Case Study of The David Beckham Brand - Essay Example

Case study of "the DAVID BECKHAM brand" Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 4 2. 6 3a. 8 3b. 11 Conclusion 12 Reference 13 Introduction The world of 21st century is a place of highly competitive environment, where rapid change and tremendous development in various parts of the world, are the only factors that appear constant (). The high level of penetration of the internet facilitated connectivity accompanied by the fast development of various kinds of technology based gadgets has helped in the process of spreading the trends of globalization to the consumers in various markets around the world (Gorman & McLean, 2009, p. 264). As a result of free information, that is available in the virtual world of worldwide web, the consumers in various markets are getting more and more demanding in nature. Talking on this note, it can be said that the power of information that is available to the consumers is significantly altering the balance in the market. Also, with the entry of new business in the market, the power of substitutes is also increasing. This is automatically providing an increased amount of power to the consumers in regards to negotiation and bargaining. Hence the companies are facing tremendous competition in the market place. For the purpose of achieving significant growth in business as well as rise in product and service sales, the companies are trying to focus on the process of value communication to the intended consumers and target audience. In the face of high level competition in the marketplace, the companies are increasingly trying to differentiate their products and services by engaging in various kinds of innovative value communication exercises. Because of the presence of factors like the existence of open economies as well as emergence of new markets in various locations of the world, the world’s market has become a single entity. So, companies around the world are increasingly trying to distinguish their products and service with respect to its competitors. Talking on this note, it can be said all these issues are resulting in the effect of snowballing for the factors related to the need for brand ambassadors of high repute, who can smoothly communicate the value of a brand’s offerings to consumers of various markets, ethnicity, demography, status and origin (Okonkwo, 2007, p. 166). 1. It is of utmost importance to state that branding forms a very critical aspect in the entire gamut of marketing mix. It can be stated that the branding is a long and continuous process, where the manufacturers and suppliers of a particular category of products and services engage themselves in the process of value communication to the desired target audience who may be located in the domestic as well as international markets (Healey, 2008, p. 6). Talking in regards to the brand of Beckham, it can be said that the international brand icon was developed in a very step by step manner over a number of years. Talking on this note, it can be said that Beckham as an icon has a significant number of unique attributes. The unique attributes and features of the endorser comprises of factors like good looks, image, style and talent. A very unique and important factor that significantly helps in the process of increasing the brand value is the celebrity status of the personality attained because of being a spouse of a celebrity pop icon. Talking in regards to the success of the endorser in terms of commanding high brand value, it can be said that the endorser built its celebrity status over a period of years. The values that are communicated by this particular celebrity endorser are highly diversified in nature. The endorser primarily communicates the skill and quality based value for a brand. Because of the fact, that the endorser has attained a celebrity status while having started his career from a very humble background, it can be said that the endorser also communicates the value of uniqueness and authenticity for a brand. Another unique value that is communicated by the brand endorser is the fact that he has high regards and value for personal relationships. The fact that the endorser of multiple global brands is quite a family persons, and strongly values personal relationships with friends, colleagues and associates provides a strong level of support to this particular aspect of the brand. The continuous consciousness of the celebrity sports endorser in regards to maintenance of looks as well as proper grooming and carrying of a stylish image has also helped in communicating the style value and factor for the brands advertised by him. It can be said that the culmination of various abilities and the value based deliverables has helped the sports personality cum celebrity endorser in being a hot favourite choice for being brand ambassadors for various brands. It is of considerable importance to state that since the celebrity endorser can represent a wide range of values based qualities for a brand, hence it can be said that the endorser is highly compatible in regards to promoting values for a wide range of products and services, for various global brands. Talking on this note, it can be said that the endorser has highly developed significant compatibility in promoting various global brands like the Pepsi, Adidas, Castrol Power, Vodafone, Marks and Spencer, Police Sunglasses etc. It is important to note that the endorser because of his individual qualities, skills and personal values has high level of fan following and compatibility in various parts of the world. The brand endorser has gained a significant amount of fan following in the countries of Far East mainly because of his association with soccer at a global stage. However, it is important to state that the endorser’s continuous dedication to personal relationships and prioritizing wife and family over other engagements has led to the process of enhancing the endorser’s value communication to the consumers of the eastern markets, since they generally have high regards for personal relationship as well as family based values. 2. It is of utmost importance to mention the face that in the world of open economies and a globally connected marketplace, the opportunities and threats of conducting businesses is significantly large. As a matter of fact, the importance of building, maintenance and development of brands are tremendously high since helps in the process of distinctive value communication to the target audience. The brand image of Beckham is one of the most highly valued brand images in the entire genre of brand value for celebrity endorsers. It can be said that the brand image of Beckham promotes a mixture of various different kinds of qualities and features in a single package. The package on a single glance represents a total composition and balanced mix of various factors like professional skills, personal values, grooming style, individual good looks and charisma. The culmination of all these multidimensional features in a single package highly accentuates the entire brand image and brand of a celebrity endorser like Beckham and automatically makes him the hot favourite for various advertising houses and agencies. Hence, it is various obvious that in the professional arena, the holding teams will try to garner the maximum value possible by harvesting the celebrity brand and endorser. Talking on this note, it has to be mentioned that the club Manchester United, which is the birth place of the highly sought after sports personality will naturally try to squeeze out the maximum returns in regards to investments made in regards to personal development and talent improvement. It has to be said that for the purpose of attaining a power icon in terms of sports talent, personal image and brand value, it is very normal for any team or club to pay a huge bounty to the team that is currently holding the star icon. In case of Beckham’s transfer from his home club Manchester United to a more successful club like Real Madrid, it has to be said that the acquiring club Real Madrid not only paid the price of acquiring a star player who is high on professional skill set but also paid the brand value that the club Manchester United harvested from holding a popular celebrity endorser like David Beckham, who has fan connection in various corners of the world. While concentrating on the process of acquisition of brands with high value, it can be said that in the world of business and commerce, the bidding as well as the acquiring firms significantly focuses on the process of calculation of benefits that the organization might generate in the course of acquisition of the brand. Talking on this note, it can be said that when Real Madrid focused on the process of acquisition of David Beckham, it was more of a strategic marketing move that was made by the club in regards to the purpose of significant increasing of brand value and appeal of the clubs to the fans in the international markets. Talking in broad details about the possible benefits of the club, it can be said that Real Madrid tried to combat the low appeal that it faced in the markets in the Eastern part of the world by bringing Beckham in the club. It is of high relevance and significant importance to state that the consumers located in the markets of the Far East prefers to connect with an individual star icon like Beckham rather than contributing their loyalty to the owning club like Manchester United. It is important to state that Beckham has high marketability in the European as well as Asian markets. As a result of acquisition of Beckham, it is expected that around 5 million of Asian fans of Beckham will be switching their club loyalties from Manchester United to Royal Madrid. This will significantly help the acquiring club in extending its reach and appeal to the Asian markets. Also it has to be noted, because of this high value transfer, the club is expected to attain a huge turnover of revenue in regards to increase in sales of shirts over the next couple of years. Also, the factor of formation of symbiotic and highly compatible relationship between the individual and club sponsors was also not underestimated and overlooked. Highlighting the issues in a little elaborate manner, it can be mentioned that the brand endorsement of Adidas was finding perfect synchronization with the transfer of Beckham to Real Madrid, since the global brand itself is the official sponsor of the entire club. Talking in regards to the global beverage brand Pepsi, the move of Beckham from his home club also provided high compatibility since Pepsi also features as one of the main sponsors of the club of Real Madrid. The brand Vodafone also benefitted because of formation of a compatible bonding with Siemens, who is a partner of Vodafone and also a co sponsor for Real Madrid. Hence, after analysing the club transfer of Beckham from the strategic benefits point of view, it can be said that the transfer fee paid by Real Madrid to Manchester United is justified in nature. 3a. It can be said that branding and communication forms a very crucial aspect of any marketing campaign. Talking on this note, it can be said that the process of value communication helps in exposing the brand’s visibility to the target audience, who may be located in various local as well as international markets. It is important to state that the opening and booming up of economies and markets around the world, has significantly contributed to the emergence of a global market place. Talking on this note, it can be said that with the emergence of a global marketplace, many new as well as established and renowned organizations around the world are trying to target the same group of target audience. This is resulting in a crowd of various unique, innovative and new kinds of marketing and branding activities, whose sole aim is to generate sales for the companies by the process of communicating values to the consumers in a very effective manner. It is a very common strategy for various companies to use brand ambassadors for the purpose of communicating the value of their branded products to the targeted consumers. The main purpose of using brand ambassadors is mostly because of the attempt to gain a high level of familiarity with the desired target audience (Menon, 2008, p. 37). On a primary note, it can be highlighted that the celebrities are chosen as brand ambassadors because of their high level of exposure. It is assumed that because of the high level of exposure gained in their respective fields of expertise and professional arena, the celebrity endorsers possess a significant level of familiarity with the audiences of local as well as international markets. The high level of familiarity that is achieved often gets transformed in a factor of connectivity and association, when the respective celebrities starts to acquire a tremendous fan following that is catered over various local and international markets. The brands’ by associating the celebrity endorsers as brand ambassadors for their respective products tries to capitalize on the connectivity factor. The brand owners believe that the sales of a particular brand of products will be increased if the celebrity endorser can significantly communicate the value of the product. It is of utmost importance to state that while focusing on the process of value communication by the usage of brand ambassadors, the companies and various advertising and marketing agencies try to establish association of the products of the brands with celebrity endorsers who have the ability, personality and charisma to significantly increase and communicate the desired qualities of the brand. Advantages It can be said that the biggest advantage gained by the celebrity because of having significant endorsement engagements is in regards to money. Also, it can be said that because of their association with global brands, that has presence in various international markets, the reach and appeal of the celebrity is extended to newer markets. The endorser gets the benefit to attract fans across various new and emerging markets from various corners of the globe. This also provides a high level of opportunity for the celebrity endorsers to work on developing their personal brand and significantly increase it appeal and global connect. Disadvantages Talking in regards to the factors of disadvantage, it can be said that the celebrity endorsers face the risk of possible over exposure, which can happen as a result of inappropriate selection of brand endorsements. As a result of overexposure, the celebrity endorser will lose the exclusive, unique and distinguishing factor that brands often look for while choosing any specific brand ambassador. This can significantly lead to the process of lowering of brand value and appeal of the celebrity endorser in the market. On the part of the company’s disadvantage, it needs to be highlighted that improper selection of the brand ambassador can seriously undermine the brand value that the company has built in the course of time. If the brand ambassador is not being selected by judging on the basis of the level of appeal and the value proposition, it will lead to significant wastage of vital financial resources of the brand owners. 3b. It is of considerable importance to state that the brands that are endorsed by Beckham have global presence, and is quite distinct in nature when seen in terms of value offering to the consumers of various markets. Right from lifestyle brands like Adidas, Pepsi, Police sunglasses to fast moving consumer brands like Pepsi, Vodafone, it is important to state that almost all of the brands enjoy a significant amount of presence in various locations around the globe. Hence for the purpose of value communication to consumers located in various target markets, it can be said that the brands often conduct different region specific and value centric marketing exercises and endeavours. While selecting the branding exercises and marketing strategies, the brand sponsoring companies often try to focus on providing maximum value for the consumers located in the markets. While doing so, the companies often try to understand the psychology and consumer behaviour based factors of the target audience. However, despite the factor of conducting various region wise campaigns on the basis of consumer behaviour and consumer psychology at various international markets, it is important for the brand to have a global brand ambassador who can smoothly communicate the brand’s values to the consumers belonging to markets of various international locations in a seamless and aesthetic manner (Roll, 2005, p. 83). So, by focusing on the brands’ requirements to attain a medium of global exposure for the purpose of increasing of familiarity and communication of values for the products and services, it can be said that having a brand ambassador who can significantly connect with the global audience is very important. Because of high level of popularity and familiarity with the global audience in regards to fan following all around the globe, it can be said that having a brand endorser like Beckham will significantly augment the value communication efforts for the brands as compared to usage of other promotional tools and strategies at the international level. Conclusion Talking on a conclusive note, it can be said that the brand of Beckham has high value in the markets all over the world. The major factors that have contributed to the formation of high value of this sports based celebrity endorser is of multidimensional nature and comprises of issues like the skill and high level of expertise in the profession, good looks, personality and well groomed stylish image as well as charismatic personality. This has helped in a great way in the process of increasing the fan following of the endorser in various markets around the world. This has undoubtedly helped in generating a worldwide fame. Talking on the same lines, it is important to underline the fact that the fans of the Asian markets prefers to connect and show their loyalty to their favourite star icon rather than the club. Hence, the acquisition of the brand Beckham by the highly popular football club Real Madrid has helped in the extending of the reach of the club to various newer segments, origin and demography of consumers located in the Eastern markets. Reference Menon, J., 2008. The Power of Human Relations. India: Dorling Kindersley Pvt. Ltd. Healey, M., 2008. What is Branding? Singapore: ProVision Pte Ltd. Gorman, L & McLean, D., 2009. Media and Society into the 21st Century: A Historical Introduction. United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons. Roll, M., 2005. Asian Brand Strategy: How Asia Builds Strong Brands. New York: Palgrave Macmillan Okonkwo, U., 2007. Luxury Fashion Branding: Trends, Tactics, Techniques. New York: Palgrave Macmillan Ghauri & Cateora, 2010. David Beckham Case Study. Read More