How Companies Build Strong Brands - Research Paper Example

Review of Marketing Presentations Introduction Competition has become cutthroat in today’s business environment, yet some companies still manage to stay ahead of the rest through effective marketing strategies. What makes these firms more effective than others is their mastery of marketing concepts like product positioning, branding, and advertising. However, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to these ideas, as organisations must understand their background in order to determine the most suitable approach. Questions such as how do companies build strong brands?, which is the best approach for conducting an advertising campaign, and how can companies employ marketing tools to best realise their mission?, will be the primary concern in the paper. Through an analysis of the marketing presentations made by three guest speakers as well as my own secondary research and personal insights, it will be possible to arrive at answers to these questions. How companies build strong brands Before I came up with this research question, I thought about certain brands that stand out in my mind every time I think about a product. Wrigley’s is the brand king for chewing gum while Coca Cola rules the soft drinks industry; Colgate is quite strong in the toothpaste sector while Proctor and Alan dominate the breakfast cereal market (Boone & Kurtz, 2013). As these names floated through my mind, I began to wonder about the things that make them tick; some of them have been in business for over a century and still maintain dominance. Most of the answers could be found in the presentations while others were hidden in marketing articles, books and journals. The first speaker hit the nail on the head concerning this topic because he summarised it in three words: relevance, credibility and distinctiveness. He did a case analysis on Tourneau Inc., which is a luxury watchmaker headquartered in the US with approximately 37 stores countrywide. The organisation is not an easily recognisable and strong brand because it does not deliver these three qualities every time and in a consistent manner. Selecting Tourneau Watch seemed like an effective idea owing to certain characters possessed; first, it has been in business for over 100 years. It mimics the longevity that other well-known brands like Coke have in the marketplace; however, it did not possess the same market dominance that these other brands have. The presenter compared Tourneau’s performance with another leading brand in Switzerland called Butcherer; he found that there were certain discrepancies between them. If the case study organisation could borrow a leaf from the fine watch competitor, then it could improve its place in the market. Market researchers have found that there is plenty to learn from brand leaders, especially in one’s industry; if an organisation is struggling to articulate its brands, it can borrow a leaf from other companies that have succeeded in these ventures (Malhotra, 2010). Even though Bucherer’s market is in different parts of the world, the same principles still apply to the organisation under analysis. This appeared to be an ideal strategy in my opinion as it was a starting point; revamping a brand is one of the most difficult things to achieve but it needs to get done. The first lesson that Bucherer teaches Tourneau is the importance of product differentiation; while Tourneau seemed to cater to everyone, Bucherer has a well laid out strategy. It has a classic brand, two types of sports watches, a ladies brand as well as a classic complicated one. These ideas are clearly understood by buyers who know exactly which category to focus on when buying a watch, yet the same in not true for Tourneau. The latter organisation has too many categories as some cater to childhood heroes, aviation, heritage, art and many more; these divergent groups needed to be streamlined. Guest speaker 1 was quite articulate about brand building as his assertions also find backing in the literature; having a strong brand vision is imperative. Companies can learn from this case study by ensuring that they have a straightforward, simple and highly understandable brand vision. I believe Tourneau was able to achieve this by knowing what they stand for; likewise, organisations can do the same if they have the same intention of building a strong brand. The presenter suggested fame, New York, success in Wall Street, and their heritage as some of the potential things that should have been considered by the organisation. In my opinion, it may be difficult to focus on all key traits, so organisations need to identity two that actually reflect on their ideals. Some ways of thinking about this includes focusing on the value of the brand, the history of the organisation and its associated consumers and its attraction to a particular group of people. Product redesign may also be necessary when trying to build a strong brand, and this can be achieved through creation of products that have certain qualities. First, they ought to be easily recognisable, they must be consistently made every time and should be relevant to the needs of their buyers. Additionally, being clear about what one represents is vital and so is the level of impact for the company; these are all qualities that must be merged together. Now that I think about it, all the brands I consider strong tend to convey clear messages; Coke refreshes while Colgate cleans teeth thoroughly. Furthermore, these companies tend to have well known product lines so that they are not trying to please everyone at all times (Hoeffler et al., 2010). Coca Cola does an exceptional job by selling Fanta, Sprite, Coke, and Krest; they have tried to avoid confusing buyers by adding too many sodas. Additionally the product design has also been the same for the years that the product has existed in order to garner loyalty from repeat clients. The best approach for an advertising campaign The second guest speaker spoke extensively about advertising, and his teachings will be quite critical in determining the best approach for carrying out an advertising campaign. Several organisations usually advertise with the intention of getting to the highest number of buyers and having the greatest level of impact in the marketplace. However, most of them lack an advertising strategy that they can use in order to achieve these results; they simply pick a series of ideas and put them together without following a particular plan. Successful organisations in advertising should first start with research, where they can pre-test the idea before implementing it; the speaker called this aspect copy testing. Once an ad has been put into place, it should be tracked in order to assess whether awareness, usage and attitude towards the brand have altered. Once research has been conducted, an organisation needs to know why it is advertising as many motivations exist on why an advertisement is necessary. Sometimes, it might be done in order to introduce a new product to the market while in other scenarios; it is simply done to increase sales. Buyers usually require assurance from their suppliers, and this could be another motivation for advertising; even the need to increase brand equity might be another cause. Attitude change towards services and products in a company may drive advertising campaigns and so might a competitor’s advertising; this can be done in order to show buyers that a firm is still going strong. After determining the reason for carrying out a campaign, an organisation should then work on the approach it will use. Here, it could be product - centred, brand - centred, or people - centred. Guest speaker 1 made it seem like the world of advertising has evolved over the years using this same chronology; he implied that organisations initially started by extolling the virtues of their products, then moved to their brand and now sell connection to people as a product. However, as I looked through other advertising articles, I found that product-centric advertisements are still prevalent today although they are overrepresented in certain industries (Kotler, 2012). Usually, it is organisations that operate in relatively uncompetitive climates or those that sell technical items that rely on this approach. Further, some organisations appear to combine all strategies even if an advert may be skewed towards one approach depending on them. As soon as an approach has been found, organisations need to get insight about the advertisement by combining meaning, tension and truth. If an idea has the ability to ring true with clients and if it touches the consumer at a deep level, then it will have passed the insight tests. Organisations must also ascertain that their idea elicits some form of stress from consumers; I have found that this is especially true for most advertisements. I once saw an automobile advertisement for Kia, featuring a well known female golf player; it captured this concept of stress very well. The female golf player looked so sophisticated in a red Kia while two male golfers simply looked at her in astonishment; they seemed to lack the sophistication and verve that she possessed, and this created the same inadequacy in me. As soon as a big idea has passed these stages, care should be taken to ascertain that it will have the credibility, impact, campaignability and engagement with the audience. Now once the idea has been born and counterchecked, then the advertising agency or the markets need to use creativity in order to create a message. Some may use storyboards or other formats that can assist them in building an effective ad; these must be screened and then screened again before airing. Some of the media platforms that could be used include radio, television, print, outdoor, as well as social media or various online platform. Viral marketing falls in this category as it requires a firm to determine a certain hook that it can use in order to capture audiences’ attention. Companies need to make sure that they track their advertisements against the dollars they spent as well as the interviews they carried out in order to determine its effect. How companies can employ marketing tools to realise their objectives The third guest speaker talked about marketing approaches that work, but this paper will largely be concerned about the employment of marketing tools to realise those goals. Organisations have plenty of choices that they can use in marketing but the wrongful selection of each or the failure to adhere to a certain plan could become problematic. Therefore, I set out to find answers to this question from the third speaker’s case analysis of UEFA, which is a football league that has clearly dominated the market for some time. Organisations need to have objectives against which they will select their marketing tools; the third presenter believed that these objectives ought to be created in light of the competition’s objectives. A situational analysis is imperative in knowing the obstacles as well as the opportunities of pursuing a certain line; this should be combined with a definition of the markets and stakeholders involved. Organisations need to have pillars or strategy that they must ascribe to as well as promotional initiatives that are mapped against intended audience as well as communication channels. Finally, company needs to know the KPI or the returns on each initiative, and this could be through the number of people that fill the stadium, increases in viewership or improved attitudes towards the brand as they continue. The third guest speaker recommends that organisations need to consider digital marketing as one of the tools as this platform has the opportunity to reach fans directly. They can learn about the service or product being marketed and the location, time and manner in which they can access it. I have found that several marketing articles recommend reliance on social media marketing as not only does it have the ability to go viral, but also it is less expense is highly targeted and has a wide reach (Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012). The findings by this individual, show that the world of marketing is constantly changing, and tools that were initially quite effective in the past may simply end up being expensive for nothing. If a YouTube viral video can elicit just as much excitement about a billboard, then the former tool ought to be selected over a TV advert. Promotions may also be another platform to be considered by firms; here they could use a series of merchandise to link to the sale of their own products. This has been achieved through partnership with other organisations as well as licensing agreements depending on what a company values. I agree with the above assertions to a certain degree because sometimes the industry in which one operates may make it difficult to cooperate so closely with certain partners; in the service sector and sports in particular, it makes sense to have such a platform. However, the same is not true for those organisations that work in the food or beverage product industry; many of them tend to avoid working with other firms that could be potential competitors. Conclusion The three guest speakers were crucial in responding to the research questions in this paper because their insights were based o case studies and tried and tested methods. In order to build a strong brand, one cannot be everything to everyone, a consistent and clear message is imperative. When selecting the right advertisement strategy, people need to understand why they are doing it and then screen the big idea thoroughly. Finally, for the third research question, the right marketing tools can be found by having specific objectives and then outlining pillars which will determine the proper tools. References Boone, L. & Kurtz, D. (2013). Contemporary marketing. NY: Routledge Hoeffler, S., Bloom, P., Keller, K., Meza, C. (2010). How social-cause marketing affects consumer perceptions. Opinion & Analysis, 14. Jobber, D. & Ellis-Chadwick, E. (2012). Principles and practices of marketing. London: Open Press. Kotler, P. (2012). Reinventing marketing to manage the environmental imperative. Journal of marketing, 4(6), 83. Malhotra, N. (2010). Marketing research: An applied orientation. NJ: Pearson. Read More