THE RIGHT NAME IS A GOOD WAY TO START -- THE BRAND

ARTICLE FROM:
NIVEDITA SINGH
IBS Hyd (Marketing)

“What’s in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet.”

William Shakespeare – Romeo & Juliet (1595)

“With a name like yours, you might be any shape, almost.”

Lewis Carroll – Through the looking glass (1872)

How much extra would a customer pay for a leading sports team insignia or for a leather jacket bearing Harley Davidson logo? The NBC shop (gift and merchandise shops which the TV network operates in several major US cities) found that T-shirts bearing the logo of the network were selling more rapidly than the ones without them.

What could be the possible reason? --- EMOTIONS

People always want to associate themselves with the images of the things or celebrities that they like – and they are willing to pay extra for it. Also another major reason for that extra sum is that people have a preconditioned belief that brands like Nike, Mercedes Benz, Tanishq etc identifies them as being of a particular and vary distinct class.

The essence of marketing is twofold:

1) Finding something about your company or its products that is distinct and advantageous over your competitors;

2) Exploiting those advantages through various media and communications.

Branding is one such distinct advantage any company can have and it is one of the best ways to communicate the subtle yet powerful messages to customers about their company. A company’s brand is influential in a customer’s purchasing decision. While many of us like to think we carefully research our purchases and make logical choices with our vendors, the truth is that purchasing decisions—from cars to chewing gum—are often made because we, the consumers, believe in the brand promise the company is making to us.

This brand promise is part of an emotional dialogue between companies and their customers, so it’s important to establish an emotional connect between the firm and its customers.

A long-term commitment to branding provides a shortcut between customers and companies when customers intuitively understand the company’s brand. In today’s economy where purchasing decisions of all kinds are made quickly, branding provides a direct line to the customer’s emotions behind the purchase. As Malcolm Gladwell writes in his book Blink, “When you meet someone for the first time, or walk into a house you are thinking of buying, or read the first few sentences of a book, your mind takes about two seconds to jump to a series of conclusions.” The level of awareness that the customers have about any brand allows them to make that purchasing judgment in this short period. In this respect, brands serve as a synapse that allows messages to flow freely to the consumer and encourages and reassures them about their choice.

BMA.Survey

Branding experts estimate that a company’s brand is equivalent to 35 to 40 percent of its market capitalization. Yet the care and feeding of a brand, especially on the brand compliance front, is not given the appropriate priority which it merits. After all which company can afford to lose 35 percent of its overall value rather would it ever want to do so??? The answer here is obviously NO; but the problem here is creating this awareness for the companies themselves as they sometimes do not realize the internal strengths upon which they can leverage and capture more of the market that too by creation of loyalty.

With such significance of branding background in mind, Business Marketing Association (BMA) developed a survey with the support of General Binding Corporation to determine the state of branding among the member companies of BMA. The survey was sent to 687 marketing professionals via email in October and November of 2005 and included responses from 204 corporate marketing professionals. The survey has a 5.9 margin of error based on 95 percent confidence level.

The main aim of the survey was to find the significance of brand compliance in an overall brand plan of a company. To clarify things the definition of brand compliance here was given as:

“the time, effort and money a company spends to ensure its employees, satellites and franchises adhere to the branding strategy and initiative throughout the entire organization.”

The survey found that almost 90 percent of companies were in the process of a branding or re-branding campaign, but that many companies believe brand compliance is a problem that may undercut their branding efforts. The survey also found that:

• 70 percent of the respondents believe brand compliance is important or very important to their organization
• 73 percent of companies have a business unit responsible for implementing brand campaigns
• On average, respondents said their branding budgets had increased 12.3 percent over the last two years
• 60 percent of the respondents reported that they have a brand standards manual for their employees to follow when producing marketing materials

While much of the survey revealed that most BMA members have given appropriate thought to branding and have set aside the adequate resources to execute a disciplined and effective brand campaign, there are still many companies who may be putting their branding campaigns in jeopardy.

An analysis of the more prominent survey findings suggested one potentially troubling issue which highlighted that while a significant number of companies were undertaking branding or re-branding campaigns, only 60 percent of those surveyed said they have a brand standards manual, and 73 percent said they have a business unit responsible for implementing the branding campaign. The implications of brand compliance could be dire for marketing departments. If brand compliance falls under their responsibility and the department is already strapped for time and resources, brand compliance is not going to be enforced with the kind of vigor necessary to ensure a consistent brand campaign is conducted.

Moreover owing to the great significance that a brand holds, it becomes really necessary for firms to incorporate a distinct functional department for the branding activites given proper resources, responsibilities and authority.

Conclusively it is imperative for any functioning organization to realize that brands are living, breathing entities that influence the heart and soul of their company. It is thus very essential for them to establish clear brand standards manual and process it till the time of establishing an admirable brand compliance, the benefit of which could be tremendous. This action not only helps in protecting the financial stake of any company but more important is the emotional stake that the company gets in the customers’ minds.