METHODOLOGIES

Brand Equity Ten (Aaker)

David Aaker, a marketing professor and brand consultant, highlights ten attributes of a brand that
can be used to assess its strength. These include Differentiation, Satisfaction or Loyalty, Perceived
Quality, Leadership or Popularity, Perceived Value, Brand Personality, Organizational Associations,
Brand Awareness, Market Share, and Market Price and Distribution Coverage. Aaker doesn't weight
the attributes or combine them in an overall score, as he believes any weighting would be arbitrary
and would vary among brands and categories. Rather he recommends tracking each attribute
separately.
Brand Equity Index (Moran)
Marketing executive Bill Moran has derived an index of brand equity as the product of three factors:
Effective Market Share is a weighted average. It represents the sum of a brand's market shares in all
segments in which it competes, weighted by each segment's proportion of that brand's total sales.
Relative Price is a ratio. It represents the price of goods sold under a given brand, divided by the
average price of comparable goods in the market.
Durability is a measure of customer retention or loyalty. It represents the percentage of a brand's
customers who will continue to buy goods under that brand in the following year.
Brand Asset Valuator (Young & Rubicam)
Young & Rubicam, a marketing communications agency, have developed the Brand Asset Valuator, a
tool to diagnose the power and value of a brand. In using it, the agency surveys consumers'
perspectives along four dimensions:
Differentiation: The defining characteristics of the brand and its distinctiveness relative to
competitors.
Relevance: The appropriateness and connection of the brand to a given consumer.
Esteem: Consumers' respect for and attraction to the brand.
Knowledge: Consumers' awareness of the brand and understanding of what it represents.
Brand Valuation Model (Inter brand and Brand Finance)
Inter brand, a brand strategy agency, draws upon financial results and projections in its own model
for brand valuation. It reviews a company's financial statements, analyzes its market dynamics and
the role of brand in income generation, and separates those earnings attributable to tangible assets
(capital, product, packaging, and so on) from the residual that can be ascribed to a brand. It then
forecasts future earnings and discounts these on the basis of brand strength and risk. The agency
estimates brand value on this basis and tabulates a yearly list of the 100 most valuable global
brands.
The Royalty Relief approach of Brand Finance, an independent brand valuation consultancy, is based
on the assumption that if a company did not own the trademarks that it exploits, it would need to
license them from a third party brand owner instead. Ownership therefore ‘relieves’ the company
from paying a license fee (the royalty) for the use of the third party trademarks. The royalty relief
method involves estimating likely future sales, applying an appropriate royalty rate to them and then
discounting estimated future, post-tax royalties, to arrive at a Net Present Value (NPV). This is held
to represent the brand value. The independent consultancy publishes yearly lists by industry sector
and geographic region as well as a top 500 global list.
Conjoint Analysis
Marketers use conjoint analysis to measure consumers' preference for various attributes of a
product, service, or provider, such as features, design, price, or location. By including brand and
price as two of the attributes under consideration, they can gain insight into consumers' valuation of
a brand—that is, their willingness to pay a premium for it.

BRAND LOYALTY
The American Marketing Association defines brand loyalty as:
"The situation in which a consumer generally buys the same manufacturer-originated product or
service repeatedly over time rather than buying from multiple suppliers within the category" (sales
promotion definition)
"The degree to which a consumer consistently purchases the same brand within a product class"
(consumer behavior definition)
In a survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, 69 percent responded that they found the
"loyalty" metric very useful
PURPOSE
Brand loyalty, in marketing, consists of a consumer's commitment to repurchase or otherwise
continue using the brand and can be demonstrated by repeated buying of a product or service, or
other positive behaviors such as word of mouth advocacy.
Examples of brand loyalty promotions:
My Coke Rewards
Pepsi Stuff
Marriott Rewards
CONSTRUCTION
Brand loyalty is more than simple repurchasing, however. Customers may repurchase a brand due to
situational constraints (such as vendor lock-in), a lack of viable alternatives, or out of convenience.
Such loyalty is referred to as "spurious loyalty". True brand loyalty exists when customers have a
high relative attitude toward the brand which is then exhibited through repurchase behaviour. This
type of loyalty can be a great asset to the firm: customers are willing to pay higher prices, they may
cost less to serve, and can bring new customers to the firm. For example, if Joe has brand loyalty to
Company A he will purchase Company A's products even if Company B's are cheaper and/or of a
higher quality.
From the point of view of many marketers, loyalty to the brand — in terms of consumer usage — is a
key factor.
Usage rate
Most important of all, in this context, is usually the 'rate' of usage, to which the Pareto 80-20 Rule
applies. Kotler's 'heavy users' are likely to be disproportionately important to the brand (typically, 20
percent of users accounting for 80 percent of usage — and of suppliers' profit). As a result, suppliers
often segment their customers into 'heavy', 'medium' and 'light' users; as far as they can, they target
'heavy users'.
Loyalty
A second dimension, however, is whether the customer is committed to the brand. Philip Kotler,
again, defines four patterns of behaviour:
Hard-core Loyals - who buy the brand all the time.
Split Loyals - loyal to two or three brands.
Shifting Loyals - moving from one brand to another.
Switchers - with no loyalty (possibly 'deal-prone', constantly looking for bargains or 'vanity prone',
looking for something different).
Factors influencing brand loyalty
It has been suggested that loyalty includes some degree of pre-dispositional commitment toward a
brand. Brand loyalty is viewed as multidimensional construct. It is determined by several distinct
psychological processes and it entails multivariate measurements. Customers' perceived value,
brand trust, customers' satisfaction, repeat purchase behaviour, and commitment are found to be
the key influencing factors of brand loyalty. Commitment and repeated purchase behaviour are
considered as necessary conditions for brand loyalty followed by perceived value, satisfaction, and
brand trust. Fred Reichheld, One of the most influential writers on brand loyalty, claimed that
enhancing customer loyalty could have dramatic effects on profitability. Among the benefits from
brand loyalty — specifically, longer tenure or staying as a customer for longer — was said to be
lower sensitivity to price. This claim had not been empirically tested until recently. Recent research
found evidence that longer-term customers were indeed less sensitive to price increases.
Industrial markets
In industrial markets, organizations regard the 'heavy users' as 'major accounts' to be handled by
senior sales personnel and even managers; whereas the 'light users' may be handled by the general
salesforce or by a dealer.
Portfolios of brands
Andrew Ehrenberg, then of the London Business School said that consumers buy 'portfolios of
brands'. They switch regularly between brands, often because they simply want a change. Thus,
'brand penetration' or 'brand share' reflects only a statistical chance that the majority of customers
will buy that brand next time as part of a portfolio of brands they favour. It does not guarantee that
they will stay loyal.
Influencing the statistical probabilities facing a consumer choosing from a portfolio of preferred
brands, which is required in this context, is a very different role for a brand manager; compared with
the — much simpler — one traditionally described of recruiting and holding dedicated customers.
The concept also emphasises the need for managing continuity.

CAUTIONS
One of the most prominent features of many markets is their overall stability — or marketing inertia.
Thus, in their essential characteristics they change very slowly, often over decades — sometimes
centuries — rather than over months.
This stability has two very important implications. The first is that those who are clear brand leaders
are especially well placed in relation to their competitors and should want to further the inertia
which lies behind that stable position. This, however, still demands a continuing pattern of minor
changes to keep up with the marginal changes in consumer taste (which may be minor to the
theorist but will still be crucial in terms of those consumers' purchasing patterns as markets do not
favour the over-complacent). These minor investments are a small price to pay for the long term
profits which brand leaders usually enjoy.
The second, and more important, is that someone who wishes to overturn this stability and change
the market (or significantly change one's position in it), massive investments must be expected to be
made in order to succeed. Even though stability is the natural state of markets, sudden changes can
still occur, and the environment must be constantly scanned for signs of these.
BRAND ENGAGEMENT
Brand engagement is a term loosely used to describe the process of forming an attachment
(emotional and rational) between a person and a brand. It comprises one aspect of brand
management. What makes the topic complex is that brand engagement is partly created by
institutions and organizations, but is equally created by the perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and
behaviours of those with whom these institutions and organizations are communicating or engaging
with.
As a relatively new addition to the marketing and communication mix, brand engagement sits in the
space between marketing, advertising, media communication, social media, employer branding,
organizational development, internal communications and human resource management.
There is still lack of clarity and debate about whether this is a “soft” or hard measure, and whether it
can be linked to any consumer or employee behaviour change – e.g. sales activity, trial, or
recommendation.
CO-BRANDING
Co-branding refers to several different marketing arrangements:
Co-branding, also called brand partnership, is when two companies form an alliance to work
together, creating marketing synergy. As described in Co-Branding: The Science of Alliance:
"The term 'co-branding' is relatively new to the business vocabulary and is used to encompass a
wide range of marketing activity involving the use of two (and sometimes more) brands. Thus co-
branding could be considered to include sponsorships, where Marlboro lends it name to Ferrari or
accountants Ernst and Young support the Monet exhibition."
Co-branding is an arrangement that associates a single product or service with more than one brand
name, or otherwise associates a product with someone other than the principal producer. The
typical co-branding agreement involves two or more companies acting in cooperation to associate
any of various logos, colour schemes, or brand identifiers to a specific product that is contractually
designated for this purpose. The object for this is to combine the strength of two brands, in order to
increase the premium consumers are willing to pay, make the product or service more resistant to
copying by private label manufacturers, or to combine the different perceived properties associated
with these brands with a single product. Ultimately, co-branding is a strategy built upon a sharing of
brand equity; two partners each contributing some aspect of their brand (permissions, expertise,
distribution, status, etc.) to create an offering that neither could develop as effectively on their own.

BRAND POSITIONING
In marketing, positioning has come to mean the process by which marketers try to create an image
or identity in the minds of their target market for its product, brand, or organization.
Re-positioning involves changing the identity of a product, relative to the identity of competing
products, in the collective minds of the target market.
De-positioning involves attempting to change the identity of competing products, relative to the
identity of your own product, in the collective minds of the target market.
The original work on positioning was consumer marketing oriented, and was not as much focused on
the question relative to competitive products as much as it was focused on cutting through the
ambient "noise" and establishing a moment of real contact with the intended recipient. In the classic
example of Avis claiming "No.2, We Try Harder," the point was to say something so shocking (it was
by the standards of the day) that it cleared space in your brain and made you forget all about who
was #1 and not to make some philosophical point about being "hungry" for business.
The growth of high-tech marketing may have had much to do with the shift in definition towards
competitive positioning. An important component of hi-tech marketing in the age of the world wide
web is positioning in major search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing, which can be
accomplished through Search Engine Optimization, also known as SEO. This is an especially
important component when attempting to improve competitive positioning among a younger
demographic, which tends to be Web oriented in their shopping and purchasing habits as a result of
being highly connected and involved in social media in general.
Although there are different definitions of brand positioning, probably the most common is:
identifying a market niche for a brand, product or service utilizing traditional marketing placement
strategies (i.e. price, promotion, distribution, packaging, and competition).
“Positioning is also defined as the way by which the marketers create an impression in the
customers mind.”
Positioning is a concept in marketing which was first introduced by Jack Trout ( "Industrial
Marketing" Magazine- June/1969) and then popularized by Al Ries and Jack Trout in their bestseller
book "Positioning - The Battle for Your Mind." (McGraw-Hill 1981)
BRAND POSITIONING PROCESS
Effective Brand Positioning is contingent upon identifying and communicating a brand's uniqueness,
differentiation and verifiable value. It is important to note that "me too" brand positioning
contradicts the notion of differentiation and should be avoided at all costs. This type of copycat
brand positioning only works if the business offers its solutions at a significant discount over the
other competitor(s).
Generally, the brand positioning process involves:
Identifying the business's direct competition (could include players that offer your product/service
amongst a larger portfolio of solutions)
Understanding how each competitor is positioning their business today (e.g. claiming to be the
fastest, cheapest, largest, the #1 provider, etc.)
Documenting the provider's own positioning as it exists today (may not exist if startup business)
Comparing the company's positioning to its competitors' to identify viable areas for differentiation
Developing a distinctive, differentiating and value-based positioning concept
Creating a positioning statement with key messages and customer value propositions to be used for
communications development across the variety of target audience touch points (advertising,
media, PR, website, etc.)
PRODUCT POSITIONING PROCESS
Generally, the product positioning process involves:
Defining the market in which the product or brand will compete (who the relevant buyers are)
Identifying the attributes (also called dimensions) that define the product 'space'
Collecting information from a sample of customers about their perceptions of each product on the
relevant attributes
Determine each product's share of mind
Determine each product's current location in the product space
Determine the target market's preferred combination of attributes (referred to as an ideal vector)
Examine the fit between:
The position of your product
The position of the ideal vector
BRAND COMPETITION
Firms marketing differentiated products frequently develop and compete on the basis of brands or
labels. Coca Cola vs. Pepsi-Cola, Levi vs. GWG jeans, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes vs. Nabisco’s Bran Flakes
are a few examples of inter-brand competition. Each of these brands may be preferred by different
buyers willing to pay a higher price or make more frequent purchases of one branded product over
another.
Intra-brand competition is competition among retailers or distributors of the same brand. Intra-
brand competition may be on price or non-price terms. As an example, a pair of Levi jeans may be
sold at a lower price in a discount or specialty store as compared to a department store but without
the amenities in services that a department store provides. The amenities in services constitute
intra-brand non price competition. Some manufacturers seek to maintain uniform retail prices for
their products and prevent intra-brand price competition through business practices such as resale
price maintenance (RPM), in order to stimulate intra-brand non price competition if it will increase
sales of their product.

BRAND STRATEGY
Your brand is more than your logo, name or slogan — it’s the entire experience your prospects and
customers have with your company, produce or service.
It’s what you stand for, a promise you make, and the personality you convey. And while it includes
your logo, color palette and slogan, those are only creative elements that convey your brand.
Instead, your brand lives in every day-to-day interaction you have with your market:
The images you convey
The messages you deliver on your website, proposals and campaigns
The way your employees interact with customers
A customer’s opinion of you versus your competition
Branding is crucial for products and services sold in huge consumer markets. It’s also important in
B2B because it helps you stand out from your competition. It brings your competitive position and
value proposition to life; it positions you as a certain “something” in the mind of your prospects and
customers. Your brand consistently and repeatedly tells your prospects and customers why they
should buy from you.
Think about successful consumer brands like Disney, Tiffany or Starbucks. You probably know what
each brand represents. Now imagine that you’re competing against one of these companies. If you
want to capture significant market share, start with a strong and unique brand identity or you may
not get far.
In your industry, there may or may not be a strong B2B brand. But when you put two companies up
against each other, the one that represents something valuable will have an easier time reaching,
engaging, closing and retaining customers. A strong brand strategy can be a big advantage.
Successful branding also creates “brand equity” – the amount of money that customers are willing to
pay just because it’s your brand. In addition to generating revenue, brand equity makes your
company itself more valuable over the long term.
By defining your brand strategy and using it in every interaction with your market, you strengthen
your messages and relationships.

BEST CASE
NEUTRAL CASE
WORST CASE

Prospects and customers know exactly what you deliver. It’s easy to begin dialogue with new
prospects because they quickly understand what you stand for.

You close deals more quickly because your prospects’ experience with you supports everything you
say.

You can charge a premium because your market knows why you’re better and is willing to pay for it.
The market may not have a consistent view or impression of your product and company, but in
general you think it’s positive.

You haven’t thought a lot about branding because it doesn’t necessarily seem relevant, but you
admit that you can do a better job of communicating consistently with the market.

You’re not helping yourself but you’re not hurting yourself either.
You don’t have a brand strategy and it shows. It’s more difficult to communicate with prospects and
convince them to buy. They don’t have an impression of your product or why it’s better.

What you do, what you say and how you say it may contradict each other and confuse your
prospects.

Competitors who communicate more strongly have a better shot at talking with and closing your
prospective customers.

KEY CONCEPTS AND STEPS

Before you begin
Before working on your brand strategy, make sure you’ve identified your competitive positioning
strategy – your brand strategy will bring it to life.
If you have a brand strategy, make sure it’s as effective as possible
Poll your customers, employees and vendors. Are their impressions consistent with your strategy? If
not, work on the elements you can improve.
Develop your brand around emotional benefits
List the features and benefits of your product / service. A feature is an attribute – a color, a
configuration; a benefit is what that feature does for the customer.
Determine which benefits are most important to each of your customer segments.
Identify which benefits are emotional – the most powerful brand strategies tap into emotions, even
among business buyers.
Look at the emotional benefits and boil them down to one thing that your customers should think of
when they think of you. That’s what your brand should represent.
Define your brand
Think of your brand as a person with a distinct personality. Describe him or her, then convey these
traits in everything you do and create.
Write positioning statements and a story about your brand; use them throughout your company
materials.
Choose colors, fonts and other visual elements that match your personality.
Determine how your employees will interact with prospects and customers to convey the
personality and make sure your brand “lives” within your company.
After Brand Strategy
Together with your competitive positioning strategy, your brand strategy is the essence of what you
represent. A great brand strategy helps you communicate more effectively with your market, so
follow it in every interaction you have with your prospects and customers.
STRATEGIES FOR HARNESSING LOCAL BRAND
Given the complexities of branding for developing markets, how can companies best leverage their
local and global brands to create opportunities? The following sections discuss some strategies.
Strategy #1: Make Your Global Brands
Local Companies such as MTV and HSBC have shown the power of creating a global, recognized
brand that is tailored to individual markets. HSBC uses a decentralized management structure to
ensure that local brands are responsive to their markets, a strategy reflected in its tagline of the
“world’s local bank.” As an indication of the breadth of its reputation, in 2004 HSBC was named
“Global Bank of the Year” by The Banker magazine, the “Most Admired Corporate Brand” by
Asiamoney magazine, and the “World’s Best Bank “ by Euro money. Five years after the launch of
the global brand in the late 1990s, HSBC was already rated among the top 50 global brands. The
HSBC logo may look the same around the world, but this similarity masks the fact that it is seen as a
local brand across more than 90 countries. ”In most countries in which we operate, we are perceived
to be a local brand,” said Aman Mehta, former CEO, in an interview. “It has been a great success
story in branding.” For the strategy to be successful, HSBC has to have a superior product behind the
brand, and operations really have to be local. ”The main point in talking about a local bank is
demonstrating to the customer that you are totally steeped in the local economy,” Mehta said.
“Even if a company talks about being local, it cannot wave a magic wand and become local. People
have to be convinced of that over a very long period of time.” HSBC’s approach can be contrasted to
Citibank, which created a more homogeneous culture and retained its identity as a U.S. bank. Mehta
said that this global brand was not established overnight. “In most of the geographies in which we
operate, we have been working there for a very long time, often 100 to 150 years,” he said. “We
adopted a global brand strategy only when we were quite sure it would be more powerful than local
brands.” When HSBC decided to use a global brand, intense debates resulted. One of the brands in
the UK, Midland, had been in use since the 17th century. But the global brand with a local strategy
prevailed. “This was not done lightly,” he said. In a speech in May 2004, HSBC Holding Group
Chairman Sir John Bond noted that the same telecommunications and other technologies that have
brought developing market outsourcing firms to the developed world are bringing global brands
back home to the developing world. “The value of branding in a globalized world is enormous,” he
said, adding that “brand value will be more profitable than the value gained through off shoring
service jobs.” Recognizing the diverse languages of different parts of the world, MTV has localized its
brand around the world, “Think Young”. MTV India broadcasts primarily in Hindi, the dominant
language of India, but it faces competitors broadcasting in Tamil, Telugu, and Punjabi. The company
is considering launching or acquiring stations to reach listeners who don’t speak Hindi, which is the
primary tongue of only 30 percent of the population. Microsoft created a platform for localizing the
language of its Windows XP software. Through its Local Language Program, the company announced
plans in March 2004 to develop Windows and Office software in 40 languages over the following
year, building on versions in the Ethiopian language of Amharic and Ukrainian and other languages.
The company announced plans in November 2004 to roll out software in the 14 official languages of
India. The brand is still Microsoft, but the experience will be quite different for people in different
regions. This tailoring of the brand to these local “markets within markets,” making it relevant, will
help Microsoft respond to the threat of open-source software such as Linux and expand the use of
computers in these countries. Although they are smaller than the total national market, these local
markets are not small by any means. The Telugu-speaking area in Andhra Pradesh has a population
of nearly 76 million people – a market about the size of Egypt. The Tamil-speaking region of Tamil
Nadu has more than 60 million people, about the population of the UK. As the market matures, MTV
envisions that the Indian market might be treated like Europe, with different programs for different
countries. Plans for Disney’s Hong Kong Disneyland theme park call for local foods and programs in
two Chinese languages in addition to English. Disney also consulted a feng shui master in designing
the park. After learning hard lessons with the initial missteps of Euro Disney, Disney realized that it
needed to find a delicate balance between preserving the attraction of a distinctly American brand
and tailoring the experience to local tastes.
Strategy #2: Use Local Brands to Establish a Market Presence
Local brands can be a great asset, particularly in building a presence in a market. Anheuser-Busch
recognized the value of local brands in acquiring Harbin. HSBC spent a century working with local
brands in different countries before bringing them under the banner of its global brand. Around the
world, Coca-Cola has relied heavily on local brands to go where its flagship brand could not go. By
2004, the company owned more than 400 brands in 200 countries, earning about 70 percent of its
income from outside the U.S. In Africa, the company sells 80 brands, with local beverages such as
Sparletta, Hawai, and Splash. Coke has “taught the world to sing,” but in different languages. In
China, Coca-Cola offers water and tea products under its locally developed Tian Yu Di (“Heaven and
Earth”) brand, a successful carbonated juice-flavoured drink called Smart, and a noncarbonated juice
drink called Qoo, developed in Japan. It became the leading Asian juice drink in just two years. These
global sales are increasingly important to Coca-Cola’s future. While its 2003 sales growth was just 2
percent in the U.S., sales grew 16 percent in China, 22 percent in India, 14 percent in Thailand, and
10 percent in Mexico. Groupe Danone SA, the French-based maker of cookies, yogurt, and mineral
water, built a growing business in China by acquiring shares in local brands and by developing
products for China under its own brand. By 2002, China had become its third-largest market, about
equal to its sales in the U.S. The company reported growth in China of 10 percent over the prior year
and profi ts higher than the global average. Its growth was driven by the acquisition of controlling
stakes in Hangzhou Wahaha Group and Guangdong Robust Group, the leader in the nation’s bottled
water business. eBay has entered India, China, and other parts of the world through local
acquisitions. Its international strategy has been to look for “mini eBays,” local companies that reflect
the spirit of the original online auction company. This includes the acquisitions of EachNet and Baidu
in China, the acquisition of Baazee in India, and a majority stake in Internet Auction Co. in Korea.
Despite eBay’s strong brand recognition around the globe, these local brands represented
particularly important portals into countries with growing Internet presence and limited retail reach.
The complexities for global companies in managing these local brands can be seen in the arrest of
the head of eBay’s Baazee unit in India in 2004 after a pornographic video clip was offered by a seller
on the site. The manager, a U.S. citizen, faced up to five years in jail or a fine of 100,000 rupees
(about $2,285) for violating India’s Information Technology Act. Did the high profile of the parent
brand contribute to the official attention?
Strategy #3: Grow Your Own Local Brands When Possible
As Anheuser-Busch found with Harbin, acquiring local brands can be an expensive strategy. While
some local brands are based on century-old local dynasties, it is possible to create new local brands
that pay close attention to market needs. In India, the detergent brand Nirma was created in the
1960s by Karsan Patel, a chemist who made detergents in his backyard and sold them on a bicycle.
Today, the brand has 15 percent of the Indian detergent market. In response to the success of Nirma
and other brands, Hindustan Lever established its own lowpriced local brand, Wheel, in the 1980s.
This new brand allowed the company to meet the needs of price-sensitive consumers without
eroding the position of its established brands. Wheel, with a freestanding organization, became one
of the dominant brands in the country. Nirma built its brand by recognizing an opportunity in the
consumer shift from lowcost laundry soap to more expensive washing powder in the 1970s.
Hindustan Lever and other major global fi rms concentrated on the high-income segment that was
already using washing powder while most Indians still used economical laundry soaps. The laundry
soap market was large and growing, but no one was making an effort to convert users to washing
powder. Nirma moved into this local vacuum.
Strategy #4: Recognize That Brands May Mean Something Completely Different
Global brands may lose something (or gain something) in translation. Brands that may stand for
certain qualities in the developed world may have a completely different meaning in the developing
world. Companies often expect their established brands to be greeted with open arms as a sign of
development – and sometimes they are. But global brands may be virtually unknown in rural areas,
conveying little advantage. In many cases, the value added by a global brand is homogenized to one
key value proposition – its foreignness. To the extent that this foreignness may add value, the brands
may have value in developing markets, but for different reasons than in the developed market. For
example, fast-food brands such as McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, and KFC are considered upscale in
developing markets. Their Western image raises the level of their brand among customers who want
to be connected to the global village. This is contrary to their image and reputation in the developed
world, where they are near the bottom of the food chain in luxury dining. Because of these
differences in how brands are interpreted, companies need to take care in rolling out brands in the
developing world. Managers need to carefully assess what the brands mean in different regions.
Strategy #5: Address the Liabilities of Global Brands
While global brands appear to have many advantages – such as developed-world cachet and broad
recognition – they also suffer from liabilities. Multinational companies need to address these
liabilities, while local rivals may be able to benefit from them. For example, anti-American
sentiments helped Mecca Cola challenge Coke and Pepsi among Muslim customers in Paris and
other parts of the world. As well as aiding Quibla Cola in the UK and Zamzam Cola in Iran. These
products are purchased by customers who like the appeal of cola but object to “Coca-Colonization.”
The complexity of global and local branding can be seen in the success of Cola Turka in the Turkish
soft drink market. This brand was launched in 2003 with advertising featuring U.S. actor Chevy Chase
(popular in Turkey for his National Lampoon movies). It was a decidedly nationalistic brand
promoted by an American celebrity who sang a traditional Turkish Boy Scout song and a Turkish-
language version of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” in advertising spots. This odd mix of local and
global positioning led to a highly successful launch, provoking signifi cant price cuts by Coca-Cola and
Pepsi. Global brands also have to be careful about attacks on local rivals and sensibilities. When a
Toyota ad in a Chinese magazine showed a Toyota truck towing a Chinese rival up a muddy hill,
Chinese customers were not amused by this direct attack on a local brand. Toyota apologized and
pulled the ads. Similarly, a Nike television ad showing U.S. basketball player LeBron James defeating
a cartoon kung fu master and a pair of dragons was banned by the government for offending the
“national dignity.” Local brands sometimes are helped by local distribution networks and regulators,
who favour local players. Government regulators often side with the local brands over large foreign
rivals. For example, Chinese courts in Beijing ruled against Toyota when it charged that local
competitor Geely had ripped off the Japanese car company’s marquee. The court ruled that the
logos were not that much alike and that consumers were not dumb enough to confuse Geely cars
with pricier Japanese models. Although it is important to recognize the impact of anti-global and
anti-American sentiments on the value of brands, this impact should not be overestimated. As
protesters are throwing rocks at American fast-food restaurants, their compatriots are continuing to
purchase dinner there. A 12-country study of 1,500 consumers by Douglas Holt, John Quelch, and
Earl Taylor found that the “antiglobal” segment (not anti-American) constituted just 13 percent of
the market. “Global citizens,“ who believe global brands, signal high quality, made up 55 percent.
“Global dreamers,” who see global brands as a way to connect with the global village, accounted for
23 percent of the market. This means that nearly 80 percent of the market continues to find value in
global brands.

Strategy #6: Stretch Brands Without Breaking Them

Companies also need to be able to stretch their brands without breaking them. In 2004, Coke moved
out of the major cities in China and India to push deeper into the smaller cities and towns, offering
small bottles and low prices of about 12 U.S. cents per serving. The challenge was to address these
markets without eroding its urban image. One Coca-Cola advertisement for rural Chinese markets
shows a popular comic actor drinking Coca-Cola and closing the ad with a burp. The spot is in sharp
contrast to its urban advertising, which positions Coke as a sophisticated drink for the rising middle
class. While Pepsi has focused more on the cities, Coke holds a 55 percent share of Chinese sodas
overall, compared to 27 percent for Pepsi. But will its more countrified image in rural areas erode
the brand among urban customers? Procter & Gamble was able to navigate this brand-stretching
successfully in China. It moved its Crest toothpaste brand, which held more than half of the high-end
segment by 2000, into the middle and low ends of the market. The company launched a cheaper,
rural offering under the same brand, using cheaper ingredients, priced 30 percent below its
premium brand. Its marketing emphasized cavity protection over the whiter teeth that were
important in the premium segment. Crest’s share of the middle market in China more than doubled
from 5 percent to 12 percent from 2000 to 2002 while its premium products also increased market
share from 5 to 8 percent. Surrogate brands can also be used to stretch brands. Because of
constraints on liquor and cigarette advertising in many parts of the world, companies have launched
surrogate brands. The company can market soda or distilled water under the same brand as the
alcohol. This builds awareness of the brand without violating rules against liquor advertising.
Religious restrictions often require creative solutions to branding. In Islamic countries, women’s
apparel, jewellery, and fashion accessories are advertised without using models because a woman’s
face cannot be shown. Advertisers work around this by showing silhouettes or women with their
faces turned to the side, or they use Western models, because the restrictions don’t apply to them.
These ads can be creative and effective. While typical Western advertising focuses on diamonds and
other jewelry as a sign of caring, such emotional appeals do not work in Islamic markets. Instead,
jewelry is positioned as an expression of wealth, prosperity, and security. Dubai’s Emirates Airline,
using its central location to become one of the fastest-growing airlines in the world, has worked
around concerns about hiring Muslim women as flight attendants by relying primarily on foreigners.
Strategy #7: Put the Brand on Wheels (or Legs)
To develop brands in rural villages, companies have used banner advertisements on elephants and
video vans to build brand awareness. Colgate-Palmolive, for example, drives vans into rural villages
to build brand and product category awareness. These vans, designed to introduce villagers in India
to the concept of brushing teeth, show half-hour infomercials on the benefits of toothpaste and
then distribute free samples. Whereas the company might fight for a share of the supermarket
shelves in cities or developed markets, in these rural villages, competition comes from local
preparations made from charcoal powder and the neem tree. These local rivals have a significant
advantage in distribution because their products can be found in the surrounding countryside.
Companies also team up with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to promote tooth brushing or
other aspects of personal hygiene by combining product promotion with social action. In media
deprived areas of the world, brands may rely much more on word of mouth and village leaders to
develop the brand.
Brands on the Run
Branding in emerging markets defines simple formulas. These markets are neither entirely local nor
entirely global, but a mix of global, national, and local brands. The success of small local brands can
build new national and even global brands, such as Samsung, LG, and Haier. For certain segments
and products, global brands are more appealing, but even these needs to be positioned and tailored
to local culture and tastes. The important thing is to recognize that markets tend to be more
fragmented and branding and positioning more localized than in developed markets. It may seem
obvious that companies need to think about their branding strategy country by country and even
local market by local market within countries. Companies need to develop a coherent portfolio of
global and local brands. Such portfolios are apparent on the websites of companies with
sophisticated global branding strategies, such as LG Electronics and Sony. They offer diverse home
pages tailored to different countries showing different languages, customers, and products based on
the country’s specific needs. While LG Electronics’ overall tagline “Life’s good” is the same, what a
“good life“ means is interpreted market by market. In contrast to this extensive tailoring, some
companies merely translate language or have only a local identity online. The portfolio of global and
local brands should be shaped by the company’s brands and the demands and characteristics of
specific markets within a given country. Companies need to become skilled at managing and
balancing these complex portfolios based on insights from specific parts of the market. One key is to
understand the roots of success for products and brands that are already successful in each market
and to recognize that brands may have different meanings in these markets. What makes these
brands attractive to this specific segment?
RESULTS
The brand as business management approach delivers quantitative and qualitative results in all
business areas -- top-line, bottom-line, and behind the scenes.
Attracting and retaining more customers because your offerings are grounded in rich insights about
how to meet changing demand
Sustaining price premiums and higher margins because customers prefer you
Strengthening competitive advantage by leveraging market relevance and differentiation
Increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of business processes by reducing conflicts and silo
thinking within the organization
Increasing the market value of the business to investors and M&A prospects based on the stronger
customer equity, more efficient business processes, and intangibles/“goodwill” which a brand
produces
Experiencing better results in employee recruiting, training, and retention
shoring up negotiation power with suppliers, channels, etc. due to a stronger market position
Having more significant and lasting impact by explaining why you do what you do in a way that gives
more meaning to your relationships with customers and stakeholders alike
CONCLUSION
This project has examined the key principles that make up the fundamentals of branding. By
exploring marketing concepts and trends, it aims to equip the reader with an understanding of how
to apply these principles to the ongoing management of a brand. The process of creating and
developing brands is not necessarily a linear one. It requires good teamwork and an understanding
of the many skills and disciplines that play a part in creating and maintaining a brand. For example,
the designer needs to understand the writing and narrative process; the strategist must understand
how the creative teams work; the creative team needs to understand the business vision and
reasoning. Brand projects work well when each skill is translated to the other and there is a sharing
of ideas and cross-working. Good teamwork also makes the process fun. Essentially, however,
branding is about communicating on many different levels. The brand must communicate to the
audience in a relevant and effective way. There must also be clear communication from those who
manage the brand, to its stakeholders. There must be good communication between the client and
agency. And there must be effective communication within the brand creation team. A strong brand
will also encourage its audience to communicate positively about it. Any sustainable organisation
needs ongoing brand management as part of its business. Branding is not a short-term, quick-hit
process – a brand must be managed from its inception and throughout its lifetime. The launch is only
the start. It is an area that is still evolving within many organisations, but is increasingly being
understood as a fundamental part of any organisation. However, branding is not about following a
trend or particular way of speaking. It is about innovation, translating ideas, understanding your
audience, and communicating in the most effective way possible. Take the time to build up your
knowledge and experience of brands, no matter which area you choose to specialise in. Stay on top
of the trends by staying informed of social and cultural influences, and of trends among the brands
you see. Don’t limit yourself to working with one client or one company – the best experience is
gained by working across different brands and across different sectors. And seek inspiration for ideas
from unusual places. Branding is an exciting area to work in. Enjoy it.

FUTURE PROSPECTS
Our society is in the process of a transformation after enduring some rapid and shocking changes,
such as the collapse of the financial system and the stark realisation that our resource needs will not
be met if we continue to consume at our current rate. This is already having a huge impact on
business. It is likely that the coming decade will also be a transformative decade for brands as
companies reposition during an economic downturn to offer products and services in new ways.
New business models and areas such as the development of digital technologies will also inevitably
affect the way that brands are being managed. A brand will need to stay relevant and true to its
audience across a number of different markets and mediums.
Yet the key qualities of creating a good brand remain – the ability to formulate and deliver on the
brand promise; to understand the ever-changing, knowledgeable customer base and market; and
deliver a consistent and pleasing experience of the brand through all brand touch points. Areas such
as partnership and collaboration that potentially minimise risk will be on the increase, as will the
need to measure, evaluate and recognise the return on brand building investment. Measurement
may be divided across the different channels of media and community. However, there is likely to be
a resurgence in the need to gauge a brand’s reputation and trust among its stakeholders, as this has
become a key concern for consumers. Many people now look beyond the brand to understand the
workings and reputation of the business behind it. The emphasis in the coming years will also focus
on how the brand is communicated. Brands need to continually communicate in an economic
slowdown – rather than cut budget in this area. They need to communicate on issues such as
environmental sustainability and inform consumers (and other stakeholders) how they are dealing
with issues such as climate change. They need to communicate and adapt to new areas of
technology to create new brand experiences and ensure that the brand is at the forefront of the
next generation.
Many of the challenges faced by large brands today will also impact smaller brands as they grow and
adapt to changing landscapes. It is important that the fundamentals are understood at the outset of
any brand building: clarity, consistency and simplicity in communications and execution are key,
coupled with a long-term vision and the flexibility to adapt to an ever-changing brand environment.
The ability for a brand to remain authentic and true to its core values often becomes more
challenging as the brand grows and expands. But today, in a world where communication is multi-
channel and multidimensional, it is those brands that have a simple, strong message coupled with a
great experience that will stand out. This also makes the brand easier to recall and for word to
spread about it among those loyal to it. To achieve this, brands need to work with their audiences, to
continually innovate and to remain true to themselves.
REFERENCE AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

Internet
Google
Wikipedia
Library Genesis
Marketsci.highwire.org
www.scribd.com
www.deniseleeyohn.com

Books
Marketing Management – Philip Kotler, Kevin Lane Keller, Abraham Koshy, Mithileshwar Jha
Brands and Branding – Rita Clifton and John Simmons
The Fundamentals of Branding – Melissa Davis
Strategic Brand Management – Kevin Lane Keller, M.G. Parameswaran, Isaac Jacob
What is Branding? – Matthew Healey