Islamic Branding What is a Brand?

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According to a definition given by Kapferer (2004, p. 10): A brand is a set of mental associations, held by the customer, which add to the perceived value of a product or service. These associations should be unique (exclusive), strong (salient), and positive (desirable).

Brands also educate the customer about the product. People assign meaning to their product experience by brand and, over time, make judgements about which brands are best at meeting their needs and which are not. (Marshall, 2010) (book) What is Islamic Branding? (3)

Until now, there seems to be no clear understanding of what the term IB means (Copinath, 2007), a situation that sometimes leads to using the term Islamic in a rather insensitive manner. For example, when the term is used to describe products originating in Islamic countries one would conclude that wines produced there are Islamic just because of the location of their production. Consequently, wines produced in Tunisia, Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan can be rightly described as Halal or Islamic. To avoid such confusion and reduce the likelihood of improper use, the term IB is analyzed in this paper according to its scope and how it has been used. To clarify, the term IB could be used to describe brands as Islamic because: (1) these brands are Shariah-compliant, i.e. Islamic brands by religion; (2) they originate from an Islamic country, i.e. Islamic brands by country of origin; or (3) their target is the Muslim consumer, i.e. Islamic brands by destination (Alserhan, 2011).

How does Islamic Branding Work? (1)

Islamic brands by compliance: Islamic brands must show and have appeal strictly on shariah-compliant, which implemented in the food sector and finance sector on a small account in the Halal logistics. The Muslim consumers are based and attached to their faith so the brand must follow the Islamic law and strictly appeal as the Muslim norms are (Williams and Sharma, 2005). It is seen that the firms are increasing to attract the Muslim consumers

example in Dubai most the Islamic hotel are mostly operated by the non-Muslim its ratio is above 60%. Islamic brands by origin: Many brands do not need to show or promote themselves as shariah-complaints Such as Emirati Etisalat, the Emirates Airlines, Telecoms, Egyptian Orascom, and the industry Saudi SABIC. Because their country origin promotes the brands example Saudi SABIC is Saudi company means belongs to Islamic country. By Rafi-uddin Shikoh cited in (Frost, 2007), he is who distinguish in brands that which are origin of the Muslim countries and that brands shows the Muslim practices. Shikoh said, in most of the first category brands there is nothing religious or theological and full fill the basic needs of consumer including the regular products or services and no affiliation with religions (Frost, 2007). Islamic brands by customer: This type describes that brands came out from the non-Muslim countries, and there target market is Muslim Consumer. Multinationals such as Nestle, Unilever, L Oreal, McDonalds, KFC and many others these all are above MNCs owned by the non-Muslims and these MNCs include the Halal brands to target Muslim Consumers. These MNCs heavily investing on the Muslim market which are still in need of Halal products. Because of their good and strategic efforts, the non-Muslim MNCs are dominant in market about 90 percent, category of Islamic food, cosmetics and health markets. The nonMuslim MNCs why they occupied 90 percent of the market, because these companies have great and good skills and they know how to branding and they also know how to target the markets and they showed in their idea that we are Islamic. (Baker A.A, 2010).

Based on the literature a conceptual model has been developed; which reflects a hierarchical assortment of believers and perceptions and a lower tier attitudes based on perception of Muslims consumers as classified as (a) Islamic brands by Compliance; (b) Islamic Brands by Origin, and (c) Islamic brands by customer (Baker, 2010).

Application in Business? (9)

Pakistan is considered to be the second most populated Muslim country after Indonesia (Huda, 2010). In 2009, many international companies in Pakistan, like Frito lay, faced a major challenge when controversy emerged regarding the alleged use of impermissible

ingredients in its famous brand of chips. Similarly, allegations that KFC used cloned meat, created serious sales problems, as cloned meat is impermissible under Islamic Sharia It is also important to understand and explore the economic dimension of this issue. Raising the product related suspicions in competitor customers mind is the easiest way to increase possibilities that he/she will buy yours. This strategy is definitely less costly in execution and more pregant in result. Thus, it is in favour of local brands and dozens of Halal certification agencies that the issue remains lurking in the minds of the Muslim customers.

Application in the food industry? (8)

The literature on halal food in restaurants is extremely limited, with few academic articles devoted to the topic. Nevertheless, the provision of halal food is an extremely significant issue for consumers as well as restaurants and suppliers that cater to the Muslim market. This applies not only in the Malaysian context but also on an international scale

Interview sessions were conducted at five different locations with 33 respondents to measure the restaurant managers perspectives on halal certification in Malaysia. The questions were about the knowledge of Halal, and most importantly the dominant theme surrounding the Halal certification which is trust. The second is the connection between the certification and the quality of the food served. The respondents feel that food of higher quality would be directly related with the number of visits to the restaurants. Another emphasis is on the food hygiene and its relationship to the Halal certification. It can be said that the respondents showed that the attributes of hygiene and safety made significant contribution to their expectations as it sets a certain standard in terms of safety and hygiene.

A possible issue is the maintaining of the Halal certified status for both Muslim and nonMuslim Halal certified restaurant owners. Undoubtedly this is more inclined for the nonMuslim restaurant owners. This concern to keep the Halal standard has led to more restaurant owners working harder to keep their restaurants clean and in compliance with the Halal certifications regulation. This will ultimately lead to higher quality and will increase the number of satisfied customers.

References Zannierah, S, Hall, C. M. and Ballentine P.W. (2012). @Restaurant Managers perspectives on halal certification. Journal of Islamic Marketing Vol. 3. No. 1, pp. 47-58 Mukhtar, A. and Butt, M.M. (2012). Intentions to choose Halal products: the role of religiosity Journal of Islamic Marketing Vol. 3. No. 2, pp. 108-120 Jumani Z.A. and Siddiqui K. (2012). Bases of Islamic Branding in Pakistan: Perceptions or Believes. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business Vol 3, No 9. Hamann D. Williams Jr R.L. and Omar M. (2007). Branding Strategy and consumer hightechnology product. Journal of Product & Brand Management 16/2 (2007) 98-111 Alserhan B.A. (2010). On Islamic branding: Brands as good deeds. Journal of Islamic Marketing Vol. 1 No. 2, 2010 pp. 101-106 Marshall G.W. and Johnston M.W. (2010) MARKETING MANAGEMENT International Edition 2010. McGraw Hill Education (Asia). pp 305