Week 5 Project

Branding Strategies

© 2016 South University

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Marketing Management

©2016 South University

2 Branding Strategies

Week 3 Lecture 3

Firms create a brand identity by developing an easily recognized brand name. The brand name is then associated with desirable attributes and product benefits. The association of these attributes with the brand name results in a successful branding strategy. Brand positioning is an essential element of a winning branding strategy.

“Brand positioning” is the term used to describe how a firm's brands are located relative to competitive products in the minds of the consumers. A brand’s position is based on the consumer's perception of that brand and of competing brands. Companies determine this position by measuring consumer attitudes and plotting them relative to competing brands. Since Starbucks has marketed its coffee as a premium coffee, consumers are willing to pay more to get that superior taste.

Developing a brand position

Marketing managers start the process of positioning a firm’s brand by identifying the position of the brand and then locating it relative to the competitors’ brands with regard to desired attributes such as price, quality, and other features. The managers generally use a perceptual map—a graph with a vertical and a horizontal scale, one for each desired attribute. Once the firm determines the current market position of its brand relative to the desired position, it then needs to move the brand to the desired position. To do this, the firm develops an integrated marketing communication campaign with the goal of changing the consumer's attitudes toward the brand. This campaign should serve to alter the consumer's image of the product to the one the firm chooses.