Chapter D.

Choosing brand elements to build brand equity

Brand elements/identities = those trademarkable devices that serve to identify and differentiate the brand. The
main ones are brand names, URLs, logos, symbols, characters, spokespeople, slogans, jingles, packages, and
signage. The CBBE model suggests that marketers should choose brand elements to enhance brand awareness;
facilitate the formation of strong, favourable, and unique brand associations; or elicit positive brand judgments and
feelings. The test of brand-building ability of an element is what consumers would think/feel about the product if
they knew only that particular element and nothing else about it.
Criteria for choosing brand elements
Memorability, meaningfulness, and likability are the marketer’s offensive strategy and build brand equity.
Transferability, adaptability, and protectability play a defensive role for leveraging and maintaining brand equity in
the face of different opportunities and constraints.
Memorability: brand elements that promote the achievement of a high level of brand awareness are inherently
memorable and attention-getting and therefore facilitate recall/recognition in purchase/consumption settings.
Meaningfulness: two important criteria are how the brand element conveys general information about the function
of the product or service (determinant of brand awareness and salience) and specific information about particular
attributes and benefits of the brand (determinant of brand image and positioning).
Likability: do customers find the brand element aesthetically appealing?
A memorable, meaningful, and likable set of brand elements is advantageous because consumers often do not
examine much information in making product decisions. Descriptive and persuasive elements reduce the burden on
marketing communications to build awareness and link brand associations and equity. The less concrete the possible
product benefits are, the more important is the creative potential of the brand name and other brand elements to
capture intangible characteristics of a brand.
Transferability = the extent to which the brand element adds to the brand equity for new products or in new
markets for the brand. How useful is the brand element for line or category extensions? The less specific the name,
the more easily it can be transferred across categories. To what extent does the brand element add to brand equity
across geographic boundaries and market segments? This depends on the cultural content and linguistic qualities of
the brand element.
Adaptability: because of changes in consumer values and opinions, or because of a need to remain contemporary,
most brand elements must be updated. The more adaptable and flexible the brand element, the easier it is to update
it.
Protectability = the extent to which the brand element is protectable in a legal and competitive sense. Marketers
should choose elements than can be legally protected internationally, formally register them with the appropriate
legal bodies, and vigorously defend trademarks from unauthorized competitive infringement. The brand must also
be competitively protectable.
Options and tactics for brand elements
An ideal brand name is easily remembered, highly suggestive of the product class and the benefits services, fun,
interesting, creative, transferable to a variety of products/settings, enduring and relevant over time, and strongly
protectable. However, the more meaningful the name, the more difficult it is to use in other cultures. Therefore it is
preferable to have multiple brand elements.
Brand names
The brand name captures the central theme/key associations of a product in a very economical fashion. Because it is
closely tied to the minds of consumers, it is the most difficult element for marketers to change. Like any brand
element, brand names must be chosen with the six general criteria of memorability, meaningfulness, likability,
transferability, adaptability, and protectability in mind.
Brand names that are simple and easy to pronounce and spell, familiar and meaningful, and different, distinctive and
unusual can improve brand awareness.
Simplicity reduces the effort consumers have to make to comprehend the brand name. To encourage word-of-
mouth, they should also be easy to pronounce. The way a brand is pronounced can affect its meaning, so consumers
may take away different perceptions if ambiguous pronunciation results in different meanings. Brand names may
use alliteration (Coleco), assonance (Ramada), consonance (Hamburger Helper), rhythm (Better Business Bureau) or
employ onomatopoeia (Ping golf clubs) to be pleasant.
Familiarity and meaningfulness: the brand name can be concrete or abstract in meaning. The brand name may
suggest the product category (JuicyJuice) or link to a word the consumer already knows (Fiesta).
Differentiated, distinctive, and unique: recognition depends on consumers’ ability to differentiate between brands.
Distinctive names makes recognition and learning intrinsic product information easier. The name must however also
be credible and desirable to the product category.
The meaning consumers extract from the brand name are important because it is a compact form of communication.
The name can be chosen to reinforce an important attribute or benefit association that makes up its positioning. It
can also communicate more abstract considerations (e.g. Caress soap or Obsessions perfume). Consumers will find
it easier to believe that a laundry detergent adds fresh scent if it has a descriptive name like Blossom than something
neutral like Circle. However, when you later want to emphasize that the detergent fights tough stains, the name
Blossom doesn’t fit well anymore.
Therefore it is important when choosing a meaningful name to consider the possibility of later repositioning and the
necessity of linking other associations.
Morpheme = the smallest linguistic unit having meaning, e.g. real words like ‘man’ and prefixes, suffixes, or roots,
(Nissan Sentra = Central + Sentry). Plosives are letters like b, c, d, and k that make names direct and less abstract,
while sibilants like s and c sound softer and tend to make names more romantic and serene. The actual font may
also change impressions.
Naming procedure:
1. Define objectives in terms of the six criteria, and define the ideal meaning of the brand. Also understand its
role within the entire marketing program and the market;
2. Generate names, as many as possible;
3. Screen initial candidates against the branding objectives an considerations identified in step 1 and apply
the test of common sense (are they pronounceable, do they have double meanings, etc.);
4. Study candidate names by collecting more extensive information about them;
5. Research the final candidates by consumer testing;
6. Select the final name that maximizes the firm’s branding and marketing objectives and then formally
register it.
URLs/domain names
Many URLs are already registered nowadays. Companies may choose their brand names based on the URLs still
available. Cybersquatting/domain squatting = registering a domain name with bad-faith intent to profit from the
goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else and then selling it at a higher price to that someone. Brand recall
is critical for URLs because it increases the likelihood that consumers easily remember the URL to get to the site.
Logos and symbols
Logos have a long history as a means to indicate origin, ownership, or association. They range from word marks
with text only, to entirely abstract designs (called symbols). Abstract logos can be quite distinctive and thus
recognizable. The danger is that consumers don’t understand what the logo represents.
Advantages of logos are that they are easily recognized and thus can be used to identify a brand, that they are
versatile (because they are often nonverbal, they can be used in every country), that they offer advantages when the
full brand name is difficult to use (e.g. when it is very long), and that they can be easily adapted over time to achieve
a more contemporary look.
Characters
Characters represent a type of brand symbol that takes on human or real-life characteristics (e.g. Pillsbury
Doughboy or Peter Pan peanut butter). Because they are often colorful and rich in imagery, they tend to be attention
getting and useful for generating brand awareness. Their human element can enhance likeability and help create
perceptions of the brand as fun and interesting. Consumers find it easy to build a relation with a brand when the
brand has a character. Also, characters do not grow old and can’t be ethically wrong like real spokespersons. They
can easily be transferred across categories. A disadvantage is that they can be liked so much that they get all the
attention and dampen brand awareness.
Slogans
Slogans = short phrases that communicate descriptive or persuasive information about the brand. They are an
extremely efficient, shorthand methods to build brand equity. They can help build brand awareness by playing off
the brand name in some way (e.g. The Citi never sleeps) or make strong links between the brand and the category
(e.g. Television for women). Substitutions of the tag line can emphasize different ad campaigns (e.g. Nike women:
Here I am, instead of the regular slogan Nike: Just do it).
Slogans can play of the brand image to build both awareness and image (Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s
Maybelline), or contain product-related messages and other meanings (It takes a little more to make a Champion 
Champion sportswear is made with extra care or Champion is related to top athletes). Some slogan’s become very
strongly linked to the brand and become very successful (e.g. Mastercard’s ‘Priceless’). However, the slogan can
quickly become overexposed and lose specific meaning. Then consumers do not think about what it means anymore.
An old slogan can also prevent a brand from changing. When changing:
 Recognize how it is contributing to brand equity (through enhanced awareness or image);
 Decide how much of this equity enhancement is still needed;
 Retain the needed or desired equities still residing in the slogan as much as possible while providing new
twists necessary to contribute to equity in other ways.
Jingles
Jingles = musical messages written about the brand with the potential to be registered in consumers’ minds. They
are not nearly as transferable as other elements because they often convey product meaning in an indirect and
abstract way. They might create potential associations for the brand which are most likely to relate to feelings,
personality and other intangibles.
Packaging
Packaging = the activities of designing and producing containers or wrappers for a product. They must achieve a
number of objectives:
 Identify the brand;
 Convey descriptive and persuasive information;
 Facilitate product transportation and protection;
 Assist in at-home storage;
 Aid product consumption.
The packaging must be aesthetically appealing but also structural designed (e.g. easy to open). The package can
become an important means of brand recognition and convey information to build or reinforce valuable brand
associations. Structural package innovations can create a POD that permits a higher margin. The right packaging can
create strong appeal on the store shelf and help products stand out from the clutter. Some customers decide which
item they buy on the packaging (last five seconds of marketing).
Packaging innovations can lower costs and/or improve demand. On the supply side, more eco-friendly packages are
developed, while on the demand side, innovations can provide a short-term sales boost. Specialized designers bring
artistic techniques and scientific skills to package design in an attempt to meet the marketing objectives of a brand.
The shelf impact = the visual effect the package has at the point of purchase when consumers see it in the context of
other packages in the category.
Firms change their packaging:
 To signal a higher price or to more effectively sell products through new or shifting distribution channels;
 When a significant product line expansion would benefit from a common look;
 To accompany a new product innovation to signal changes to consumers;
 When the old package looks outdated.
Putting it all together
Each brand element can play a different role in building brand equity, so marketers mix and match to maximize
brand equity. Brand identity = the entire set of brand elements and their contribution to awareness and image. The
cohesiveness of the identity depends on the consistency of the brand elements. Although the actual product or
service itself is critical in building a strong brand, the right elements can be invaluable in developing brand equity.