Brand Image

Brand Image : Brand image means the image of a particular brand in market and in eyes of people. Brand image decides the popularity of a brand in market. A brand having good brand image is considered more popular than a brand with low image. Components of Brand Image : There are three components to a brand image : attributes, consequences and brand personality. It is perhaps more inclusive to think of a brands image as encompassing all the associates that a consumer has for that brand : all the thoughts, feelings and imagery-even colors, sounds and smells - that are mentally liked to that brand in the consumers memory. First comes the attributes, attributes means qualities or functions or advantages of a particular brand. A brand is known by its attributes i.e. the qualities it offers. Attributes effect the brand image i.e. a product or brand with lot of advantages in comparison to its nearest substitute is considered more suitable. Thus it enhances the brand image. Then come the consequences, consequences means the effect of the product. The product or brand which gives ultimate good result is considered good brand. Thus, consequences also effect brand image. Last component of brand image is brand personality. Brand personality includes associations with particular characters, symbols, endorsers, life styles and types of users. Together, such brand personality associations create a composite image of a brand. It gives the brand a sense of human, it makes you feel a brand as a person. Thus it characterized it as adventurous, head strong, undependable, excitable etc. Brand personality also anociate feelings with brand. Like fun, excitement with Pepsi, taste, health with honey. Brand personality also creates an anociation of that brand with certain important life values, such as exciting life, the search for self respect, the need to be intellectual, the desire for selfexpression etc. Finally what often matters more than the specific personality attributed to brand is the question of whether a brand has any clear personality at all. Thus, it could be said that the brand personality of a "brand as a person", is used by various advertising agencies and marketing client companies. Thus, these are the 3 components of brand image. Brand image is a important tool for making effective sales. Brand image builds the confidence in customers. A product which owns high brand image is always at an advantage in comparison to products with low brand image. Thus, brand image can be described as impression of brand in eyes of customers. According to David Ogilvy :

"We hold that every advertisement must be considered as a contribution to the complex symbol which is the brand image as part of the long term investment in the reputation of the brand." Brand Policies & Strategies : All companies prior to introducing any product established a branding policy or strategy especially with a view of future new product. The manufacturer can use any of the following : 1. Family or Blanket Branding : In using a family or blanket branding strategy, the manufacturer chooses to apply the same brand name to all the products. Firms such as Kissan, Amul, Britannia & Philips use this strategy. This decision is adopted generally when the products are similar in terms of marketing mix strategies i.e. they use same distribution channels, communication channels etc. Family branding strategy have some important advantages firstly due to it will less time by customers to accept the product. Secondly there will be no need of brand name research and thirdly consumer response to the new product will be sooner. Its only disadvantage is that it should be very particular about quality of product, as it should be very particular about quality of product, as it should be at the level of existing product. Thus, this is Family or Blanket Branding. It provides a cover over all its products & all are known by it that's why it is called Blanket Branding. 2. Individual brands : When a firm produces or sells diverse products, it may not be appropriate to use one family or blanket brand name. Colgate, General Foods etc. market a variety of products that would not be amenable to family branding. Individual branding strategy allows firms to develop different images and positions for each of their products. Individual brands are costly to introduce, since each new product must be heavily advertised to establish brand awareness. Thus, individual branding helps in increasing market share of that company but under different brand names and products. 3. Mixed branding strategy : In many large companies, product line expansion occurs in different directions so that new families of products may be planned when a new product is conceived. In this case, the firm will use a mixed branding strategy with similar products carrying a family brand name and different products with individual brand name. The strategy is

employed when the product line expands so that new products are quiet different from other products, therefore requiring a unique name and marketing strategy. 4. Trade name and individual brands : The last strategy that may be employed by the firm is to anociate the company name with an individual brand of each product. In this, the company name provides some legitimization and the individual name some differentiation for the new product. This strategy, as in family branding carries the risk of negative association of all products but it provides with an advantage of low cost of introduction, as brand is known to customer.

Brand Name research

The choice of Brand name is an inherent part of marketing strategy designed to result in a successful new product launch is well recognized. Research is often conducted to determine the image that a number of alternative brand names may convey to the end user. The objective of this research is to identify which brand name conveys the desired image before the new product is launched. Techniques used for brand name research are : 1. Rank order : Rank Order technique, a sample of present users of potential users would be asked to rank the alternative brand names for a specified new product in their order of preference. The brand name that receives the highest preference ranking would be adopted as the brand name. This technique is simple to employ and can be completed quickly without great expense. 2. Scaling : Scaling techniques are often employed to determine end-user reactions to characteristics conveyed by the brand name. If the firm wanted to convey an image of strength, aggressiveness etc. it would select the brand name that consumer identify with these attributes. 3. Motivational research techniques : The objective of motivational research should not be to select the final brand name but to indicate which one or two words appeal most to the target market colour, packing,

printing and other factors used to display the brand name will all affect its performance. These are the ways to determine brand name. Brand name is the first impression that customer gets. Thus, it help in a great way to build a strong, positive brand image. Brand image is the perception of brand among present customers, potential customers and in market. A brand owning a strong image always rules the market and makes effective sales. Thus its very important for companies to acquire a high brand image. Importance of Brand Name : Consumer brand preference means to which brand consumers gives importance and priority. A brand is a name, term, symbol or design or a combination of these that gives identification to the maker and seller of a product or service. Brand is an important part of a product, it gives a name, an identification of product, moreover branding can add value to a product. Mostly people choice the product by its brand. e.g. A bottle of white leinen perfume will be perceived as a high quality expensive product but if the same perfume is in unmarked bottle it would be viewed as lower quality product even if the frequency, quality etc. i.e. are other incidents are identical. This clarifies that a branded product is always preferred in comparison with non-branded product. Brands also tell the buyer something about product quality, a regular buyer knows that they will get same feature, quality and advantages each time they buy the product. A good name can add greatly to a product success. Attitudes are expressions of inner feelings that reflect whether a person is favourably or unfavourably pre-disposed to some object or brand. Attitudes are not directly observable but are inferred from what people say or what they do. Example : If a researcher carries out a survey and finds that a consumer consistently uses a product and also recommend it to friend, it will to concluded that consumer have a positive attitude towards that product. To survive in such a competitive environment it is quiet necessary to understand liking and disliking of the customer. Consumer attitude help to know about what is their view about product.

Customer is the central point of all marketing activities. Thus, it becomes very necessary to know about his attitude because customer attitude decides the position of product in market. Importance of study of consumer attitudes & brand preference : In present context, it is very important to study consumer attitudes, as its a competitive world if a manufacturer doesn't know about consumer attitudes he become outdated and couldn't stay in market for long. The study of consumer nature helps in following : 1. Price Policy. 2. Decision regarding channel distribution. 3. Production policy. 4. Consumer Satisfaction.

Scope of the study

The choice of Brand name is an inherent part of marketing strategy designed to result in a successful new product launch is well recognized. Research is often conducted to determine the image that a number of alternative brand names may convey to the end user. The objective of this research is to identify which brand name conveys the desired image before the new product is launched. The objective of motivational research should not be to select the final brand name but to indicate which one or two words appeal most to the target market colour, packing, printing and other factors used to display the brand name will all affect its performance. These are the ways to determine brand name. Brand name is the first impression that customer gets. Thus, it help in a great way to build a strong, positive brand image. Brand image is the perception of brand among present customers, potential customers and in market. A brand owning a strong image always rules the market and makes effective sales. Thus its very important for companies to acquire a high brand image.