Management Strategy of Brand - Case Study Example

Introduction Brand creation is a major marketing technique that has massive support within and outside the business community and management strategy. In the rapidly advancing technology and changing socio-economic paradigms, the brands have made a niche in the existing and emerging markets. Products need to maintain an edge over their rivals by incorporating the whole system within which the product is marketed. The brand name ensures that the product maintains a high standard of excellence at a price that a customer is willing to pay for. Therefore, the brand provides the customer with a quality product which satisfies his needs, making it as one of the key reasons that brands still enjoy the popularity amongst its customers and at the same time, attract fresh clientele. The paper would be discussing the ways The Body Shop uses its brand to gain leverage against it competitors in the market and create a niche market position. Company profile The Body Shop was founded in 1976 by Anita Roddick, a social activist and environmentalist, who believed that using the natural ingredients are the best way to take care of the body and remain beautiful. It makes a huge range of body care products from natural ingredients from across the world and caters to people of all strata. There are around 700 products under different categories such as: facial skin care; make-up; bath and body; hair; fragrance; gifts and accessories (BodyShop). The products can further be categorized as per the natural ingredients like aloe Aloe Vera cream, musk oil etc. The company was taken over by L’Oreal in 2006 but has retained it brand name. The company prides in using natural products from all corners of the world and contributes to sustainable business practices by ensuring that the ingredients used in the products are from sustainable source where deforestation is not involved or cruelty to animals has not been part of business process. It subscribe to humane cosmetic standard and works towards the welfare of animals and community. Brand and Brand equity Brand can broadly be defined in terms of name, symbol or design that identifies product and services of particular company which can be clearly differentiated from other products in the same category. Brand delivers value and provides the companies with competitive advantage to gain a niche market position. Kotler asserts that in the contemporary environment of highly competitive business, ‘brand building is needed because products are the same’ (Kotler, 2005). Brands ensure that they meet the changing requirements of the people. Branding expedites the buying behavior because of its differentiating elements that correspond to the needs to of consumers and at the same time, give them the assurance of quality. Brand equity, therefore, sets apart products in a unique way and provides the consumers with a sense of certain perceived value that provokes response which may be positive or negative as per the experience and perception of the people. The brand equity empowers the people with knowledge about the product that are intrinsic part of the products and the producers. de Chernatony and Cottom (2006) argue that concept of brand has evolved from the name given to differentiate a firm’s products, to that of a relationship based on trust. It endows the product with a distinctive identity of perceived value that customer are easily able to associate with perceived benefits and highlights the differentiation. These are important factors that promote customer loyalty and help create new clientele from segmented market. Ennis says that ‘building strong brand loyalty is critical to strong brand equity because it affords it a good deal of protection from the competitors’ (2009, p73). Indeed, it not only helps the company to have competitive advantage but also gives it an opportunity to command premium price and thus be more profitable. At the same time, it also discourages other companies for producing similar products. The Body Shop has strong brand equity because it promotes huge range of body care products that are made from pure natural ingredients without any chemicals. It inculcates trust and confidence amongst the consumers who prefer Body Shop products for their natural ingredients and assured quality. The perceived benefits include the sense of wellbeing because they have natural ingredients and endorse environment conservation. The consumers also associate it Anita Roddick, the founder of Body Shop, who has relentlessly worked for environment preservation and animal welfare. Brand strategy Business strategy broadly encompasses action plans and decision making processes that help to achieve organizational mission, vision and long term goals. Brand strategy, therefore is the major facilitator of ensuring the success of a company’s products and services. It takes into account the various elements of organizational vision and aligns them with the products and services so as to provide the company with competitive advantage and create a niche position. Hence, effective brand strategy helps to improve the business performance and projects the vision and mission of the company amongst the various stakeholders. It therefore, conscientiously develops plans and actions so that it could competently use its strength to exploit market opportunities and meet the demands of people with creative input. The Body Shop’s brand strategy has been focused towards products that are environment friendly and conform to sustainable business practices. The changing dynamics of the global business necessitate formation and incorporation of management strategies that go beyond the realm of individual company’s concern. Pujari (2006) has emphasized that resource efficiency, dematerialization, reduction of waste and emissions are important socio environmental paradigms that provide the company with distinct leverage in the market. Indeed, The Body Shop has consistently urged people to ‘make up your mind, not just your face’ and to use products that use natural ingredients and promote sustainable development. The company has been vociferous in its campaign for sustainable development practices and against using of animals for testing of new products. The consistent approach to its communication strategy enforces its vision and mission amongst the target group. It thus, becomes one of the major motivating factors for its consumers to endorse its products and services. Brand identity Brand identity is one of the most vital issues of brand strategy. It helps project the core identity of the company with that of its products and clearly marks the target consumers. It also provides the products with unique personality which attracts the customers. The brand identity is always accompanied by unique logo or design that is intrinsically linked to the company and its value system. The intellectual property right on the logo is important feature that helps the company to consistently promote its product and services without being verbal. The brand is also often associated with slogans that are linked to the products and services of the company. The products of The Body Shop are identified with the products that are used for taking better care of one’s body. Their advertisements portray vitality and celebration of life signifying that the use of products ensures overall wellbeing of the person. Its white and green logo promotes environment conservation. Two of its famous slogans are ‘Activate self esteem’ and ‘Against Animal Testing’. These two slogans highlight the company’s promise of delivering products that are designed to increase the self esteem of the user through sense of improved well-being and belief that the products are not used on animals for testing. It evokes a sense of wellbeing amongst the users because of its association with qualities and issues that are important to them. The brand identity also sends out the message of value and quality that are part of the company. The Body Shop products are inherently identified with environmental friendly products. Brand marketing The brand marketing primarily relies on the differentiating elements of the products and services that are highlighted through sustained campaign over different media. The slogans and logos also play vital role in developing successful brand marketing. In the contemporary environment of competitive business, sustainable market strategies facilitate proactive approach to meet the challenges of environmental imperatives. The business operations at all levels of interaction needs to be carried out within the parameters of sustainable development framework. Kotler et al (2007, p7) define market as ‘a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others’. The strategic role of marketing therefore, demands a focused approach to offer a wide spectrum of informed choices to the various segments of the market, thus creating needs which are later fulfilled by the promised product and service. A focused approach and well defined market orientation helps to exploit the vast galore opportunities in the merging new markets. Thus, in the contemporary times of competitive business the factors like social networking sites, aesthetically appealing and informative website, ecommerce activities and segmented mix marketing are various ways where brand marketing hugely facilitates creation of market position. The Body Shop has been highly successful in creating a credible brand for marketing of its products and services. The interactive and informative website helps in disseminating important details of the products and companies activities. The social networking through facebook and twitter has further enabled the company to promote its various products. The new line in men’s body products has got a huge boost through online social networking. Brand quality The brand name ensures that the product maintains a high standard of excellence at a price that a customer is willing to pay for. Therefore, the brand provides the customer with a quality product which satisfies his needs, making it as one of the key reasons that brands still enjoy the popularity amongst its customers and at the same time, attract fresh clientele. It encompasses value proposition associated with the products that adds value to it. The tangible and intangible features that give the suggestions of added benefits lend it more credibility amongst the consumers. The brand quality also ensures that consumers changing preferences are anticipated and needs fulfilled through value added quality products. The Body Shop products represent quality and value that goes beyond the physical entity of the products and encompasses the socio-environmental paradigms within the framework of its strategic goals and vision. World Commission on environment has expressed sustainable development as the ‘ability of current generations to meet their needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs’ (WCED, 1987). The company has been consistently promoting sustainable business practice and uses natural ingredient from across the globe to improve and improvise the quality of its products. It also ensures development of new nature based services to improve the overall wellbeing of its consumers. Analysis of Logo – The logo of the company on the products is used to identify the company and assures its consumers of the reliability and quality of the product. It is associated with the values of the company and therefore gives the strong message of commitment to its inherent value system and to its customers. The copyright to the logo guarantees the product to come from the company only. Sustainable business practice (packaging of goods) The company promotes sustainable business practices through various mechanisms of logistics and supply chain management. Through various positive measures, the company is making significant efforts to reduce its energy consumption. Reduced consumption and effective waste management, it helps preserve environment. The most significant efforts are in the packaging of goods where the company’s policy of re-usability and re-cyclability of products and services greatly enhances the scope of sustainable development. Recycling of the waste materials comprising of paper, metal, cloth, wood etc. are included within business strategy for market sustainability. Scandals In 1994, an American journalist, Jon Entine had accused the founder, Anita Roddick of stealing the name and product line from a shop of the same name in San Francisco that was in existence prior to her first shop in Brighton. He also alleged that the products were not totally from natural ingredients but contained only little part of the same and largely comprised of chemicals and dyes. In defense, the company pre-empted the article with clarifications and refutations of the allegations made by Jon Entine. The dossier of the company gave detailed list of operations and financial transactions and also threatened with libel actions (Dixon, 1994). Conclusion The compulsions of the emerging new dynamics in the global businesses have made it essential to develop policies and plans that are people-centric and take into consideration the changing social patterns and changing demands. It can thus be concluded that The Body Shop has incorporated the socio-environmental paradigms within the framework of its strategic goals and visions. Indeed, the company has been able to contribute towards environmental conservations and social issues which have considerable impact on the sustainable development. (2035) Reference de Chernatony, L. and Cottam, S. (2006). Internal brand factors driving successful finance service brands. European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 40, no. 5/6, pp 611-633. Dixon, Cyril. (24 August, 1994). Besieged Body Shop comes out fighting. Available from: [Accessed 28 August, 2010]. Ennis, Sean. (2009). Marketing Management. University of Strathclyde Business School Kotler, Philip. (2005). Toward Stronger Marketing. unpublished presentation to the ARF, “Future of Advertising” Conference, Chicago, 10.24.05. Available from: [Accessed 28 August, 2010]. Kotler, P., Brown, L., Adam, S. and Armstrong, G. (2007). Marketing. 7th Edition. Pearson Education Australia Pujari, Devashish. (2006). Eco-innovation and new product development: understanding the influences on market performance. Technovation, 26, pp76–85. The Body Shop. Available from: [Accessed 28 August, 2010]. WCED. (1987). The World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future. Oxford University Press, New York, NY. Available from: < http://www.un-documents.net/ocf-02.htm#I > [Accessed 28 August, 2010]. Read More