Create a Branding Strategy for a Small Island Destination - Coursework Example

CREATING A BRANDING STRATEGY FOR A SMALL ISLAND DESTINATION Introduction Various evidences show that branding is a suitable technique with which products excel in the market. Thus, marketers and the entire firm cannot underestimate the power of a brand. Put simply, a brand is the name, logo, or symbol of a product or service that serves as the product’s identity and differentiates it from that of a competitor. Evidently, there are several small island destinations (Phuket) in the world. Even so, they differ remarkably based on visitors’ experience and things with which they interact during their stay. Correspondingly, this research explores the possibility of branding and succeeding with the Phuket. It recognizes that branding is a powerful tool that provides a competitive advantage. Therefore, this research begins with a situational analysis. The situation analysis seeks to reveal whether branding is indeed necessary and the impacts it may have. Further, this paper reviews several literatures on the topic to provide an in-depth understanding of branding. The study also reviews different literatures on the Phuket and tourists’ arrival. The core of the paper is the subsequent section that covers the branding strategy used. This section uses the process framework for strategic brand development. In effect, the framework has two subdivisions: the brand audit and the brand development. The brand audit identifies the brand value whereas the brand development creates a promise and translates it into a concept. The Phuket Logo The logo above is an ideal representation of what visitors should expect following a visit to the Phuket. As seen, the resort is an ideal place for one to spend the holiday. Customers will benefit from the logo as it gives a glimpse of a few experiences that await them. In addition, the type of climate in the area is visible from a look at the logo. The logo is precise in its choice of items. Ideally, nothing is more enjoyable from the beach than the cool seats with umbrellas that prevent sun rays. The Situation Analysis Branding is a marketing strategy done when the product has higher chances of succeeding in the market. Essentially, tourism is a flourishing industry in Thailand owing to innumerable attraction sites in the country. Besides, the Phuket has been a major tourist destination hence branding cements the product’s place in the market. Thus, the situation analysis considers all related factors to conclude on whether it is viable to input branding efforts into the marketing process. First, there are statistical proofs that the Phuket is a major tourist destination. Even so, the island is affected by economic situations as well as political unrest. The Tourism Council of Thailand’s (TCT) President asserts that arrivals during the first quarter of 2015 was estimated to reach 7.55 million visitors (Guido, 2015).Cumulated for the entire year, it is estimated that the overall arrivals would reach 28.36 million. The implication is that the Phuket will be a busy tourist destination that calls for quality branding (Kapferer, 2008). Besides, it is not the only small island destination. That there are potential competitors means the organization must cement its place in the market. Branding is identified as the best solution to the problem. Apparently, a brand is a special word on consumers’ mind. It is a noun having the power to influence purchasing decisions. In essence, if the Phuket has a notable brand, the brand defines it and sets the features that differentiate it from other products. Moreover, the brand will be the symbol, design, or the name, or a combination of all, which identify the product and differentiates it from that of a competitor. It is sound to conclude that branding is a sure technique with which the Phuket gains more competitive advantage. A Review of Literature Various researches show that branding is indeed an integral part of the marketing process. As such, branding is not a new concept in marketing. In fact history is full of companies that have excelled thanks to quality branding abilities. The field of branding has emerged as an area of interest for managers over the past twenty years. Thus, it is significant to understand various views of the definition of branding. Aaker (1991, p.102) defines a brand as a distinguishing name or symbol, which includes a trademark, symbol, or a logo that identify a particular seller’s goods and services (Kapferer, 2008). In essence, the brand associates with a given firm and is a form of identity. The brand signals the source of the product and stands undisputed in the market. Even so, Weilbacher (1995, p.4) echoes that brands provide the basis on which consumers recognize and bond with a given product. In addition, brand is viewed from a customer’s viewpoint to encompass a collection of experience that influences purchasing decisions (Vilivong, 2011).The implication is that a successful brand makes an identifiable product. There are features in the design and naming that distinguishes the product from that of a competitor. Moreover, Keller (2003) notes that consumer brand-knowledge involves the customer’s understanding of a brand stored in his or her memory that encompasses all evaluative and descriptive brand features. Different levels of knowledge and sources, such as benefits, images awareness attributes, experience, attitudes, thoughts, and feelings are linked to a brand’s understanding by customers (Biel, 1999, p.199; Bruner and Hensel, 2001, p.15). Put simply, a brand is as good as customers’ experience with the brand. There are various attributes associated with a brand that can be either good or bad. In addition, many scholars concur that successful firms have implemented quality branding strategies, which sets them apart in the market (Biel, 1999).Therefore, it is concluded that powerful brands provide higher sustainable profits, long-term security and growth, and higher assets value since they come with premium prices, competitive differentiation, higher security of demand, and economies of scale (Knapp, 2000). It means that a brand identity should identify with customers and represent that which the organization seeks to achieve over time. Customers should always see the firm in a brand as the brand provides differentiating characteristics (Kumar, 2004). Furthermore, previous researches differentiate between a product brand and a corporate brand. In fact, the center of this research is to establish a product brand without a major focus on the entire organization. According to Balmer (2001), a product brand deals with the customers and the product. It involves short marketing activities, which are tactically functional. However, the corporate brand concerns the entire organization with a major focus on the CEO and management’s responsibilities. The idea is that corporate branding considers many stakeholders as strategic players in the organization. A small destination island (Phuket) is a product brand. The branding here concerns product features without a remarkable focus on the organization’s stake. Further, a lot has been researched on branding strategies. Correspondingly, Laforet and Saunder (1999) write that branding strategy is the techniques with which firms mix and match brand’s features on a given product. In essence, the term ‘brand architecture’ sometimes means branding strategy. Additionally, various products associated with a firm should relate to one another. Here, branding takes the center stage and functions as a means of relating a firm’s products. Thus, Jones (2000, p. 3) concludes that “the power of branding cannot be underestimated.” More importantly, this review of literature provides evidence on the state of tourism in Thailand with a particular focus on the Phuket. Statistics show that there is a significant rise of international arrivals in Thailand. It means that more and more visitors come to the Phuket on a yearly basis. For instance, there were 10 million visitors in 2000, whereas the number rose to 26.74 million in 2013 (Guido, 2015). The indication is a 167% increase in nearly ten years. Take this into consideration, and it is sound to infer that the number will more than double in the next few years. Evidently, there are remarkable Phuket brands that attract tourists. Even so, there were temporal dips in tourists’ arrivals caused by certain events. Such events include the SARS of 2003, the post-tsunami in 2004, and the Thailand’s global recession and riots in 2009 (Guido, 2015). Moreover, there were serious flooding in 2011, as well as political demonstrations the following year. The graph below shows yearly tourists arrivals since 2000. In terms of quarterly arrivals, statistics indicate that Thailand boasts a tourist season in the first and the last quarter of every year. The boom in tourists’ arrival happen together with a more favorable climate in the region. It is no doubt that arrivals to the Phuket will be higher during these periods of the year. As such the country missed out on nearly 1 to 2 million tourists from 2009 to 2010 due to the economic recession (Guido, 2015). The graph below shows quarterly tourists’ arrivals from 2007 to 2015. According to a report by Hotel-Works (2014), Phuket tourism spans a thin line with the volume-driven strategy. It was noted that mid-year reduction in arrivals interferes with hotel management strategies. Following the country’s political crisis, the resort island of Phuket witnessed a serious drop in arrivals. The situation peaked in June 2014 when the combined domestic and international passengers arrivals dropped by a whopping 14% (Guido, 2015). Even so, there was a slow easing of the situation from July through August. Most notably, Russians and Chinese arrivals are the major sources of business during the first quarter of 2014. As such, the Chinese and Russians accounted for 47% of arrivals in the first quarter of 2014, a remarkable 6% and 14% increase respectively (Guido, 2015).In the event, the Phuket should be a beneficiary to the massive government-lead clean-up of the ocean front and protection against illegal structures and activities. There are more recent statistics that allow quality branding and product identity of the Phuket. For instance, in the first half of 2014, room rates reduced as room night demand declined to 72%, which settled at $159 in comparison to the same period in the past year (Guido, 2015). Besides, passenger arrivals at the Phuket International Airport maintained its positive trend of 13% increase from 2004 to 2014. Moving forward, the phuket’s incoming pipeline is 4,582 new rooms in 23 hotels that are currently under development. Experts report that nearly 35% of these hotels should start business by mid-2015 followed by another 30% that open in 2016 (Guido, 2015). In addition, the majority of the pipeline is in the West-Coast and accounts for 74% against the 17% that is in the East Coast. The inland and north areas lag at 6% and 3% respectively. On a different perspective, Dawson (2011) provides three keys to building a competitive brand advantage. In effect, they are strategies that apply for the Phuket and can be used to provide product identity. The three secrets to building a competitive brand are innovation, vision, and alignment (Dawson, 2011). In essence, managers appreciate the importance of a bigger, and more visionary brand that lasts into the future. There should be a focus into the future for a good brand that truly understands what it takes to excel in the market. Moreover, brands that continue to innovate better ways of serving customers are rewarded with continued existence. Besides, both disruptive and incremental innovations are experienced at light speed in every product and service category. The implication is that the Phuket brand must be as innovative as possible. Finally, it is significant for brand managers to align the product innovation and brand vision and stay relevant to customer requirements. The New Brand Strategy Identify your customers and motivational factors Brand strategy is all about the perception of customers on the products that a firm offers. While creating the brand strategy, the brand manager should start to identify the customers and the motivational factors that can attract and retain the customers to the business. While identifying the customers, a firm should ensure that the business goals are offering the solutions to the problems that the customers have. In other words, if the firm is dealing with drugs that cure malaria, then the firm should be offering solution to the malarial infection by bringing the problem to an end that the customers want and therefore the strategy is achieved (Laforet and Saunders, 1999). When the customers hear about the problems associated with the malarial infection, and then they will think of the product which solved their problem and that is what we call branding strategy. On the other hand, the motivational factors should also be identified which can form part of the strategy framework. There are factors such as quality, price differentiation, reliability of the products and the availability of the product offered by the company (Doyle and Stern, 2000). The motivational factors are things that the firms offer just beyond the normal sales of the goods and services that the firm does to its customers. Evaluate and provide value proposition There are some many organizations and firms which offer and carry out the same business as this one out there and there is very stiff competition. What has kept most businesses moving on with business is the process of evaluation and identifying the value proposition for the business (Doyle and Stern, 2000). Value proposition is, therefore, what makes the business unique and keeps inviting more and more customers while the old ones are retained to continue being serviced by company. The value proposition is the reason why a firm thinks he should be doing business with you. Why should people use your products, when such kind of a question can be answered by the firm and the customer, then it is the value proposition of the firm. Most firms have based their value proposition on price, others on the quality of the products they are offering. The value proposition is a key element on the framework of the branding strategy and therefore the management should evaluate and asses its validity and nature. The value proposition element should be evaluated to check whether it can remain relevant in the coming years. Assessing the competitive brand position Brand positioning is the role that your products occupy in the minds of the users or customers. The brand position is the position place that the product has on the minds of those who either use or does not use the products (Doyle and Stern, 2006). For instance, when one speaks about detergents for toilet, someone easily thinks about toilet products, or someone may talk about the car products and one thinks about the Toyota. That means the various products or the product providers occupy the first position in their minds and that is what we call brand positioning. Brand positioning assessment can be done through the market analysis using the various tools of analysis (Dawson, 2011). Market research can be done through the research specialist to determine the brand position of the product offered by the firm and from there, a competitive brand position may be determined. The firm can therefore use the factors of the better brand identified while doing their market research and offers the public what they really want in order to gain the competitive brand position. Determine the Core elements of branding strategy Branding strategy is the process of achieving the position of the products in the minds of the customer. Therefore the strategy is how, what, when, and to whom you are communicating your product or service to. This process should then involve the positioning the product on the minds of the already gotten clients and the prospected clients. Brand strategy is all not about the logo and the picture of the organization paints about the physical look of the product but the strategy should be tied to the goals of the company (Keller and Aaker, 1999). A Company in Phuket using the branding strategy should therefore examine the goals and the long term mission of its existence to come up with the brand strategy which can best work for the company (Dawson, 2011). The branding strategy elements can be grouped in to the following core elements and can be adopted by the firm for the successful marketing of the firm. These branding strategies would enable a firm to trace its ascent through the ladder from point A to point B instead of moving from A to Q without better explanation. Creating the Brand Promise Just as have been explained, the brand strategy should not be misperceived in its meaning but one should understand the branding strategy is not about the product, the company logo or the company website but something else. A company may have the best designed website with sparkling logo but still does not perform well in the market. Brand is, therefore, that which the customer perceives of the product offered by the firm, it all about what the customers feel about you and you make them to feel the way they feel (Balmer, 2001). The firm should focus on what the company does best beyond selling the products to the customer and make this part of their branding strategy. Symbolize Brand Touch Points A firm can employ the strategy but when it keeps changing, the customers can easily get confused and mistake it with the competitor. While the consistency is required, it is better for a firm to keep changing tactics once the old ones are no longer relevant (Row, 1999). This would provide an opportunity for the firm to attract more customers while maintaining the core business of its existence and achieving the main objectives of its existence. The firm should find what the customers like and associate them with that. There are some firms who have formed group of the customers they have and each day whoever buys the product joins the group and thus identifying each other as a family. This emotional connection provides customers with he reason to buy the product and motivation to join the family of the users (Row, 1999). The customers who are loyal to the brand should be identified and rewarded. Even if they are not rewarded but then just the form of identification and appreciating them is just but a way of showing gratitude. The customer will feel motivated and will invite more friends. Sometimes the customized service and product provision like the one done at Coca-Cola Company by branding the names of the individuals on the bottles of the drink shows that the company has identified and appreciates the customer (Temporal, 2000). Check whether the brand campaign adopted by the firm has a corresponding reward to the business and therefore if the return is worth the investment towards the campaign, then carry on but if the return does not measure to the investment then an alternative should be sought. Conclusion In summary, the success of the Phuket goes as far as the branding used. This research identifies that branding is the process that gives an identity to a product. Evidently, the Phuket has a promising future in terms of tourists’ arrivals. Besides, branding guarantees the product uniqueness which is a competitive advantage. The framework for developing the new brand has six major steps. Step one identifies customers and motivational factors. Presently, Russians and Chinese make the largest group of visitors. Even so, the product appeals to other European countries and the U.S. Step two evaluates provider’s value proposition, which shows that the major product value is comfort and a serene environment. In addition, the product is founded on affordability. Further, it is important to assess a competitive brand position in step three. Essentially, the Phuket is competitive considering that its peak periods are the first and the last quarters of the year. Very few tourist attraction sites receive many visitors during this time. Step four determines the core brand elements. Evidently, the Phuket boasts beaches, natural wonders, islands, historical sites, accommodation, Thai Cuisine, and photos. As such, the product is extensive in its provisions. Regarding the brand promise, the Phuket guarantees sustainability, affordability, comfort, and availability every season of the year. 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