Measuring and Interpreting Brand Performance - Mars Bars - Case Study Example

Measuring and Interpreting Brand Performance Student Name Tutor Course Institution Date Measuring and Interpreting Brand Performance Executive summary Brand formation occurs as a result of differentiation of products with the aim of curbing existing competition in markets among competitors. The paper illustrates how different brand performances are measured and interpreted. An example of brands used in this case is chocolate brands that are performing differently exhibiting different characteristics. The brand performance metrics has been provide in terms of market share of brands, penetration in the market, average purchase frequency, sole loyalty, category buying rate and requirements. Mars bars exhibit the highest performance of all brands attributed to its high level of consumer loyalty. The high performing brand is also identified to operate under a repertoire market where buyers choose from a range of products. In relation to performance, focusing on light buyers is identified to be an appropriate strategy since it boosts customer loyalty and in turn performance of a brand. Brand salience has been identified to differ from brand attitude in a number of ways discussed. However, it is vital for the management of a given brand to measure its salience as a measure of its performance. From results of chocolate brand performance, a number of patterns are displayed with respect to brand salience indicating expected performance of Mars bar brand and ways of building and enhancing the salience. Cues are among the most important aspects of brand salience and have been mentioned for advertising a chocolate brand. The paper also concludes that competing brands bare same customer profile and market strategy decision have implications on brand performance. Section 1: Brand performance Question 1: The brand performance metrics with five chocolate brands indicate different characteristics of the brands. Mars mbar chocolate brand displays high performance as indicated by its market share, high penetration and share of category requirement compared to the rest. However, its buying rate and average purchase frequency are lower than that of Kit Kat. High market share can be attributed to the brand’s high sole loyalty compared to its rivals. At the level of 22 brand loyalty, the brand’s closest competitor is at 7.7 loyalties which are enough to outdo all the other brands. Consumers will buy the brand despite market conditions or weaknesses associated with the brand. Buying rate increases as market share and sole loyalty reduces. Penetration also decreases down the rank of the brands reflecting market share (performance). Brands with a higher level of penetration display high market share compared to those with less penetration such as Nestle Gold. From the brand performance metrics, Mars bar, which is the most performing brand, has Kit Kat as its closest competitor in the market. The least performing brand, Nestle Gold, displays zero loyalty, however, with the highest buying rate, meaning consumers of the brand are not loyal to the brand. Loyalty is therefore very important in determining market performance of a brand. The most frequently purchased brand is Kit Kat, however, it has less market penetration compared to Mars Bar. Question 2: A Repertoire market is a market where by its buyers has a range of products from which they can choose and purchase while a subscription market involves predictability which is vital for estimating or setting forecasts of revenues and behavior characteristics like repeat purchasing. Customer relations management programs and issuing of loyalty cards is appropriate and easily implemented in such a market. There are also differences in brand performance metrics between subscription market and repertoire market. The concept of customer loyalty in subscription market involves customer retention and renewal of contract, and some customers might be loyal, however, not by choice. The customer base is determinate and fixed. Loyalty in repertoire market involves pure customer loyalty. Customer base is usually infinite and fluid. Purchasing pattern in subscription market is essential, predictable and frequently required while in repertoire market it involves less predictability and products that are non-essential, however, they are wanted (Kolb, 2005). Mars bar brand is likely to be operating in a repertoire market. This is because; the market has a wide range of products including the five competing brands from which consumers have to choose which one to consume. Mars bar is a non-essential product that is wanted by consumers, that is why it is performing well and has high consumer loyalty. Question 3: Focusing on getting more light buyers as opposed to focusing on heavy buyers is a good strategy. Light buyers are known to be more loyal to their brand unlike heavy buyers. According to Keiningham et al (2005), they spend a larger percent of their income on that single brand. Heavy buyers are usually conscious about the price and successively prone to deals. Attractive prices for the brand are not an assurance that they will stick to that brand, but will purchase another brand which comes up with a better deal. Marketers can get to the light buyers by reestablishing community marketing through social media which hasten buyers’ experience of buying in their physical and local communities. Marketers can also get to light buyers by getting advocates or supporters of consumers involved in solutions that the marketers device or provide. Section 2: Awareness and salience Question 4: Brand salience involves refers to the ability of a brand to stand out among other product brands when the customer is shopping. This occurs when a customer goes shopping and they notice or have in mind the product brand. In case a given brand is strong, it is likely to have high brand salience compared to a brand which is weak. A brand that is not thought of by consumers becomes forgotten and buried where no more customers notice it (Romaniuk & Sharp, 2004). Brand salience is different from brand attitude such that, brand attitude involves the consumers’ opinion of a given brand. The attitude is general and long-term and might be positive, negative or neutral depending on personal evaluation. Brand salience emphasizes on the first brand that a consumers remembers making it a narrow concept while brand attitude goes further to consider assessment of a given brand. Assessment of the product involves more than just quantity remembered of quality of the memory. Brand salience is also associated with most product cues which it links with the brand. Another difference is that, brand attitude is more of psychological constructs with respect to a given brand compared to brand salience (Park et al, 2010). It is important to build brand salience since it involves not only recollection of thoughts about a given brand but also linkage of the memory with other significant memory structures. It is also vital in buying situations of consumers since if they remember the brand, then they buy it. Salience of the brand is also vital in linking a given brand to other product hints, giving it a higher opportunity to be picked option from a wide category. Brands with strong salience are connected to a variety of clues which in turn boosts the level of consumers who use that brand. Question 5: The awareness and salience metrics indicate different patterns with respect to brand salience. The brand with the highest top of mind awareness is Mars bar and it appears as the highest brand ranked first. Awareness of the brands reduces downwards. Overall brand awareness and salience of the whole sample also reduces down the ranking from Mars Bar which is first to Nestle Gold which is last. However, the brand with highest salience for users only is the last one on the rank. This indicates that salience of users only is not a requirement and measure for efficient awareness and salience on its own. Mars bar is performing as expected within the whole sample and within its customer base. Being ranked first in performance with the highest market share, penetration and sole brand loyalty, it also has the highest overall brand awareness. Brand awareness is reflected on the level of penetration of the brand in the market. The brand penetrates the market by customers knowing about it. Salience also reflects the extent to which consumers are aware of a given product and their reaction to it depending on experiences. The high degree of mars bar’s consumers loyalty is expected to reflect on degree of salience implying strong salience. The brand is reflecting this kind of performance. Question 6: Brand salience can be built and enhanced through creation of awareness. Three important aspects for building and enhancing salience include a range of cues which enable customers to think of the brands, retrieval measurement of brand with rivals and focus on retrieval and not just evaluations. This includes promotion, advertisement, personal interaction with consumers and involvement. Most important marketing strategy is focusing on connecting a variety of cues to a given brand unlike using specific cues for a brand. Another strategy used to enhance salience is establishing lasting relationships with customers and other major stakeholders in the business environment (Arnett et al, 2003). Cues that can be included in an advertisement for a chocolate brand include color of the chocolate brand, its packaging, person or item used in advertisement such as a celebrity, word phrases such as “Sweet ever” and vital qualities of the brand. Other cues can also include associated life style, status, emotions like relief and happiness, health statements such as warnings and advise on consumption like, “needed if you need a break”. Demographics and segmentation Question 7: Customer profile of mars bar brand is not different from that of its competitors according to the demographics tables. The first category involves relationship status; the second is categorization by total household income and on gender basis. The market segments in terms of demographic variables are served by both brands. However, level of consumptions measured according to number of consumers for the brand differs in figures. When comparing performance between a given brands against performance of its competitors, common variables between brands are identified and performance in each market segment per the brand assessed. Differentiation which is already done by branding is also vital and it serves a major purpose of saturating consumption for each brand. Brands therefore attract same personality traits with respect to the number of people who are aware of the brand (Dawes, 2012). Ehrenberg et al (2000) state that, consumers of product brands that are directly competing hardly vary in terms of their profiles. This illustrates that segmentation of brands is in-existent since brands that are interchangeable usually contest each other in a market that is not segmented. No matter the size and structure of the market, they are operated in mass. There exist less exemption connecting submarkets that function differently. Within the markets, there are deviations in market attractions and percentage profiles for single brands. Segmentation variables are therefore able to indicate performances of different brands, however, within the mass markets that they serve (Ehrenberg et al, 2000). Question 8: Conclusions and decisions made concerning Mars bar marketing strategy have great implications to the brand’s performance, sales and competitiveness. A marketing strategy has long term effects on the sales of a brand. The marketing mix such as advertisement, price promotion, product and place will either improve or result to a decline in the sales of a brand. Ataman et al (2009) state that, measuring advertisements and discounting of a brand sales, marketing strategy has an impact on the brand. New strategies that are effective will be able to meet the changing consumer attitudes and increase salience for the brand thus keeps it on market. Since brands involve competitive environments, the marketing strategy for Mars bar is likely to find newer pastures through the cues provided by salience thus geographic diversification will be realized. The strategy will improve value of the brand by providing new cues used to construct new ideas and re-shaping the brand portfolio. In this case, the strategy aims at conveying value while maintaining the brand image. Strategy targeting on the consumer educates them and trains them on how to respond to challenges in the economy. Implication on performance can also be in terms of customer responsiveness. Bibliography Kolb, B. M. (2005). Marketing for cultural organisations: new strategies for attracting audiences to classical music, dance, museums, theatre & opera. London, Thomson Learning. Keiningham, T. L., Vavra, T. G., & Aksoy, L, 2005. Loyalty Myths Hyped Strategies That Will Put You Out of Business--and Proven Tactics That Really Work. Hoboken, John Wiley & Sons. 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