What is Branding Strategy?

 Branding strategy for a firm reflects the

number and nature of common and
distinctive brand elements applied to the
different products sold by the firm.
Breadth of Branding Strategy
 Nature & number of different products linked to
the brands sold by the firm
 Considerations include:
- Which products the firm should manufacture and
sell. Eg: Should Lacoste launch a women’s line?
- How many diff. product lines the firm should
carry (Breadth of product mix)
- How many variants should be there in each
product line (Depth of product mix)
Depth of Branding Strategy
 Number & nature of different brands
marketed in the product class sold by the
firm.
 Multiple brands in the same product
category increase market coverage. GM
pioneered it; now everybody does it!
Building equity at different levels
 Corporate or company level
 Family brand level
 Individual brand level
 Modifier level
 Product descriptor
Why is corporate image important?
 Look what happened to Satyam? Raju’s scam has led to
a crash in Satyam prices & international clients like
Caterpillar are withdrawing
 For a good 100 years the Tata’s were the most
respected name in Indian business – that they are
ethical, concerned about society etc. Tata fiasco in
Singur has made a dent in that image. Effects will be
visible in years to come. Already NGOs oppose them
more vociferously than others when they plan a new
project now
 Phanesh Murthy was overall head of marketing for
Infosys in N. America. Lady employee filed sexual
harassment charges against him. Infosys immediately
sacked him to avoid any impact on business there
 To sum up, the only sustainable competitive advantage
any business has is its “reputation”…
 A large global survey of financial analysts indicated that
91% of the sample agreed that a company that fails to
look after its reputation will endure financial difficulties;
another 96% said that CEOs reputation was fairly
responsible for influencing their ratings
 Interbrand found that a strong corporate brand could
improve a company’s stock price by 5-7% in a bull run
and mitigate losses in a bear market. Look at how well
the public sector banks performed in the stock market
during this slowdown.
 The realization that consumers are interested in issues
far beyond the product, its physical attributes &
associations has led marketers to focus more strongly on
establishing & maintaining a proper corporate image
Building equity at corporate or
company brand level
Determinants of corporate image:
 Corporate social conduct
 Corporate contributions’ conduct
 Corporate employees conduct
 Company business conduct
 Sales Force (training retailers)
 Distribution channels (and so the trend toward EBOs)
 Service (Nike shopkeeper example)
 Support
 Price
 Communications
 Product
Corporate Brands cont.
 Corporate branding is usually only successful if
the company is well known and sells reputable
products with a positive image. One of the
disadvantages of corporate branding is that the
company can become identified with only one
type of product.
 On the other hand, by using corporate branding
with a successfully marketed product, a
company can familiarize consumers with its
products and may create brand loyalty. If the
public likes one product from this company, then
they may seek out the brand name when buying
other products
Family brand level
Why are family Brands Used?
 As products become more dissimilar, it may be harder
for corporate brands to still retain any product meaning
to effectively link the disparate products
 Distinct family brands can evoke a specific set of
associations across a group of related products:
common product attributes, benefits, attitudes, people
& relationships
 Cost of introducing a may be lower & the likely-hood of
acceptance can be higher when an existing family
brand is used to brand a new product
 However, overstretched family brand may become
weaker & less favorable
 Failure of product may have adverse ramifications
 Example (HUL family brands): Lakme (crème, lipsticks,
nail polish, etc), Fair & Lovely (creme, gel, soap)
Individual brand level
 Essentially restricted to one product category,
although available in multiple product types or
models, packs, flavors…
Advantages:
 Marketing activities can be customized
 All brand elements focused on target audience
 No risk to other brands
Disadvantages:
 Expensive. Are adequate resources made
available?
 Example: Individual brands for HUL: Surf
Excel, Rin, Wheel, Pureit
Modifier level
 These are further distinguished brands according to the
different types of items or models involved:
- Johnnie Walker Red Label
- Johnnie Walker Black Label
 Communicating how different products within a
category, with same brand name, differ in one or more
significant attribute or benefit dimensions
 Help make products more understandable and relevant
to consumers & even trade
 Example: Dell Inspirion XPS, Maruti WagonR AX (fully
automatic)
Product descriptors
 These may also be an important
ingredient of branding strategy
 They help define relevant competition in
consumers’ minds
 New product with a familiar brand name
facilitates basic familiarity and
comprehension by consumers
To sum up…
 One brand name may be used for a number of
products in family branding, or all the products
may be given different brand names in a practice
called individual branding.
 When large retailers buy goods in bulk and then
put their own brand name on them, this is called
store branding, label branding, or private
branding.
 Co-branding is when two or more manufactures
combine to sell their products.
 When a company sells the right to use their
brand name to another company for use in
another location or for non-competitive
purposes, this is called brand licensing.
Corporate Image Dimensions
 Or types of associations that can be made
at corporate brand level:

a. Common product attributes or benefits

b. People & Relationships
c. Values & Programs
d. Corporate Credibility
a. Common product attributes or benefits
AS WITH INDIVIDUAL BRANDS, A CORPORATE OR
COMPANY BRAND MAY EVOKE PERFORMANCE OR
IMAGERY ATTRIBUTE OR BENEFIT ASSOCIATIONS
AS WELL AS JUDGMENT & FEELING ASSOCIATIONS:

 Corporate brand may evoke strong associations with

consumers to:
a. A product attribute (e.g., Cadbury’s with “chocolate”)
b. Type of user (e.g., BMW with “yuppies”)
c. Usage situation (e.g., Kingfisher with “good times”)
d. Overall judgment (e.g., Sony, Toyota, Honda with
“quality”)
 See Honda Ad
 a. Common product attributes/ benefits cont.
IF A CORPORATE BRAND IS LINKED TO
PRODUCTS ACROSS DIVERSE CATEGORIES, THEN SOME OF ITS
STRONGEST ASSSOCIATIONS ARE LIKELY TO BE THOSE
INTANGIBLE ATTRIBUTES, ABSTRACT BENEFITS, OR
ATTITUDES THAT SPAN EACH OF THE DIFFERENT PRODUCT
CATEGORIES:

 Associated with products/services that have a great service

orientation e.g. Maruti Suzuki
 Bring excitement & fun to certain activities e.g., Apple
 Built with the highest quality standards e.g., Toyota
 Represents market leadership, e.g., Nokia

 Two specific product-related corporate associations:

- high quality &
- innovation
a. Common product attributes/ benefits cont.
A HIGH-QUALITY CORPORATE IMAGE ASSOCIATION
INVOLVES THE CREATION
OF CONSUMER PERCEPTION THAT
A COMPANY MAKES PRODUCTS OF
THE HIGHEST QUALITY:

 A number of different organizations rate brands on the

basis of quality:
- products, e.g., J.D.Power, Consumer Reports,..
- companies, e.g., Malcolm Baldridge award
a. Common product attributes/ benefits cont.
AN INNOVATIVE CORPORATE IMAGE ASSOCIATION
INVOLVES THE CREATION OF
CONSUMER PERCEPTIONS OF A COMPANY
AS DEVELOPING NEW & UNIQUE
MARKETING PROGRAMMES, SPECIALLY W.R.T.
PRODUCT INTRODUCTIONS OR IMPROVEMENTS

 Being innovative is seen in part as being modern & up-

to-date, investing in R&D, employing advanced
manufacturing capabilities & introducing new features
 This is becoming an image priority for many companies,
e.g. Apple, Canon, 3Ms, Toyota…
 b. People & Relationships
CORPORATE IMAGE ASSOCIATIONS MAY
REFLECT CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
EMPLOYEES OF THE COMPANY:
 Natural positioning strategy for services firms:
- Vodafone: Happy to Help
- Honda: Ads show happy employees
- Maruti Suzuki
 Manufacturing firms such as DuPont & others
have also focused attention on their employees
in communication program
 See some HR ads in Ascent: ‘great places to
work in’; attract talent + build equity
 b. People & Relationships cont.

CUSTOMER-FOCUSED CORPORATE
IMAGE ASSOCIATION INVOLVES THE
CREATION OF CONSUMER
PERCEPTIONS OF A COMPANY AS
BEING RESPONSIVE TO & CARING
ABOUT ITS CUSTOMERS:
* “Listening” to customers & having their
best interest in mind
c. Values & Programs
 Concern with environment:
EG: Coca Cola India (water purification
plants)
 Social Responsibility:

- ITC e-Chaupal
- Infosys Foundation (runs schools)
- Tata Tea (Jaago Re)
d. Corporate Credibility

 Expertise: EG: HCL, RPower IPO success

because of heavy communication showing
corporate lineage/ expertise (RPower sold out its
IPO in less than a minute; It was oversubscribed
69 times the stock on offer on the final day,
raising about $3 billion from investors
(equivalent to the combined market value of the
Portuguese and Czech stock markets)
 Trustworthiness: EG: Infosys
 Likeability: EG: Amul
DESIGNING A BRANDING STRATEGY
 Number & Levels of Brand Hierarchy
 Desired Awareness & Image at each
Hierarchy Level
 Combined Brand Elements at Different
Levels
 Linking Brand Elements to Multiple
Products
 Adjustments to the Marketing Program
 HAVING ESTABLISHED CORPORATE
IMAGARY, NEXT TASK IS TO DECIDE ON
BRANDING OPTIONS AT DIFFERENT
LEVELS OF BRANDING HIERARCHY

AT EACH LEVEL, A FIRM HAS A NUMBER OF

BRANDING OPTIONS AVAILABLE TO IT,
DEPENDING ON HOW EACH LEVEL IS
EMPLOYED, IF AT ALL
HOW TO USE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF BRAND
HIERARCHY TO BUILD BRAND EQUITY
 Brand elements at each level of hierarchy may contribute
to brand equity through their ability to create awareness
as well as foster strong, favorable, & unique association
& positive responses
 Challenge is in setting up brand hierarchy & arriving at a
branding strategy is to:
a. Design the proper brand hierarchy in terms of number
of brand elements to use at each level, &
b. Design the optimal supporting marketing program in
terms of creating the desired amount of brand awareness
& type of brand association at each level
Hence guidelines, since brand strategy needs decisions on
these lines
THERE IS NO UNIFORM AGREEMENT
ON THE ONE TYPE OF BRANDING
STRATEGY THAT SHOULD BE
ADOPTED BY ALL FIRMS
FOR ALL PRODUCTS
Guidelines for brand hierarchy decisions
Remember “SRDPC”
1. Decide on the number of levels:
- Principle of Simplicity: employ fewest levels possible
2. Decide on the levels of awareness & types of
associations to be created at each level:
- Principle of Relevance: create abstract associations
that are relevant across as many individual items
- Principle of Differentiation: differentiate individual
items & brands
3. How to link brands from diff. levels for a product:
- Principle of Prominence: relative prominence of brand
elements affect perceptions of product distance & type
of image created for new products
4. Decide on how to link a brand across products:
- Principle of Commonality: more common elements
shared by products, the stronger the linkages
Principle of Simplicity
Based on need to provide the right amount of information
to consumers & desired no. of levels of the brand
hierarchy. Depends on the complexity of the product line
or product mix associated with a brand:
 Simple, low-involvement products: branding strategy
consists of an individual or family brand combined with
modifiers that describe differences in product features.
EG: Bajaj Electricals: Bajaj Bulbs and Bajaj Tubes
 Complex set of products: more levels of hierarchy are
necessary, but over 3 levels are confusing:
In such cases, a better approach is to introduce
multiple brands at the same level (e.g., multiple
family brands - Dove, Lux, Pears ) & expand depth
of branding strategy (nature & number of different
brands marketed in product class sold by firm).
Principle of Simplicity cont.
 Simple, low-involvement products
 Sub-branding: provides right amount of
branding information to consumers
 Modifiers: family/individual brands
combined with modifiers that describe the
differences in the product features for
simple, low-involvement products
 Principle of Simplicity cont.
 Complex products
 With more than three levels of branding, it is preferable to introduce
multiple brands at same level:

 e.g. Corporate Brand: Maruti Suzuki

Car types Brand Modifier
 Hatchback Swift LXI, VXI, Glam, LDI
 Hatchback WagonR AX,LX,VXI
 Hatchback Ritz LDI, VDI, LXI,VXI, XZI

 Clearly Maruti Suzuki displays a great depth of branding strategy

Principle of Relevance
Based on advantages of efficiency & economy,
desirable to create associations that are relevant to as
many brands as possible. For example:
 Nike’s slogan (Just Do It); Reebok’s (Do More)
reinforces one key point of difference for the brand-
performance that is relevant to virtually all the products
these brands sell (sports shoes, equipment, clothes)
 More abstract the association, more likely it is to be
relevant to different product settings (Amul: the taste of
India; ICICI: Hum Hain Na, Microsoft: Originality)
 Sometimes creating a strong association with one
category, restricts brand’s transfer to other categories.
Remember when Xerox launched Xerox Computers?
Unsuccessful coz strong association with copiers
Principle of Differentiation
 … is based on disadvantages of redundancy. In
general, it is desirable to distinguish brands at
the same product/ category level as much as
possible:
 a. Breeze: Flowers; b. Ayush: Herbal; c. Dove:
Not soap; it’s a moisturizer; d. Hamam: Neem;
e. Lifebuoy: Germs f. Liril: Freshness; g. Lux:
Film stars, seductive; h. Rexona: Energy;
i. Pears: Natural family soap
 If two brands can’t be distinguished, then it may
be difficult for both retailers and consumers to
justify supporting both brands
Linking different product levels
If a sub-brand strategy is adopted, how much prominence
should individual brands be given at the expense of
corporate/family brand?
5 possible ways according to Gray & Smeltzer:
1. Single entry: Image of company & product same (e.g.
Federal Express)
2. Brand dominance: Not to relate brand & corporate names
(e.g., ITC to Gold Flake, Wills)
3. Equal dominance: Neither dominates (e.g., Suzuki
dominates at company level, with individual brand
dominating at their level – Swift, SX4, WagonR, Alto)
4. Mixed dominance: ADAG for instance uses its corporate
name in some products but not in others like BIG
5. Corporate dominance: Xerox, GE…
Principle of Prominence
 Primary brand elements should be chosen to convey
the main product positioning & POD
 Secondary brand associations chosen for secondary
role to convey more restricted set of associations such
as POP or perhaps additional POD:
- may also facilitate awareness
 Example Canon Rebel 35 mm camera:
- principle brand element “Rebel” name reinforcing
user & user imagery
- secondary brand element, camera name Canon,
ideally conveys credibility, quality, and
professionalism
- See Swift ad and determine prominence for family/
individual brand vis-à-vis corporate brand
Principle of Prominence cont.
 If corporate or family brand made more prominent, its
association is bound to dominate
 If individual brand name more prominent, it is easier to
create a more distinct brand image:
- conveys to consumer new product as closely
linked to other products that share its name
(family/corporate)
- consumers less likely to transfer corporate or family
brand
- success or failure of new product less likely to
affect parent brand as opposed to prominent
corporate/family name
 Finally, in some cases, brand elements may not be
linked at all EG: Garnier (L’Oreal)
Principle of Prominence cont.
 A brand endorsement strategy is when brand element
appears on the packaging, signage, or product
appearance in some way but is not directly included as
part of the brand name:
- Often this distinct brand element is the corporate
brand name or brand logo
Brand endorsement strategy presumably establishes
the maximum distance between the corporate or family
brand & individual brands, suggesting that it would
yield the smallest transfer of brand associations to the
new product but, at the same time, minimize the likely-
hood of any negative feedback effects
 See Nestle Munch ad
Principle of Commonality
More common brand elements shared by the products,
the stronger the linkages between the products:
 Simplest way – use brand elements “as is” across
different products
 Other combinations. For example: Using a prefix, suffix:

-- HP capitalizes on its highly successful LaserJet

computer printer to introduce a number of new products
using “Jet” suffix, like DeskJet, PaintJet, ThinkJet,
OfficeJet printers
-- Swift DZire: to capitalize on BE of Swift
-- Sony has ‘man’ suffix for its portable audio equipment
viz. Walkman stereos & Deskman portable CD players

-- McDonald’s uses “Mc” as in McChicken, McAlooTikki

Principle of Commonality cont.
 A relationship between a brand & multiple products
can also be established with common symbols
 Often desirable to have a logical ordering among
brands in a product line to communicate how the
different brands are related and simplify consumer
decision making:
- relative ordering may be communicated through
colors (e.g. American Express offers Green, Gold,
Platinum cards), numbers (e.g., BMW 3-, 5-, 7- series)
or any other means…
Adjustments to mktg. program
WITH MULTIPLE LEVELS OF
BRANDING HIERARCHY,
DIFFERENT LEVELS OF
AWARENESS & IMAGE MAY BE
DESIRED AT EACH LEVEL:
Two potentially useful, marketing
communication strategies to build
brand equity are:
1. Corporate Brand
2. Family Brand
Corporate Image Campaigns
Objectives of these campaigns should be to:
• Build awareness of company & nature of its business
• Create favorable attitudes & perceptions of company
credibility (ICICI: Hum Hai Na)
• Link beliefs that can be leveraged by product-specific
marketing (Nike: Just Do It)
• Make a favorable impression on the financial
community (Indian IT ads boasting about being a $1
billion company)
• Motivate present employees & attract better recruits
(Aditya Birla Group corporate ads)
• Influence public opinion on issues ( Surf: Do Boond Pani)
These broader image campaigns may also be employed
at the family brand level
Brand Line Campaigns
SHOW CONSUMERS DIFFERENT USES OR BENEFITS
OF THE INDIVIDUAL BRANDS OFFERED BY FAMILY/
CORPORATE BRAND
(EG: Let’s go in an Alto; SX4: Men are Back; Hero
Honda Pleasure: Why should boys have all the fun)

BRAND LINE ADS MAY BE PARTICULARLY USEFUL IN

BUILDING BRAND AWARENESS, CLARIFYING BRAND
MEANING & SUGGESTING ADDITIONAL
USAGE APPLICATIONS
(ICICI Bank Credit Cards, Amul Kool, etc)
Roles that brands play as part of
portfolio
 Flankers or fighter brands
 Cash Cows: maintain their profitability with
little or no marketing efforts
 Low end entry level (traffic builders) or Hi-
end Prestige brands (add prestige &
credibility to entire portfolio)