-What is Brand?

A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and
services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition. For example,
Coke, Nestle and Microsoft are well renowned brands. In technical speaking whenever a marketer creates
a name logo symbol he or she has created a brand.

-Why do Brands matters?

Brands really matter for both consumer and manufacturer.
From consumer’s point of view:

 Identification of source of product

 Assignment of responsibility to product maker
 Risk reducer
 Search cost reducer
 Promise, bond, or pact with maker of product
 Symbolic device
 Signal of quality

 Brands identify the source or maker of a product and allow

consumers to assign responsibility to a particular manufacturer. From an economic perspective, brands

allow consumers to lower search costs for products both internally and externally.

 Consumers offer their trust and loyalty with the implicit

understanding that the brand will behave in certain ways and provide them utility through consistent
product performance and appropriate pricing, promotion, and distribution programs and actions. Brands
can serve as symbolic devices, allowing consumers to project their self-image.

 Certain brads are associated with being used by certain types of

people and thus reflect different values or traits. Researched have
classified products and their associated attributes into three major categories: search goods, experience
goods and credence goods. There is difficulty in assessing and interpreting product attributes and benefits
so with experience and credence goods, brands may be particularly important signals of quality. Brands
can reduce the risk in product decisions. These risks involve functional, physical, financial, social
psychological and time risk.

From manufacturer’s point of view:

 Means of identification to simplify handling

 Means of legally protecting unique features
 Signal of quality level to satisfied customers
 Means of endowing products with unique associations
 Source of competitive advantage
 Source of financial returns

Brands help manufacturers to organize inventory and accounting records. A brand also offers the firm
legal protection for unique features of the product. A brand can retain intellectual property rights, giving
legal title to the brand owner. Brands can signal a certain level of quality so that satisfied buyers can
easily choose the product again. This brand loyalty provides predictability and security of demand for the
firm and creates barriers of entry that make it difficult for other firms to enter the market.

The annual list of the world’s most valuable brands, published byInterbrand and Business Week, indicates
that the market value of companies often consists largely of brand equity. Research by McKinsey &
Company, a global consulting firm, in 2000 suggested that strong, well-leveraged brands produce higher
returns to shareholders than weaker, narrower brands. Taken together, this means that brands seriously
impact shareholder value, which ultimately makes branding a CEO responsibility

Companies sometimes want to reduce the number of brands that they market. This process is known as
"Brand rationalization." Some companies tend to create more brands and product variations within a
brand than economies of scale would indicate. Sometimes, they will create a specific service or product
brand for each market that they target. In the case of product branding, this may be to gain retail shelf
space (and reduce the amount of shelf space allocated to competing brands). A company may decide to
rationalize their portfolio of brands from time to time to gain production and marketing efficiency, or to
rationalize a brand portfolio as part of corporate restructuring.

Five B’s from the Customer Perspective:

1.Basic: There are some basic things which are required by customers.
2.Background: Customers have background when they are going to

purchase.
3.Beaut y: Packaging should be such that attract customers.
4.Belief: Customer should be belief on the brand.
5.Benefit: Customers purchase those things which give them benefit.

Five B’s from Brand Manager Perspective:

1.Brave: He should be bold in respect of taking initiatives.

2.Brilliant: He should be adept in designing better brand strategies.
3.Backing: Company should support him in sensitive situations.

4.Bridge: He is a person that creates a link between customers and

company and works as a bridge.
5.Beneficial: He should provide benefit to his company in which he is
working
Overview of Marketing Communication Options
Marketing communication options includes the following:

 Media advertising

 Direct response advertising

 Online advertising

 Place advertising

 Point of purchase advertising

 Consumer promotions

 Event marketing and sponsorship

 Publicity and public relations

 Personal selling

Media Advertising

Advertising is any paid form of non personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an
identified sponsor. Media advertising includes TV, radio, newspaper and magazines. From brand equity
perspective television advertising demonstrate product attributes and consumer benefits. There are some
benefits and drawbacks of TV, radio, newspaper and magazines which are as under:

Medium Advantages Disadvantages

Television Mass coverage, High reach, High Low selectivity, Short

Prestige, and attention getting message life, High

absolute cost and clutter

________________________________________________________________________________
Direct Response Advertising

Direct response advertising establish relationship with consumers and it helps to explain to consumers
new developments with their brands as well as allow consumers to provide feedback to marketers as to
their likes and dislikes. Direct marketing is often seeing as a key component of relationship marketing.
To implement an effective direct marketing program, three critical ingredients are (1) developing an up-
to-date and informative list of current and potential future customers, (2) putting forth the right offer in
the right manner, and (3) tracking the effectiveness of the marketing program. Database marketing helps
firms to retain existing customers than to attract new ones. Direct response advertising includes, mail,
telephone, broadcast media, print media, computer related and media related.

Online Advertising

Marketers can also promote their products through online advertising by developing their own websites.
Websites are low cost and contain much information about products. It should be family friendly.
Websites must be updated frequently and offer as much customized information as possible, especially
for existing customers.

Place Advertising

Place advertising also called out of home advertising that captures advertising outside traditional media.
Place advertising includes, billboards and posters, product placement and movies, airlines. Billboards are
very effective means for advertising. It is showing up everywhere. Many marketers pay fee for their
product placement in television programs. Product place can be combined with special promotions to
publicize a brand’s entertainment tie-ins.

Point of Purchase Advertising

In-store advertising includes ads on shopping carts, cart straps, aisles, or shelves, as well as promotion
options such as in-store demonstrations, live sampling and instant coupon machines.

Consumer Promotions
Consumer promotions are designed to change the choices, quantity and
consumers’ product purchases. Consumer promotion includes samples, coupons, premiums, refunds and
rebates, contests and sweepstakes, bonus packs and price-offs. Sampling is seen as a means of creating
strong relevant brand associations

Event Marketing and Sponsorship

Event marketing refers to public sponsorship of events. Event sponsorship provides a different kind of
communication option for marketers. Marketers report a number of reasons whey they sponsor events

•
To identify with a particular target market
•
To increase awareness of the company
•
To create consumer perceptions of key brand image associations
•
To enhance corporate image dimensions
•
To create experiences and evoke feelings
•
To express commitment to the community
•
To entertain key clients
•
To permit merchandising opportunities

Public Relations and Publicity

Public relations and publicity relate to a variety of programs and are designed to promote a company‘s
image and its products. Publicity refers to non-personal communications such as press releases, media
interviews, press conferences, feature articles, newsletters, photographs, films and tapes. Public relations
may also involve such things as annual reports, fund-raising and membership drives, lobbying, special
event management, and public affairs.

Brands live in the minds of consumers and offer instant recognition and identification .However, a brand
is much more than just a tag for recognition and identification. Beside the physical product, a brand also
has perpetual components which impart an invisible halo to it. A brand’s perpetual components are
intangible associations and very strongly differentiate the brand in consumer’s perceptions. Brands are
the basis of consumer relationship and bring consumers and marketers closer by developing a bond
between them. In other words, brands serve as the connecting links between marketers and the
consumers. The promise of a brand is consistent with reliable quality, service and overall psychological
satisfaction. All this adds value to the product not only to for the customers but also for the
manufacturer. Brands are the real wealth generators of the 21st century and determine the market
value of the business entities.

Brands are built on clear differentiation of attributes, images, associations, meanings, and deliver value
competitively. When consumers see a familiar brand on the shelf, which has earned their loyalty, they
instantly understand the brand’s promise and feel confident about its quality.

The ultimate goal of advertising a brand is to build greater “brand equity”, which refers to the value
inherent in a well known brand name. When a brand really has strong equity, it is a powerful
competitive advantage. It can be sold or brought for a price that might be thought to be totally
disproportionate to the book value of the brand. Equity is, in fact, the driver of a company’s bottom line
and must be protected and nurtured .All attempts by marketers to improve product quality and service
to consumers are steps aimed at increasing consumer satisfaction and are just the tools to create a loyal
consumer base.

Different brands vary in their power and value that they enjoy in the market place.Some brands is
largely unknown to consumers while others have a very high level of awareness in terms of brand
recognition or recall. Some of them are quite acceptable to consumers and others are highly preferred
from among the acceptable ones. And finally, there are those brands that command a high degree of
brand loyalty among consumers. The consumer would go elsewhere to buy that brand. For example, it is
claimed that an Apple computer user is fiercely loyal and would never settle for another brand.
High brand equity gives a company highly desired competitive advantages. The company’s marketing
costs are lower because of high consumer awareness and brand loyalty. Consumers expect the retailers
to carry the brand and give much leverage with channel members. High level brand awareness and
loyalty offers some insulation against increasing competition in the market-place .It is interesting to note
that many brands that were leaders 70 years ago are still the leaders.

“Brand” provides value to customers by enhancing interpretation or processing of information,

confidence in the purchase decision and user satisfaction. A brand is what testifies a product line and
makes it the darling for the consumers.
MISSION: What are the Advertising objectives?

MONEY: How much can be spent? (Advertising budget)

MESSAGE: What message should be sent?

MEDIA: What media should be used?

MEASUREMENT: How should the results be evaluated?

After the Target Market, market positioning and marketing mix decisions have been taken the
First step n developing an Advertising Program is

1. MISSION OR SETTING THE ADVERTISING OBJECTIVES

Advertising Objectives can be classified as to whether their aim is:

To inform: This aim of Advertising is generally true during the pioneering stage of a product
category, where the objective is building a primary demand.

This may include:

 Telling the market about a new product

 Suggesting new uses for a product
 Informing the market of a price change
 Informing how the product works
 Describing available services
 Correcting false impressions
 Reducing buyers’ fears
 Building a company image

To persuade: Most advertisements are made with the aim of persuasion. Such advertisements
aim at building selective brand.

To remind: Such advertisements are highly effective in the maturity stage of the product. The
aim is to keep the consumer thinking about the product.

2. MONEY

This M deals with deciding on the Advertising Budget

The advertising budget can be allocated based on:

 Departments or product groups

 The calendar
 Media used
 Specific geographic market areas

There are five specific factors to be considered when setting the Advertising budget.

 Stage in PLC: New products typically receive large advertising budgets to build
awareness and to gain consumer trial.  Established brands are usually supported with
lower advertising budgets as a ratio to sales.
  Market Share and Consumer base: high-market-share brands usually require less
advertising expenditure as a percentage of sales to maintain their share.  To build share
by increasing market size requires larger advertising expenditures.  Additionally, on a
cost-per-impressions basis, it is less expensive to reach consumers of a widely used brand
them to reach consumers of low-share brands.
 Competition and clutter: In a market with a large number of competitors and high
advertising spending, a brand must advertise more heavily to be heard above the noise in
the market.  Even simple clutter from advertisements not directly competitive to the
brand creates the need for heavier advertising.
 Advertising frequency: the number of repetitions needed to put across the brands
message to consumers has an important impact on the advertising budget.
 Product substitutability: brands in the commodity class (example cigarettes, beer, soft
drinks) require heavy advertising to establish a different image.  Advertising is also
important when a brand can offer unique physical benefits or features.

3. MESSAGE GENERATION

Message generation can be done in the following ways:

Inductive: By talking to consumers, dealers, experts and competitors. Consumers are the major
source of good ideas. Their feeling about the product, its strengths, and weaknesses gives enough
information that could aid the Message generation process.

Deductive: John C. Meloney proposed a framework for generating Advertising Messages.

According to him, a buyer expects four types of rewards from a product:

§  Rational

§  Sensory

§  Social

§  Ego Satisfaction.

Buyers might visualize these rewards from:

§  Results-of-use Experience

§  Product-in-use Experience

§  Incidental-to-use Experience

The Matrix formed by the intersection of these four types of rewards and the three types of
experiences is given below.
 Potential Type of Reward (Sample Messages)
Rational Sensory Social Ego Satisfaction
Result-of-Use 1. Gets Clothes 2. Settles Stomach 3. When you care 4. For the skin you
Experience Cleaner upset completely enough to serve the deserve to have
best
Product-in-Use 5. The flour that 6. Real gusto in a 7. A deodorant to 8. The store for young
Experience needs no sifting great light beer guarantee social executive
acceptance
Incidental-to- 9. The plastic 10. The portable 11. The furniture 12. Stereo for the man
Use Experience pack keeps the television that identifies the with discriminating
cigarette fresh that’s lighter home of modern taste
in weight, easier people
to lift

Message evaluation and selection

The advertiser needs to evalÂuate the alternative messages. A good ad normally focuses on one
core selling proposition.

Messages can be rated on desirability, exclusiveness and believability. The message must first
say something desirable or interesting about the product.

The message must also say something exclusive or distinct that does not apply to every brand in
the product category. Above all, the message must be believable or provable.

Message execution.

The message’s impact depends not only upon what is said but also on how it is said. Some
ads aim for rational positioning and others for emotional positioning.

While executing a message the style, tone, words, and format for executing the message should
be kept in mind.

Style. Any message can be presented in any of the following different execution styles, or a
combination of them:

 Slice of life: Shows one or more persons using the product in a normal setting.
Example: Coke 1litre ad, showed a family enjoying Coke, with a game of antakshari
when there is a power failure.

 Lifestyle: Emphasizes how a product fits in with a lifestyle.

Example: Collection, Asmi and Platinum ads, that focus on lifestyle of persons using their
products.
  Fantasy: Creates a fantasy around the product or its use.

Example: VIP Frenchie ads, showing a woman thinking of the Frenchie man saving her from a
villain.

 Mood or image: Evokes a mood or image around the product, such as beauty, love, or
serenity. No claim is made about the product except through suggestion.

Example: Kingfisher Beer ads, saying the King of Good Times.

 Musical: Uses background music or shows one or more persons or cartoon characters
singing a song involving the product.

Example: Ads of Old Spice After Shave Lotion

 Personality symbol: Creates a character that personifies the product. The character might
be animated

Example: Ronald McDonald for McDonald’s

 Technical expertise: Shows the company’s expertise, experience, and pride in

making the product.

Example: GE and Skoda ads

 Scientific evidence: Presents survey or scientific evidence that the brand is preferred over
or outperforms other brands. This style is common in the over-the-counter drug category.

Example: DuraCell Ads, claiming the battery lasts 6 times longer than ordinary batteries

 Testimonial evidence: This features a highly credible, likable, or expert source endorsing
the product. It could be a celebrity or ordinary people saying how much they like the
product.

Example: In ads for Sunsilk, they had hair expert Coleen, endorsing the product.

Tone:

The communicator must also choose an appropriate tone for the ad.

Example: Procter & Gamble is consistently positive in its tone—its ads say something
superlatively positive about the product, and humor is almost always avoided so as not to take
mention away from the message. Other companies use emotions to set the tone particularly film,
telephone, and insurance companies, which stress human connections and milestones.
Words: Memorable and attention-getting words must be found. The following themes listed on
the left would have had much less impact without the creative phrasing on the right:

Theme Creative Copy

You won’t have to stay at home because of Get Out, Get Going
bad hair

FORMAT:

Format elements such as ad size, color, and illustration will make a difference in an ad’s
impact as well as its cost. A minor rearrangement of mechanical elements within the ad can
improve its attention-getting power. Larger-size ads gain more attention, though not necessarily
by as much as their difference in cost. Four-colour illustrations instead of black and white
increase ad effectiveness and ad cost. By planning the relative dominance of different elements
of the ad, optimal delivery can be achieved.

4. MEDIA

The next ‘M’ to be considered while making an Advertisement Program is the Media
through which to communicate the Message generated during the previous stage. The steps to be
considered are:

5. MEASUREMENT

Evaluating the effectiveness of the Advertisement Program is very important as it helps prevent
further wastage of money and helps make corrections that are important for further
advertisement campaigns. Researching the effectiveness of the advertisement is the most used
method of evaluating the effectiveness of the Advertisement Program. Research can be in the
form of:
  Communication-Effect Research
 Sales-Effect Research

There are two ways of measuring advertising effectives. They are:

Pre-testing

It is the assessment of an advertisement for its effectiveness before it is actually used. It is done
through

 Concept testing – how well the concept of the advertisement is. This is be done by
taking expert opinion on the concept of the ad.

 Test commercials – test trial of the advertisement to the sample of people

 Finished testing

Post-testing

It is the assessment of an advertisement’s effectiveness after it has been used. It is done in

two ways

 Unaided recall – a research technique that asks how much of an ad a person remembers
during a specific period of time
 Aided recall – a research technique that uses clues to prompt answers from people about
ads they might have seen

Case Study :

Sundrop

Mission:

Sales goals: Leadership in the edible refined oil segment

Advertising Goals:

Communication task

1. Position Sundrop as the healthy oil for healthy people

2. Ensure that this did not erode the delivery of the taste benefit.

 Positioning had to be perceptually as far away from Saffola.

 Young, modern and premium feel
 Execution had to be distinct and original to stand out from the clutter
Money:

 Stage in PLC: Introductory, therefore relatively large expenditure

 Market share: new product
 Competitors:
Saffola (Safflower oil) also used the health platform but was associated with heart
patients and less taste
Flora and Sunola (Sunflower oils)

Message:

Health was chosen as the platform, along with a supporting claim for taste. People who were
healthy and energetic were concerned about the long-term prospects of their health. Thus
‘Health’

 Was related to maintenance of good health

 Was applicable to all members of the family
 Was characterized by lively energetic people
 Thus the message and (positioning): ‘The Healthy Oil for Healthy People€™

Media:

Primary media: Television ad 30 seconds.

Print ad

Measurement:

 Within 6 months, Sundrop became the largest selling refined sunflower oil.
 Redefined the category and expanded the Sunflower oil segment from 2.71% to 23% in 6
months, and 42% in 1997
 Still the largest selling sunflower oil brand holds 15% of branded oil market.
 The ad was shown for over 10 years as the main theme film.