Ashesi University COURSE TITLE : STRATEGIC BRAND MANAGEMENT SEMESTER : SPRING 2016 MODULE 4: Choosing Brand Elements to Build Brand Equity Lecturer: Ebow Spio

2.2t Customer-Based Brand Equity Pyramid RESONANCE SALIENCE JUDGMENTS FEELINGS PERFORMANCE IMAGERY 4. RELATIONSHIPS = What about you and me? 4. RELATIONSHIPS = What about you and me? 3. RESPONSE = What about you? 3. RESPONSE = What about you? 2. MEANING = What are you? 2. MEANING = What are you? 1. IDENTITY = Who are you? 1. IDENTITY = Who are you?

Learning Outcomes Explain how marketers choose brand elements to build brand equity Identify the general criteria for choosing brand elements Consider specific tactical issues associated with different types of brand elements Discuss how to choose the best elements to build brand equity

4.4 Building Customer-Based Brand Equity Brand knowledge structures depend on: – The initial choices for the brand elements – The supporting marketing program and the manner by which the brand is integrated into it – Other associations indirectly transferred to the brand by linking it to some other entities

4.5 Criteria for Choosing Brand Elements Memorability Meaningfulness Likability Transferability Adaptability Protectability Marketer’s offensive strategy and build brand equity Defensive role for leveraging and maintaining brand equity

4.6 Memorability Brand elements should inherently be memorable and attention-getting, and therefore facilitate recall or recognition. - Easily Recognized - Easily Recalled

4.7 Meaningfulness Brand elements may take on all kinds of meaning, with either descriptive or persuasive content. Two particularly important criteria – General information about the nature of the product category – Specific information about particular attributes and benefits of the brand The first dimension is an important determinant of brand awareness and salience; the second, of brand image and positioning.

4.8 Likability Do customers find the brand element aesthetically appealing? Fun and Interesting? Rich visual and verbal imagery? Descriptive and persuasive elements reduce the burden on marketing communications to build awareness.

4.9 Transferability How useful is the brand element for line or category extensions? To what extent does the brand element add to brand equity across geographic boundaries and market segments?

4.10 Adaptability The more adaptable and flexible the brand element, the easier it is to update it to changes in consumer values and opinions. For example, logos and characters can be given a new look or a new design to make them appear more modern and relevant.

4.11 Protectability Marketers should: 1.Choose brand elements that can be legally protected internationally. 2.Formally register chosen brand elements with the appropriate legal bodies. 3.Vigorously defend trademarks from unauthorized competitive infringement.

4.12 Tactics for Brand Elements A variety of brand elements can be chosen that inherently enhance brand awareness or facilitate the formation of strong, favorable, and unique brand associations. – Brand names – URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) also referred to as domain names; means specific locations on the Web. – Logos and symbols – Characters – Slogans – Packaging

4.13 Brand Names Like any brand element, brand names must be chosen with the six general criteria of memorability, meaningfulness, likability, transferability, adaptability, and protectability in mind.

4.14 Brand Naming Guidelines Brand awareness – Simplicity and ease of pronunciation and spelling – Familiarity and meaningfulness – Differentiated, distinctive, and uniqueness to improve recognition. Brand associations – The explicit and implicit meanings consumers extract from it are important. In particular, the brand name can reinforce an important attribute or benefit association that makes up its product positioning.

Brand Naming Guidelines Selecting a brand name is crucial part of the brand the marketing planning process: Desirable Qualities for a brand name 1.Suggest something about product benefits e.g. Kleenex (tissue paper) 2.Easy to pronounce, recognize or remember e.g. Dove (soap), Yale (security products), Shell 3.The brand name should be distinctive e.g. Virgin, Kodak 4.It should translate easily (and meaningfully) into foreign languages 5.It should be capable of registration and legal protection e.g. Miller Brewery Company not allowed to use “Lite” exclusively for its low- calorie beer 6. Evoke positive associations e.g. Pepsi Max, Lexus 7. Use of numerals or alphanumerics when emphasizing technology e.g. Audi A 4, Airbus 380 etc.

4.16 Brand Naming Procedures Define objectives : Based on six criteria especially ideal meaning the brand should convey. Generate names : Sources could include managers, employees, customers, agencies etc. Screen initial candidates against objectives and criteria articulated earlier. Study candidate names : Legal research etc. Research the final candidates : To confirm memorability and meaningfulness of the remaining names. Select the final name : maximizes firm’s branding and marketing objectives and register it.

Names Selection Exercise for Maize Flour ZIZI FAINA FADI ALBA JUDY MAVLOS LOVIT

Evaluation of brand names Seven brand names were exposed to the participants for evaluation in the study. They were: – “Faina” – “Fadi” – “Zizi” – “Mavlos” – “Lovit” – “Judy” – “Alba” The names were presented to participants one after the other and the order rotated from group to group to avoid positional bias. At the end of the evaluation session, participants chose their preferred label. Faina, Fadi, Zizi, Judy and Alba were not perceived as attractive or catchy as compared to Lovit.

Most preferred design “Lovit” was the most preferred/winning name. it was unanimously selected by three of the four groups. Reasons given for selecting “Lovit” were; – Simple and Catchy Can be recollected easily – Can be pronounced with ease by the majority – End products of samples are tasty The tendency to be attached to it/love it is high – Positive connotation – Can be identified easily or distinguished from the other products on the market Other names chosen by some of the participants were – Mavlos – Smart Mama (mostly chosen by the )

4.20 URLs URLs (uniform resource locators) specify locations of pages on the web and are also commonly referred to as domain names. A company can either sue the current owner of the URL for copyright infringement, buy the name from the current owner, or register all conceivable variations of its brand as domain names ahead of time.

4.21 Logos and Symbols Play a critical role in building brand equity and especially brand awareness Logos range from corporate names or trademarks (word marks with text only) written in a distinctive form, to entirely abstract designs that may be completely unrelated to the word mark, corporate name, or corporate activities

4.22 Characters A special type of brand symbol—one that takes on human or real-life characteristics The Budweiser frogs, Pillsbury’s Jolly Green Giant and Geico Gecko, Cowbell Cow Benefits Attention getting and quite useful for creating awareness because they are colourful and rich in imagery Break through clutter and communicate product benefits Valuable licensing properties e.g. Disney’s Micky Mouse

Characters

4.28 Slogans Slogans are short phrases that communicate descriptive or persuasive information about the brand. E.g. “Just do it” “ The Best a Man can get” “ A Diamond is forever” Slogans are powerful branding devices because, like brand names, they are an extremely efficient, shorthand means to build brand equity

4.29 Classic Slogans “Melts in your mouth, not in your hands” (M&M’s) “Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t” (Almond Joy/Mounds) “Where’s the beef?” (Wendy’s) “A mind is a terrible thing to waste” (United Negro College Fund) “Can you hear me now?” (Verizon) Source: Monty Phan, “Celebrating Their Sweet Success,” Newsday, 21 September 2004, A43.

4.30 Jingles Jingles are musical messages written around the brand. Typically composed by professional songwriters, they often have enough catchy hooks and choruses to become almost permanently registered in the minds of listeners—sometimes whether they want them to or not! Jingles are perhaps most valuable in enhancing brand awareness.

4.31 Packaging Packaging is the activities of designing and producing containers and wrappers for a product Essentials & Functions of Good Packaging ( Both Consumer and Firm’s Perceptive) – Identify the brand – Differentiate the brand – Protect product – Be attractive – Convey descriptive and persuasive information (Promote the brand) – Facilitate product transportation and protection – Assist at-home storage – Aid product consumption – Durable /Dependable – Pollution Free – Suitable and cost effective material

Packaging

Advantages of Packaging Advantages of packaging to the manufacturers: Keep the product safe Facilitate storage Enhances goodwill Promotes product Prevents adulteration Helpful in advertising and sales promotion Increase profit Advantages to the middlemen/distributors/trade Facilitates storage Self advertising Easy display Help in transit

Advantages of Packaging Advantages to consumers Minimum possibility of adulteration Convenient handling and storage Provide necessary information about the products. Helps memory and recognition Protects the contents Payment of appropriate price.

Packaging Decisions Packaging design Package size Package cost Packaging test - Engineering test - Appealing test - Consumer test - Middlemen’s/Transit test

4.40 Packaging Can Influence Purchase at the Point of Purchase Packaging can create strong appeal on the store shelf and stand out from the clutter, critical when you realize that the average supermarket shopper can be exposed to 20,000 or more products in a shopping visit that may last less than 30 minutes Packaging is sometimes called the “ the last 5 seconds of marketing” as well as “permanent media”

4.41 Packaging Can Influence Taste Our sense of taste and touch is very suggestible, and what we see on a package can lead us to taste what we think we are going to taste.

4.42 Packaging Can Influence Value Long after we have bought a product, a package can still lead us to believe we bought it because it was a good value.

4.43 Packaging Can Influence Consumption Studies of 48 different types of foods and personal care products have shown that people pour and consume between 18% and 32% more of a product as the size of the container doubles. Valerie Folkes, Ingrid Martin and Kamal Gupta, “When to Say When: Effects of Supply on Usage,” Journal of Consumer Research, 20 December 1993, Journal of Consumer Research, 20 December 1993,

4.44 Packaging Can Influence How a Person Uses a Product One strategy to increase use of mature products has been to encourage people to use the brand in new situations, like soup for breakfast, or new uses, like baking soda as a refrigerator deodorizer. An analysis of 26 products and 402 consumers showed that twice as many people learned about the new use from the package than from television ads.

Guidelines for Creating High – Impact Packaging Know your consumer Take the big-picture approach Understand that package aesthetics and functional are both critical Know your distribution channels Educate management

4.46 Putting It All Together The entire set of brand elements makes up the brand identity, the contribution of all brand elements to awareness and image. The cohesiveness of the brand identity depends on the extent to which the brand elements are consistent.

4.47 Key Points 1. A brand’s identity is created through the choice of a name, URL, logo, symbol, slogan, package, jingle, and character. 2.Brand elements should be memorable, meaningful, transferable, adaptable and protectable. 3.The brand-building potential of brand elements can be gauged by asking consumers what they would think about the product if they knew only its name, logo, and other identity characteristics. 4. All the brand elements for a particular brand create the brand identity, which conveys the contribution of these elements to image and awareness.

4.48 Tutorials 1.Have students make a list of brand slogans, analyze what each communicates, and explain why the parent firm would select it. 2.Ask students to develop a brand name, logo and symbol, slogan, package and, if appropriate, character for a new product. Discuss how the elements would change if the target market changed. Candidates might include a men’s fragrance, a laundry detergent, and a sparkling fruit drink. 3.Tell students to pick two brands from the same product category and compare their brand elements in terms of their memorability, protectability, adaptability, meaningfulness, and transferability. 4.Bring in or have students bring in competing brands so that their packages can be compared. Discuss the reasons for the similarities and differences between them, as well as the pros and cons of each.