BRANDING STRATEGIES

Branding Strategies There are 6 branding strategies: Product Branding Line Branding Range Branding Umbrella Branding Source/Double Branding Endorsement Branding

Product Branding The brand is promoted exclusively so that it acquires its own identity and image The brand acquires its ‘own’ set of associations and a stand of its own. It does not share other products and does not take on company associations.

Example… P & G Ariel Tide Pantene Vicks Old Spice

Advantage A brand can be targeted accurately to a distinct target market or customers because its positioning can be Precise Unambiguous The only drawback of using this strategy is that creating individual brands are costly exercise

Line Branding The basic idea about this strategy is how a firm organizes its portfolio. Line brands start with a product but later extend to other complimentary or supporting products For example: Lakme started off with a cold cream and later extended to other products

Example… HLL Denim Deo Denim Shaving Cream Denim After Shave Denim Soap Denim Talc Concept: ‘Who doesn’t have to try too hard’ Share common concept and products complement or support each other

Why line branding??? The chief motivation behind using this strategy is the ratio between marginal cost and marginal gain. The firm only promotes the main product and its concept; the complimentary products do not require additional investment. These products ride on the original brand’s concept & marketing.

Range Branding In line branding the products complement or support the main product usage but range branding is not restrictive in this sense. Brands may move beyond product complimentarily. The nature and facade of products may differ from outside, but they all share some common competence.

Britannia Milkman Ghee Butter Milk Milk shake Cheese

Benefits of using this strategy Formation of brand equity The common name helps in preventing brand building efforts from getting dissipated in different directions The brand can embrace other new products which are consistent with the brand. For example: Himalaya Drug Co.’s Ayurvedic concepts. New product can be added to it which share its idea without much additional expenditure.

On the Flip side…. If a brand has large number of products to it then it could become weak due to overstretching. This is known as “RUBBER EFFECT”

UMBRELLA BRANDING

Same Brand supports several products in different markets. Each has its own communication strategy yet, each retains its own generic name.

Why and When Umbrella Branding..?? THE cost of launching new brands is so high today that it is more sensible to take the umbrella brand route. Shortening of PLC A consumer has to be exposed to a brand repeatedly before he registers it, so it is more economical to build one strong, single brand than spreading your ad budget across 10 different brands

Move Towards Umbrella Branding

When not umbrella branding… Umbrella brand can be limiting when a company wishes to move up the value chain or diversify into a different category. Umbrella branding worked in the 80s and early 90s, when consumer needs were simpler and options were limited.

EXAMPLE: In Titan's case, it started off with a single product category, but when it decided to enter the budget segment, it created Sonata as a sub-brand and evolved it into an independent brand. Similarly, it created Tanishq for jewellery, FasTrack for contemporary watches, and Nebula for luxurious 18k jewellery designed by Rohit Bal. In each of these cases, the Titan name would not have worked, because each needed a distinct brand concept.

Source/Double Branding Strategy This strategy combines firm’s name with the product brand name; kind of hybrid of umbrella & product brand strategy Example: Bajaj Chetak Chetak is the name of the scooter Bajaj is the company behind it Hence, brand is Bajaj Chetak

Some more Examples…. Maruti Suzuki Maruti 800 Maruti Zen Maruti Alto Maruti Esteem Maruti Baleno

Johnnie Walker Johnnie Walker Red Label Johnnie Walker Black Label Johnnie Walker Blue Label

Objectives The firm’s name brings its equity to the product. The product benefits from what the company has achieved in the form of Awareness Expertise Attribute Reputation

2.The name of the product provides the opportunity to add something unique to the brand. This is an opportunity for the customization.

When to choose this strategy?? This decision depends on the company’s field of experience, expertise and know-how. The brands need to be consistent with the activity or expertise domain of the firm. Hence, motorcycles are the ones which enjoy greater consistency and expertise similarity whereas cars don’t. Hence you see more number of two-wheeler cos. Using this strategy.

Endorsement Branding Modified version of double branding It makes product brand name more significant and the corporate brand name is relegated to a lesser status. The brand gets an endorsement that it belongs to a specified company. For E.g.: Kit Kat gives a signal that it is a Nestlé's product Similarly, Dairy Milk gives is a Cadbury’s brand

Cadbury’s Cadbury’s Éclairs Cadbury’s Perk Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Five-star

Objectives This strategy allows the brand freedom to take an independent direction. In this type of strategy, the firm’s name sits back as an assurance of quality but does not pass specific associations to the brand. 2. The brand is expected to carve out its own image. It acts more or less as an independent entity.

For instance…. Cadbury’s brand have their own unique position and image. Cadbury’s support the brands to the extent that they transfer certain qualities or associations which enhance customer’s trust

Important to note… Consistency is very important otherwise the endorsement may just be perceived as hollow. For Example: Nestlé's Mithai Magic failed as it did not go well with the Nestlé's endorsement

Aaker’s brand architecture

AAKER’S MODEL

A house of brands Equivalent to product branding Not connected Shadow endorser Lexus, saturn Shadow endorser has a minimal effect on image of brand but provides credibililty in many segments

Endorsed brands Brands are still independent but are endorsed by corporate brand e.g. polo jeans by ralph lauren Token endorser To provide some reassurance and credibility still allowing max. freedom to endorsed brand for creating its own associations Will be more successful if It is well known Is consistently presented Has a strong visual metaphor symbol Appears on familty products that are well regarded Linked name E.g. McPuff, provides benefits of separate name, yet providing advantages of link of master brand

Subbrands Brands connected to master brand, and augment or modify the associations of master brand, e.g. sony walkman, nike force Subbrand as codriver When masterbrand and subbrand have major roles Master brand is performing more than master role e.g. gillete mach3

A branded house Master brand moves from being primary driver to dominant driver across multiple offerings e.g. virgin rail, virgin cola Equivalent to umbrella brand, maximises synergy, provides leverage Same brands with different identities 2 implicit assumptions a) there can be different brand identities in different contexts b)there is a single identity everywhere

Brand architecture An organising structure of brand portfolio that species the brand roles and relationships among brands

Brand architecture control process and stages