Tag: Cost Control and Management Accounting Osmania University b.com Notes

Brand strategy is a plan that encompasses specific, long-term goals that can be achieved with the evolution of a successful brand the combined components of your company’s character that make it identifiable.

Brand awareness can be distinguished in terms of two key dimensions depth and breadth. Depth of brand awareness refers to how easily customers can recall or recognize the brand. Breadth of brand awareness refers to the range of purchase and consumption situations where the brand comes to mind. A highly salient brand is one that has both depth and breadth of brand awareness, i.e., such that customers always make sufficient purchases as well as always think of the brand across a variety of settings when it could possibly be employed or consumed.

eds satisfied by the brand contributes to brand equity and helps combat brand parity. The normative model of brand image management suggests that marketers should base their images on a single set of consumer needs (depth strategy), rather than multiple sets of needs (breadth strategy).

Breadth of a Branding Strategy

Being broad in scope. Carrying items in many different product categories. Offering several different types of service under one roof.

This means that you try to offer everything a customer might want, even if it’s only remotely related to your product or service offering. If you are a remodeling company you might do everything from adding a closet, to trimming out some cabinetry, to building a patio, up to a complete kitchen remodel.

A well-defined and executed brand strategy affects all aspects of a business and is directly connected to consumer needs, emotions, and competitive environments.

Depth of a Branding Strategy

Being intense in scope by immersing your business into an industry or product category. Stocking a focused product mix, a specialized service offering.

One example is a landscaping company that does only irrigation systems, or only commercial work. The key word being only.

That word only is a sticking point. Businesses would rather use the term: and more. “Family law, real estate law, injury claims and more.” Which makes a business wide rather than deep? The problem with breadth is that it costs more to be wide. You have to carry more stuff or offer more services, increasing your operating expenses. Breadth also requires lower prices to move your inventory or to win business against a wider field of competitors.

Strategic brand management’s goal is to develop strong consumer based brand equity. To reach these goal companies have to design and execute well thought marketing programs. However, task does not end at executing marketing programs, companies to have to construct brand equity measurement system to understand the impact of on consumer mind. One thing to understand and accept is that consumer is the king, so focus should always remain towards consumer. If the brand has positive consumer brand equity than it is going to create loyal customer base that is going to respond to marketing initiatives. However, if the brand has negative brand equity than the future of brand and company itself is in danger.

The power of brand equity comes from strength of brand knowledge within consumer mind. Brand knowledge consists of brand awareness and brand image. Brand awareness is the consumer’s ability to be recognized or recall the brand under various circumstances. Brand awareness is about creating deep attachment so that brand can instantly recognize and where-in consumer only thinks of the brand as a consumption option. Brand image is physical elements like logos, symbol, packaging, etc. and besides product itself in terms of quality, service, low maintenance, etc. These types of physical and product related association contributes towards a strong brand image.

Brand knowledge alone cannot be enough to build consumer based brand equity rather other attributes associate play a critical role. Marketing programs developed has to clearly highlight qualities of product in a consistent manner throughout marketing programs. Furthermore, marketing programs should highlight product related and non-product related features as to create impact in consumer mind. Marketing programs developed should not just focus on the differential effect by highlighting a point of difference from competitors but also show points of similarity that has to maintain focus on the product category.

In current times every company is wanting to be a global player, some companies this out of compulsion, for some its natural extension, whatever the case companies need to have marketing programs, which can create and sustain brand equity across geographical boundaries and market segments. However, before studying the global view for marketing strategies, it is important to understand regional market segments, profile, etc.

An interesting phenomenon has raised its head in recent time where companies are focusing on regional markets in an effort to counter globalization. In this regionalization, companies focus on geographic locations treating them as market segments. For example, Pepsi has created four regions within USA to focus on individual market segment and designing a marketing program. The reason why companies are employing a regional approach is that mass markets have to cease to exist, as diversity in form of culture; demographics, etc. are in the forefront. A typical large US city has Asian, Hispanic and African American population, there are by creating a need for marketing programs, which can make products and services reachable to this audience.

The world is becoming flat just no in terms of communication power but also in terms of migration and movement of labour across the globe. Globalization is here to stay and every company is in the fray to take advantage of this phenomenon. There could many reasons for which companies may decide to be a global player. Bigger markets like China and India provide unending opportunities not only as a market but also as production hubs there by reducing overall cost for to be global players. Furthermore, by catering to different markets, companies can reduce the risk as a result of diversification.

It is clear there are many reasons for becoming global player, but there are outright advantages also for global marketing programs. Looking at the production side, as production increases per unit cost of the product will decrease, thereby reducing cost of the marketing program. As standardization increases in packaging, distribution and other marketing activities cost associated with them would decrease. For example, Sony its marketing campaign has universal appeal thereby assigning equal cost to products and geographies. Another advantage is that with global presence and acceptance confidence with consumer reaches altogether a different level. It creates a sense of pride and ownership looking at the universal demand for the product. With the uniform marketing program across geographical boundaries, companies can have consistent brand knowledge, this is especially important for mobile consumers. Furthermore, another advantage for companies is the ability to sell a good product universally at one go, thereby gaining a complete first mover advantage.

But with advantages in operating on a global there are also challenges and disadvantages. With standardization companies are unable to satisfy needs of consumer, which comes with different culture, demographics, etc., For example, consumption of carbonated drinks and beer is much more in USA, Australia in comparison to that of India and China. As perception and needs vary from culture to culture, consumer response to a standard marketing program may not equally have felt as per company acceptation. Every product undergoes a life cycle which begins from the day it is launch in the market, so every geographical location may be having different product life cycle stage, so marketing programs also accordingly have to vary. Other challenge companies face is that of environmental like social, political and regulatory.

Therefore, a brand to succeed across geographical boundaries companies need to device marketing programs, which can create global consumer based brand equity. And for that marketing programs have to highlight point of differences and point of similarities across boundaries. Furthermore, companies should understand brand building is tedious and time consuming. Brand name, logos, symbol has to be designed in a way that it properly communicates brand knowledge and not creates confusion in consumer’s mind. And at the same time construct and execute a global brand equity measurement system so that focus always remains of develop a strong consumer based brand equity.

Brand extensions are one of the most popular strategies for leveraging brand equity. By launching new products under popular brand names, firms hope that consumers will respond more favorably to the new offering, due to their familiarity with the parent brand, positive feelings toward the parent brand, and positive attribute and non-attribute associations they have with the parent brand.

A brand is the identity of a specific product, service, or business. Brand extension denotes to the corporate activity in which companies bring in new products, new product variants or product improvements by leveraging the brand equity of the existing parent brand.

It is believed that compared to launching a new product under a new brand name, brand extensions can increase the efficiency of promotional efforts, improve access to distribution channels, and reduce consumers’ perceived risk of purchasing a product or service (Keller, 2002). Another major factor for which Companies prefer to use brand extension is lower cost. Introducing a new brand into consumer market can be relatively much higher than introducing new product or product variants under the same brand name. This cost can range above millions of rupees and can not guarantee of any success. So instead of launching entirely a new product, most companies prefer brand extension. Successful examples such as Diet Pepsi and Diet Coke benefited from the brand franchise of their parent products. Coca-Cola introduced six extensions and captured a larger market share than the original brand. For example, Coke’s extension, Cherry Coke, was successful even without considerable advertisement.

Firms use brand extensions to influence consumers’ brand choices. Brand extension is a part of the marketing strategy to break the entry barriers between product categories through the carryover of a brand’s reputation.

The other benefits of brand extension are:

• In the opinion of Sengupta, a successful brand is like a powerhouse which contains enough energy to illuminate distant territories. This accumulation of the consumer-pulling power can be used beyond the boundaries of the brand’s traditional market.
• The acquaintance of the consumers with a brand increases the chances of accepting a new product by them, under the same brand name. Thus, brand extension reduces the risk associated with launching a product under new brand in the market. In fact the brand equity of an established brand makes the introduction of a new entry inexpensive.
• According to Moorthi; customers use established brands as quality cues i.e. they use brand name as an indirect measure of quality.
• The benefit of “Spillover of advertising” works for those products which are affiliated with the brand. In case of brand extension where a new product launched under same the same brand gets benefit of the advertising done for a product already existing under that brand name. Thus, it can be said that brand extension need less advertising support in comparison with new brand launches.
• Brand extension increases the visibility of brand.
• In times of intense competition, to cover every niche, the best strategy available to companies is to go for brand extension.
• Brand extension is helpful in catering lower or premium market segment.
• When a company extends its brand name to another category, competitors react back; this creates a dynamic environment in market.
• Brand extension helps the parent brand also in many ways; first it brings clarity in brand meaning, second brand extension can contribute to the parent brand’s association by either adding or strengthening this association.
• A brand diversified in different categories performs better than mono product or mono-activity brands. While comparing between those brands which are focused and those which are diversified, Court et al (1999) reported in a study that focused brands like Dell and Levi’s earn only 0.9% higher than industry average while diversified brands such as GE, Disney etc. earn 5% more than the industry average.
• A well-established brand has a well-defined brand image. The advantage of brand extension is that it instantly communicates the salient image of the brand.
• In addition to brand associations, extension can convey quality associations.

Effect of Brand extension on Brand Equity

Brand extensions can affect the brand and its equity in one of the four different ways:

• Certain extensions destroy the brands equity.
• Certain brands exploit the brand capital.
• Certain extensions have a neutral effect.
• Certain brand extensions help develop and nurture the meaning of the brand.

Customer based brand equity is created when brand knowledge comprising of brand awareness and brand image are at highest level in customer mind. Brand awareness level is raised in customer by first understanding consumer taste, preference and present level of awareness. This analysis leads to designing of marketing programs and outcomes of those programs are also recorded. Designing of marketing programs is a complex process as it may have to encompass wide range of product and brands. Purpose of all marketing program is to maximize brand equity and also to capture or create long lasting impression in consumer mind.

Branding strategies deal with creating brand names, logos, style etc. for it to be distinguished from competitors and also whether product brand should be separate from corporate brand or a separate brand away from other individual brands. Implication of branding strategies is that it creates brand awareness for consumer to ascertain point of difference and point of similarity with competitors. Second implication is brand image for association of brand equity from brand to product.

Brand-product matrix looks to explain brand portfolio and brand extension strategies. In the matrix all products offered under different brands are represented by a row. This helps marketers understand the current brand line and explore further opportunity in expanding the product line. In the matrix all current existing brand are represented in form of column referred to as brand portfolio. The brand portfolio analysis is essential to design and develop new marketing strategies to target a given product category.

Product line facilitates marketers to devise strategy with regards to future treatment for a given brand. This strategy focuses on decision, as to whether product line can be extended or new variants of existing product should be introduced. When taking brand extension decision companies needs to carry SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat) analysis to fully understand market conditions, current category structure and environmental (economic, social, political, regulatory) dynamics. This analysis will give companies product line and categories to follow active branding strategy.

Active branding strategy with respect to product line involves creating multiple brands; this provides depth to the branding process. For example- car maker General Motors, it created multiple brands to expand the product class category from SUV to sports car. This sort of strategy is also used by consumer goods giant P & G and Unilever. By creating individual brands companies can create different marketing strategies. This strategy ensures no market in given industry remains un-tapped.

Brand product matrix helps in showcasing different brand in any given product category. In that respect Brand Hierarchy is graphical representation of company’s products and its brands. Hierarchical structure starts with corporate brand and then showcases different product category and below brands. This sort of presentation helps devise marketing strategy at many levels and forms. There is no fix way to go about formulating marketing strategy but generally it can fit into 3 categories. First strategy gives more importance to corporate brand and less prominence to product brand. Second strategy sees importance been given to two or more product brands and some highlighting to the corporate brand. Third strategy looks at promoting only the product brand and there is no mention of corporate entity at all.

Another brand building strategy which has gain prominence in recent times is cause marketing or social responsibility marketing. In cause marketing company contributes some amount of revenue generate from product sales towards designated cause. For example- American Express started RED campaign along with U2 singer Bono where in 1 percent of card charges were dedicated to fight AIDS in Africa. This sort of marketing improves brand awareness as well as brand image and it can generate sense of pride not only for consumers but also for employees.

There are various ways through which a successful brand build strategy can be created, maintained and enhanced. But one things which comes out from exploring different strategies is that companies have to proactive in designing marketing campaign and react accordingly to challenges of dynamic environment.

Distinguishing Your Brand

The primary goal of marketing strategies is to distinguish the brand from other competitors. However, branding strategies also deal with deciding whether product brands and corporate brands should be separate or not. Furthermore, they design and devise names, logos, symbols, and other visual brand identifiers. The primary goal is achieved by pointing out not only differences but also similarities with other brands in the same product category and creating brand awareness.

Brand Portfolio and Brand Expansions

To explain your brand portfolio and make plans for potential brand expansions, you have to understand the dynamics between brand and product. This is called the brand-product matrix. This matrix represents all competitors from the same product category and creates an opportunity to not only understand the brand line but also expand the product line.

The brand portfolio represents all current competing brands for the same product category, and it gives an insight into developing future strategies.

The Product Line

How does the product line help marketers? The decision whether to extend the existing product line or to create new alternatives to the products the brand is already developing is up to the marketers.

When making this decision, marketers have to mind the SWOT. SWOT stands for Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat, and each of these elements should be thoroughly analysed. The analysis will provide the product line which will make deciding about future branding moves much easier. What’s more, the analysis of these elements will also help the marketers understand the dynamics of category structure, market conditions, and the environment.

The best approach to dominating the product line is creating multiple brands. Take famous automotive companies as an example. General Motors dominates the product category by manufacturing different product classes under different brand names. Creating different brands for different products in the same category allows you to implement various strategies. What’s more, it enables a narrower focus.

The Brand Product Matrix

With the help of the brand-product matrix, you can have an insight into the brand hierarchy of all brands and products within the same product category. This structure showcases corporate brands first, but it also gives an idea into lesser brands and different product categories. This kind of structural display allows marketers to create multi-level strategies.

Three Approaches to Designing a Marketing Strategy

While there is no single, perfect way to design an effective branding strategy. Typically, you can take one of following three approaches.

• The first approach is to prioritise corporate over product brands.
• The second approach is to keep the accent on one or more product brands while also highlighting the corporate brand.
• The third approach is to completely dismiss the corporate brand in favour of the product brand.

Social Marketing

Nowadays, another approach is steadily gaining popularity. That’s social marketing, otherwise known as cause marketing. It consists of associating the brand with a social cause.

Brands give portions of their earnings to designated causes. Social marketing does wonders for brand awareness and brand image because it creates a positive impression in the consumer’s mind, not only of the brand but the consumer as well. By consuming your product, the consumer feels proud because they are contributing to an important cause.

There is no definite recipe for designing, maintaining, and improving branding strategies. However, one thing is certain proactivity is the key. Analysing and discarding different approaches until you find the one that’s most effective is crucial. Furthermore, flexibility and adaptability to changes is also a significant factor.

The markets in which companies operate are highly dynamic in nature. There is constant evolution in products, introduction of new technology, government rules, regulatory framework, consumer taste and preference. Between all these companies have to devise marketing communication and branding programs, which look forward to maintaining consumer-based brand equity. For example, consumer promotion activity like providing 20% extra for the said product will not create the same response but may raise expectations of 20% during the normal purchase also. Companies have to balance brand management that they are able to understand the future preference of consumer. This calls for companies to be pro-active and thinking standing on their feet.

The rate of change in all three operating contexts of the brand-consumer, societal and market is increasing faster and we will need all our past learning to manage the future. If the rate of obsolescence of technology and change in our consumption processes is anything to go by, the comfort to sit back and manage change at a slow pace are past and an ever-evolving consumer is posing new challenges. Looking back over the past 50 years makes us realize that brands that have been consistent and held relevant meaning for their consumers have been few and in increasingly changing times the likelihood of many big brands does not seem too strong. The brand failures on the other hand are numerous and from that experience we will start to gain an understanding of how to manage brands over time.

One way of brand management over time is to strengthen brand equity by developing marketing programs, which express brand knowledge consistently as not to confuse the consumer. For example, Apple, their programs are developed to reinforce their commitment to offer world class full entertainment and communication devices, so introduction Iphone had ready acceptance from consumers. Market leader like coca-cola has constantly run marketing program even after been market leaders. However, this does not imply that same campaign is running repeatedly, rather coming up innovative strategies to reinforce brand knowledge.

Brand knowledge comes from brand attributes and brand association; if companies try to fiddle with these sources of brand equity consequences can be disastrous. In early 90s Intel microprocessor had a technical flaw but the company was not swift enough to rectify the problem, thereby damaging brand equity source of power and safety. Intel realized the importance source of brand equity and was quick in solving the problem by offering replacement. Another dilemma for companies is of choosing the right way to use the developed brand equity, normal course is to generate maximum price premium, but that should not be at cost of brand equity.

Innovation is one of the keys in managing brand and ensuring that brand remains ahead of the competition curve. If companies operating in entertainment category or matter of fact insurance do not innovate then value of their brand is lost as these categories are product driven. For example, Apple, without its innovation in the form of ipod mp3 player, apple would have found it difficult facing completion from Sony. If the company’s category is not a product driven marketing campaigns associated with brand image play an important role in sustaining the brand. For example, Pepsi, it is operating in highly competitive carbonated drinks’ category, over the years their marketing campaign is focused on their highlighting their brand position as a drink for young generation.

Every brand faces challenges as it moves in the product life cycle and at some point faces saturation. At this point, it is important to focus on expanding brand awareness that is looking for ways to generate more consumption by highlighting instance of consumption. For example, toothpaste revitalized consumption by highlighting advantages of twice daily usage. Another way to increase consumption is by highlighting diverse ways and occasion where brand can be consumed. This is more prevalent in food and beverages industry.

Along with brand awareness brand image also plays a pivotal role in revitalizing brand performance. This can be done by highlighting pointing of difference, which may have been lost in all other marketing campaigns. Another way to enhance the brand image is by adopting new brand elements like brand symbol, logos, etc., For example, Federal Express modify to FedEx as a move generating more interest in face of competition from UPS.

For companies to sustain a brand over long period of time, it is absolute essential that marketing program look at strategies around effective brand management. Effective brand management strategies constantly assess the consumer perceptions towards the brand and strive to attract her attention. Strategies have to be flexible as to maintain the pace with the dynamic environment. Only then it is possible have a successful brand.

Be Proactive

Customer’s expectations also change with time. What’s more, they change because of your actions. Let’s say you make a marketing move to add 20% more product during a specific promotional period. Do you expect a rise in affirmative customer action after the promotional period is over? Well, you might be disappointed. Your customers might change their expectations and come to expect 20% more product at any given moment instead. That’s why your marketing efforts have to be proactive.

Brands are one of the most important assets for any organization. Brands tend to stay with the organization, longer than products and steer the company to evolve with changing time keeping the promise intact.

The Brand Reinforcement majorly focuses on maintaining the Brand Equity by keeping the brand alive among both the existing and new customers. This can be done through consistently conveying the meaning of brand in terms of:

• What are the products under the brand? What are its core benefits and how it satisfies the demand?
• How is the brand different from other brands? How it enables a customer to make a strong, unique and favorable association in their minds?

Character:

• Product
• Services
• Associated Marketing

Apart from innovation and research the brand reinforcement can be done through various marketing programs such as:

Exhibition provides a vital platform to the brands where the product with any new feature can be demonstrated to the customer. Products seen in real gives an experience to the customer, and some image gets created in their minds.

Advertising is one of the most common and easy tool of brand reinforcement. By showing the ads frequently on TV, Internet, Bulletins, Billboard, Radio, etc. can make the brand deep-rooted in the minds of the customer.

Event and Sponsorship act as an aide to the brand reinforcement. The companies sponsor big events like sports, political rallies, education, award functions, etc. with the objective of reminding the customer about their product and creating the positive image in the minds of new prospects.

Promotion is the most frequently used tool of brand reinforcement. Several companies adopt this strategy wherein some special offers, freebies, discounts, gift packs, etc. are given along with the product. This is done with the intention to retain the existing customers and attract new customers simultaneously.

Showroom layout also plays a vital role in strengthening the brand image in the minds of the customer. The way the brands are placed in the retail outlets or stores reminds the customer about the product and also influences new users through its appeal.

Brand Reinforcement is done by:

Products That the Brand Represents

Expanding the categories across which the brand delivers the core benefit satisfying various needs.

E.g.

Fortune: Primarily, an oil brand in India, expanded to other food ingredients.

How Brands Make Product Superior and Strong

Brands bring unique associations with them. A strong brand has strong associations. And many times these associations are more abstract and category agnostic.

Brand Response is the marketing communications industry’s Genius of the And. It sounds too good to be true. It asks us to live with two apparently contradictory ideas at the same time. It can be defined simply as a strategic and executional campaign approach where brand building drives response and this response in turn builds the brand in a virtuous circle of effectiveness.

Brand or Response

Marketers make a choice between two discrete activities. Brand-building and other longer-term activities are separate from short-term sales or response-driving activities. They are generally delivered by different campaigns through different channels. Typically, TV is used for ‘brand’ and direct marketing used for ‘response’. The majority of the IPA cases from the 1980s reflect this thinking.

Brand and Response

The two elements are treated as distinct but complementary activities within a campaign helped by some executional links. The Grand Prixwinning Tesco case of 2000 used Every Little Helps, and a consistent tone of voice across different campaigns for brand and tactical work.

Brand Response

A seamless blend of both types of activity is delivered through a single campaign. The purpose of all activity is to drive response (both short and longer term) while building the brand.

Building brands and driving sales are no longer mutually exclusive activities: they are now symbiotic. Critically the two elements create a powerful virtuous circle where brand helps build response, and the response itself helps build the brand through experience.

Number of metrics with brand response marketing, including:

• Gross Rating Points. A measure of exposure, calculated by multiplying the percentage of the target market reached by the exposure frequency.
• Cost Per Thousand Impressions. The total cost of a thousand impressions of a single ad.
• Cost Per Point. This is the cost of buying one point, or one percent of the target market’s attention.
• Rating Points. The size of a live audience, expressed as a percentage of the entire potential audience at any given time.

Technique:

Call to action

This one seems like a no-brainer, but without a call to action, there won’t be a “response” in brand response. But the power of brand response is in the integration of its elements you can’t just tack an end card and a promo code to anything and hope it works. Defining the exact action you want the spot to generate is paramount, and must be the guiding thematic touchstone that guides everything in the spot, otherwise the story elements can feel arbitrary and actually hinder the elements that sell.

Story

Brand response also requires an actual story, over and beyond a problem/solution, a how-to, or a testimonial. These are great DR tools, but they’re functional and they feel like a pitch. You need to show, not tell. A testimonial spot doesn’t become brand response simply because the speaker is wearing a funny costume, a good brand response will actually illustrate the narrative with beats that cause actual emotion. A good guideline for story is to make sure the plot actually sounds interesting when read without detail, and then make sure there are moments in the story that are calibrated for maximum humour, pathos, or whatever else you’re going for.

Transition

The moment of transition from the story elements to the harder working sales information needs to be carefully considered. A classic strategy is to spend 15 seconds showing an amusing scene, scenario, or vignette, then underlining the exact problem it’s describing, and cutting to 15 seconds of more classic DR, once you’ve earned the audience’s trust and attention. However you transition from storytelling to sales, you want the transition point to feel organic, surprising, and rewarding. Ideally the actual announcement of what product the scenario is advertising gets the biggest and most rewarding laugh.

Aspiration

It’s well known that benefits to the customer are more persuasive than product features, but on a deeper level, benefits are connected to customer aspirations. Brands know this, and tie their values and messaging to the deeply felt aspirations of their key demographics. In addition to the stated CTA, brand response should be an illustration of that: a more organized life. A more successful life. A happier life. In the end, all aesthetic choices pale in comparison to how a spot makes the audience feel, and clearcut aspiration is the key to making people feel motivated to heed the call to action.

Brand Recall is the likelihood of instant recollection of the name of a brand by a consumer when prompted with a product or service or any other association with it.

In simple terms, brand recall is a qualitative measure of the consumer’s ability to remember the name of a brand. It is a component of brand awareness which measures the spontaneous recall of the brand from memory when the customer is prompted by the product category.

Importance Of Brand Recall

Being at the top of the mind whenever the consumer thinks of a product category is the ultimate aim of every brand as it not only leads to increased sales, but it also helps the brand carry out its word-of-mouth marketing strategies, referral marketing strategies, etc.

Builds Brand Equity

Brand recall builds brand equity for a brand’s products by ensuring that its superior quality and reliability is etched in the memory of consumers.

Creates A Competitive Edge

Brand recall is one of the factors that lie at the top of the marketing funnel and reflects the first stage of a buyer’s journey. Brand recall signifies comfort and familiarity with a certain brand. It provides an edge over the competitor’s brand while making an actual purchase decision.

Boosts Sales and Market Share

The brand recall for a company is directly proportional to the likelihood of actual purchase of a product or service offered by the brand. It plays a significant role in facilitating repeat purchases.

A positive brand recall ensures behavioural, cognitive and emotional loyalty of consumers towards its existing and potential products and services.

Measurement:

Brand managers can ascertain the effectiveness of the branding strategies deployed for a company by measuring brand recall with this formula:

Percentage Brand recall (%) = (Survey Respondents who correctly identified or recalled your brand/ Total number of respondents) X 100

Types:

Aided Brand Recall

In terms of aided brand recall, the respondents are given an external hint which acts as an aid for them to recall the brand in the discussion.

Unaided Brand Recall

Unaided Brand recall implies when a consumer or respondent recalls the name of the brand without any aid or hint.

A brand’s value is directly connected to its presence in the memory of consumers. Quite simply, if a customer remembers a brand, he is likely to buy that brand. If he doesn’t remember it, he will buy the one he remembers. Thus, for a brand, it is important to set itself in customers memory.

Strategies:

Brand Partnerships

Brand Partnership is a mutual agreement between two or more brands to help one another in increasing brand recall, exposure, breaking into new markets and providing value-added services to the consumers.

Communicate Well with The Target Audience

Consistent communication with the target audience enhances Brand recall. Social media can be leveraged through modes like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. The Brand’s followers constantly lookout for updates from them on these platforms.

Develop An Unforgettable Brand Tagline

One of the most effective ways to draw attention and enhance brand recall is developing an unforgettable tagline. A tagline should be such which points towards the benefits of a product while parallelly conveying the Brand Purpose.

Humanize The Brand

It is a commonly known fact that people respond to people as opposed to a faceless organisation. Humanizing a brand involves connecting the ideas of the company with the people involved with the brand.

The employees, the customers and strategic partners should be used as brand ambassadors of the company and their story of growth with the company must reach out to the audience. This realistic connect will ensure a greater Brand recall for customers.

Focus On the Upkeep of Brand Reputation

It is important to identify and eliminate all the potential reputation risks that may undermine the hard-earned reputation of a brand. While a brand recall is a boon, it may act as a bane if negative recollection takes place in the minds of consumers.

Define The Brand Purpose

Brand Purpose is the reason for the existence of a brand beyond generating revenues. It answers the question “How does a company improve the lives of its consumers” or “What is the idea that drives a particular brand”?

Develop Catchy Brand Logo Design

A brand logo lays the foundation of Brand Identity. It grabs attention, differentiates the company from its competitors and makes a strong first impression in the minds of consumers.

An aesthetically pleasing logo triggers a positive recall about a company’s brand. It serves as a great hedge, in case the name of the brand is forgotten, by crystallizing the brand’s profile.

Create A Brand Story

Creating a brand story involves making an emotional connect with the audience which becomes a part of their memory. The narrative of the story could highlight conflict and resolution.

Build A Brand Personality

Building a brand personality implies providing human characteristics to a certain brand like competence, toughness, sincerity, sophistication etc. For example, the brand Nike has built its personality as Athletic. Therefore, it appeals to all athletes no matter which sport they play.

Define The Brand Proposition

Brand Proposition is simply the problem which a company’s product is solving for the consumers. It is the promise that the brand delivers to its consumers through its product or service.

Develop A Brand Profile

A brand profile is a brand’s identity which encompasses all the decisions made by the company’s marketing agency in terms of communication, web presence, brand values and preferences, packaging, graphic design, etiquettes of the office staff, brand’s take on relevant socio-economic issues etc.

Brand recognition refers to the ability of consumers to recognize and identify a specific brand. Brand recognition is typically considered successful when consumers are able to recognize a brand without explicitly being exposed to its name, but merely to visual or auditory cues such as logos, packaging, or jingles. Similarly, brand recall is the ability to recall a brand without any specific cues at all.

Brand recognition is one of two components of brand awareness. The other component is brand recall. Brand recognition is exactly what it sounds like: the ability of a consumer to recognize one brand over other brands. In other words, it’s the ability of consumers to identify your product by its attributes and design elements. Design elements include such things as shape, colour, illustrations, and graphics.

Companies routinely conduct market research to determine the degree to which their brand gets recognized by consumers and develop strategies and campaigns aimed at increasing brand recognition. Together with brand recall, brand recognition is one of the many components of brand awareness.

Brand recognition requires the consumer to recall prior knowledge. To build brand recognition, an organization must repeatedly provide consumers with a consistent visual or auditory learning experience. Consider the case of television advertising. A brand who spends millions of dollars on a single television commercial during the Super Bowl may be forgotten weeks after the game. However, a brand which uses a Super Bowl commercial to reinforce a years-long advertising campaign will have higher brand recognition.

Brand recognition is developed by reach, frequency and consistency. A useful tactic in advertising is for a brand to develop a campaign around a concept or a character.

Examples include the “Can you hear me now?” campaign from Verizon. The Verizon commercials featured the same “Test Man,” who would test wireless coverage by asking callers on the other end if they could hear him. Other examples include “Flo,” a fictional salesperson who represents Progressive Insurance and the GEICO Gecko, a fictional reptile who helps sell car insurance.

Effectiveness of Brand Recognition

If brand recognition is done correctly, your product should be recognized even without using its name. The goal is to get potential customers to recognize the product instantly without requiring much effort. For example, can you think of the name of a restaurant that is symbolized by golden arches or a computer company identified by a particular fruit? In fact, companies will often engage in market research in order to test brand recognition.

Brand Recognition and the Problem of Counterfeit Goods

Even after you have developed strong brand recognition, the battle is not over. You still have to worry about counterfeit goods, often called knockoffs or fakes. The classic example is a street vendor peddling knockoff expensive watches to unsuspecting tourists. You can combat counterfeit goods through the use of patents and trademarks and then vigorously pursue those that infringe upon your brand through court action.

Strategies:

• Customers tend to remember brands that reach them on a personal or emotional level, so a company may use a unique, touching, or heartfelt story that lets customers know why it’s in business.
• Another way to build and maintain brand recognition is to provide exemplary customer service. Customers are more likely to recommend and buy products from a company they believe values their patronage.
• Businesses should also aim to exceed their customers’ expectations and educate them at the same time. Being known as an expert in a certain field or being able to relate to customers and how they use the products and services they buy goes a long way in ensuring brand loyalty. One way to accomplish this is through app development, email newsletters, or blogs that ensure new and existing customers keep your company in mind first.
• Small businesses and large companies can use social media to make sure their names, products, and services are in constant circulation. Of course, a company’s logo or visual theme should be used in all communications.

Comparative Methods uses experiments to examine consumer attitudes and behavior toward a brand to assess benefits arising from having high awareness and strong, favorable, and unique brand associations.

Brand based Comparative Approaches

Brand-based comparative methods measure the response that consumers have to the similar marketing efforts of different companies. So these methods basically compare your marketing efforts to the marketing efforts of your direct competitors, industry leaders, or non-existing brands.

The most famous example of this comparative method is Larry Percy’s experiment. Percy concluded that knowing the brand of the product deeply influences your opinion on the quality and the overall product itself. By disclosing (or not disclosing) the brand names of products, Percy found that brand loyalty is higher when people are aware of the brand.

The downfalls of these methods are that it measures only the isolated value of the brand name. These methods are useful if you’re looking to change your marketing programme and want to predict how that might affect the future outcome.

Marketing Based Comparative Approaches

Marketing-based comparative methods measure the difference in the outcome of different marketing strategies implemented by the same brand, for the same products. These methods focus on the levels of influence different marketing programmes have on the overall brand performance.

Comparing prices with competitors and analysing how their pricing strategy influenced the brand equity is really important. It will help you find the consumer’s breaking point and their level of tolerance the point when they abandon brand loyalty due to high prices and switch to a different brand.

These methods can also help you understand how customer responses vary in different locations. What’s more, these methods can be applied always, no matter what your marketing strategy is. However, marketing-based comparative methods can’t determine the consumer’s preference. In other words, they can’t pinpoint whether the consumer has a preference toward a certain brand or toward a specific product category.

Conjoint Analysis Comparative Approaches

Conjoined comparative marketing methods combine both comparative methods. They analyse both the brand and the marketing efforts. Because they are so extensive, these methods allow you to analyse different brand attributes and brand associations, as well as their interdependent relationships. Conjoined comparative methods have a big disadvantage they are known to increase customer’s expectations.