Gerald, 2012, pp. 90-97). Task Five Apples distinctive iconic logo is very effective for the success of the brand. The log of Apple is very effective and filmier with the brand. It is very simple in nature but the influence that that the logo creates in the mind of consumer is very deep rooted. The logo of the brand is very effective because the logo is timeless. It tells very simple but effective message easily without any ambiguity. The logo of the Apple is so unique that any consumer can easily recall the brand. The logo of the brand is having great personality in terms of attracting customers around the world. Customers feel an emotional attachment with the logo. The logo is so famous and effective that the name of the company is not required only the presence of the logo is enough for consumers to identify the brand. The logo is very creative in nature also. In the logo of Apple there is no sign of mobile or computer but the logo still represents a world famous mobile and computer company. This kind of creativity has made the logo of Apple very effective for brand management. The logo of the Apple has given the brand a different kind of supreme status. Over the years it has been proved that the bitten apple is very much successful in terms of brand communication with consumers. Colour has changed number of times but the basic concept remains same and effective. The Apple logo is of the most famous corporate logo in the world. The logo is so effective that it has remained largely unchanged for last 30 years. The simplicity of the logo has made it more effective in nature. The logo is very effective in terms of position the brand in the mind of the customers uniquely. The logo of Apple is very effective in terms of brand association of consumers with the consumer. This logo is the most famous and effective brand triggers of the world (Tilde, Charlotte and Mogens, 2008, pp. 78-86). The logo has been designed in a revolutionary way. With the bitten apple logo, the company has able to achieve very special things in terms of the expressive attributes of the logo. The design of the logo not only cutting edge but also provide very simple message to people and very easy to remember the brand. The logo is having very prominent expressive attributes. It does not require any company name only the logo is enough. Previously the rainbow coloured bitten apple was symbolising different culture and creeds. The logo may not be very big in size but it has a great expressive attribute to express the brand permanently in the mind of consumers’ speeded around the world. The logo of Apple is having great symbolism. The bite symbolizes the knowledge in the Garden of Eden. It also can be taken as computer byte. In the logo the leaf is not touching the apple. It expresses an open and sophisticated feels about the brand. The inclination of the leaf from left to right expresses a positive feeling to the people. The bite out of one part of the apple portrays an asymmetrical design that distinguishes it from other apples. The overall logo shows the sophistication and elegance of the brand. Apple takes pride in their logo. It is so expressive in nature that it can be recognized very easily. The logo is self expressive in nature. The logo expresses continuous innovation and creativity. The logo is very simple and expressive it can be recall in between of 100 different logos of different products. The logo expresses the brand personality of the Apple. The logo is so expressive that it gives the brand a unique value proposition. The logo is contradictory but very effective and successful for The Apple. The logo also expresses the versatility of the brand. The most important thing is that customers had taken this symbol very warmly and consumers around the world love this logo. One flash of this logo is enough to draw the attention of customers around the world. All these references are showing that the logo of the Apple is unique, elegant, simple, effective, contemporary and sophisticated in nature. The logo is very much expressive and suitable for the brand. References Jan, K. 2010. Linking Consumer Mindset Metrics to Consumer Behavior and Capital Market Valuation. Zurich: BoD – Books on Demand. Kevin, L. K., Parameswaran, M. G. and Isaac, J. 2011. Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity. New Delhi: Pearson Education India. Klaus, P. W. and Nadine, H. 2012. Luxury Marketing: A Challenge for Theory and Practice. Hannover: Springer. Michael, P. P. 2005. Maps and the Internet. London: Gulf Professional Publishing. Michel, C. and Gerald, M. 2012. Luxury Brand Management: A World of Privilege. Singapore: John Wiley & Sons. Paul, T. 2011. Advanced Brand Management: Managing Brands in a Changing World. London: John Wiley & Sons. Peter, G. and Rodney, W. 2012. Mental Maps. Copenhagen: Routledge. Ratneshwar, S. and David, G. M. 2005. Inside Consumption: Consumer Motives, Goals, and Desires. New York: Psychology Press. Saurabh, A. 2008. Brand Management: A Theoretical and Practical Approach. New Delhi: Global India Publications. Tilde, H., Charlotte, F. K. and Mogens, B. 2008. Brand Management: Research, Theory and Practice. Copenhagen: Routledge. Appendices 1) Mental Maps: Suns and Satellites Figure 1: The Nestle Brand Essence Model Figure 2: Apple Brand Mantra Read More