Emma Watsons Branding - Case Study Example

Heading: Emma Watson Your name: Course name: Professors’ name: Date Executive summary Branding is important for every business intending to succeed in such a competitive world. Presently, brands are competing for more market share using various strategies, and this is the case across different industries. This paper focuses on the fashion and entertainment industry and specifically on Emma Watson. She featured in Harry Potter’s series as Hermione Granger. She entered the industry at a young age of nine years and has since grown into a beautiful and elegant lady. She is the current English Rose and faces stiff competition from a wide range of artists in the world. Some of the strategies she has employed to maintain her leadership position include differentiation; brand distribution; keeping a high profile; maintaining consistency, focus, simplicity and visual appeal; appropriate brand elements; competitive distribution; as well as use of social media. Due to the nature of the industry, the brand faces a great challenge of holding her position in the industry; hence the need for improved strategies of brand management. Thus, she needs to adopt more consistency, differentiation, and customer engagement in order to maintain her position in the industry. Table of Contents Executive summary 2 Table of Contents 3 Theories and concepts used 4 Introduction to the brand examined 6 Appropriate brand elements 8 Differentiation 8 Competitive brand distribution 10 Simplicity 10 Consistency 11 Focus 12 High profile 12 Use of social media 13 Recommendations 14 Differentiation 14 Consistency 15 More customer engagement 15 Conclusion 15 References 16 Theories and concepts used Various theories exist in relation to brand management methods, but the main ones are discussed below. To start with, there is brand loyalty theory that tries to explain the link between consumer’s psychology and the company’s brand. As per the theory, the customer’s positive behavior to a specific brand has three distinct aspects including brand evaluation, emotional attachment, and behavioral aspect. Emotional attachment aspect relates to the customer’s emotional connection to the brand. This implies how much the client likes or dislikes a certain product. If he likes the product, he will often be inclined to purchase it and will not check other firms’ products (Kotler, Pfoertsch & Michi 2006). The second important branding management theory is the branding theory. This offers guidance on certain major typical elements of brand management. Some of these aspects include assigning a particular name to a brand that portrays the business standards; making customers aware of its existence; trying to offer what they need; establishing a connection with the first customers, and growing; as well as trying to achieve top goals without any compromise in any unit of brand development (Glynn & Woodside 2009). As Kapferer (2008) says, the third theory is value-based brand theory. The theory explains the way value-based brands are meant to build lasting customer value. The success is dependent on the value that the brand offers the consumers. The theory asserts that the consumer is the ultimate spirited gadget to defeat the rivals. It argues that the customer is a brand’s life blood and nothing else. A brand is refers to a term, name, symbol, sign, or design that is intended to identify services or goods of one or group of sellers and to distinguish them from the competitors. Brand management is a process that involves maintenance, improvement, and upholding of a brand in order to associate the name with positive outcomes. It also entails numerous important aspects including customer satisfaction, costs, competition, and in-store presentation. This process is founded on a marketing basis but emphasizes directly on a brand and the way brand is advantageous to consumers. Appropriate brand management may cause higher sales of many products related to the brand (Keller 2013). Chernatony (2010) says that strategic brand management relates to the process of clearly defining one’s brand and making sure that behaviors and imagery are steady with the brand definition. A brand refers to a firm’s personality. It does not only refer to slogan or logo, but it is a more complex concept than that. One’s brand comprises of the feelings, thoughts, attitudes, experiences, and beliefs that people relate to one’s company. A brand is thus something that a person owns as it exists in others’ minds, and every business has a brand (Georjon & Schroots 2003). Strategic brand management involves the next stage in the process of branding. It implies actively managing and effecting these feelings and thoughts in other people’s minds. It is insufficient to explain what a firm wants people to feel or think. Instead, one should follow through and sway these emotions and thoughts. To effectively do a strategic brand management, it is vital to have two aspects namely; brand experience and brand image (Keller 2013). To begin with, brand image involves what people see. This could include business cards, logo, clothes worn, and offices. It also consists of more unintended contact with one’s brand via marketing and publicity communications. Everything that an individual says and does further affects his image (Sengupta 2005). On the other hand, brand experience refers to what happens to customers whenever they experience or visit a given company. When a firm exceeds a client’s expectations, it is offering the clients a considerable experience. This is because the clients will inform others about the best experience and sway their beliefs and attitudes regarding the company (Kumar 2009). Introduction to the brand examined Emma Watson is a renowned artist who is widely known for featuring in the Harry Potter series as Hermione Granger. She is well known in the world and has numerous fans from all ages. The 24-year old lady is one of the most eminent actresses in the 21st century and has a lot of passion in the fashion industry. Even though she is younger than other actresses and the fact that he plays few characters, she has holds an inclination and strong superiorities to attain the position of Keira Knightley as the latest English Rose. Watson is usually perceived as a goddess of both intelligence and beauty, because she gets offers from Ivy League in the USA with A at the highest point of her profession (Halepete & Park 2006). The brand’s success is traceable back to 1998. At 8 years old, she attended the Oxford shire’s Dragon School and spent five years there. She performed well in school and played vital drama roles, such as, The Happy Prince and King Arthur. At nine years, she was participated in the Harry Potter film audition. She got excited over the opportunity and consistently held on to the idea that would become Hermione someday. Although the competition was tough and lasted for long, she won the auditions and saw her dreams come true. As a result, she starred in the eight films and in the process grew into a charming young lady (Park & Lennon 2006). Her sterling performance in the films earned her multiple awards and revenue of over 10 million GBP. Although her fans expected her to become ignorant of worldly matters, she holds preciseness and equanimity. Despite the parents’ divorce, she continued to excel in her career. Nevertheless, the acting career has affected her private life as she barely has time for her personal terms (Ormeño 2007). Detailed description, critical, and discussion of the current branding strategies used by the brand based on brand management theory from the unit (Halepete & Park 2006). Some of the branding strategies currently employed by Emma Watson are discussed as follows: Appropriate brand elements Some of the brand elements used by firms and individuals include logos, URLS, symbols, slogans, packaging and ingles. As an individual, the way in which a developed brand element system is established is imperative. In this case, Emma has adopted an appropriate style and brand elements that are illustrated in her People Tree’s designs. This are also well demonstrated in the talking and appearance (People Tree 2009 and Punj & Moon, 2002) Watson has two styles of dressing and the first is daily dressing. She fancies demonstrating maturity and energy. Besides, she would prefer to opt for the comfortable and simple clothes instead of complex and dark ones. When handling big tasks, she does not exaggerate exposure. By maintaining her nobleness and elegance from the start to the end, she manages to outdo her competitors. Being an English artist, her style has been perceived to be associated to the UK’s new generation. Therefore, people predict that Watson maintains a capability to take over from Keira Knightley as the current English Rose. Differentiation Through differentiation, the brand is gaining a lot of competitive advantage over her competitors in the market. For a long time now, the brand has pursued difference in the industry. An effective brand tends to stand up for a unique thing in the consumer’s mind. Differentiation strategy used by the brand is important in that it enhances stiff competition as well as offering numerous choices to the consumer. In fact, a brand that cannot provide the target market a good reason to purchase its only options can only contest on price (Scott 2006). For instance, the car industry offers a great example of effective differentiation strategy. Likewise, Emma Watson is a brand that faces huge competition from many global star artists including Keira Knightley. Many actresses have slim figure and lovely complexion; hence the issue of differentiation from others is the main stress that actresses face. Lovely complexion usually lacks a standard of measurement system. Additionally, charm always emanates from both the external and internal part of a human being (Mohr, Sengupta & Slater 2010). It is worth noting that there are numerous Emmas in the industry who are competing with her. Nevertheless, there is only one Emma Watson who has a strong educational background of the globe’s university. The fact that she also has vast experience of her commitment to the public duties and services makes her different from other artists. From this differentiation, the brand has several benefits. Earlier, the fashion and entertainment industry never lacked beautiful and young ladies. Nonetheless, the percentage of beautiful ladies with adequate intelligence is very small. Secondly, most actresses aspire to be hot and famous through negative images and affairs. As a result, this always lowers their reputation and unsustainable popularity. By contrast, Emma Watson has managed to maintain beauty, intelligence, and good conduct so that she holds the highest reputation. Thirdly, acting skills require understanding, knowledge, and life experience. Thus, one person’s content should be considered. This are the qualities that Emma possesses as compared to her competitors; hence a high reputation, image, and performance (Buttinger & Vallaster 2008). Competitive brand distribution When looking for information for her two professions; actress and model, Emma uses the internet. Watson is diligent, mature, and has a great ability to deal with various individuals in her school. In fact, she always noticed small signals to determine the implications that are hidden by the minister and headmaster. She could also meet her objectives through the misgivings caused by interpersonal associations and personality (Aggarwal 2008). In reality, the artist has similar excellence in terms of grasping and understanding the entertainment matters. Upon taking the Burberry endorsement through her great appearance, she is always on the front page. Each time she poses on stage, she hits the deadlines almost immediately (Mohr, Sengupta & Slater 2010). Simplicity Another brand management strategy that Watson employs is simplicity. People’s span of attention tends to shrink; thus making the brand managers’ job hard. Mostly, brands have almost ten seconds to make the initial good impression; hence the recommended principle of ‘keep it simple’. Simplicity implies the idea of focusing on the major aspects and ignoring the rest. In the case of a product, this means the making it easy to use. In marketing, simplicity entails use of plain and precise language to communicate. In order to validate this, it is imperative to ask for feedback whenever it is possible. This principle requires one to ensure that the customers can get the message as fast as possible without questions in their minds. This is one of the strategies that Watson uses in managing her brand. She maintains simplicity unlike other artists who tend to complicate every aspect of their lives (Okonkwo 2007). Visual appeal Normally, aesthetics plays a significant role in the consumer’s decision to purchase. Nevertheless, many people do not agree with this argument. In product brand management, marketing materials and product packaging that appear good could make a difference between failure and success. Most competitors ignore this element of differentiation yet it influences their brand’s success. Watson’s success is also greatly attributed to the way she maintains her visual appearance. Between two brands with similar features consumers tend to select the one with attractive appearance. This is because visual appeal tends to be linked to a better functionality and user experience (Scott 2006). Watson has mastered this trick; hence her great performance in the industry in relation to the competitors. Consistency Many brands compete in a noisy and crowded environment where the main message is hard to communicate. The same message used in differentiation has to be sent repeatedly so as to be understood. Here, consistency implies having a clear and simple core message, as well as employing a smart communication plan to emphasize it (Mohr, Sengupta & Slater 2010). Consistency also enables a brand to enhance a strong reputation and image in brand management. This also leads to efficiency since the brand is able to save a lot of money and eradicate any confusion regarding what it stands for in the industry. Consistency also concerns the ability to find, create, and perpetuate a booming win-win association with a brand’s important stakeholders. To achieve this, it is crucial to maintain a good understanding of the peers and competitors. This is because; a brand that is strongly known for a specific thing due to clarity and consistency in communication tends to acquire a wider market share than the competitors. Further, brands should always be ready for the development, monitoring, and constant pushing of their messages in the market. This message must be kept simple and as steady as possible in each marketing point selected to ascertain that consumers perceive the brand in a way that conforms to the company’s view (Ormeño 2007). In the case of Watson, competition is tight in the entertainment and fashion industry, hence the need to be consistent in terms of passing an important message. Therefore, one of her strategies of managing her brand effectively is through consistency. She communicates to the target consumers in a consistent manner, hence her ability to remain top in the industry as compared to her business rivals. Focus According to Ormeño (2007), every main decision concerning a launch of a new product, accessibility to the new channels of distribution; or entry to a new market must begin with a crucial question of whether the initiative complies with the company’s identity. A more focused brand tends to break through the clutter. A brand that aims at being several things at once leads to failure, and offers specialized competitors a chance to take away some market share. Failure to focus by a given brand is detrimental to its performance. In relation to Watson brand, focus is among the key strategies of brand management. Her success is attributable to the fact that she maintains focus. Most of her work is modeling and acting. This enables her to concentrate and excel in the industry through specialization. High profile Emma Watson also enhances a positive brand management by keeping a high profile. This implies that she has managed to keep her brand visible be it in bad or good times. The idea of waiting for economic downturns normally places the brand behind its competitors once things turn around. Hard economic times tend to offer good opportunities to a brand to embark on creativity and exploration of alternative means of making money. It is critical to alter the rules if a brand does not fancy the way business is conducted. One way of maintaining a high profile during hard economic times is through networking with local professional associations and business partners, as this could result in valuable ideas (Mohr, Sengupta & Slater 2010). Secondly, this can be managed by bartering with firms to gain exposure. Encouraging colleagues and staff to get active in domestic charities as well as board of directors propels a brand to a higher level of profile is crucial. Sharing knowledge and promoting a company as a leader in the industry is also essential in brand management (Glynn & Woodside 2009). It is without doubt that Emma has exceled because of these measures in her brand management. Her ability to maintain a high profile in the world has greatly facilitated her success in the industry. Use of social media According to Mohr, Sengupta and Slater (2010), various brand management experts agree that social media is a highly indispensable tool in today’s fast changing and competitive business world. Therefore, even if one dislikes social media, it is paying to develop some interest to learn about it. Social media is one of the most convenient and appropriate ways of managing one’s brand, be it personal or a business brand. Currently, branding strategies have increased to include phone applications, smartphones, mobile ads, mobile websites, and social network sites, such as, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and MySpace among others. Social media has a critical view in common with brand management, which is the conversation. Just like branding, social media concerns creation of effective relationships and conversations. In fact, the two are perfectly matched. It is worth noting that the rules involved in brand messaging via social media as compared to the traditional communication channels have not changed much, yet the game is more advanced than before (Glynn & Woodside 2009). Clearly, it is insufficient to just have a Twitter or Facebook account without participating in the conversations through regular posts, direct messages, and comments from friends and customers. Social media is known to have reduced the time frame for businesses to respond to accusations and complaints from the customers. This way, businesses can maintain a successful brand management. In Emma’s case, social media is one of the ways of reinforcing her brand through frequent communication with the fans, customers and prospect business partners. Through social media, she manages to know what people think of her whether positively or negatively and work on her shortcomings. This way, social media keeps her on toes with what the modern clientele expects from her; hence better performance than her competitors. Recommendations Differentiation Although Emma employs differentiation strategy in her brand management, she needs to do a lot more to maintain her industry leadership. This is because the industry is constantly and rapidly growing such that there are numerous market entrants eying her position. Therefore, Emma should identify other ways of differentiation in order to survive in the industry. Consistency Even though Emma uses consistency as one of her branding strategies, she is required to do more than what she is doing currently. Her specialties include modeling and acting, and the two are inseparable. She should work smart to improve her position in the industry by maintaining consistency. Any deviation from the two specialties might cause harm to her image and position in the industry. Hence, in the process of developing her capabilities, it is crucial for her to remain consistent. More customer engagement Customer engagement is of essence in such as competitive industry as Watson. Since market entrants are increasing rapidly, she cannot afford to loosen her engagement with the customers. Such engagement will enable her to keep updated of the customers’ likes, dislikes, interests, suggestions, as well as expectations. As a result, she can make informed decisions and act appropriately; hence maintaining her leadership position in the industry. Conclusion Brand management is a crucial in this contemporary fast changing and competitive business world. Therefore, businesses need to identify and adopt appropriate brand management strategies to ensure that they survive in the market. Emma Watson thrives in a competitive fashion and entertainment industry by using various strategies including differentiation; brand distribution; keeping a high profile; maintaining consistency, focus, simplicity and visual appeal; appropriate brand elements; competitive distribution; as well as use of social media. Nevertheless, she needs to adopt more consistency, differentiation, and customer engagement in order to maintain her position in the industry. References Aggarwal, S 2008, Brand management: a theoretical and practical approach, Global India Publications, New Delhi. Pp. 20-55. Buttinger, C & Vallaster, C 2008, Connective branding building brand equity in a demanding world, Wiley, Chichester, England Hoboken, NJ. Pp. 13-38. Carrigan, M & Attalla, A 2001, The Myth of the Ethical Consumer: Do Ethics Matter in Purchase Behavior? Journal of Consume Marketing, vol.18, no.7pp. 560-780. Chernatony, L 2010, From brand vision to brand evaluation the strategic process of growing and strengthening brands, Butterworth-Heinemann, Amsterdam Boston London. Pp. 20- 60. Emma Watson-Biography, available at http://emma-watson.net/ Georjon, A & Schroots, A 2003, Strategic e-brand management for small enterprises, Grin Verlag, New York. Pp. 5-40. Glynn, M & Woodside, A 2009, Business-to-business brand management theory, research and executive case study exercises, JAI Press, Bingley, UK. Pp. 1-40. Halepete, J & Park, J 2006, Competitive E-tailing Strategies for Fair Trade Organizations, Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, vol. 10, no.4,pp: 491-507. Kapferer 2008, The new strategic brand management creating and sustaining brand equity long term, Kogan Page, London. Pp. 370-390. Keller, K, Apéria, T & Georgson, M 2008, Strategic brand management: a European perspective, Prentice Hall Financial Times, Harlow, England New York. Pp. 10-40. Keller, K 2013, Strategic Brand Management, Pearson Education, New York. Pp. 10-35. Kotler, P, Pfoertsch, W & Michi, I 2006, B2B brand management, Berlin New York. Springer. Pp. 10-35. Kumar, S 2009, Consumer behavior and branding concepts, readings and cases: the Indian context, Pearson Power Dorling Kindersley (India), Chennai. Pp. 30-59. Mohr, J, Sengupta, S & Slater, S 2010, Marketing of high-technology products and innovations, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. Pp. 10-30. Okonkwo, U 2007, Luxury fashion branding trends, tactics, techniques, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke. Pp. 10-45. Ormeño, 2007, Managing corporate brands a new approach to corporate communication, Dt. Univ, -Verl, Wiesbaden. Pp. Park H, & Lennon, SJ 2006, The Organisational Factors Influencing Socially Responsible Apparel Buying/Sourcing, Clothing and Textile Research Journal, vol.24, no.3.pp.229-47. People Tree, 2009, About Us (People tree) available at:www.peopletree.cn.uk Accessed at 28th June, 2014. Punj, G. & Moon, J 2002, Positioning Options for Achieving Brand Association: A Psychological Categorization Framework, Journal of Business Research, vol.55, no.2. pp. 275-283. Sengupta, S 2005, Brand positioning: strategies for competitive advantage, Tata McGraw-Hill, New Delhi. Pp. 15-45. Scott, C, 2006, The Corporate Brand Association Base: A conceptual Model for the Creation of Inclusive Brand Architecture, European Journal of Marketing, vol.40 , no.7.pp. 785-802. Read More