Aspects of Brand Architecture Models - Essay Example

BRAND ARCHITECTURE MODEL al Affiliation) Introduction According to David AAker, brand management begins by developing a brand identity. He advises brand strategists to consider a brand as an organization, a product, a symbol, and a person. The purpose of his strategy is to assist brand strategists to consider different brand elements. While formulating a brand strategy, Aaaker recommends companies to consider the following; The brand as a product because the product is the core element of a brand identity (Aaker, 2011). This will affect the type of associations which are feasible and desirable. Attribute that can be related to the use of a product can give functional and emotional benefits for customers. Aaker argues that linking a brand with a product is crucial; however, this is not so as to help the product class when the brand is mentioned. He argues that it is crucial for customers to remember the brand where there is a need that is relevant to the product class. The company also needs to consider the brand as an organization in terms of the attributes of the organization. Attributes are created by the values, culture, and the programs of a company and are usually innovative and are a drive for quality. Aaker indicates that attributes are usually enduring and resistant to competition because of their unique qualities. The company also needs to consider the brand as a person because of its unique personality. According to Aaker, brand personality can create a strong brand by forming a basis for a relationship with customers, a basis for expressing their own personalities, and this can also help to communicate a product’s attribute. Aaker also argues that companies need to look at a brand as a symbol that can help the organization gain recognition and recall. In terms of brand architecture, a company needs to analyze how a brand is related to one or more products or product categories. Brand Equity is the strength and value of a brand that decides how worthy it is. This comes up when customers are familiar with the brand and hold some favorable brand associations in their memories. The concept of brand equity is seen when consumers make choices about a product or service. In the brand equity model Aaker identifies five components which include brand loyalty, perceived quality, brand awareness, brand associations, and other proprietary assets. Brand loyalty is the extent to which customers are loyal to a brand. Perceived quality is the extent to which customers consider brands to be providing good quality. This is measured in terms of the price of the brand, the quality being offered by the brand, the level of differentiation, and the number of brand extensions. Brand awareness is the extent to which to which a brand is known in the market. This is measured in terms of familiarity. Brand association is the extent to which a brand name is able to retrieve association from the brain of consumers, or the extent to which a brand association creates positive attitude, and plays a role in the buying process (Lambkin, 2008). Body Aarker brand architecture Looking at a brand like Coca Cola, it has been able to succeed because of using the brand equity model. This company has become one of the most recognized and the biggest selling brand throughout the world. It’s brand has become easily recognizable and obvious. There is no doubt that this company has a high popularity status to the extent that some people buy the product not only because of how it tastes, but because it is widely accepted all over the world. This success can be said to be achieved because it uses the branded house strategy (Joachimsthaler, 2000). This is where the company uses a single master brand which is the Coca Cola brand to spin a set of offering like Coke Lite, Cherry Coke, caffeine free coke, and Diet Coke. This can be useful when introducing a new product in the market because the customer can relate the new products easily with the company. This concept makes sure that all the company’s products are recognizable to the customers. The company brand has become an umbrella for which many products derive their name from. Coca Cola has been able to strengthen its brand through utilizing the differentiation strategy to maximize clarity of its brand to the customers. Differentiation measures the strength of the brand’s meaning. Coca cola has been able to maintain its differentiation in its products through its advertising strategies. The advertising strategies help in creating the brand awareness among existing and new customers. This helps inform customers about the products and services provided by the company and how they can obtain and use the products and services. The company used major medium to do its advertising campaign, including newspapers, radio, magazines, billboards, television, the internet, and through sponsorship programs. Advertising campaigns also help the company inform the customers about the qualities and price of the products. This increases their chances of differentiating the Coca Cola brand from other brands in the market. A good example of the differentiation strategy is seen in strategy that Coca Cola and its rival Pepsico use. On one hand, Coca Cola has over the years maintained its focus on non-alcoholic beverages, on the other hand, Pepsico has been able to expand its focus to snacks also. In this case, Coca Cola has been able to appeal to the same customer while its rival, Pepsico has had to balance the two products, increasing the risk of losing its place in their customer’s mind as a chiefly beverage oriented brand. The company has also been able to position its corporate reputation for innovation and quality products. This positive attitude and belief among its customers has helped the company establish loyal customers. Many people and families are extremely loyal to the company’s products. They associate any products produced by the company to the Company’s brand and reputation. Innovation can be seen when Coca Cola came up with Coca Cola Zero, which has the same taste as the original Cola but with contents that are sugar-free. The quality of products gives the company the advantage of selling the products at a higher price than the competitors. A stable market due to the company’s marketing communication message that is linked to the brand equity of product stability has also enabled the company to sell its product at a higher price than that of the competitors. This has made this company to become a true leader in the industry because of its ability to determine the industry pricing benchmark. It has been able to maintain its market share despite its slightly higher prices because of maintaining high quality in its products and consistency. The company has been able to win many customers who perceive the products to be of high quality. This company is well recognized and its brand is obvious. Most young people look forward to the difference sense of the drinks. The products have become a lifestyle that they need and want. Most people in the market choose products that provide the highest value and the sense of satisfaction for their money. The positive attitudes and believe that people have in the products, keep millions of customers buying the soft drinks and has helped the company establish loyal customers. Many families around the world are extremely loyal to the brand to date, and this is expected to continue over a long period of time. Coca Cola has been able to maintain this perception of high quality in its products through its aggressive advertising and promotional strategies. Customers are able to get more reasons for buying the products and are able to differentiate the products from those of the competitors. The company has also been able to engage in social issues, mainly relating to the environmental and “friendly company” aspects. This is by donating its profits to charity organizations. Through this strategy, the company has been able to win the hearts of its customers and has been able to create a “friendly company” image. International Brand architecture model: hybrid branding strategy With globalization and a growth of competition that is on a global scale, this company has been able to expand its operations geographically by setting up branches in other countries around the world. It can be argued that the company utilizes the international brand architecture model. The company has taken the advantage of the fact that markets are becoming more integrated. Because of this integration, the company pays greater attention to integrating and coordinating its marketing strategy across markets. One element that helps this company is its strong brand name that helps it to succeed in international markets and also this helps the company to develop a strong and solid customer franchise. The main role of branding is to define the firm’s identity and position in the international market, which means that it is crucial for this company to come up with an explicit international brand architecture (Gelder, 2005). This method requires that the company identifies the different levels of branding within the company, and the number of brands in each level while considering their product market and geographic scope. Coca Cola has been able to expand by leveraging its domestic power brands in international markets. This company has been able to utilize strong advertising strategies in order to strengthen the brand. It has been able to identify opportunities that help in strengthening its brand architecture through harmonization and co-ordination of the brand across countries (Batra, 2009). This company utilizes the hybrid branding strategy under the international brand architecture model. This is a combination of the corporate and product brands. In this case, Coca Cola uses its corporate name in all of its cola brands, for example, Coke Lite, Cherry Coke, caffeine free coke, and Diet Coke. Even though previous campaign strategies focused mainly on television as the main marketing strategy, the rapid evolution of technology has decreased the effectiveness of television. Coca Cola now mainly focuses on marketing and demonstrating its agility through contracts with various sports events around the world. This seems to be in response to the marketing strategies that are employed by its main competitor which is Pepsi. Coca cola tries to establish a relationship with its customers, which also encourages them to be engaged in lively activities. In this process, the company brings its beverages into the equation as a component to which no celebration of life and energy will be complete without it. For this reason, the overall experience that customers go through is achieved. Argument The hybrid branding strategy under the international brand architecture model provides a better model than Aaker model (McLoughlin, 2010). This is because it covers all aspects of the brand. Unlike Aaker model, this model considers the fact that the company is multinational with globalization. This model looks at the company’s strong brand name that helps it to succeed in international markets and also this helps the company to develop a strong and solid customer franchise. This model also considers the fact that Coca Cola combines the corporate and product brands. In this case, Coca Cola uses its corporate name in all of its cola brands, for example, Coke Lite, Cherry Coke, caffeine free coke, and Diet Coke. Conclusion It is clear from the analysis that the main role of branding is to establish a company’s identity and build a position in the market among its stakeholders (Glynn, 2009). The key element of success is to have a consistent and harmonious brand architecture for all the product lines. The crucial thing for this company is to emphasis on the corporate brand and also on the degree of integration across the markets. Bibliography Aakar, D, & Joachimsthaler, E. (2000). The Brand Relationship Spectrum: The Key to the brand Architecture Challenge. California Management Review, Pg 8-23. Aaker, D. A. (2011). Brand relevance: Making competitors irrelevant. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Batra, R., Myers, J. G., & Aaker, D. A. (2009). Advertising management. New Delhi: Pearson. Gelder, S. V. (2005). Global brand strategy: Unlocking brand potential across countries, cultures & markets. London [u.a.]: Kogan Page. Glynn, M. S., & Woodside, A. G. (2009). Business-to-business brand management: Theory, research and executive case study exercises. Bingley: JAI Press. Lambkin, M & Lambkin. M. (2008). Corporate Rebranding and the Implications for Brand Architecture Management: The Case of Guiness (Diageo) Ireland. Journal of Strategic Marketing, page 283-299. McLoughlin, D., & Aaker, D. A. (2010). Strategic market management: Global perspectives. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley. Read More