Brand Analysis

Why brand strategy

 Create brands that resonate with customers
 Ex., Surf, Suffola, Fair & Lovely, Meera, LIC

 Avoid competitor strengths and exploit their

weaknesses

 Exploit our own strengths and neutralize our

own weaknesses
 Objectives of brand analysis
 The primary objective of strategic brand analysis is to
precipitate and improve strategic decisions
 Specify the brand identity
 Decide product classes with which to associate with
 Gillette = shaving; Oral B = dental care
 Define role within the organization’s brand system
 Vaseline Body Lotion and Pond’s Dreamflower Lotion
 Ascertain level of investment required
 Another objective is to identify strategic uncertainties
that will affect brand strategy
 Three phases of brand analysis
1. Brand is analyzed using existing internal info
 Past research; Market/brand sales data and patterns
 Historical positioning; known competitor identity strategies

2. Info is gathered using original customer research

 To fill info gaps and to explore branding options

3. Target brand identity, value proposition, brand–

customer relationship, position are specified
 Another study for testing/refinement might be required
 The studies explore implementation tactics/strategy options
Perspectives of brand strategy

1. Customer Analysis

2. Competitor Analysis

3. Self Analysis
Customer Analysis
 Trends
 A trend is a direction or sequence of events that has
some momentum and durability

 Trends provide insights into changing motivators and

emerging segments

 Trends change our outlook, our lifestyle, the products

we choose and the brands we buy
 Trends: Examples

Increasing
Increasingnuclear
nuclear Home
Homeloans,
loans,Fast
Fastfood,
food,
families
families Branded
Brandedsweets,
sweets,Small
Smallcars
cars

Mineral
Mineralwater,
water,Oil,
Oil,Creams,
Creams,
Fascination
Fascinationfor
forhealth
health Shampoos,
Shampoos,AC’s,
AC’s,Gym
Gym
 Trends: Examples

Preference
Preferencefor
forherbal
herbal// Shampoos,
Shampoos,Hair
HairOil,
Oil,
ayurvedic
ayurvedicingredients
ingredients Soaps,
Soaps,Creams
Creams

Increasing
Increasingnumber
numberofof Eating
Eatingout,
out,Luxuries,
Luxuries,RTE
RTE
women
womengoing
goingto
towork
work foods,
foods,Vacation
Vacationpackages
packages
 Customer motivations
 The goal of customer analysis is determining benefits
that will motivate customers to buy and use the brand
 The need is to get below the surface and probe areas
not obvious to customer and marketer
 But are influential in brand choice and use experience

 The aim should be to seek a motivation that can be

leveraged into a unique advantage for the brand
 Means of spotting motivations
 Qualitative research is generally directed at detecting
emotional and self-expressive benefits

 Assessment of functional benefits involves three sets

of questions:
 What functional benefits are relevant to customers?
 What is the relative importance of each benefit?
 How can customers be grouped with respect to functional
benefits?
 Can benefit segments be identified?
 Segmentation
 Can’t serve all and hence need to segment into groups
who share similar set of wants
 Marketer does not create segments; he/she just
identifies them
 The task is to consider which segments are the most
attractive target for the brand and most relevant to
brand identity development
 Methods of segmentation
 The segments should be…
 Measurable
 Substantial
 Accessible
 Differentiable
 Actionable
 Segmentation could be broadly…
 Geographic
 Demographic
 Behavioural
 Psychographic
 Unmet needs
 Spot customer needs that are not being met by existing
product offerings
 Unmet needs are strategically important since they
represent opportunities
 Sliding doors in cars to overcome cramped parking lots

 Some possible unmet needs in current context:

 Long-lasting fragrance and freshness in talcs
 Easy and quick way of lice removal
 Underarm hair–remover for males
Competitive Analysis
 Competitor brand image / position
 A critical input into identity implementation is how
customers perceive competitive brands
 With respect to benefits, personality, relationships
 The two sources of brand image data are customers and
competitor communications
 Info gathering could rely on many techniques
 Story-telling, brand grouping, metaphor games etc.,
 Important to bear in mind the fact that users will have
different perceptions than non-users
 Also, understand how competitors want to be perceived
Grouping competitors’ positions
 In-depth study of competitors’ position might throw
useful insights
 Arrange ads into a brandscape
 To spot clusters, brands and brand strengths

 A positioning approach to take into cognizance:

 Strength of clusters
 Number of competitors
 Individual strength of competitors
 Entrenched positions
 Etc.,
 Changes in competitor images
 Critical to consider not only current images of
competing brands…
 But also past changes
 And possible future changes in these images

 The reasons for the changes can provide

valuable insights
 Pond’s attempt to get younger
 Hamam going herbal
Competitors’ strengths & vulnerabilities

 Going head-on against a competitors’ strength and

ignoring its vulnerabilities could be recipe for disaster
 What do you think are strengths and vulnerabilities of
Vaseline Petroleum Jelly?
 Strength of VPJ is its barrier property; its weakness is
its greasiness
 Remember, a brand’s biggest vulnerability could be
in its strength!
Self Analysis
 Existing brand image
 Key questions to be asked include:
 How is the brand perceived?
 What associations are linked to the brand?
 How is it differentiated from competing brands?
 How has its image changed over time?
 Does the image differ across segments?
 What benefits do customers feel they are getting?
 Does the brand have a personality?
 What are the intangible attributes / benefits?
 What visual imagery does the brand evoke?

 Imperative to focus both on functional attributes and

emotional elements
 Brand heritage
 It’s useful to understand heritage of the brand
 Who were the early pioneers of the brand?
 How did it originate?
 What was its first image when it first started?

 Knowledge of what the brand first meant can provide

insight as to what identity should include
 A brand heritage analysis can also generate strategic
insight about how to get a brand back on course
 Onida’s back-to-the-basics story
 Strengths and weaknesses
 In order to be sustainable, a brand identity should be
supported by organizational strengths
 These strengths need to be developed

 Process starts by determining strengths and

weaknesses of product or service and company
 What are we good at?
 Where are we deficient in?

 Ascertain what brand identity is desired and what’s

attainable given resources, capabilities and priorities
 Futile to develop an identity that can’t be supported
 Soul of the brand
 Good strong brands have a ‘soul’
 Basic values of the brand that provide character
and meaning to the business

 Identify and articulate the soul of the brand

and the organization
 Its dream and its vision too
Restores feminity
Dreams of beauty
Confident closeness
Commands respect
Style statement
 Links to other brands
 A brand position decision cannot and should not be
made in isolation

 A brand should have well-defined roles within the

context of other brands in the company
 Cartoon Network & Pogo
 Pantene, Rejoice & Head & Shoulders
 Clinic Plus & Sunsilk
 Pond’s Body Lotion & Vaseline Body Lotion
 Chik & Meera & Nyle