Book review on

“UNDERSTANDING
BRANDS”
Authored by:- PETER
CHEVERTON

By:- Ms. Rachna Marcus

 This book helps to understand
 What a brand is and what it can do.
 The brand as an emotional charge.
 The brand as a personality.
 Branding and business strategy.
 How to position a brand or extend it.
 The importance of advertising.
 What is a brand?
Particular make of goods.
Trade mark, label, characteristic,
kind etc.
Identifying mark to impress
unforgettably.
 Why brand is needed?
 A good brand will make the customer feel
good about the choice they have made to buy
and use the commodity.
 Managing the changing purpose of brands is
the essence of good marketing through good
communication.
 Examples used

 Persil:- (washing powder) stains.

 Levi strauss-(formal mens wear) discount.
 Dyson:- (vaccum cleaner).
 Ben & jerry’s:- (ice cream).
 Virgin atlantic:- (baby sitting).
 Nestle:- (kitkat).
 Cadbury:- (for everyone one).
 History of brand

 Born in 19th century as marks of authenticity.

 USP (unique selling proposition) was born.
 1950- David Ogilvy and in 1960 J.Walter
Thompson realised the importance of brands.
Expectations from a good brand
 Brand as an emotional charge-logo, picture, beliefs,
ideas & thoughts.
 As a promise of performance in use.
 As satisfaction: pleasure or fulfilment in use-persil
(washing clothes)
 As a social expression: jaguars cars, barbours coats
targeting the right people, young people.
 As a personality-star, politician, host etc.
 As a mark of loyalty; quality relationship between
suppliers and customers.
 As an evidence of your unique competitive
advantage.
 Result of emotional charge

 What that brand does to build its image- brand

activity.
 How customers relate to the brand- customer
interaction by price paid, freedom of purchase,
customer’s desire to make a statement.
 Increasing brand significance
 A market builder.
 A business improver.
 Turned into the business environment.
 A performance enhancer.
 Steady as rock.
 Easy to do business with.
 Cost reducer.
 Price buster.
 Brand management

 Successful brand at wrong place can be

damaging as a flop, brake to the business. E.g.
Toyota in America.
 Business strategy:- operational excellence;
product leadership; customer intimacy.
 Brand positioning-securing place in
the customer’s mind

 Under-positioning- no space in minds.

 Over-positioning- handful customers.
 Confused positioning- many things at a time.
 Doubtful positioning- most gullible will
become the customers.
 Characteristics of a good
brand/summary
 Based on a proposition of genuine substance.
 Communicates a clear and powerful brand definition.
 Communicates a clear ‘emotional charge’.
 Communicates an attractive and relevant personality.
 Wins, builds and retains customer loyalty.
 Held high esteem by the target customer.
 Communicates and evidences a unique match
between the company’s capabilities and the
customer’s needs.
 Source of competitive advantage.
 Has values that can be applied consistently and
successfully to all parts of marketing mix and through
all promotional media.
 Makes people want to get their hands on it.
 Learnings from the book
 Ever business has to think a lot about to create
a brand of its product whose image will retain
in the minds of the customers.
 Creativity is a must. Additional features must
be added as time passes otherwise other
competitors will snatch the position.
 It was a very nice experience to read this book.
Thank you.