WHAT IS THE ROLE OF COMMUNICATION IN BRANDING?
A brand is more than a product. Responsibility for developing and maintaining a
successful brand lies with the marketing or corporate function called brand
management. Branding is a communication function that creates the intangible
aspects of a brand that make it memorable and meaningful to the consumer.
A brand can be defined as a perception, often imbued with emotion that results
from experiences with and information about a company or a line of products.
Other definitions point to a mixture of tangible and intangible attributes as well as
the identity elements that stand for the brand. Wendy Zomnir, creative director
and founding partner at Urban Decay Cosmetics discusses her experiences in
brand building in The Inside Story featured in this chapter.
Branding also differentiates similar products from one another. Companies make
products but they sell brands. A brand differentiates a product from its
competitors and makes a promise to its customers.
All organizations with a name can be considered brands, and that includes
organization brands, which are distinct from product brands.
Principle: An organization cannot ‘not’ communicate. People create brand
impressions whether or not the branding process is managed by the organization.
Giep Franzen and his team of researchers identified three components of brand
perception for organizations: organization identity, brand framework, and
consumer/customer/stakeholder characteristics.
One thing that makes the practice of IMC different from traditional advertising is
its focus on branding and the totality of brand communication. Through IMC that
considers all possible brand messages, marketing communication managers are
able to ensure that the perception of their brand is clear and sharp.
How Does a Brand Acquire a Meaning?
Principle: A brand is an integrated perception derived from personal
experiences with and messages about the brand.
A Brand is a Perception
A brand, then, is basically a perception loaded with emotions and feelings
(intangible elements), not just a trademark or package design (tangible elements).
Tangible features are things you can observe or touch, such as a product’s design,
size, shape, and performance. Intangibles include the product’s perceived value,
its brand image, positive and negative impressions and feelings, and experiences
customers have with the brand.
1
All impressions created by the brand’s tangible and intangible features come
together as a brand concept. Such impressions are particularly important for
parity products, products with few distinguishing features. For these products,
feelings about the brand can become a critical point of difference.
The meaning of a brand is an aggregation of everything a customer sees hears,
reads or experiences about anorganizationor a product brand. This meaning
however, cannot be totally controlled by management.
Branding Transforms Products
A basic principle of branding is that a brand communication transforms a product
into something more meaningful than the product itself. Brand transformation
creates the difference by enriching the brand meaning.
Principle:A brand transforms products into something more meaningful than the
product itself.
The development of the Ivory Soap brand by Procter and Gamble in 1879
represented a major advance in branding because of the way it transformed a
parity product into a meaningful brand concept. You can read about this in the A
Matter of Principle feature found in this chapter.
How Does Brand Transformation Work?
Brand Identity
A critical function of branding is to create a separate brand identity for a product
within a product category. Brand identity cues are generally the brand name and
the symbol used as a logo.
Principle: If a branding strategy is successful, consumers refer to a specific
brand name, rather than a generic category.
The choice of a brand name for new products is tested for memorability and
relevance. The easier it is to recognize the identity cues, the easier it will be to
create awareness of the brand. Successful brand names have several
characteristics:
Distinctiveness. A common name that is unrelated to a product category
ensures there will be no similar names creating confusion, such as Apple
Computers. It can also be provocative, such as Virgin Airlines.
Association. Subaru, for example, chose Outback as the name for its rugged
SUV, hoping the name would evoke the adventure of the Australian
wilderness.
2
Benefit: Some brand names relate to the brand promise, such as Slim-Fast for
weight loss.
Heritage: Some brand names reflect their maker, such as H&R Block,
Kellogg’s, and Dr. Scholl’s. The idea is that there is credibility in a product
when makers are proud to put their names on it.
Simplicity. To make a brand name easier to recognize and remember, brand
names are often short and easy to pronounce, such as Bic, Tide, and Nike.
With global marketing on the rise, it is also important that names properly
translate into other languages.
While brand names are important, recognition is often based on a distinctive
graphic. A logo is similar to a cattle brand, in that it stands for the product’s
source. A trademark is a legal symbol that indicates ownership. Trademarks are
registered with the government and the company has exclusive use of it, as long
as it is used for that product alone.
Problems can arise when a brand name dominates a product category, such as
Kleenex and Xerox. In such situations, the brand name becomes a substitute label
for the category label. Some branded products lost the legal right to their names
when they became generic category names.
Brand Position and Promise
Positioning is a way to identify the location a product or brand occupies in the
consumers’ minds relative to its competitors. Related to brand position is brand
promise. The value of a brand lies in the promise makes.The brand, through its
communication, sets expectations for what a customer believes will happen when
the product is used.
Principle:Brand communication sets expectations for what will happen when the
product is used through the virtual contract of a brand promise.
Consistency is the backbone of that promise. The promise needs to be delivered
not just by the advertising but at all points of contact with a brand. Many weak
brands suffer from over-promising. Successfully identifying and then delivering
the promise are part of the platform for building a long-term brand relationship
with customers.
Brand Image and Personality
A brand image is a mental picture or idea about a brand that contains
associations, as well as emotions. These associations and feelings result primarily
from the content of advertising and other marketing communications. Exhibit 2.21
illustrates how Celestial Seasonings uses its distinctive packaging to send
messages to consumers about its brand image.
3
A brand personality humanizes an organization or a brand. It symbolizes
personal qualities of people you many know, such as bold, fun, studious, geeky,
daring, etc. Each brand sends a different message because of the image or
personality it projects through its marketing communication.
Principle: Brands speak to us through their distinctive images and personalities.
Brand Value and Equity
Another type of added value for a brand can come from associating the brand with
a good cause, a practice called cause marketing. A spike in cause-related work is
occurring as marketers increasingly strive for their brands to be ‘purpose-driven’
and demonstrate their commitment to social responsibility.The A Principled
Practicefeature in this chapter illustrates how cause marketing contributes to the
value of a brand.
Brands are also valued by the financial community. Branding not only
differentiates products, but also increases their value. A brand and what it
symbolizes can affect how much people are willing to pay for it.
Brand Value
The value of branding lies in the power of familiarity and trust to win and
maintain consumer acceptance. If a well known brand name has been tested over
time, it is familiar and dependable, plus it carries the associations created through
the marketing communication.
Brand value comes in two forms – the value to a consumer and the value to the
corporation. The first is a result of the experiences a customer has had with a
brand. The second is a financial measure, which is called brand equity.
Brand relationship programs that lead to loyalty are important strategies, since
powerful brands are those that retain customers who repeatedly buy the product or
service. Brand loyalty programs offer rewards for repeat business.
Brand equity is the intangible value of the brand based on the relationships with
its stakeholders, as well as intellectual property, such as product formulations.
When a company is sold, a figure is calculated to determine the value of its
brands.
Principle:Brand relationships drive brand value.
The part of brand equity that is based on relationships is referred to as goodwill. It
lies in the accumulation of positive brand relationships, which can be measured as
a level of personal attachment to the brand that has revenue-producing potential.
4
Leveraging Brand Equity
People who manage brand marketing and communication, who we call brand
stewards, will sometimes leverage brand equity through a brand extension,
which is the labeling of a new, related line of products with an established brand
name. Because the brand name is known, it carries with it associations and
feelings, as well as a certain level of consumer trust. The disadvantage is that the
extension may dilute the meaning of the brand or may even boomerang
negatively.
Co-branding is a strategy that uses two brand names owned by two separate
companies to create a partnership offering. An example is the brand name
Mileage Plus, which carries the identities of both Visa and United Airlines. The
idea is that the partnership provides customers with value from both brands.
Through a practice called brand licensing, in effect, a partner company rents the
brand name and transfers some of its brand equity to another product. The most
common example comes from sport teams whose names and logos are licensed to
makers of shirts, caps, mugs, and other memorabilia.
Another way to leverage a brand is through ingredient branding, which refers to
the use of a brand name to identify a component used in a product’s
manufacturing process. A well known example of this is the “Intel Inside” phrase
and logo used by computer manufacturers to call attention to the quality of chips
within its products.
The point of reviewing branding practices is to reinforce that the way a product is
made or how it performs is no longer the primary differentiating point. Ultimately,
the stronger the brand, the more value it has to all of its stakeholders.
Understanding how brands are built and managed requires an understanding of
relationship-building communication.
Principle:Most of the added value that comes from an effective brand strategy
and accumulates as brand equity is driven by marketing communication.
BRAND COMMUNICATION IN A TIME OF CHANGE
Brand Relationships
Relationship building communication programs are used to build strong
relationships between loyal customers and the brands they purchase and
repurchase. This kind of focus shifts the marketing strategy from focusing on
one time purchases to also include repeat purchases and the maintenance of long
term brand loyalty.
Accountability
5
Marketing managers are being challenged by senior management to prove that
their decisions lead to the most effective marketing strategies. They are under
pressure to deliver business results measured in terms of sales increases, increase
in market share percentages, and corporate return on investment (ROI).
Global Marketing
The growth in global marketing activities is increasing dramatically. In most
countries, markets are composed of local, regional, international, and global
brands. A local brand is one marketed in a single country. A regional brand is one
marketed throughout a region, such as North America, Europe, or Asia. An
international brand is available in a number of countries in various parts of the
world. A global brand is available virtually anywhere in the world, such as
Coca-Cola.
International marketing and marketing communication is not the exclusive
province of large companies. The choice of an agency for international marketing
depends, in part, on whether the brand’s messages are standardizedacross all
markets or localized.
Word-of-Mouth Marketing
A powerful new force, word-of-mouth communication, has emerged because of
its inherent persuasiveness. The goal is to get the right people talking about the
brand and having them say things in support of the brand strategy.
Word-of-mouth communication is also called buzz, which means people are
talking about a brand. Buzz may be the most important factor in consumer
decision making because the recommendations of others are so highly persuasive.
Some marketing plans are specifically designed to generate excited talk about
something new, particularly if the strategies can reach influential people whose
opinions are valued by others.
The power and reach of personal communication has been driven in the 21st
century by social media. Some marketing messages are spread not only in
face-to-face conversation but also online. When messages are quickly spread on
the Internet through a wide network of contacts, it is referred to as viral
marketing.
End-of-Chapter Support
6