BRANDS

Give the proper word to the definition:

1. a name given to a product or a group of products by a company for
easy recognition
2. going on buying the same product
3. a design or way of writing its name that a company or organization uses
as its official sign on its products
4. involving a famous person to advertise a product
5. a group of people brought together to discuss their feelings and
opinions about a particular product
6. a buyer of a product
7. a process of testing a product
8. a result you want to achieve
9. the thing that makes a product different from all the others
10. the most expensive product in the range of the products

Read the text and fill the gaps with a phrase/ word form the box:

brand managers/ new categories/ create, maintain, project/ emotional attachment/ new
brands/ strong brands/ set of associations/ brand image/ image/ “buyer”/
reputation/established brands/ mindshare/ brand awareness/ brand equity/packaged
goods/ consumer marketing / enhance

As the marketing expert Philip Kotler has said, “The most distinctive skill of professional
marketers is their ability to (1) ______________ and (2) ______________brands.” But,
despite the best efforts of professional marketers, the list of top brands of today is not
different from that of 30 or 40 years ago: Coca-Cola, IBM, Ford and Hoover are still there.
Consumers tend to form (3) ______________ to foods and household goods they grow up
with. These brands gain (4) ______________ in consumers at an early age and (5)
______________ find it hard to compete with the (6) ______________.

One area where new brands can appear is in (7) ______________. For example, the
names Dell and Easyjet have emerged as extremely (8) ______________ in built-to-order
PCs and low cost airlines respectively, industries that have not existed for very long.

We tend to think of brands in relation to (10) ______________ and (11) ______________,

and consumer goods companies will often employ (12) ______________ to develop their
brands. But the use of brands and branding is also important in industrial or B2B marketing,
where companies are selling to other companies, rather than to consumers. As one of the
marketing experts said: “A brand is a (13) ______________ in the mind of the consumer.”

In B2B marketing, substitute (14) ______________ for “consumer”, and there will be similar
issues of (15) ______________, (16) ______________ and (17) ______________: the
value to a company of the brands that it owns. In B2B, the company name itself is often the
most important brand.
A company’s (18) ______________ and (19) ______________ will clearly be the key to its
success,

Do you have your favourite national / international brands? How would

you characterize them? What is special about them?

The following phrases could be helpful:

● value for money
● top of the range
● luxurious
● timeless
● reliable
● inexpensive
● cool
● sexy
● durable
● stylish
● fashionable
● well-made

What is more important:

1. brand loyalty or brand awareness?
2. brand name or brand image?
3. brand stretching or creating a subsidiary?
4. a lifecycle or a range?
5. endorsement or placement?

Look through the list of Top 12 companies by market value (as on Jan
2022), presented by Forbes Global:

__ Amazon
__ Microsoft
__ JP Morgan Chase
__ Alphabet
__ Agricultural Bank Of China
__ Apple
__ Toyota Motor
__ Berkshire Hathaway
__ Saudi Arabian Oil Company
__ ICBC (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China)
__ China Construction Bank
__ Bank of America

Try to put them in the correct order.

“Made in Europe?”
Almost every fashion label outside the top super-luxury brands is either
already manufacturing in Asia or thinking of it. Coach, the US leather goods
maker is a good example. Over the five years, it lifted all its gross margins by
manufacturing solely in low-cost markets. In March 2002 it closed its factory in
Lares, Puerto Rico, its last company-owned plant and outsourced all its
products.
Burberry had many Asian licensing arrangements. In 2000 it decided to renew
Sanyo’s Japanese license for ten years. This meant that almost half of
Burberry’s sales at retail value will continue to be produced under license in
Asia. At the same time however, Japanese consumers prefer the group’s
European-made products.
Sanyo is now reacting to this demand for a snob alternative to the Burberry
products made in its factories across Asia by Toko’s Ginza, where it sells
Burberry products imported from Europe.
But a lot of experts say that the top luxury brands continue to be seen as
European.
Even those who say they will not move production offshore should see that
the changes are round the corner.

From the Financial Times

1. What is the tendency?
2. What are the basic reasons?
3. Why do Japanese consumers prefer to buy products made in Europe?
4. Should luxury-brand products always be produced in Europe?