Brand Name Across More Product Lines example essay topic

Branding Strategies: From Creation to ExtinctionOutlineI. Introduction II. Choosing the Brand NameA. Take a Stand. Narrow the FocusC.

Beware of Brand Inflation. Expand the Business. Advertising the Brand NameA. Logo Sizes. Attention Getting 1.

Research 2. Mention the Product 3. Show the Product 4. Show the Name and Logo 5. Call Attention to the Logo 6.

Headline Company Names 7. Use Theme Line sIV. Brand-Building. Build Brand without Mass Media 1. Let Brand Strategy Drive the Business Strategy 2. Clarify the Brand's Identity 3.

Create Brand Visibility 4. Involve the Customer 5. Make it Happen. Creative Brand Building 1. "Give Away the Farm"2. Conduct "War" Using Public Relations 3.

Work the Web 4. Make it Funny. Extend the Brand Name Across More Product Lines. Brand-Consumer Relationships. Love and Passion.

Self Concept Connection. Interdependence D. Commitment. Intimacy F. Partner Quality. Nostalgic Attachment VI.

Routes to Brand Extinction. Brands Must Satisfy Emotional Needs. Brands Decline When Fads and Trends are the Only FocusC. Brands Fail When Emotional Need and Fads and Trends are not Satisfied VI. Conclusion "A brand is a name and / or mark intended to identify the product of one seller or a group of sellers and differentiate the product from competing products (Etzel 242)".

Branding strategy is more than just the advertising of the product; it is finding what is the best name or mark that people will remember most when they need to buy that product. Branding strategies start with choosing the brand name, advertising the brand name, building the brand, finding the best brand-consumer relationship for the product, and avoiding brand extinction. Choosing the Brand Name Choosing the brand name is not as easy as choosing scrambled or poached eggs with a big slam breakfast at Denny's. It takes critical planning. There are four steps to follow when choosing the brand name. First, take a stand.

You can't stand for everything and stand for something. So ask yourself, "What does the brand stand for?" (Ries 30) An example is Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola stands for the first cola, and everything else is an imitation Cola (Ries 30). Second, Narrow the focus. If someone else was there first, narrow the focus towards another product (Ries 30). Packard Bell is an example of this.

They were not the leader in personal computers, so they focused on home computers, and are now the leading home computer brand with about 50 percent of the market (Ries 30). Third, beware of brand inflation. Instead of doing step two, narrowing the focus, most companies have a habit of inflating the brand name so that the name means nothing to the customer (Ries 30). "What's AT&T? According to chief executive Robert Allen, "AT&T is fundamentally a networking company". (Ries 30) This is funny because people associate AT&T as being strictly a long-distance telephone company.

And fourth, expand the business". A company can keep a narrow focus, yet expand its business (Ries 31)". For example, Honda is the seller of imported Japanese cars, but they also started Acura, a line of luxury cars made in the United States (Ries 31). Advertising the Brand Name The average person believes that advertising is everything when it comes to the marketing of a product. It might not be everything, but it is very important to advertise your brand in a good way so you don't kill your product by bad advertising. According to Richard Evans, a writer for Advertising Age Magazine, companies do not advertise the logo or the name of their brand for more than three seconds at the end of their commercials.

He came up with seven points to get the customer's attention to the brand name of the product. First, research the commercials to see how many people remember the brand name or logo when they view the advertisement on television or in a magazine (Evans 27). Next, mention the product name orally and / or visually at least twice before the end of the advertisement (Evans 27). Also, any tangible products being advertised should be shown at least twice during the advertisement (Evans 27).

Fourth, the advertiser's name should be on the advertisement long enough so the viewer can see it (Evans 27). An Example of this would be the Western Union commercial when a woman is floating in her living room because the money she needed to fix her pipes was not sent Western Union. It flashes the Western Union name up for about two seconds not long enough for the average viewer to see and remember it. Fifth, call attention to logos with animation (Evans 27). For example, Chester Cheetah is widely associated with Cheetos and Toucan Sam with Fruit Loops. Sixth, in print advertisements the company's name should be put in a headline.

Headlines attract more attention and are easier to remember than a company logo (Evans 27). And finally, a company should create a theme line (Evans 27). For example, Payless, the discount shoe store, has a theme that says", Doesn't it feel good to pay less". This theme will stay in the customer's head longer than a logo would. Brand-Building Although advertising gets people to know the brand name of a product, advertising alone will not help build your brand. There are five ways to build your brand without the help of mass media, according to the Harvard Business Review.

First, let brand strategy drive business strategy. Many successful European companies have integrated brand-building into their strategic business plans (Aaker 39). Clarify the brand's identity. "A company must have a clear brand identity with depth and texture so that those designing and implementing the communications programs do not inadvertently send conflicting or confusing messages to the consumers (Aaker 40)". Next, create brand visibility. "Simple recognition can affect perceptions: people tend to like known brands even if they have never used them.

Brand visibility can signal leadership, success, quality, substance, and even excitement and energy-all before the product comes into play". (Aaker 44) Fourth, involve the consumer in the brand-building. "Providing extensive information especially using media advertising, cannot duplicate the impact of customer's personal experience with a brand". (Aaker 45) For example, Killington has the Vermonter's ski free day, this gives the customer a chance to try and experience the product before they invest in the product.

Finally, making it happen. Not every company has the financial capacity to advertise through mass media and so this method of brand-building is less expensive but more productive (Aaker 49). The more economically sound way of brand-building, as previously mentioned is not always the way that's more appealing to everybody. Most computer companies for example have a more creative way to build their brand name. It appears this concept is working well as more than half of the United States household are familiar with America Online and another 42 percent know of Yahoo (Nakache 167). The first trick to this strategy is to "give away the farm".

(Nakache 168) America Online has used this strategy for years as they have given away disks and CD-ROMS with a free month's trial. America Online has made its way into the hands of the consumer in many ways: by mail, in cereal boxes, and now they even put the program on music CDs like Celine Dion and Sarah McLachlan (Nakache 168). Another important trick is to conduct a "war" by using public relations (Nakache 170). When a competing company holds a forum, you should hold a forum the same day right near the other company's location. When a competing company gives free samples, you should give even more free samples, never let the competitor get the upper hand (Nakache 170). Working the web is what people of the 90's and of the next millennium are looking into more.

To build brand identity, Amazon. com strives to make each customer's interaction personal. When a customer logs-on to the web site they are welcomed by name and given a list of recommended books based on previous purchases and favorite authors. Working the web in Amazon. com's case has increased customer accounts by 50% in the first quarter of 1998 and 60% of those purchases were made by repeat customers (Nakache 170). A suggestion to building a brand is to make it fun. Customers don't like boring lectures on different products and dull humorless commercials (Nakache 170). To promote brand-building a company should expand across product lines (Rutledge 72).

StairMaster, a company built on their StairMaster exercise machines, has expanded their line of products to treadmills, strength equipment, and other sectors of fitness equipment, all while keeping their image of durability and good quality (Rutledge 72). Brand-Consumer Relationships Susan Fournier, an assistant professor at the Harvard Business School, has uncovered seven essential attributes of good brand relationships. Fournier believes that the use of these essential attributes will help marketers segment the market they want and bring new life to advertising campaigns (Gifford 9). "Love and Passion. The consumer feels affection or passion for the product or is obsessed with it and can experience separation anxiety if the product is not available.

Self-Concept Connection. Using the brand helps the consumer address a life issue, such as a need to belong or a fear of growing old. Interdependence. The brand is inextricably woven into the consumer's daily life and routine. Commitment. The consumer sticks with the product through good and bad times either in his or her life or in the product's life cycle.

Intimacy. The consumer describes a sense of deep familiarity with the product and an understanding of its attributes. Partner Quality. The consumer seeks certain positive traits in the brand, such as dependability, trustworthiness, and accountability - the same qualities one would look for in a best friend. Nostalgic Attachment. The brand brings back memories either because it was used at an earlier time in life or because it is associated with loved ones.

(Gifford 10) "Routes to Brand Extinction Lay's and Coca-Cola might have a brand name that has lasted for generations, but not all brands stay as long as Coca-Cola has lasted. "Brands need to satisfy a longstanding emotional need, but not be able to adequately update itself as trends and fads shift. (Del Vecchio 24) " An example of this concept was the He-Man action figures. This boy-oriented brand fulfilled a boy's need for power, but it was not able to renew itself every year to appear new with the changing fads and trends. He-Man was eventually replaced by Transformers, then Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and now by Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Del Vecchio 24). But some brands decline because they target a fad or trend and do not "satisfy the timeless emotional need".

(Del Vecchio 24) This is seen to happen with cereals, like Mr. T., Ghostbusters, and strawberry shortcake. These brand cereals were the fad in their time but they lacked the emotional need and lived off the fad and trend alone (Del Vecchio 24). The extinction of some brands happen before the product hits the shelf because it does not satisfy the emotional need of the consumer or does not fit in with the current trends or fads (Del Vecchio 24). In conclusion, a brand name is the most lucrative way to make your product known throughout the world. There is no real way of knowing whether your product will fail or succeed until it is tested. However, the best way to get your product tested is to make it familiar.

By making a brand name that is catchy and stable, you are almost guaranteeing a long, prosperous product life cycle that is sure to stay fresh in everyone's mind. Works Cite do Aaker, David A. & Joachimsthaler, Erich, "Building Brands Without Mass Media", Harvard Business Review, January-February 1997, pp. 39-50. o Del Vecchio, Gene, "Keeping it Timeless, Trendy", Advertising Age, March 23, 1998, p. 24. o Etzel, Michael J., Walker, Bruce J., & Stanton. William J., Marketing, 11th ed., Irwin / McGraw-Hill, 1997, p. 242. o Evans, Richard. "Let Everybody Know Your (Brand) Name", Advertising Age, August 17, 1998, p. 27. o Gifford, Jr., Dun, "Brand Management: Moving Beyond Loyalty", Harvard Business Review, March-April 1997, pp. 9-10. o Nakache, Patricia, "Secrets of New Brand Builders", Fortune, June 22, 1998, pp. 167-170. o Ries, AL, "Marketing Management: The Real Thing", Sales & Management, April 1996, pp. 30-31. o Rutledge, John, "Business Strategy: Brand-Name Buildup", Forbes, December 1, 1997, p. 72.