UNIT 4

BRANDING STRATEGIES

BRANDING STRATEGY

• Branding strategy is critical because it is the means by which the firm can help consumers understand its products and services and organize them in theirminds.

• Two important strategic tools: The brand- product matrix and the brand hierarchy help to characterize and formulate branding strategies by defining various relationships among brands and products.

BRANDING STRATEGY OR BRAND

ARCHITECTURE

• The branding strategy for a firm reflects the

number and nature of common ordistinctive

brand elements applied to the different

products sold by the firm.

– Which brand elements can be applied to which

products and the nature ofnew and existing brand

elements to be applied tonew products

THE ROLE OF BRAND ARCHITECTURE

• Clarify: brand awareness

– Improve consumer understanding and

communicate similarity and differencesbetween

individual products

• Motivate: brand image

– Maximize transfer of equity to/from the brand to

individual products to improve trial and repeat

purchase

DEVELOPING BRANDARCHITECTURE

STRATEGY

3 Steps or Requirements

1.Defining the Potential of the brand in terms of

its “market footprint”

2.Identifying the Product and ServiceExtensions

that will allow the brand achieve that potential

3.Specifying the brand elements and positioning

associated with the specific products andservices

for the brand

1. DEVELOPING BRAND ARCHITECTURE

STRATEGY : DEFINING THE BRANDPOTENTIAL

• 1. Brand Vision: Management’s view of the brand’s long term

potential. It relates to the brand’s “higher order purpose”

e.g. eliciting joy, enabling connections, evoking pride,inspiring exploration

etc.

Crayola : Known for crayons. Now Crayola Chalk, CrayolaGlitter Glue, Crayola

Scissors hence Brand Meaning of “Colourful Arts and crafts for kids”

Brand Essenceis to find “What if “ in eachchild”

“ We believe in unleashing, nurturing and celebrating the colourful originality in

every child. We give kids an invitation that ignites, colours that inspire, and

tools that transform original thoughts into visible form. We give colourful

wings to the invisible that grow in the hearts of children. Becausewe believe

that creatively alive kids grow into inspiredadults.”

DEVELOPING BRAND ARCHITECTURE

STRATEGY : DEFINING THE BRANDPOTENTIAL

2.Defining Brand Boundaries: Identifying the

products or services the brand should offer,it

should supply and the needs it should satisfy

based on its brand vision andpositioning.

3.Crafting the Brand Positioning: The unique

and valuable place the brand seeks to occupyin

the minds and hearts of consumers relative to

its competitors.

2. IDENTIFYING BRAND EXTENSION

OPPORTUNITIES

Identify new products and services toachieve

that potential through a well-designed and

implemented brand extensionstrategy.

Line Extension : New product introductions

within existing category e.g. Close UpWhite

Category Extensions: New product

introductions outside existing categoriesetc.

Sunlight Dishwash, Dove Deodorant

3. DEVELOPING BRAND ARCHITECTURE STRATEGY:

BRANDING NEW PRODUCTS ANDSERVICES

Branding New Products andServices

•This involves deciding the specific brand

elements to use for any particularnew product

or service associated with thebrand.

•New products and services must be branded in

a way to maximize the brand’s overall clarity

and understanding to consumers andcustomers

BRAND-PRODUCTMATRIX

•Must define:

– Brand-Product relationships (rows)

• Line and category extensions

– Product-Brand relationships (columns)

• Brand portfolio

A

B

C

Products

1 2 3 4

Brands

IMPORTANT

DEFINITIONS

• Product line

– A group pf products within a productcategory

that are closely related

• Product mix (product assortment)

– The set of all product lines and items that a

particular seller makes available to buyers

• Brand mix (brand assortment)

– The set of all brand lines that a particularseller

makes available to buyers

BREADTH OF A BRANDING

STRATEGY

• Breadth of productmix

– Aggregate market factors

– Category factors

– Environmental factors

• Depth of productmix

– Examining the percentage of sales andprofits contributed by each item in the product line

– Deciding to increase the length of the product line by adding new variants or items typically expands market coverage and therefore market share but also increases costs

DEPTH OF A BRANDING

STRATEGY

• The number and nature of different brands

marketed in the product class sold by afirm

• Referred to as brandportfolio

• The reason is to pursue different market

segments, different channels of distribution,

or different geographicboundaries

• Maximize market coverage andminimize

brand overlap

DESIGNING A BRANDPORTFOLIO

• Basic principles:

– Maximize market coverage so that nopotential

customers are being ignored

– Minimize brand overlap so that brands aren’t

competing among themselves to gain thesame

customer’s approval

BRAND ROLES IN THE

PORTFOLIO

• Flankers

• Cashcows

• Low-end entry-level

• High-end prestige brands

BRANDHIERARCHY

• A means of summarizing the brandingstrategy

by displaying the number and nature of

common and distinctive brand elements

across the firm’s products, revealing the

explicit ordering of brandelements

• A useful means of graphically portraying a

firm’s branding strategy

BRAND HIERARCHY TREE:TOYOTA

Toyota

Corporation

Toyota

(Trucks)

Toyota

(SUV/vans)LexusToyota

Financial

Services

Toyota

(Cars)

Corolla PriusCelica ECHO MatrixMR2

SpyderCamry

CE

S

LE

SE

LE

XLE

Avalon

Platinum

Edition

XL

XLSSE

SLE

BRAND HIERARCHYLEVELS

Family Brand (Buick)

Corporate Brand (General Motors)

Modifier: Item or Model (Ultra)

Individual Brand (Park Avenue)

CORPORATE BRAND

EQUITY

• Occurs when relevant constituents hold

strong, favorable, and uniqueassociations

about the corporate brand inmemory

• Encompasses a much wider range of

associations than a product brand

UMBRELLA OR FAMILY OR RANGE

BRANDS

• Brands applied across a range of product

categories e.g. Sunlight, Dove,Nivea

• An efficient means to link common

associations tomultiple but distinct products

INDIVIDUALBRANDS

• Restricted to essentially one productcategory

• There may be multiple product typesoffered

on the basis of different models, package

sizes, flavors, etc.

MODIFIERS

• Signals refinements or differences in the

brand related to factors such as quality levels,

attributes, functions, etc.

• Plays an important organizing role in

communicating how different productswithin

a category that share the same brand name

are. E.g. Johnnie Walker Red Label, Black

Label, Gold Label Scotch whiskey, Wrigley’s

Spearmint, Doublemint, Juicy Fruit etc.

CORPORATE IMAGEDIMENSIONS

•

•

•

•

Corporate product attributes, benefits orattitudes– Quality

– Innovativeness

People and relationships– Customer orientation

Values and programs– Concern with the environment

– Social responsibility

Corporate credibility– Expertise

– Trustworthiness

– Likability

BRAND HIERARCHY

DECISIONS

• The number of levels of the hierarchy to use

in general

• How brand elements from different levels of

the hierarchy are combined, if at all, for any

one particular product

• How any one brand element is linked, ifat all,

to multiple products

• Desired brand awareness and image at each

level

NUMBER OF HIERARCHY

LEVELS

• Principle of simplicity

– Employ as few levels aspossible

• Principle of clarity

– Logic and relationship of all brandelements employed must be obvious andtransparent

LEVELS OF AWARENESS AND

ASSOCIATIONS

• Principle of relevance

– Create global associations that are relevantacross as many individual items aspossible

• Principle of differentiation

– Differentiate individual items andbrands

Brand Strategies

Aaker’s Brand Equity Model

Aaker’s Brand Equity Model

Brand Equity Framework

BrandEquity

BrandAttributes &Brand

AwarenessBrandLoyalty

PerceivedQualityAssociations

BrandRecall

BrandRecognition

Uniqueness Favorability Relevance

Brand Equity Framework

Brand Associations: Uniqueness

USP Unique Selling

Product-related

Image Related

Proposition

Points of Difference - How brand is unique

Points of Parity - How brand is similar to others

Brand Value Chain Model

Customer

Mind-setMarketing

Activity

Market

PerformanceShareholder

Value

CUSTOMER-BASED BRAND EQUITY PYRAMID

RESONANCE

JUDGMENTS

PERFORMANCE IMAGERY

SALIENCE1. IDENTITY =

Who are you?

2. MEANING =

What are you?

3. RESPONSE =

What about you?

PERFOR

FEELIN

IMA

4. RELATIONSHIPS =

What about you & me?

Customer-Based Brand Equity Model

Consumer-Brand

Resonance

ConsumerJudgments Feeling

Brand Brand

Imagery

Brand Salience

DEEP, BROAD

BRAND

AWARENESS

POINTS-OF-

PARITY &

POINTS-OF-

DIFFERENCE

RATIONAL &

EMOTIONAL

REACTIONS

C

Bran

Perfo

onsumer

rmance

Consu

Feelings

INTENSE, ACTIVE

LOYALTY

Customer-Based BrandPyramid

Equity

Brand Salience - How brand standsrest (Prominence)

out from the

Brand Performance - How product meetscustomers’ functional needs

Brand Imagery - Strong, Unique Associations How

brand meets psychological or social needs Brand

Judgments - Personal opinions & evaluationsof brand

Brand Feelings - Emotional responses to brand

Brand Resonance - Intense loyalty, Activeinvolvement with brand

Thank You