1. What do brands mean to you?

I get my tea at a local shop. I happen to think that their coffee is better than Java and it is a fraction of
the price. It is because the local shop doesn’t have a marketing department or finance departments.
There are no million dollar executives and no exaggerated art furniture. No uniforms, posters, music,
just food and coffee. Java does an amazing job with their brand and people line up out the door to pluck
down their money for a cup even if it’s paying for all of those expenses. If I want coffee, I don’t need an
experience. I want a cell phone not a lifestyle. I want a laptop not an entire office.

But, if I had a Porsche, I would drive it around everywhere, and if truth be told I absolutely prefer Java.

2. What are your favorite brands and why?

My favorite brands:

Levi’s, Harley Davidson, Wai wai, Apple, Ace institute, Coca-Cola, KFC etc

Here, I’ve taken 3 different brands:

Apple: Apple Inc. uses the Apple brand to compete across several highly competitive markets, including
the personal computer industry with its Macintosh line of computers and related software, the
consumer electronics industry with products such as the iPod, digital music distribution through its
iTunes Music Store, and more recently in the smart phone market with the Apple iPhone.

Apple's product strategy is to create innovative products and services and also Apple has a branding
strategy that focuses on the emotions through this strategies it has been able to create its distinct brand
personality. The Apple brand personality is about lifestyle, imagination, liberty, innovation, passion, and
power to the people through technology. The Apple brand personality is also about simplicity and the
removal of complexity from people's lives, people-driven product design and about being a really
humanistic company by building a heartfelt connection with its customers through continuous
innovation to bring out people driven products.

Harley Davidson: Harley-Davidson's brand has always projected a feeling of wildness and danger.  That
feeling was established early on when those most likely to be driving Harley's were the bad guys of the
society.  Today the impression exists and still appeals to something deep in the mind of the young
professionals who buy most of the brand's products. The brand personality is not in the tires or engines
or other tangible features, it is in the raw sound of the Harley that evokes a sense of outlaw in the most
respectable rider

Wai Wai: The leading noodle of Nepal has a distinct personality than any of its competitor. People have
been having this noodle from almost 3 decade now. The taste and the company’s age has established an
image that nothing is a tastier as “wai wai” and that it is for the consumption of people of all ages
especially the children’s. The company has been communicating the brand personality by understanding
its position in the market and by clearly stating “Wai wai jastai aru kunai chaina” in its punch line. The
age of the product has built an emotional attachment with consumers which has been able to retain the
consumers. The taste also has had a huge impact in the image building because people can find noodle
with similar taste as “wai wai” but not a better one, most people tend to compare every noodle they
have had with “wai wai” and still find “wai wai” as the best.
 3. Check to see how your perceptions of brands might differ from those of others.

For instance, one person might be color-blind, and so they might see the world very differently
than someone who sees all colors. Different people's senses of taste and smell can be very
different (you could have a cold and not be able to taste/smell well, or simply have differently-
sensitive taste buds). The way the brain processes information from the senses also affects how
you perceive them. For instance, if you lose your sight, your brain will devote more 'processing
power' to your other senses. You might have more sensitive hearing or sense of touch, for
instance. You can train your senses too -- think about a wine expert who can taste a wine and
tell you precisely which vineyard anywhere in the world it came from.

Every human will have some individual differences in the way they perceive the world, due to
inherited differences in sensory abilities. Beyond that, other creatures, even those relatively
closely related to us, will perceive the world in a vastly different way than we do.

Along with this there are several other factors those results in different perception of the same
brand among different individuals. Differences can be created by factors such as:

Demographic factor like age, sex, religion, population etc can result in difference in perception
by for instance the thinking of young people and the old do not match.

Societal factors also have much influence in the perception of a brand. In some market a brand
name might mean something which might be good or bad in terms of societal values and in
some society the brand name might not mean anything.

Similarly along with these factors other factors like geographic, culture norms and values etc
also has impact on individual’s perception which creates the difference in perception.

4. Can you think of anything that cannot be branded?

There is a company called “Muji” in japan which uses "no-brand" strategy which means that only little
money is spent on advertisement or classical marketing and Muji's success is attributed to the word of
mouth, a simple shopping experience and the anti-brand movement. Muji's no-brand strategy also
means its products are attractive to customers who prefer unbranded products for purely aesthetic
reasons.
Muji has released a t-shirt with a rubber square on the chest for customer to design their own logo or
message.
Although the company styles itself as a brand less brand, some of its most popular designs are thought
to be by well known and established product designers.
But this is also something that can be branded but is intentionally not being branded. I believe
everything in this world can be branded even “Air” can be branded for instance if a natural park is
opened up somewhere near the city with lots of trees, ponds, clean environment with more carbon
absorbing trees are planted then certainly the air in that park is branded and can be promoted.

Hence, I believe everything can be branded.

5. Pick an example of a branded product in each of the categories viz. physical good, services,
retailers and distributors, person, and organization, place, and idea? And describe how it is a
brand.

Example of a branded product’s:

Physical goods: Intel microchip – Whenever any person goes to buy a computer he/she asks for
Intel chip on the mother board. It is of anyone’s top priority. The performance of intel chip has
always been graded higher than any of its competitors.

Services: Starbucks coffee – Million dollar executives and exaggerated art furniture, Uniforms,
posters, music, Food and coffee, franchisees, quality, ambience, fast service etc makes starbucks
a brand which utilizes the opportunity derived from all above mentioned things optimally.

Retailers and distributors: Nepal cap house – It is the shop which attracts the people to come
there and shop for caps. There is no other such shop which specializes in cap for retailing and
distributing. It’s been a long time the company has been in the market. The number of years it
has spent in the market has also benefitted the company to gain goodwill and a brand image.

Person: Late King Birendra Birbikram Shah Dev: Although he did not have to do much to brand
himself but did brand himself. We know he was born with a silverspoon in his mouth, he was
branded by birth but because of his good nature, softness, his works that was for the favor of
Nepal, his family etc helped him brand himself as the King of people choice or a good king for
the people.

Idea: Rs.1 account by Nepal investment bank ltd: They were the initiator of such thing in nepali
market. People did not even imagine before NIBL launched such schemes. The idea did click. It
brought revenues for the bank and happiness for the poor people who now could have a bank
account and take advantage of the banking services.

6. Can you think of yourself as a brand? What do you do to “brand” yourself?

Yes of course I can think myself as a brand. Everyone is a brand himself. Everyone promotes
himself or herself by showing off his/her good qualities and hiding the bad one. Those whose
succeed is showing more of the good qualities and hide bad one’s keeping them as a hard
hidden secret then they succeed in becoming famous and becomes a mentor for the generation.

To brand myself I hang around with friends and meet new person which spreads me more wider
and brings a wider range of people contact i.e more Public relation. I share my jokes and funny
comments with any one involved in the converstion which lets the other people make a image
about me so that when he meets me next time he already has a know about me. Moreover, to
brand myself I wear good clothes which are clean and tidy, I attend parties where I take a
 completely different look which is more professional but other times you can see me with
beards and mustache grown all over my face. I promote the institution I have been related to, to
brand myself this will also help me brand because a person who comes from a branded
institution has more chance to be called intellect rather than from a low key institution.

References:

www.wikipedia.com

Course instructor slide’s