Impact of Advertising on Consumer Perception of High Street Retailers - Research Paper Example

Impact of advertising on consumer perception of high street retailers As far as the retail industry goes, there have been numerous revolutionary trends in this arena in the past few decades. These trends have helped the retailers expand their markets and reach out to greater audiences. Depending on the quantity and quality of the demand, the retailers then choose the target audience, as they are popularly known in marketing studies and terminology. This has led to a classification of retailers. While there is a lack of full-fledged studies regarding the same, this classification takes place on the basis of the target audience that the retailers aim. In this regard, one of the least analysed groups of retailers includes high street retailers. In this regard, the statement of this thesis is an investigation into the practice and impact of advertising on consumer perception of high street retailers. Background Having emerged in England due to the stores on the High Street, these high street retailers are of the most upmarket kind. They cater to the high class and well heeled people. Now, these retailers have become a genre in themselves and have moved beyond a certain street in England to mushroom in various parts of the globe. In today’s world, high street retailers are brands upon themselves. Examples include Marks and Spencer’s, Tony Quinn, Live & Breathe, among a variety of others. High street retailers are those retailers who cater to people who can afford a certain class of good and who expect a certain level of quality that will be unmatched in their own circles as far as exclusivity and longetivity is concerned. This does not necessarily point to high costs as one can also find low cost material here. In this regard, it mist be noted that one of the most important aspects of high street retailers pertains to the fact that they cater to a particular class of people, yet they are desired by people from various classes of the socio economic hierarchy. This makes the brand bigger than it already is as it is not accessible to everyone. In this case, the reason for choosing to study the impact of advertising by high street retailers on consumer perception is simple – it is highly challenging to understand why a brand is desirable even without being easily accessible. In this arena, it is imperative to note that there are a variety of sellers in the market place. These sellers spring as a result of varied needs from the consumer’s end. High street retailers are one such category of sellers who cater to needs like exclusive and expensive ware. Literature Review Branding is the major issue in planning a product strategy. Developing a particular brand needs and requires a great deal long term investment as well as thorough planning. The most distinctive skill of any marketing manager is their ability to create, maintain and enhance their brand. Some marketer describe brand as “the art and the cornerstone of marketing”. The American marketing association defines a brand as “a name, symbol, or design or a combination of these intended to identify the particular product of the seller or group of seller which differentiate that product from its competitors.” (cited in britannica.com). A brand is essentially a seller’s promise to deliver a specific set of features of a particular brand which offer various benefits and services consistently to the consumers. Branding is the promise which the company keeps to its customers. Brands vary in the amount of power and value which they have in the marketplace. At one extreme are brands not known by most buyers and then there are brands for which buyers have a fairly high degree of brand awareness which makes them to stick with that particular brand. Beyond this these accepted brands have high degree of acceptability among the consumers. Brand takes a very important role in company’s marketing strategy. Aaker (1996) discussed that a strong brand is a helpful and useful tool in establishing the identity of an organization in the market as well as in the development of a solid and loyal customer franchise. Moreover well-developed and coherent brand architecture helps a company to create an overall international marketing strategy as “it provides a framework to leverage strong brands into other markets, assimilate acquired brands, and rationalize the firm’s international branding strategy” (Douglas & Craig, 2001) According to Aaker (2004), successfully understanding and managing a brand portfolio can be the key to both the development of a winning business strategy, and its successful implementation. Because a clear and well-defined scope and role(s) of each single brand, can create competitively decisive synergies. Secondly, a portfolio view can ensure the brands’ future by getting the resources they need for success. Thirdly, knowing the perspectives, tools and methods of a brand portfolio can enable the organization to address competitive challenges by adjusting strategies. Fourthly, it helps generate growth by finding new sources, new markets, offering new products or moving into upscale of value arenas. Lastly, a clear brand portfolio can help the organisation to communicate with customers with a clear message and will surely help to build a good customer relationship. The modern day consumers’ decision making as far a choice of a brand remains widely unquestioned as far as practical observations and research go. “There is cut throat competition in the market, many brands enter the market and with a short run success they become obsolete. This is because customer tastes are changing fast due to the influence of cultural, psychological and global trends and hence they are less loyal” (Waheed). As discussed through our five areas of research earlier, there are a variety of models to conceptualise and measure "brand equity" in order to explain how brand equity is generated in the consumer’s mind as far as high street retailers are concerned. These models consist of a thorough analysis of each factor that influences the decision making process as well as several synoptic approaches examining the influence of different variables on brand equity are available (Kotler, 1997, p. 443). This promotes a deeper understanding of the elements of brand identity for high street retailers. Brand Identity is that element of customer perception and awareness which has its focus in the results of a certain kind of projection through the brand equity building measures in the case of high street retailers. This calls for an integrative model which will combine the basic elements of the brand identity and brand equity concepts so as to create a platform for the effective discussion of the Consumer behaviour theory. (Thomassen et al, 2006) An integrative model will serve the following purpose: • provide as detailed summation of the various factors that influence the end user to add to the brand equity; and • study these factors in context of the psychological process taking place in the mind of the consumer as he is exposed to advertisements and other brand identity elements. (Saren, 2006). The points for the integrative model have to do with the marketing context as laid down by Saren (2006). Brand as a conception of High Street Retailers While on one hand a brand may have visible, tangible, and even audible owing to a presence through its brand identity elements, a high street brand may also be defined as a conception of the brand in terms of the affect its identity has on the customer. (Aaker 1991, p. 7). In the first instance, there is a strong emphasis on the material side of the brand, regarding the consumers’ notion of the brand as a secondary criterion, while names and symbols are seen as implicating factors of what the brand represents, in the second definition. (Thomassen et al, 2006) When studied as a perception born in the consumer’s mind we define the concept of ‘brand’ as the sum of associations that are evoked by names or symbols. Key to the establishment of effective brand architecture is the identification of how brands are used at different levels of the organization and the interrelationship between these different levels (Douglas, Craig and Nijssen, 2001). At the same time, the scope of this definition should not merely serve to associate with the product. It must promote an association with the organization behind a brand like George, by helping the customer relate the George emblem with information on the brand through relevant advertising. This forms an important part of the brand identity process and may result in the creation of enhanced brand equity. (Thomassen et al, 2006). Consumer behaviour is based firstly on the conception of a brand in the consumer’s mind. For the effective conception of "brand equity", the following three questions need to be answered: (Thomassen et al, 2006) Inclusion of the correct sources of brand equity To have an integrative base of source to define brand equity, one needs to start by separating customer-based and company-based brand equity in case of high street retailers. While Customer-based brand equity remains to play an important role, it is not the sole source of the company’s brand value. A high street brand may also hold its own in other markets. These markets include: • the capital markets, • the labour markets, • other factor markets • in dealings with political decision makers. (Saren, 2006; Pp 1 to 39) The focus of this paper is on the following aspects to reach an integration of brand equity and consumer behaviour. Customer-based brand equity. In this paper, there is a strong emphasis on the definition of brand equity as the value the brand adds to a good or service for the end user. In this case, the trade does most of the work as far brand equity creation is concerned. If the final consumers lack specific brand preferences the trade may even become the only source of brand equity. Current Brand Equity includes the brand value that is generated by the products presently on the market which helps calculate the potential value of a brand when new products are launched. When a product or a service has a strong brand image, “customers perceive them as having value over and above that of the ‘equivalent’ commodity, or in excess of the sum of the price of the product’s or service’s constituent parts” (Chernatony & McDonald, 2003, p.367) Units to measure brand equity of high street retailers The measurement of customer-based brand equity for high street retailers should have the following elements: • Evaluation must take place in non-monetary terms using such criteria as brand recall and recognition, sympathy for a brand or quality assessment. On this basis, an index value from which they derive a financial value for the company, must be set. (Swait 1998, p 131) • If there is monetary quantification, it must strictly be from a customer´s perspective. According to our research areas, this approach is based on the consumer’s willingness to pay a price premium or on the higher price actually achieved by a given brand. Thus, with the above mentioned criteria for measure of brand equity, there is an inclination towards monetary quantification of customer-based brand equity through an emphasis on the profit reaped by the perception of the brand in the customer’s eyes. This kind of measurement leaves little room for any significant quality assessment to take place. The control parameters where include the reaction of a customer to the brand identity elements like logos, etc. Therefore, the contribution of quality assessment measures becomes minimal in case a brand is strong enough to command a higher price. (Saren, 2006). In response to this, alternative approaches, such as deriving company-based equity from weighted indexes, share prices, "production costs" or from the market price of a brand, are either questionable from a methodical point of view or cannot be universally applied (Langer 1997). Brand equity need to be tangible or intangible This third question pertains to that area of the research background which deals with the possible effects of preconscious or subconscious processing of advertising messages so as to facilitate brand recall. In this context, there has been a long standing debate the basic elements of the kind of brand equity to be employed. On one hand there is the question of objectively measurable advantages of a product which contributes to the theory of tangible brand equity. On the other hand, there is a separatist model that has focus in the added value generated by the brand as such. When regarding brand equity from a tangible perspective, for example, one might also rate the value of better seat covers offered by a specific automobile brand as compared to another, as brand equity. While the intangible view does not regard such a product advantage as part of brand equity, there is no consensus on the accurate position. (Thomassen et al, 2006). This is where the approach towards brand recall comes in through a study of the perceptions. This might fuel the case of intangible equity to the extent of embedding it as a full fledged element in the integrative model for studying brand knowledge and equity. Therefore, the model aims to explain intangible brand equity where it may also be extended to a tangible brand equity concept. (Saren, 2006) A decade or so ago, branding meant little to people. Markets are often fragmented, characterized by small-scale distribution, and lack the potential or size to warrant the use of heavy mass media advertising needed to develop strong brands (Barwise and Robertson, 1992). High Street Retailers through a focus on advertisement, ushered in the era of brand identity and brand building. Branding until then simply involved designing a logo or creating a corporate profile that will help identify it and differentiate it from other brands. In the past decade, things on the branding front have undergone a sea change. There is now a strong emphasis on brand building through the explicit communication of a vision in the whole organisation where strong brands are more than mere trademarks that people recognise. In the generation of a branding idea and implementation of the same to build a brand profile, organisations behind the strong brands have managed to build a brand identity. “Brand identity should help establish a relationship between the brand and the customer by generating a value proposition involving functional, emotional or self-expressive benefits” (Aaker 1991). This was further validated by Aaker and Keller (1990) by stating a strong brand name can also provide the basis for brand extensions, which further strengthen the firm's position in the marketplace as well as potentially enhancing the brand’s value. In this context, a brand has risen beyond the contemporary demarcations where it was merely a name. The brand has come to signify the value addition in terms of the facts that it carves an identity for the organisation. Through this holistic approach, the designer’s role in the arena of brand building may be explained from three different perspectives in case of high street retailers. Here the designer’s primary designation is that of a problem solver or a decorator. He or she shows how the brand identity can be represented in products, commercials or graphics. The second task of the designer is as a strategist where he or she shows how a simple understanding of the brand as a product or a symbol in the organization can be achieved. This perspective has great significance as far as controlling the brand identity is concerned. Finally, the third job of the designer is to promote social values by demonstrating how brand building can do the society any good. (Saren, 2006) References Aaker, D & Keller, K (1990). Consumer Evaluations of Brand Extensions. Journal of Marketing, 54(1): 27-33. Aaker. D. A. (1991). Managing Brand Equity. The Free Press, NEW York 1991 Aaker, D. (1996). Building Strong Brands. New York: The Free Press Aaker. D. 2004. Brand Portfolio Strategy: Creating Relevance. Differentiation. Energy. Leverage. and Clarity. Free Press Barwise. P & Robertson. T. (1992). Brand Portfolios. European Management Journal. 10(3): 277-285. britannica.com. When customers create the AD. Retrieved March 3 2010 from http://www.britannica.com/bps/additionalcontent/18/33924055/Ad-Lib-WHEN-CUSTOMERS-CREATE-THE-AD Chernatony. L & McDonald. M (2003). Creating Powerful Brands. Butterworth- Heinemann Douglas. S. Craig. S. P & Nijssen. E. J. (2001). Executive Insights: Integrating Branding Strategy Across Markets: Building International Brand Architecture. Journal of International Marketing. 9(2): 97-114 Douglas. S. Craig. S. P & Nijssen. E. J. (2001). Executive Insights: Integrating Branding Strategy Across Markets: Building International Brand Architecture. Journal of International Marketing. 9(2): 97-114 Kotler. P. (1997). Marketing management. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River. NJ: Prentice Hall. Langer, J. (1997). "What Consumers Wish Brand Managers Knew." Journal of Advertising Research. 37 (6). Saren. M. (2006). Marketing Graffiti: The View From The Street. Butterworth – Heinemann Publishers. Swait. J. (1988). "Brand Equity as a Signaling Phenomenon." Journal of Consumer Psychology. 7 (2): 132 Thomassen, L., Lincoln, K and Aconis, A. (2006). Retailization: Brand Survival in the Age of Retailer Power. Kogan Press. Waheed. A. K. Designing Brand Strategy. Retrieved March 3 2010 from http://www.expresstextile.com/20051115/regulars01.shtml Read More