Branding and Marketing Communications - Essay Example

Branding and Marketing Communications Submitted by: XXXXXX XXXXXXXX Number: XXXXXXXX of XXXXXXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXX Subject Code: XXXXXXX Number of Words: 2499 (Excluding Bibliography) Date of Submission: XX – XX – 2009 Introduction: Branding is a very essential aspect of company promotions. The marketing of the business along with branding play a very important role in the success of every company. Creating a brand image and name for a company ensures that customers are able to differentiate the products and recognise the product that satisfies their needs the most and thus improving the customer loyalty. Management of products and brand play a very essential role in the marketing success. A brand helps the consumers differentiate between two competitors and the name, packaging and design of the products becomes the brand of the product. Creating a brand image and name for a company ensures that customers are able to differentiate the products and recognise the product that satisfies their needs the most and thus improving the customer loyalty. In simple word branding is the process of creating a different image from that of the competitors (Jobber, 2004). This paper aims at discussing the basic concept of branding and furthermore the importance of branding to an organisations’ communication. The paper will first start with a brief discussion of the term branding, following which the role of branding in companies will be discussed. This will provide for a basic understanding and will lead to a more important aspect of every business, i.e. importance of branding on the marketing communications of a business. Branding and its role in Companies: Modern branding is gradually focusing its interest on preserving and putting together a combination of values either tangible or intangible. These values significantly and properly make a distinction of a company from the others and are pertinent to consumers (Jobber, 2004, Kotler et al., 2002). Kotler (2002) discussed that only Coca-Cola can manufacture ‘Coke’ although many manufacturers can produce cola drinks. Levitt stated that the competition does not presently thrive on what the manufacturers can produce. Rather, these factories focus on the improvement of their product. This is a new kind of knowledge for the customers in terms of services, advertising, packaging and many other aspects that aim to meet the necessities of the customer and the value of the people. A strong customer franchise is a requirement for a company to be shielded from competition. (Kotler, et.al., 2002). Prior to a discussion regarding research techniques for assessing the effects of advertising on branding, the word or concept brand itself need to be defined. A brand is a unique name or symbol intended to 1) distinguish to sources of a good service or performance, 2) distinguish those products or services from the items of the competition, and 3) safeguard the producer and consumer from rival enterprises who would endeavor to offer goods that look as if to be identical (Evans & Moutinho, 1999). ‘A brand is a product, service, or concept that is publicly distinguished from other products, services, or concepts so that it can be easily communicated and usually marketed. A brand name is the name of the distinctive product, service, or concept. Branding is the process of creating and disseminating the brand name. Branding can be applied to the entire corporate identity as well as to individual product and service names. Brands are usually protected from use by others by securing a trademark or service mark from an authorized agency, usually a government agency’ (Bitpipe.com, 2009). Branding is the course of establishing an association or relation between a perception, object, symbol, emotion and a company, product with the ambition of encouraging loyalty and building differentiation. When information on a brand and store is favorable, it will positively affect perceptions of quality and value, and subjects willingness to buy (Dodds, 1991). It should also be noted that the consumer selection strategies include best value, price seeking, and price aversion at times when information on product quality is not always perfect (Tellis, 1990). The consumer’s price expectations should be well considered in pricing decisions (Funkhouser, 1984). Furthermore, as consumers are frequently exposed to pricing and promotional activities of goods they patronize, certain expectations that are used as reference points in evaluating future activity are developed among them (Lattin et al, 1989). To illustrate, by means of packaging and advertising of the product, Coca Cola was able to create a correlation among numerous varying objects and its brands. The bottle in shape of an hourglass, the colours of red and white and of course the font of its logotype in harmony make Coca Cola unique from its competitors (Sridhar, 2008). The product’s history of capability and of course facility to satisfy customer needs as well as its pervasive distribution plays a significant role in consumption, although certainly, consistent advertising has been victorious in underlining previous favourable associations between the consumers and the brand (Assael, 1998). Consumption should rationally increase with the size of existing inventories (Assuncao, 1993). In complementary with the recognition, branding may come with establishing emotional responses (Volvo conveying an impression of safety) or even cultural responses (Mountain Dew in its connection to the youth). As consumers are inundated with a range of merchandises to satisfy the same need, branding offers a way for customers to lessen their burden in making decisions to contemplate only those goods that they believe are of relevance to their needs or that have satisfied their requirements sufficiently well in the past. It is in no question that a highly favoured brand is a significant corporate asset. Counts in dollars and cents merely measure brand equity, instead it is a direct end result of how customers consider and value a brand according to their perceptions and especially experiences (Evans & Moutinho, 1999). It is due to these perceptions and experiences that the brand is permitted to earn larger volume or margins ever it could devoid of the brand name (Evans & Moutinho, 1999). To be able to produce brand equity, loyal customers must exist which makes customer equity a fundamental quality of brand equity (Kotler, 2002). There are several steps concerned with establishing equity of a brand, these include; either aided or unaided brand awareness, brand favourability, brand attributes, brand preference, message association, and in due course brand loyalty. Each of which has a vital role in driving a customer towards buying a product and each should be appreciate and comprehended in terms of their definite function (Evans & Moutinho, 1999). Thus this forms a very important aspect and a number of different elements need to be considered like the Brand Aura and Positioning. Every business has a number of different elements that it is made off, like branding, marketing, development, research, all these departments and even the production departments. Branding is one of the most essential aspects of a business. A brand normally consists of symbols, experiences, associations which are connected to the services, or products and the organisation as a whole. This is very important as it forms a major component of culture and this is also referred to as cultural accessories and personal philosophies (Schultz, 2004). Some marketers like Marc Gobe have also noted that the branding in some ways has grown to become very powerful and also has become as strong as religion "Peoples connections with brands transcend commerce" (Kahney, 2002). Steps the company can take to help create a brand image for the company will include: a) Packaging: This will allow the company to create an image which the customers will be able to relate with. Marketing of any product depends vastly on the feel, look of the product. Thus with a new packaging the customers will be able to recognise the brand and create more brand awareness. b) Quality and Design: The company has already proved the quality of the products from the beginning thus it is now essential that importance is given to the design. Here it would focus mostly on the design and quality of the new products that are being introduced to the product portfolio. c) Higher Marketing: To increase the brand image of the company and the brand awareness of the company it is essential that the company focuses on marketing the product in a better way. A few recommendations that the company can use for the marketing its already existent products as well as the new products will be discussed further in this presentation. In order to realize how branding affects the decision of a consumer to favour the purchase of a certain product from another, it is important to take note of the different aspects that contribute to the production of consumer behaviour in a certain approach, not only while in the process of making a decision to buy but also before and after the purchase was made. Consumer behaviour comprise of all the activities of a person which are directly related to acquiring, using and disposing of goods and services, taking into account the decision process employed in the preceding and determining activities. Branding and Marketing Communication: Branding is a very essential aspect of marketing communication. The success of brands is much owed to how the brand owners are able to communicate with the public. Considering the actual working definition of Branding, it can be defined as, ‘A collection of actual and emotional characteristics associated with a particular identified product or service that differentiates that product or service from the rest of the market place’ (Egan, 2007, p. 80). The case of the habit rule is greatly based upon longstanding perceptions rather than experience of the product. It may be true that people may have strong brand preferences even though they have not tried using the products before. Brand images are greatly influenced by factors that include cultural, social and personality prompted by various forms of commercial stimuli (advertising, public relations and prominence of distribution) (Assael, 1998). Marketers and advertisers know very well that the brands’ established symbolic images that are often more important to a product’s success compared to its actual physical attributes and characteristics. A study broke down consumer evaluation into two dimensions. Products are evaluated according to its product attributes (tangible or physical attributes). Moreover, products are also evaluated according to their brand name (intangible attributes; this may be images added to the product as an influence of its name). The inner advantage of the product is greatly correlated to its product related attributes. This intrinsic advantage is made up of the consumers ability to evaluate the performance capabilities of the product, perceptions on its effectiveness, value for money, availability and reliability forms. There is also the extrinsic advantage which lies at the emotional level. Here, the symbolic evaluation of the brand plays an important role. Consumers use personal or subjective criteria usually matching to brand name related characteristics. In the wake of the increased variations in relatively homogeneous products, consumers learned to give more importance on the image aspects of products in order to make evaluations of the different alternatives more simplified. Jobber (2004) observed that consumers prefer the symbolic functions of a product over the purely functional aspects of it. Therefore, consumers normally demand social responsibility and commitment from firms. Brand name perceptions rather than product perceptions has a huge impact on the emotions, feelings and, in general, symbolic associations (Jobber, 2004, Evans & Moutinho, 1999). According to Hiam and Schewe, man’s behaviour is driven by his perception of reality (Evans & Moutinho, 1999). Every individual has his own perception of reality and it is an entirely personal phenomenon driven by his own set of beliefs, needs and values. As such, information may be perceived in multiple interpretations and perceptions by different people. Using the five senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste), an individual receives and interprets sensory information in their own unique ways. Engel at al defined perception as the process of receiving and interpreting stimuli by the individual and later translating these into a response (Foxall, 1980, p.29). Moreover, it can be observed that products and services are, more often than not, purchased for their functional values alone. However, there are instances that the primary motivations may be in the products social and psychological meanings. As noted by Egan (2008), there are two factors that determine the perception of stimuli. These are the stimulus discrimination and stimulus generalization. Importance of Branding for Marketing Communications: Branding plays a very important role in the marketing communication. It provides the manufacturers as well as the consumer advantages. Manufacturers are able to gain a legal protection so that the technology and ideas are not used by the competitors and the company does not loose out on the products and market place due to other competitors imitating the products and services. Considering the consumers, branding provides the consumers with a mode of differentiating among the numerous products that are available in the market. It creates a unique identity for the product or service and allows the customers to make informed decisions and choose wisely. While on the other hand this forms an advantage for the company as well as it provides them with a chance to increase the profitability due to the identity and differentiation. According to Sampson (1993), ‘Most markets have a convergence of brands. They look alike, taste the same and have same formulation. Brand choice is no longer about the rational product attributes. It is, and increasingly will be, all about brand personality’ (Cited in Yeshin, 2000). Taking the examples of Coca Cola and Pepsi, it is seen that the core products are indistinguishable and the components to a great extent are the same. A customer would never be able to distinguish among the two without having a clear view of the brand. The only factors that allow the customers to differentiate among the products are the marketing communication and the style of creating a brand personality among the customers. This is seen with the attempts made by Coca Cola to create a differentiation by portraying the brand in different manners. Coca Cola has been the first to introduce storytelling marketing. According to Quealy, “one communication method that beats all others when it comes to delivering a memorable, motivating, and meaningful message: telling a story” (Rozgonyi, 2008). The excellent imagination that the company has brought out in its ads, make people want to believe that each time a coin is put into the vending machine, the Coke is produced inside the machine in a fairy tale like environment. All these form a mode of marketing communication and the ‘brands’ play a very important role in the success of these forms of communication. Conclusions: Based on the discussion above it is safe to say that marketing communication and branding are two factors that move hand in hand. The main aim of the branding for a company is to ensure that people remember the name of the company. To do so the company need to communicate to the public in different ways like print media, advertisements and also storytelling. Both branding and marketing communication to a great extent compliment each other and would not be as successful in the absence of the other. Bibliography Assael, H., 1998, Consumer behaviour and marketing action, 8th Edition, Boston: Kent Publishing Company Assuncao, J. L., Meyer, R. J., 1993, The rational effect of price promotions on sales and consumption, Management Science, 39(5), 517 Bitpipe.com, 2009, Branding, Accessed on 12th August 2009, Retrieved from http://www.bitpipe.com/tlist/Branding.html Dodds, W. B., Monroe, K. 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E., 1989, Reference Effects Of Price And Promotion On Brand Choice Be, JMR, Journal of Marketing Research, 26(3), 299 Rozgonyi, B., (2008), Story Telling Marketing | Search Engine Strategies Coverage, 22nd December 2008, Accessed on 24th March 2009, Retrieved from http://barbararozgonyi-wiredprworks.com/2008/12/19/storyteller-marketing-search-engine-strategies-coverage/ Schultz, D. E., 2004, A Clean Brand Slate, Marketing Management. Spetmebre/October, Vol. 13, Issue 5, pp. 10-11 Sridhar, K. V., 2008, Brands should be great story tellers, 20th June 2008, Accessed on 12th August 2009, Retrieved from http://www.livemint.com/2008/06/20234413/Brands-should-be-great-storyte.html Tellis, G. J., Gaeth, G. J., 1990, Best value, price-seeking, and price aversion: the impact of information and learning on consumer choices, Journal of Marketing, 54(2), 34 Yeshin, T., 2000, Integrated marketing communications: the holistic approach, 29th August 2000, Butterworth – Heinemann Ltd. Read More