Branding Exam Notes

Lesson 1: Introduction to Branding

Product: ‘anything we offer to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that
might satisfy a need or a want’

Example: Coke is a low value product selling at a high frequency

Product Categories

• SEARCH GOODS: consumers use visual inspection to evaluate product attributes, e.g.
sturdiness, size, color, style, design, weight, ingredient composition.

• EXPERIENCE GOODS: consumers have to try and experience goods because they
cannot assess the product’s attributes with a visual inspection.

• CREDENCE GOODS: consumers rarely learn any product attributes (e.g. insurance
coverage).

FIVE Levels of Product Meaning

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• CORE BENEFIT LEVEL: the fundamental need or want that consumers satisfy by
consuming the product or service.

• GENERIC PRODUCT LEVEL: the basic version of the product containing only those
attributes or characteristics that are absolutely necessary for its functioning, but with no
distinguishing features.

• EXPECTED PRODUCT LEVEL: a set of attributes that buyers normally expect and agree
to, when they purchase a product.

• AUGMENTED PRODUCT LEVEL:

includes additional
attributes, benefits or related services that distinguish the product from competitors.

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• POTENTIAL PRODUCTLEVEL: includes all the augmentations and transformations that
a product might ultimately undergo in the future

• David Ogilvie: “the intangible sum of a product’s attributes.”

• Jeff Bezos: “Your Brand is what people talk about you when you are not in the room”

• American Marketing Association, AMA: “a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a

combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or
group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of the competition.”
• Seth Godin: “the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken
together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over
another.

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Roles Brands play to consumers

• Helps consumers to organize their knowledge (e.g.

image, quality, reputation) about products and
services, enabling the consumers to make decisions.

• Helps consumers to perceive differences among

various brands in a product category.

• Identification of product source, assigns responsibility

to product maker, reduces risk, reduces search cost,
creates a promise / bond / pact between consumer
and product maker, offers a symbolic device, is signal
of quality.

• A brand resides in the mind of consumers. Always

remember: consumers own the brand (...), not the
manufacturer!

Reading Class 1

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Consumer-Psychology Brand Model

• Identifying: refers to searching for, being exposed to, and collecting information about
the brand, its category and related brands.

• Experiencing: refers to sensory perceptions of the brand, brand affect, and

participatory experience with the brand.

• Integrating: refers to the combination / summary of brand information in an overall

brand concept, personality or relationship with the brand.

• Signifying: refers to using the brand as informational cue, identity signal and cultural
symbol.

• Connecting: includes forming an attitude toward the brand, being personally attached
to it and connecting with the brand on brand community level.

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Brand Consumption

• People usually do not appreciate changes which brings them to buy the same brand
over and over if they give the same expected value

Q1: What does the product offer?

Q2: What do people need?
Q3: What social changes are integrated?
Example.: Toyota electric cars in 2018

Changes in Brands: Does it damages brand identity?

Example.: T-Mobile

Product Decision RISKS

*Perfomance/functional: Pool net was not the size expected

*Social: Ford
*Psychological: Drinking/Drugs
*Physical: Samsung explosive
*Financial: kills confidence by lying about a product
*Time: Kodak (wiped by competition)

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External role brand fulfils for manufacturers

• brands help to teach consumers ‘who’ the product is (image, product identity),
• what the product stands for,
• what the product does,
• why the product is special and what its unique associations are,
• what the quality level of the product is,
• how it is different from other branded products, (identification, label), and why
consumers should care.
• In addition, brands can be targeted at specific market segments.

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Internal role brand fulfils for manufacturers

• brand identification enables a simplification of product handling and product tracing,

• branding enables the legal protection of the brand’s unique features,
• branding is a source of competitive advantage,
• branding is a source of above-average financial return (product’s profit margin, firm’s
brand value).

Example of Brand Statement of Procter & Gamble

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The Power of Branding and Image

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Lesson 2: Brand Equity and Brand Positioning

Physical Risks

• Come up with a clean name

Would you work in a company that sells something deadly?

• Cigarettes
• “One Chip Challenge”

Note.: some of the most dangerous products sometimes are children oriented
Example.: Listerine – started as a medical product and then launched itself as cleaning product
before coming up with oral product

Readings Class 2

• Brand only exists in your mind!

• Your costumer owns your brand not you!

The Brand in the Customer’s Mind

• Brand Awareness: the extent and ease to which customers recall and recognize the
brand and can identify the products and services with which it is associated.

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 • Brand Associations: the strength, favorability and uniqueness of the brand in terms of
its quality and the satisfaction it generates.

• Brand Attitudes: overall evaluations of the brand in terms of its quality and the
satisfaction it generates.

– Implicit / Emotional Brand Attitude: e.g. Nike = victory, success, authentic.

– Explicit/ Rational Brand Attitude: e.g. Nike = comfort shoes, quality clothing,
superior design, superior performance, recognizable logo.

• Brand Attachment: how loyal the customer feels towards the brand.

• Brand Activity or Experience: the extent to which customers use the brand, talk to
others about the brand, seek out brand information, promotions, events, etc.

Brand Equity Mode: Readings class 2

• Every step influences the other

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Brand Credibility, Commitment and Loyality intentions on BE

Brand Perceived Brand Brand

Awareness Quality Associations Loyalty

1. Customer-Based Brand Equity

Branding is all about creating differences and endowing products and services with the power
of brand equity.

• Customer-based Brand Equity: differential effect brand knowledge has on consumer

response to the marketing of that brand. Occurs when consumers have a high level of
awareness and familiarity with the brand and hold strong, favorable and unique brand
associations in their memory.

• Positive Brand Equity: consumers react more favorably to the marketing mix (5Ps) for
the brand than when it is attributed to a fictitiously named/unnamed version of the
product or service.

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1.1 Advantages Customer Based BE

• Improved perceptions of product / service performance.

• Less vulnerability to competitive marketing actions.
• Less vulnerability to marketing crises.
• Larger product and service profit margins.
• More inelastic consumer response to price increases.
• Greater trade cooperation and support.
• Possible licensing opportunities.
• Increased marketing communication effectiveness.
• Additional brand extension opportunities.
• Greater customer loyalty and less customer retention cost.

Brand Equity Framework

1. Brand Awareness

• Deep Brand Awareness: the depth of brand awareness measures how likely it is for a
brand element to come to mind and the ease with which it does so. A brand we easily
recall has a deeper level of brand awareness than one we recognize only when we see
it. Increase it by intensifying communication.

• Broad Brand Awareness: the broadness of brand awareness measures the range of
purchase and usage situations in which the brand element comes to mind. It depends
to a large extent on the organization of brand and product knowledge in the

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 consumer’s memory. Increase it by communicating other consumption situations
possibilities for the products.

• Create Brand Awareness: increase the familiarity of the brand through repeated
exposure; increase seeing it, hearing it, thinking about it and thus register the brand
in memory (more effective for brand recognition than for brand recall)

1.1. Advantages of BA

• Learning Advantages: Brand Awareness influences the formation and strength of the
associations that make up the brand image.

• Consideration Advantages: Raising Brand Awareness increases the likelihood that the
brand will be a member of the consumer’s consideration set (the handful of brands
the consumer seriously considers for a purchase).

• Choice Advantages: Creating a high level of Brand Awareness affects the consumer’s
choices among brands in the consideration set (consumers often buy more familiar,
well-established brands).

1.2. Differences Brand Recognition and Brand Recall

• Brand Recognition: the consumer’s ability to confirm prior exposure to the brand
when given the brand as a cue.

• Brand Recall: the consumer’s ability to retrieve the brand from memory when given
the product category, the needs fulfilled by the category, or the purchase or usage
situation as a cue.

2. Brand Image and Brand Associations

• Brand Image: is the consumer perception about a brand; link strong

brand associations to a brand in the consumer’s memory.

• Brand Associations consist of Brand Attributes & Brand Benefits.

o Brands Associations are strengthened by the consumers’s

personal relevance and the consistency of the information that
is presented.

• Create Brand Attributes and Benefit Associations by:

– Direct experiences of the consumer with the brand (strongest).

– Word-of-mouth.
– Company-influenced information, e.g. advertising (weakest).

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Readings 2

• Brand resonance model: describes how to create intense, activity loyal relationships
with customers.

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Measurements

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Reading 2c): Brand Equity vs Customer Equity

Customer Equity

The sum of the lifetime values of all customers.

How to maximize customer equity:

– First invest in highest-value customers.

– Transform product management into customer management.
– Add-on sales and cross-selling to customers.
– Reduce customer acquisition costs.
– Measure customer equity gains/losses vs marketing programs.
– Relate branding to customer equity.
– Monitor the intrinsic retainability of your customers.
– Write separate marketing plans for acquisition and retention.

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 Competition and Brand Positioning

Market Lifecyle Model

Boston Consultancy Market Analysis

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• Cash Cow to Question Mark: Use profit to develop new products and services and
launch these in the market
• Question Mark to Star: New product or service is a winner and becomes a star
• Star to Cash Cow: When the market growth stagnates, the star becomes the new cash
cow

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Competitive Advantage

• Superior performance: the products and services of a firm are either unique, either
lowest cost, or both, compared to other suppliers and as perceived by the customers.

• The benefits of superior performance: the customers will pay a price above the
average market price for the products and services of the firm, resulting in an above
average profit.

BRANDS CREATE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

BRAND USES PRODUCT PERFORMANCE

– The brand is leader in its product category and offers leading-edge products due to continual
innovation and sophisticated mass marketing (e.g. Apple, Gillette, Merck).

BRAND USES CONSUMER UNDERSTANDING

– The brand is leader in its product category by understanding consumer motivations and
desires, and by creating relevant and appealing images around the product (e.g. Coca-Cola).

Angles of competition

• Same base technology / business model, same buyer need / desire = the company is
a direct competitor.

• Same base technology / business model, different buyer need / desire = the company
offers an alternative usage.

• Different base technology / business model, same buyer need / desire = the company
offers a substitute.

• Different base technology / business model, different buyer need / desire = the
company is no competitor.

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Elements of the Brand Planning

• Brand positioning model: describes how to guide integrated marketing to create a

unique brand association, and position the brand versus its competitors to create a
competitive advantage. Gives consumers compelling reasons to buy the brand

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• Be Unique
• Fit your position to your image

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Lesson 3: Brand Design and Brand Building

The Key Steps in Branding

1. Brand personality / identity

– How should the target group experience our brand?

2. Brand design
– How do we communicate our brand identity?

3. Brand image
– How does the target group experience the brand?

4. Brand building
– How to establish and grow a brand in the target group?

Functional and Symbolic Brands

Functional brand

– Satisfies immediate and practical needs of the user

– Scores low on prestige and personality expression scales
– Brands: Omega watch, Casio watch, Opel car, Ford car

Can tell status

What does the target want?
Brand has to be consistent/authentic = unique, original, real, trustworthy

Symbolic brand

– Satisfies symbolic needs of ego, self-expression and prestige

– Tells you about the social status of the user
– Brands: Louis Vuiton handbag, Rolex watch, Patek Philippe watch
Brand Personality

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You build your brand based on Brand Personality!

• Key way to differentiate a brand in a product category, as a central driver of consumer

preference and usage, and as a common denominator that can be used to market a
brand across cultures.

• Refers to the process of ascribing human characteristics to a brand.

• Consumer brand relationships can be based on consumers perceiving brands as having

human personality traits.

• It can be a vehicle to express a person’s self, represent relationships, and even

communicate attributes.

• It can provide a point of sustainable differentiation since it is very difficult (and often
ineffective) to copy a ‘personality’.

• It sets up expectations and when customers relate to brands in human terms they
form longitudinal emotional relationships.

Example.: Dutch beer: story in the bottle

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Brand Personality 5 Dimensions

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Brand Personality Colours

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Can Barbie be BLUE? NOOO
- colors also identify a brand communicate their personality

Picking a name/logo/color

• Requires knowledge
• Requires Marketing Research
• Requires Analytics

Example that went bad: Sisi copied fanta’s colors

Brand Design Pyramid: FANTA

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 Brand Archetypes

A brand archetype is the representation of a brand as a person and is based on 12 key human
desires and values. The idea behind creating your archetype is to build a brand narrative and
create an emotional connection with your target audience.

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Comparative Brand Personality Matrix

Elements uniquely associated to a brand in the consumer’s mind

Brand Logos and

URls
Names Symbols

Characters Slogans Jingles

Packaging

Brand Name Development Process

Offensive brand building criteria

– Memorable: easily recognized and recalled.
– Meaningful: descriptive and persuasive.
– Likable: fun, interesting, rich visual and verbal imagery.

Defensive brand building criteria

– Transferable: within/across product categories and areas.
– Adaptable: flexible and updatable.
– Protectable: legally and competitively.

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Brand Name Category Grid

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Descriptive Suggestive and Arbitrary Names

Descriptive brand name: tells consumers exactly what kind of product they buy.
– Google Maps
– Pizza Hut
– General Motors
– Salesforce.com
– Netflix
– Cartoon Network
– Sports Illustrated
– Weather Channel

Suggestive (associative) brand name: tell consumers something about the product / service.
– Twitter
– JetBlue
– Facebook
– Pinterest
– Groupon
– eBay
– YouTube

Arbitrary (neological) brand name: has no real connection with product / service. Could be a
completely new term.
– Apple
– Viking
– Yahoo!
– Virgin
– Starbucks
– Haagen Dazs

Brand Name/Logo text style

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Requirements effective Brand Names

• Distinctive: unique, differentiated, memorable

• Simple: short, easy to pronounce and recognize
• Meaningful: reinforces the essence of the brand
• Protectable: owned, trademarked, domain name
• Positive: serves positive connotations in market
• Visual: suitable for graphic applications.
• Modular: enables easy brand extensions.
• Future-oriented: fits with growth and change.

Deliberately misspelled Brand Names

• The marketing tactic has gained traction, as strategists consider the misspelled
names to be memorable, easier to trademark and to register web domains. And they
hope to convey a product as being 'trendy' or 'young'

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Crucial Brand Name Mistakes

• Amateur word: you or your friends’ idea/choice.

• Worn-out words: e.g. innovation, solution.
• English dictionary words only: scarce, translation.
• Initials: require huge communication budgets.
• Dull, standard words: e.g. extra, new, better.
• Difficult words: customers can’t figure brand out.
• Composition multi-words: name is confusing.

Brand Logos and

URls
Names Symbols

Characters Slogans Jingles

Packaging

Brand Mantra / Slogan / Promise

• A short and simple 2-to-5-word phrase that captures the clear essence, spirit and
promise of the brand’s positioning.

• The slogan guides manufacturers regarding:

– What products to introduce under their brands.
– What marketing communications campaigns to run.
– Where and how to sell their brands.

Brand Mantra Considerations

Simple:
– BM should be memorable, short, crisp and vivid.
– 2-3 word BM most economical to convey positioning.

Inspire:
– BM taps into higher-level meaning consumers.
– BM taps into higher-level meaning employees.

Communication:
– BM defines brand’s category and business’ boundaries.
– BM clarifies what is unique about the brand.

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Brand Mantra Elements

Brand Association Network

Packaging

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Necessary Packaging Information

• Brand name, sub brand name, producer

• Product name, test indication, origin
• Photo, illustration, shop window product
• Special information, e.g. natural, biologic
• Required: weight, number, content
• Ingredients, nutrional value, EAN-code
• How to use and prepare, recipes, tips
• Latest date, symbols: recycle, deep-freeze
• How to open, how to close
• Product promotions: e.g. extra content
• Marketing promotions: save for ....

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Lesson 4: New Brand Market Introduction

Marketing Segmentation

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a model for understanding the motivations for human
behavior. It maps different motivations onto a pyramid, with each level representing a
different human need.

Is branding possible in vegetables? IMPORTANCE OF PODS

=> Example of premium tomato Looye sauce that targets a niche

Market Segment (note: going to small segment is waste of time)

• A market segment is a particular group of potential buyers with an identical reaction

pattern to the same marketing mix, and this pattern differs from the reaction pattern
of other groups.
• A segment has identical buying and use behaviour
• A segment offers sufficient consumption potential.
• Our marketing can connect to a market segment.

Segmentation Criteria

• Identifiability: Can we easily identify the segment?

• Size: Is there adequate sales potential in the segment?
• Accessibility: Can we reach the segment with our communication media and our
distribution network?
• Responsiveness: How favorably will the particular segment respond to a customized
marketing mix (5 Ps)?

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Business-to-Business Segmentation

• Nature of the good

– Kind of good or service, where do they use it, what kind of buy is it (straight
rebuy, modified rebuy, new task)?

• Buying condition
– Purchase location, who buys, what kind of buy?

• Demographic segmentation
– Location, # of employees, # of production workers, annual sales volume, # of
sites.

Segmentation Criteria

• General characteristics
o Demografical, socio-economic, geografical,personal.

• General consumption characteristics

o Life-style, workaholic, status, enjoys life.

• Product-focused characteristics
o Innovator, hobbyist, self-medication.

• Brand-focused characteristics
o Brand perception, brand connection, attitude, buying intent.

• Buying and use characteristics

o Heavy user, impulsive buyer, doubtful.

Examples:

Porche: targets woman not men!

Liquid death: a different way of selling water

YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE IN THE RED OCEAN stay in BLUE OCEAN

Blue ocean: one product/service that is unique

Red ocean: “full of sharks”

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 Marketing Plan & Marketing Communication Plan

Ingredients Successful Marketing Campaign:

• Good product/Service
• Good campaign concept
• Good campaign management
• Good targeting/segmentation

4 Marketing Stages

Design Execute
Marketing
Marketing Research Marketing Marketing
Research
Plan Plan

Action

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Positioning: Who and where Are you?

Marketing Objectives vs. Communications Objectives

• Marketing
o Generally stated in the firm’s marketing plan
o Achieved through the overall marketing plan
o Quantifiable, such as sales, market share, ROI
o To be accomplished in a given period of time
o Must be realistic and attainable to be effective

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 • Communication
o Derived from the overall marketing plan
o Narrower than marketing objectives
o Based on particular communications tasks
o Designed to deliver appropriate messages
o Focused on a specific target audience

Operational Marketing Plan

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 NEXT STEPS:
1. Planning + Monitoring + PLAN B
2. C4i + Target Segment
5. Target

• Place refers to where consumers buy your product, or where they discover it.
Today's consumers may learn about products and buy them online, through a
smartphone app, at retail locations, or through a sales professional.

• Price refers to the cost of the product or service. Properly determining product price
includes an analysis of the competition, the demand, production costs, and what
consumers are willing to spend. Various pricing models may be considering, such as
choosing between one-time purchase and subscription models.

• The product a company provides depends on the type of company and what they do
best. For example, McDonald's provides consistent fast food in a casual setting. They
may expand their offerings, but they wouldn't stray far from their core identity.

• Promotion refers to specific and thoughtful advertising that reaches the target
market for the product. A company might use an Instagram campaign, a public
relations campaign, advertising placement, an email campaign, or some combination
of all of these to reach the right audience in the right place.

Military Concept: C4i

• Command – you are in charge

• Communication – clearly tell people what to do and how
• Control – check if your people are doing what they should do
• Computers – use IT systems
• Intelligence – continuously collect and analyse all data

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The AIDA Model identifies cognitive stages an individual goes through during the buying
process for a product or service. It's a purchasing funnel where buyers go to and from at each
stage, to support them in making the final purchase.

It's no longer a relationship purely between the buyer and the company since social media
has extended it to achieving the different goals of AIDA via information added by other
customers via social networks and communities.

Necessary to persuade consumers

• Exposure: do they see or hear our communication?

• Attention: do they notice our communication?

• Comprehension: do they understand our message?

• Yielding: do they respond favorably to our message?

• Intentions: do they plan to act in the desired way?

• Behavior: do they actually act in the desired way?

The New Marketing & Sales Funnel

Cognitive Brand Message Strategy

• Message strategy to provide factual and relevant information about product and/or
service in a clear and logical manner.

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 • Types of cognitive brand message strategies:

o Preemptive strategy with testable claim of superiority

o Unique selling point strategy with explicit claim of uniqueness
o Comparative strategy with competition explicitly mentioned.

• Necessary: a feature-centered, direct, explicit hard-sell appeal

o that induces rational thinking,

o and promotes active and elaborated processing of an advertisement’s
content/information.

Affective Brand Message Strategy

• Message strategy to associate the experience of using the brand with an unique set of
psychological characteristics.

• Types of affective brand message strategies:

– Use this occasion (with an explicit claim of the unique occasion)

– Relate to the user’s image and the user’s lifestyle
– Use the brand’s image (brand personality, quality, status, prestige)

• Necessary: a soft sell advertising appeal that is.

– image-centered, indirect and subtle,
– and induces an affective reaction.

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Keller’s Integrated Marketing Communications Program Criteria

• Coverage: proportion of audience reached by each communication option and how

much overlap exists among communication options

• Contribution: inherent ability to create the desired consumer response and

communication effects from consumers in the absence of exposure to other
communication

• Commonality:
o The extent to which common information conveyed by different
communication options shares meaning across communication options.
o Ensure effective communication in your audience is to ensure that the
audience has a common starting point.
o Audience that use a common language and terminology are more likely to
understand your communication.

• Commonality: the extent to which different associations and linkages are empathized
across communication options

• Conformability: the extent that a marketing communication option is robust and

effective for a different group of consumers

• Cost: all the other criteria must be weighed against their cost to arrive at the most
effective and efficient marketing communication program

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Optimum budget division Brand Building vs. Sales Activation of B2C and B2B

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Marketing Communication Objectives: ++% Increase Awareness, Recognition, Recall

Marketing Goals

1. Marketing Mix

• Product
• Price
• Sales Channels (Place)
• Promotion

2. Promotion Mix => push and pull strategies

• Advertising
• Public Relations
• Personal Sales
• Sales Promotions

Integrated Marketing Communications Plan

An integrated marketing communications plan or IMC plan incorporates market research,

strategic planning, audience segmentation, marketing channel selection, creative briefs and
campaign messaging, budgeting, ROI analysis and a system for campaign metrics and
evaluation. to achieve maximum impact of marketing objectives

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An IMC plan retains its theme and messaging consistency throughout a variety of media
mediums, whether it's a magazine ad, a press release, social media or a company website.

Why is Beneficial?

An IMC plan caters to consumers by tailoring communications to them throughout the

decision-making and purchase process. This builds a stronger relationship between customer
and provider and coincides with a more seamless dialogue and image development within
the organization.

Integrated marketing strategies have also demonstrated an increased ability to build brand
loyalty. Building a more engaged customer base is key to the long-term success of
organizations beyond their marketing departments.

An IMC can also aid in raising profits through greater effectiveness of campaigns. The more
unified the message an IMC plan has the more of an impact on an audience rather than an
endless stream of individual messages. In an increasingly "noisy" marketplace the clear,
consistent messages of an integrated plan have a more significant chance of being heard.

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Lesson 5: Measuring Brands, Purpose, Activism

Means-End Chain Laddering

What is your WHY?

• Values (mind)
• Benefits and Consequences (mind)
• Product/Service Attributes (visual)

Means-End Chain Laddering

= results in a hierarchical value map from attributes to consequences and from consequences
to values = usually accompanied by a choice-based conjoint, i.e. with a focus on consumer
choice
NB. This model to determine which attributes are most important and how they should be
filled in HOW?
by comparing functional and psychosocial consequences against the attributes

• Psychology tool to unlock the real drivers of the consumer’s behavior, decisions and
motivations.

• What are the consumer’s important attributes:

o "Why did you choose this product/service?"

• What are the consequences of each attribute:

o "Why is it good or bad that...?"

• Which values are affected by the consequences?

o "Why is this important to you?"
o "How does this relate to your core business values?"

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=> the model can be viewed at two levels:

- means (means) and end values (ends)

and
- via the phases of attributes, consequences, and values → Products, services and brands are
seen as resources.

How customer evaluate a

product?

They base their opinion on:

1) Attributes of the product

– can be tangible or
intangible
= features of the product

2) Consequences = Benefits
– can be:
Functional (=pratici) or
emotional

3) Value – can be:

Instrumental (=short-term)
or terminal (= long-term)

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 Strategic Brand Management Process

=> What is it: design and implement marketing programs to build, measure and manage
brand equity. (= commercial value that derives from consumer perception of the brand
name of a particular product or service, rather than from the product or service itself.)
= developing a strategy that successfully sustains/improves brand awareness + strengthens
brand associations + emphasizes brand quality and utilization → Brand equity

4 Steps (designing and implementing of brand marketing programs):

1. Identify and Establish Brand Positioning and Values

Clear understanding of what the brand represents and how it positions itself with respect to
competitors → POSITIONING

Uses:

o Brand positioning model:

▪ describes how to guide integrated marketing to maximize competitive advantages.

o Brand resonance model

▪ describes how to create intense, activity loyalty relationships with customers.

o Brand value chain

▪ means to trace the value creation process for brands, to better understand the financial
impact of brand marketing expenditures and investments.

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Key concepts:

o Mental Maps
= point-of-view perception of the various associations linked to the brand in the consumer’s
mind

o Competitive frame of reference

o Point-of-parity and points-of difference

POP = product offering that is largely like the offerings of like competitors, leading
consumers to believe that brand is “good enough” to be included in the category.
POD = convinces consumers about the attributes or benefits that consumers strongly
associate with a brand and believe that they could not find the same in a competitor’s
brand.

o Core brand associations

= both benefits and attributes which best characterize the brand.
o Brand mantra
= short phrase that captures the essence of the brand positioning

2. Designing and implementing brand marketing programs

= to create a brand that consumers are acceptable aware of and with which they have
favourable, strong and unique brand associations.

Key concepts:

o Mixing and matching of brand elements

Brand elements = trademark that serves to identify and differentiate the brand from its
competitors

(= brand names, URLs, logos, symbols, logos, images, packaging, slogans...)

NB. They help to facilitate the formation of strong, favourable and unique brand
associations, enhancing brand awareness

o Integrating brand marketing activities

Marketing program activities and product, price, distribution, and marketing

communication strategies NB → To create strong brand associations

o Leveraging secondary association

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= brands associated with certain source factors as countries, sporting/cultural events in the
mind of consumers → NB leveraging these associations to improve brand equity
Several source of leverage secondary brand associations:

• Companies (through branding strategies)

• Countries (through the identification of product origin)
• Channels of distribution (through channel strategy)

3. Measuring and interpreting brand performance

NB. To understand the effect of brand marketing programs – NB to measure performance

Key concepts:

o Brand value chain*→more about it below!

= structured approach to assessing the sources and outcomes of brand equity and the way
marketing activities create brand value.
NB. To better understand financial impact of marketing

o Brand audits
= comprehensive examination of the brand and uncovers its sources of equity to suggest
ways to improve and leverage it

o Brand tracking studies

= Collect information from the customer about brand performance on some relevant
dimensions

o Brand equity management system

NB. Brand equity measurement system
= set of procedures designed to provide accurate, actionable information to make the best
possible decision in the short and long run

4. Growing and sustaining brand equity

o Brand architecture
= branding relationship between the various products /services offered by the firm with
several tools of a brand-product matrix, brand hierarchy and brand portfolio.

o Brand portfolios and hierarchies

▪ Brand portfolio – set of different brands that a particular firm offers for sale to buyers in a
particular category
▪ Brand hierarchy - displays the number and nature of common and distinctive brand
components across the firm’s set of brands.

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o Brand expansion strategies
= ability to take a long -term perspective as well as a short-term perspective of marketing
decisions as they will affect the success of future marketing programs

o Brand reinforcement and revitalization→NB. See graph below

▪Reinforcing Brands - Brand equity is reinforced by marketing actions that consistently

convey the meaning of the brand to consumers in terms of brand awareness and brand
image.

▪Revitalizing Brands - Revitalizing a brand requires either that lost sources of brand equity
are recaptured or new sources of brand equity are identified and established

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Brand Value Chain

Purpose = Approach to assess sources / outcomes of brand equity and what the ROI of the
brand/ marketing expenditure is
ROI = (𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 - 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠/ cost of investments)

→dictates the process, from start to finish, of how a brand creates value + guides a
company through necessary steps needed to improve their value

Do you recommend?

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Marketing Program Investments

Investments elements:

• Product research Product development

• Product design
• Trade / intermediary support
• Market research
• Marketing communications
• Employee training

Program Quality Multiplier

Drive:

• Distinctiveness: how unique is the program?

• Relevancy: how meaningful is the program?
• Integrated: how well is the program integrated?
• Value: what is the short/long-term value of it?
• Excellence: designed to satisfy high standards?
Custumer Mindest

• How has the customer been changed by the marketing program?

• How do the changes manifest themselves in the customer’s mindset?

• 5A’s:
(Brand) Awareness (recall, recognize, identify)
Associations (uniqueness perceived attributes and benefits)
Attitudes (evaluation quality and brand satisfaction)
Attachment (loyalty, adherence, addiction)
Activity (extent brand usage, seek info, talk about it).

Marketplace Conditions Multiplier

• Competitive superiority: how effective are the marketing investments of the

competing brands?

• Channel / intermediary support: is our brand reinforced by the sales effort of our
marketing partners?

• Customer size and profile: how many and what types of (profitable) customers are
attracted by the brand?

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Market Performance

• Price premium: are customers willing to pay extra for a branded comparable
product?

• Price elasticity: what happens to demand when prices change?

• Market share: does our marketing program increase our market share?

• Brand expansion success.

• Cost structure, e.g. reduced marketing expenditures?

Result: brand profitability!

Investor Sentiment Multiplier

• Market Dynamics of general financial market (e.g. interest rate, investor sentiment)?
• Growth Potential or prospects for the brand and its industry/market?
• Risk Profile for the brand and how vulnerable is the brand?
• Brand contribution of the brand to the firm’s brand portfolio?

Shareholder Value

Brand Value = Overall assessment of the financial marketplace regarding your brand

• Company stock price

• Price/ earnings ratio stock
• Overall market capitalization

=> ALL THIS: DETERMINE BRAND EQUITY as a 3 step of brand resonance model

Monthly Brand Report: Measure the Brand’s Progress

• What’s happening in general regarding our brand?

• What is our brand’s competition doing?
• What are the top 3 consumer demand drivers of our brand?
• What are the current 3 inhibitors, holding our brand back?
• What’s our tonnage or unit share for the month?
• How’s our brand doing in % and share point change vs year ago, prior periods, vs the
category or vs plan for the year?
• What’s our overall sales / key account / region for the month?
• How will our sales impact our year-end call?
• What are we doing to achieve our objectives?

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 Evolution of brand names, logos and products

However, there is a DANGER in changing the name and color and logo. How are the
costumer still remember you?

Brand Reputation (reading 3), Purpose and Activism

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With trust I am more likely to

• Share or repost content about

this brand, or to post/share about
my experiences with the brand

• Recommend the brand

• Defend the brand from other

criticism

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Importance of Sustainability and trust:

Being transparent about what goes into making a product "natural" gives consumers the
power to make thoughtful purchasing decisions and enables them to feel confident that
their buying habits are helping them live a more natural life.

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Lesson 6: Brand Alliances, Houses, Extensions

Online Brand Communication

=> similar to AIDA model: focus on awareness

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Have some degree of trust in the following forms of advertisement…

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Brand architecture
= defines how a brand appeals to consumers and offers hints on what the brand is made of
internally
NB. Primary strategies of brand architecture → Branded house & house of brands

It matters on a marketing level because:

- like your house, your brand’s architecture will tell a story → appeal to different audiences
in different ways
- indicates what consumers will find within.
- builds perception and creates relationships - crucial to the success of your business.

Branded house strategy

= offers numerous benefits to companies that offer multiple services or products under one
branded entity (corporate branding):

• Requires more investment and effort by a firm.

• Minimizes the chance of negative feedback occurring to one of their existing brands.
• Most advantageous branding strategy financially.
• Consumers can form expectations about what will like in a new product based in
part on what they know about its parent brand.

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PROS

• Efficiency
one marketing strategy and one brand code covers every offering
• Ease
confusion and competition are avoided by keeping every offering under the same
brand
• Evolution
a strong brand can lead to greater success for future offerings and new products, as
consumers are more willing to accept change from brands they already trust

CONS

• Reputation
products and services are tied to your brand’s public perception, leading some
consumers to take an “all or nothing” approach
• Limitations
a great product doesn’t mean great success if the parent brand is weak or
underperforming
• Ambiguity
confusion over what your brand does (e.g. Apple: Is it a computer company? A music
stores? A phone manufacturer?)

Examples: Google - it has several sub-brands, but all marketed and operated under the
umbrella of the parent brand

Sub Brands: can help to differentiate/boost corporate brand (=endorser)

Ex.: Google = endorser, Youtube, Docs, Maps = Sub-groups

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House of brands

NB. the opposite of a branded house

Branded house → Focus on a single, well-known, and consistent brand
VS
House of brands → home to numerous brands, each independent of one another, and each
with its own audience, marketing, look and feel

• When a firm builds a technological innovation reputation for its brand, consumers
may transfer this ability to new products and services sharing that brand name.
• Is the least advantageous financially

Ex. P&G – home to: Pantene, Pringles, Duracell, Pampers → You change the kid’s diaper
with pampers, not with P&G diapers

This strategy can offer businesses with a variety of offerings the freedom and flexibility to
flesh out each individual brand.

PROS

• Reach
a greater ability to define unique target audiences and create products that broaden
a brand’s demographic reach
• Safety Net
companies can take more risks with new offerings, knowing they have strong, tested
brands to fall back on if necessary
• Shield
in the case of bad press, the individual brand can take the heat while keeping the
company’s reputation secure
CONS

• Overwhelming
creating and implementing multiple marketing strategies and operating many
individual service lines is difficult and costly
• Isolation
there isn’t as much power behind the parent company, so it cannot be relied upon to
bolster the reputation of individual brands
• Image
significant confusion over the parent company can occur (do they represent the
brands, or do the brands represent the company?)

BUT

There are also the hybrids - big businesses with a lot of brand cache and long histories of
maintaining trust with consumers → Coca cola main example

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Blended house

House of brands + Branded House

→A company has different products with different brand names as well as different
products within/ across categories which all share the same brand name

• The company has different products or sets of products with different brand names
(individual product branding) AS WELL AS different products within and across
categories which all share the same brand name.

Brand alliances
= two (possibly very different) brands are working together to boost the brand value of both
brands
NB. It is a Cooperation strategy (= two individual and very different firms work together to
achieve a mutual benefit, using their combined strengths and resources in the process)

i. Types of Brand Alliances

Co-brands
= several brands, one product. Example.: Asus computers show Intel, Harman/Kardon

Brand license
= a company lets other organizations use its brand on other products in exchange for a
licensing fee. E.g. Star-Wars receives a fee from LEGO toys.

Cross marketing
=mutual promotion between 2 companies. mutual promotion by 2 companies. A company
adds coupons of another company to its parcels if the other company includes promotion of
that particular company in its direct mail.
Licensed Merch: Disney is number 1

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 Brand Line Extension

1. Line extension with Salient or Non-Salient Product Feauture Similarity

Product Feature Similarity

• Product Feature Similarity is the perceived similarity between a parent brand and its
extension product.

• Key conditions for a successful brand extension:

– Parent brand has favorable associations.
– Consumers perceive a fit between parent brand & extension.

• Both product-related and non-product related attributes and benefits can influence
the extension’s fit.

• Associations of Colgate toothpaste (mint, fresh, clean) could become negative in a

Colgate food product.

Study Consumer Responses to Brand Extensions

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2. Line extension with Salient or Non-Salient Product Feature Dissimilarity

Study: The Roles of Customer-Band Relationship and Brand Equity in Brand Extension
Acceptance

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Lesson 7: Brand Loyalty, Reputation, Damage, Crisis and Hate

Brand Loyalty and Brand Reputation (readings 1c)

Brand Relationship Model

Impact on Future Purchases

The impact of current purchases on future purchases is most directly related to the "Brand
Resonance" stage. When consumers have a strong brand resonance, they are more likely to
make repeat purchases because of the emotional connection they have with the brand. This
is often characterized by brand loyalty, enthusiasm, and a willingness to pay a premium for
the brand.

In essence, the CBBE model acknowledges that the strength of the brand-consumer
relationship can significantly impact future purchases. The more positive and deep this
relationship is, the more likely consumers are to continue purchasing from the brand in the
future.

It's important for brand managers and marketers to focus on building brand resonance
because it can lead to long-term customer loyalty and advocacy, which can have a significant
positive impact on a brand's financial performance.

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 Damaged and Changed Brand Names

In Kevin Lane Keller's brand equity model, there is a strong positive correlation between
brand loyalty and brand reputation. Brand loyalty, which is a component of brand resonance,
often stems from a positive brand reputation. When consumers perceive a brand as reputable
and trustworthy, they are more likely to develop loyalty toward that brand, resulting in repeat
purchases and advocacy. Essentially, a good brand reputation can enhance brand loyalty.

Example.: Fanta: Changed the colors of the logo. Is that ok? Will consumers recognize it?
Probably not.

Brand Recall and Brand Damage

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A crisis in a product recall occurs when a company needs to retrieve a faulty product from the
market. The crisis management response plan involves swift action, open communication,
prioritizing consumer safety, brand reputation management, offering replacements or
refunds, regulatory compliance, and post-crisis evaluation to prevent future issues.

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Toxic Culture and Brand Damage

Brand Hate

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In Kevin Lane Keller's Customer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE) model, brand hate and brand
divorce refer to negative consumer reactions toward a brand.

1. Brand Hate (United Airlines Passenger Removal Incident)

• Concept: Brand hate occurs when consumers have strong negative emotions
and intense dislike for a brand. It often results from significant
disappointment, negative experiences, or a perceived violation of expectations
by the brand.
• Reasons for Brand Hate: Reasons for brand hate may include product quality
issues, poor customer service, unethical business practices, or any other
experiences that create strong negative emotions, leading consumers to
actively discourage others from engaging with the brand.

2. Brand Divorce (blackberry’s decline)

• Concept: Brand divorce is a situation where consumers choose to discontinue
their relationship with a brand. This can be due to decreased satisfaction,
changing preferences, or shifts in their lifestyle and values.
• Reasons for Brand Divorce: Reasons for brand divorce may include a loss of
relevance, changing consumer needs, shifting values, or the emergence of
better alternatives in the market. Consumers decide to no longer engage with
the brand.

Both brand hate and brand divorce are significant challenges for brand managers, as they can
result in loss of customers, negative word-of-mouth, and damage to a brand's reputation.
Managing these issues requires addressing the underlying reasons and potentially
implementing strategies to win back disillusioned customers or attract new ones.

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1. Direct Vengeance:
• Concept: Direct vengeance refers to consumers taking explicit, direct actions
to harm the brand in response to their negative experiences or emotions.
• Examples: Direct vengeance can involve actions such as posting negative
online reviews, boycotting the brand, or actively discouraging friends and
family from engaging with the brand. Consumers express their anger or
disappointment openly and directly.

2. Indirect Vengeance:
• Concept: involves more subtle or passive ways that consumers express their
negative emotions or reactions to the brand. It's a more silent form of
retaliation
• Examples: Indirect vengeance may include consumers reducing their
purchases from the brand without vocalizing their dissatisfaction, switching to
competitors, or simply disengaging from the brand without actively spreading
negative feedback.

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