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Project 2: Conducting a Brand Audit Start Here

Introduction

You have to finish your brand analysis report and should complete the seven steps of this project by the end of Week 4:

· Step 1: Review Slate Case File

· Step 2: Review the Branding Elements

· Step 3: Research Slate’s Competitors

· Step 4: Discuss Competitors’ Branding Strategies

· Step 5: Present Your Research Results

· Step 6: Submit your brand analysis report

· Step 7: Submit Your Work

· Step 8: Complete your brand analysis report

Your work will be evaluated using the competencies listed below.

· 1.3: Provide sufficient, correctly cited support that substantiates the writer's ideas.

· 1.6: Follow conventions of Standard Written English.

· 2.5: Develop well-reasoned ideas, conclusions or decisions, checking them against relevant criteria and benchmarks.

· 6.1: Identify the general (external) environment in which an organization operates and discuss the implications for enterprise success.

· 6.2: Evaluate strategic implications for domestic and international markets of an organization's industry.

· 6.4: Develop and recommend strategies for an organization's sustainable competitive advantage.

· 12.2: Analyze marketing information.

· Project 2: Conducting a Brand Audit Step 1: Review Slate Case File

· INBOX: 1 New Message

· Subject: Thinking about the consumer and branding

·  

· From: Jillian Best, CEO, MCS

· To: You

· Attachments:

· Slate Case File

· Good Morning,

· I have attached the Slate case file to this email. It provides additional details you will need to inform your work with Carlos Chance, their head of branding.

· Branding  is a very important element of marketing. As you work on this project, it is imperative that you stay focused on the consumer. Remember that a company’s customers do not buy features; they buy benefits, both tangible and intangible. It is also critical to understand customers and how the brand influences their buying decisions.

· Best wishes,

· Jillian

Branding

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A brand is a product or service whose dimensions differentiate it from other products or services designed to satisfy the same needs (Kotler & Keller, 2015). The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as "a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors" (AMA, 2017). Brands identify the source or maker of a product and allow consumers—either individuals or organizations—to assign responsibility for its performance to a particular manufacturer or distributor (Kotler & Keller, 2015).

Branding is a basic marketing decision in which a company uses a name, logo, symbol, decision, phrase, or a combination of these to identify its products and services and differentiate them from those of the competition. A brand name is any design, word, sound, color, or shape, or combination of these that differentiates the company’s products and services. Brand names may be spoken such as Aflac, or unspoken, such as Apple’s logo. A trade name is a legal commercial name under which a company conducts its business, like PepsiCo (Kerin & Hatley, 2017, p. 303).  

A trademark shows that a company has legally registered is trade name or brand name, and that it has its exclusive use, thus preventing other companies from using it. Good trademarks such as Cartier, Armani, or Gucci help sell these companies’ products. Counterfeit products, therefore, become an issue, as they basically steal sales from original company, and tarnish its reputation (and brands) by purveying poor quality products (Kerin & Hatley, 2017, p. 303).  

Brands typically serve three main functions for the customer (Johansson, 2009), though the application of these roles varies based on whether they relate to a hedonic or utilitarian product:

· a guide to evaluating the product or service

· an icon, with emotional impact that affirms affinity and self-perception

· a social statement, offering recognition among peers (conspicuous consumption)

Why are brands important? Imitative targeting of new product development makes product differentiation difficult to sustain. Consumers learn that quality and features are comparable across competitors, and the end result is that the only sustainable competitive advantage is in the brand (Johansson, 2009).

We have seen how important brands are, and how they can be a company’s most precious asset. However, marketing can also render a brand name generic (i.e., it becomes a household name for any equivalent product).  Consider Google, Aspirin, Kleenex, and Band-Aid. Is this a good or bad thing? How can the company that owns the brand differentiate its product in its marketing message?  For example, does Johnson & Johnson need to reestablish Band-Aid as the brand, and not the product? A point to ponder!

Resources

· Consumer Response to Brand Placement in Movies: Investigating the Brand-Event Fit

· The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility and Image on Brand Equity

References

AMA (2017). Brand. Retrieved from https://www.ama.org/resources/Pages/Dictionary.aspx?dLetter=B

Johansson, J. (2009). Global marketing (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Kerin, R. & Hartley, S. (2017). Marketing (13th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2015). Marketing management (15th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ. Pearson.

After you have reviewed the Slate case file and read about branding, proceed to Step 2, where you will examine the elements of branding decisions.

Project 2: Conducting a Brand Audit Step 2: Review the Branding Elements

Through correspondences with Carlos about his expectations for the brand analysis report, the focus of your analysis starts to become clear:

INBOX: 1 New Message

Subject: Focus of Brand Analysis

From: Carlos Chance, Head of Branding, Slate, Inc.

To: You

Hello,

Primarily, we want you to examine the  branding strategies   of our competitors. This report will function as a  brand audit  that allows us to examine our competitors’ strengths, weaknesses, customer expectations, and our own relative position in the market.

These details form the basis of the main  branding elements . I met with our CEO, Shanice Watts, and she wanted me to emphasize the following eight categories we would like you to analyze in your report about our two biggest competitors:

1. brand personality

2. brand image

3. brand identity

4. brand differentiation

5. brand positioning

6. brand communication

7. brand loyalty

8. brand equity (including financial equity)

Slate’s executive teams are really looking forward to your report. Thanks for helping us with this.

Best,

Carlos

Branding Strategies

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Multiproduct Branding Strategy

A company may use one name for all its product capitalizing on its brand equity and the favorable perception that the consumers have for it (i.e., the company’s trade name and brand name are the same, as it is for Sony, GE, and Microsoft). This strategy allows for product-line extensions, or the use of an existing brand name to enter new market segments in the same product class.  Line extensions work best if they take business away from the competition (i.e., incremental business) and do not cannibalize the company’s existing sales.

An important decision companies must make is under which brand a new offering will be marketed. For example, Black & Decker makes power tools for consumers under its Black & Decker brand, while tools for more serious do-it-yourselfers and professionals are under its DeWalt brand. If Black & Decker decided to add to its DeWalt line new products such as coolers, portable radios, CD players, and other accessories construction professionals might find useful at a job site, the company would be creating a brand extension, which involves using an existing brand name or brand mark for a new product category.

Why would Black & Decker add these accessories to the DeWalt line? If the company did, it would be because DeWalt already has a good reputation for high-quality, long-lasting durability and performance among construction professionals. These same professionals would trust the DeWalt brand to deliver.

When they're branding a new offering, firms have to consider the degree of cannibalization that can occur across products. Cannibalization occurs when a firm's new offering eats into the sales of one of its older offerings; ideally, when you sell a new product, you hope that all of its sales come from your competitors' buyers or buyers that are new to the market. A completely new offering will not result in cannibalization, whereas a line extension likely will. A brand extension will also result in some cannibalization if you sell similar products under another brand. For example, if Black & Decker already had an existing line of coolers, portable radios, and CD players when the DeWalt line was launched, the new DeWalt offerings might cannibalize some of the Black & Decker offerings.

However, some marketers argue that cannibalization can be a good thing because it is a sign that a company is developing new and better offerings. These people believe that if you don't cannibalize your own line, then your competitors will.  

Other companies engage in sub-branding, or combining the corporate brand with another brand (e.g., Lamborghini Murcielago or Porsche Boxter). On the other hand, a brand extension capitalizes on a strong brand equity and involves the use of an existing brand name to enter a totally different product class (e.g., Suzuki motorcycles extending its name to cars and outboard motors). However, too many uses of a brand name may dilute its meaning to the consumers as has happened with Arm & Hammer’s brand that has been used for toothpaste, detergent, cat litter, baking soda, carpet deodorizer, deodorant, and air freshener (Kerin & Hartley, 2017, p. 308).

Multibranding Strategy

With multibranding strategy, the company gives a distinct name to each product. This is a useful strategy when each brand is intended for a different market segment. For example, P&G markets its flagship detergent under the Ariel brand, while Tide is the low-tier brand.  In the United States, Tide is the flagship detergent. This strategy involves higher promotion and advertising costs compared to the multiproduct branding strategy; however, since each brand is unique to its market, there is no risk that failure of one brand will impact the other brands in the line (Kerin & Hartley, 2017).  

Private Branding Strategy (Private Label)

With a private branding strategy, a company manufactures products but sells them under the brand name of a retailer (e.g., Rayovac produces batteries for retailers such as Walmart and Kroger). This is a highly profitable business for both sides, and about 20 percent of all products sold in drugstores and supermarkets bear a private label (Kerin & Hartley, 2017).  

Mixed Branding Strategy

Using a mixed branding strategy, companies market products under their own brand and under private labels and sell in different market segments (Kerin & Hartley, 2017).  

References

Kerin, R. & Hartley, S. (2017). Marketing (13th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Brand Audit

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A brand audit is a detailed analysis that shows how a company’s brand is performing versus its goals, and how that performance positions the brand in the market. A brand audit should help the company to do the following (Smith, 2016):

1. establish its brand performance

2. identify strengths and weaknesses

3. align its strategy more closely with the expectations of its customers

4. recognize its position in the market versus the competition

A brand audit is used to assess the sources of a brand’s equity and identify area for improvement, growth, and innovation in order to leverage the company’s equity.

References

Smith, K. (2016). The 7-step guide to performing a brand audit. Brandwatch. Retrieved from https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/brand-audit/

Branding Elements

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Branding elements are the foundation of a branding strategy and help distinguish a brand from its competitors. There are several elements that are important in distinguishing a brand. These include brand personality, brand image, brand identity, brand differentiation, brand positioning, brand communication, brand loyalty, and brand equity. Analysis of these elements will allow marketers to understand the performance of a particular brand.

The branding elements described in the sections below are critical for a successful branding strategy.

Brand Personality

Successful brands acquire a brand personality over time, which is a set of human characteristics that is associated those brand name. Consumers "assign personality traits to products"—for example, rugged, romantic, rebellious, or sophisticated—and choose those brands that are more in line with their "desired self-image" (Kerin & Hatley, 2017, p. 304). Marketers can instill a brand with a personality; for example, Pepsi’s personality traits include exciting and young, while Coca Cola is real and all-American. On the other hand, Harley-Davidson portrays defiance, masculinity, and individualism (Kerin & Hartley, 2017).

The five key dimensions of brand personality include the following (Imagibrand, 2017):

1. brand competence—Is the company branding its expertise? The attributes represented by this brand personality are success, intelligence, expertise, and reliability.

2. brand sincerity—Does the company have a genuine brand? The attributes represented by this brand personality are honesty, wholesomeness, genuineness, and cheerfulness.

3. brand excitement—How daring is the company's brand? The attributes represented by this brand personality are daring, playfulness, spirit, and imagination.

4. brand sophistication—Would James Bond ever use the company's brand? The attributes represented by this brand personality are poise, elegance, and charm.

5. brand toughness—Can the company's brand stand against the competition? The attributes represented by this brand personality are potency, forcefulness, power, and ruggedness.

Brand Image

The American Marketing Association (AMA) (n.d.-b) defines brand image as the "The perception of a brand in the minds of persons. The brand image is a mirror reflection (though perhaps inaccurate) of the brand personality or product being. It is what people believe about a brand—their thoughts, feelings, expectations."

There are two conventional—but incorrect —wisdoms about brand image (Johansson, 2009):

1. Brands are only important for luxury products. The typical reasoning behind this misconception is that luxury products are hedonic (i.e., not bought for functional utility).

2. Brands are not at all important for B2B products. The typical reasoning behind this misconception is that business buyers are coldly rational and are not influenced by emotions.

Research has shown that even utilitarian product choices are influenced by brands., and the driving force is competition. When competition is intense, all products will soon offer equal functional advantages (benchmarking, "me-too" strategies, follow-the-leader, etc.). Accordingly, the one sustainable advantage is the brand image. Anything can be differentiated and branded, even a commodity such Butoni or Barilla pasta (Johansson, 2009).

Brand Identity

Brand identity refers to the distinct and relatively lasting characteristics of a brand. A brand tends to have an appealing and solid identity when consumers perceive its identity as more distinct and prestigious (Bhattacharya & Sen, 2003).

Creating a company's brand identity involves more than designing its logo. A brand identity is both emotional and visual and communicates trustworthiness and relevance. Building an effective brand identity takes many years of perpetual tweaking and hard work; however, it is crucial to the success of the company. When it comes to creating and maintaining a brand identity, every small detail counts. It is a delicate task of following the company's core values, while simultaneously being able to adapt to changing market forces and trends. This task is difficult for even big multinational companies (Jansen, 2018a). Remember how Kodak failed to adapt to changing market conditions?

A strong brand identity can help a company succeed (e.g., Apple and Amazon). This success requires a strong focus and strict brand guidelines to maintain the company's brand and keep it elevated in the face of the changing market forces. In order to do this, companies are advised to heed the following guidelines (Jansen, 2018b):

· Keep things simple and focus on their core values.

· Be flexible and adapt to changing market trends.

· Follow data, but do not ignore emotion.

· Do not jump on market trends without thinking of the bigger picture.

· Do not wait too long to rebrand themselves.

· Do not ignore market trends.

Brand Differentiation

Building a strong brand is crucial to success in today's business world, and strong differentiation is necessary to build a compelling and powerful brand. Brand differentiation is the means by which a company's brand is set apart from its competition, by associating a superior performing aspect of its brand with multiple consumer benefits (Carter, 2014).

Brand differentiation is related to a company's corporate reputation. There are several elements of reputation, including a good customer service, packaging, prompt response to problems, and product-specific comments, that consumers seek when buying. These elements not only provide a basis on which the company can improve its reputation, but also help it differentiate itself from the competition. Corporate reputation may be enhanced by different activities that are closely related to the vertical differentiation of a product, such as technological innovation and a strong brand image. On the other hand, a solid corporate reputation may also help to differentiate a brand. Companies are increasingly recognizing consumers as their most important asset in building an estimable corporate reputation (Vahabzadeh et al., 2017).

In this era of globalization and hypercompetition, companies need to rethink the way that they manage their customer portfolio, as well as how they interact with their customers. Fader (2012) stresses that customers are an asset (customer equity) that should have a place on a company's balance sheet. The author defines customer equity as "the sum of the customer lifetime values across a firm's entire customer base" (p. 62). Since every company's objective is to maximize its overall equity and since customers are perceived as an asset (customer equity) that is an integral part of the company's overall equity, the company should dedicate the necessary resources to maximize its customer equity (Fader, 2012).

Employees are another crucial factor in enhancing a company's reputation. They may help differentiate the company from the competition, as consumers evaluate the corporate reputation that is behind the product and brand presented to them. Accordingly, many companies use their corporate reputation as a vital resource in developing their strategic value. Reputation includes corporate social responsibility, innovativeness, and honest communication, which customers subconsciously convert into brand differentiation of the company's products (Vahabzadeh et al., 2017).

Brand Positioning

Brand positioning is the designing of a company's offering and image to occupy a distinct place in the mind of the target customers (Kotler & Keller, 2015). Brand positioning is the sum of all the marketing activities that position the brand in the target customers’ minds relative to the competition. Positioning does not create something new or different, but rather manipulates the mindset (Ries & Trout, 2001).

Positioning is a crucial stage in a brand management strategy. A good brand positioning strategy helps in the development of new products, communication, market expansion, pricing, and the selection of the distribution channels (Fayvichenko, 2018). Brand positioning is a process of creating the brand's own image, values, positive associations, and distinctive properties in the customers' minds in order to create a sustainable brand image and ensure consumers' attachment to that brand (Fayvichenko, 2016). Today, brand positioning is perceived as a process that begins with the design of a trademark position; however, it is "difficult to specify the essence of positioning when its ultimate goal is not clearly understood" (Fayvichenko, 2018, p. 245). To understand the essence of brand positioning, it is crucial to determine the ideal position of the brand. A clear representation of the ideal position of a brand is a "prerequisite for researching positioning as a target process and developing a system for evaluating its effectiveness" (p. 245).

Ideally, a brand will be positioned so that the customer has positive associations with a brand, is convinced of its unique advantages over other brands, and considers the brand to be of high value or a necessity. This brand-supporting customer is convinced that people who buy other brands are making the wrong choice, considers it a duty to recommend this brand to other consumers, and feels a spiritual unity with consumers who have chosen this brand (Kendukhov, 2008).

Accordingly, Kendukhov (2008) perceives brand positioning as a process of managing the perception of a brand by a customer. The purpose of this process is "persuasion of the consumer in the unique advantages of this trademark over other brands; formation of the consumer's exclusive affiliates with this trademark; formation of the consumer's sense of the indispensability and vital necessity of the brand; formation of fanatical devotion to the brand; raising a sense of duty to recommend this brand to other consumers; forming a sense of spiritual unity with consumers who chose this brand; forming a belief in the consumer that other consumers who buy goods under other brands make the wrong choice" (Fayvichenko, 2018, p. 246).

Brand Communication

The value of a company's brand may rise or fall with its brand communication. Even strong brands must communicate their values and core benefits to the customers in order to sell. Successful brand communication involves satisfied employees and enthusiastic customers. Companies used to communicate their brands using PR and advertising. Nowadays, customers and company employees define the reputation and reality of a brand. They discuss their experience with the company and its products around the clock using social media. Trust plays a crucial role here, and is only built up when the customers receive a consistent and credible brand experience. Employees help a company earn its customers' trust if they credibly communicate the brand's values and positioning (BrandTrust, 2018).

Social media provides an array of constantly changing brand communication tools in the corporate world, which play a crucial role in how customers research and share information, and learn about their brands. Similarly, companies use social media networks for the advertising and sponsorship of their products and services brands in order to develop trust and create sustaining relationships with their customers (Khadim, Hanan, Arshad, Saleem, & Khadim, 2018).

Social media comprises well-built platforms that have a significant and substantial impact on brand loyalty. Customers use social media as a tool to communicate and respond quickly to each other at any time (that information moves much faster on social media compared to traditional media). In addition, social media allows a company to send its brand messages to multiple audiences and collect their recommendations. This feature is crucial, as markets and customer preferences, needs, and wants change quickly, especially in this era of globalization. Social media allows a company to judge how its customers think about its brand and what they want from it. It also enables the company to make improvements to its brand and think forward to anticipate changes in customer needs and preferences (Khadim et al., 2018).

Brand Loyalty

Consumers usually benefit from branding, and trademarks may help them shop more efficiently, as they avoid brands that they dislike, while buying the brands that they like most. Brand loyalty is a favorable perception of, and the consistent buying of, a certain brand over time. The marketplace has been dramatically changing in the past decade thanks to advanced and cheaper communications technologies, which enable consumers to make better choices and share their buying experiences with others, worldwide. Consumers are now increasingly dependent on the internet to acquire information and compare brands before buying. Consumers can easily shift brands if they believe that they have not been treated fairly by a certain company (Kotler & Keller, 2015).

Brand Equity

AMA (n.d.-a) defines brand equity as "the value of a brand. From a consumer perspective, brand equity is based on consumer attitudes about positive brand attributes and favorable consequences of brand use."

According to Johansson (2009) brand equity is “the value of the positive associations that consumers have with a product's brand name. These associations often involve emotional attachments, affinity, positive brand image, and brand identity. They also involve cognitive factors such as familiarity, knowledge and perceived quality, as well as social factors including peer-group acceptance. When these associations turn negative (as in antiglobalization sentiments against global brands) the brand equity can go down very quickly.”

Brand equity is basically the added value that a brand gives to a product beyond the functional benefits that it provides. Brand equity provides competitive advantages; for example, Mercedes Benz implies quality. A second advantage is that consumers are willing to pay more for a product with a brand equity. Here, brand equity is represented by the premium that a consumer is willing to pay for a certain brand over another when both brands provide similar functional benefits. Acura, Infinity, and Lexus cars enjoy a price premium that arises from their brand equity (Kerin & Hartley, 2017).

Brand equity takes time to develop and is carefully crafted and nurtured by marketers who forge unique, strong, and favorable experiences and associations with the brand. Brand equity resides in the consumers' minds, and results from what they have seen, heard, felt, and learned about the brand over time. Brand equity is not quickly or easily achieved (Kerin & Hartley, 2017).

Financial Brand Equity

Financial brand equity is the monetary value of a brand in terms of net revenues the brand is expected to generate over time, across all country markets. The set of assets linked to a brand name include the following (Johansson, 2009):

· brand name awareness

· brand loyalty

· perceived quality

· brand associations (in the consumer's mind)

Financially lucrative brand licensing agreements may arise from brand equity. Successful brand licensing needs a thorough marketing analysis to ensure compatibility between the licensor's brand and the licensee's products. Companies such as Ralph Lauren, Disney, and Luxottica eyewear earn millions every year from licensing their brand names to others (Kerin & Hartley, 2017).

Global Brands

Why are global brands often the most valuable assets of a global company? Global brands are important because product differentiation is difficult to sustain. Accordingly, global brands become the most sustainable competitive advantage. Global brands have become more important because financial brand equity is strongly correlated with global reach (Johansson, 2009).

References

AMA (n.d.-a). Brand equity. Retrieved from https://www.ama.org/resources/Pages/Dictionary.aspx?dLetter=B

AMA (n.d.-b). Brand image. Retrieved from https://www.ama.org/resources/Pages/Dictionary.aspx?dLetter=B

Bhattacharya, C. B., & Sen, S. (2003). Consumer-company identification: A framework for understanding consumers' relationships with companies. Journal of Marketing, 67(2), 7688. doi:10.1509/jmkg.67.2.76.1860

BrandTrust (2018). Brand communication. Retrieved from https://www.brand-trust.de/en/glossary/brand-communication.php

Carter, L. (2014). Brand differentiation: 30 ways to differentiate your brand. Persona Design [Web log]. Retrieved from https://www.personadesign.ie/brand-differentiation-30-ways-to-differentiate-your-brand/

Fader, P. (2012). Customer centricity (2nd ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wharton Digital Press.

Fayvichenko D. (2016) The concept of brand positioning. Mignarodnii naukovo-praktuchniy gurnal «Tovaru I runki», 1(21), 25–32.

Fayvishenko, D. (2018). Formation of brand positioning strategy. Baltic Journal of Economic Studies, 4(2), 245–248.

ImagiBrand (2017). The 5 key dimensions of brand personality. Retrieved from http://imagibrand.com/5-key-dimensions-brand-personality/

Jansen, K. (2018, a). The dos and don'ts of building a brand identity (Part 1). Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/03/05/the-dos-and-donts-of-building-a-brand-identity-part-1/#7287b18a61bc

Jansen, K. (2018, b). The dos and don'ts of building a brand identity (Part 2). Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/04/02/the-dos-and-donts-of-building-a-brand-identity-part-2/#1f763498644a

Johansson, J. (2009). Global marketing (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Kendyuhov V. (2008) Effectivnist vucorustannya marochnogo capital [Effectiveness of using branded capital]. Donetsk: Institute economy promislovist, 96–103.

Kerin, R. & Hartley, S. (2017). Marketing (13th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Khadim, R. A., Hanan, M. A., Arshad, A., Saleem, N., & Khadim, N. A. (2018). Revisiting antecedents of brand loyalty: impact of perceived social media communication with brand trust and brand equity as mediators. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 17(1), 1–13.

Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2015). Marketing management (15th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ. Pearson.

Vahabzadeh, A., Vatanpour, H., Dinarvand, R., Rajabzadeh, A., Salamzadeh, J., & Mohammadzadeh, M. (2017). Impact of corporate reputation on brand differentiation: An empirical study from Iranian pharmaceutical companies. Iranian Journal of Pharmaceutical Research, 16(4), 1658–1670.

When you have finished reading about the branding elements, proceed to the next step, where you will begin your research on Slate’s competitors.

Project 2: Conducting a Brand Audit Step 3: Research Slate’s Competitors

Required Readings

Ferrara, M. H. (2013). Handbook of global marketing. Gale.

1. Building an international brand

2. Managing a brand across multiple markets

3. Global brand success stories

To carry out this assignment, you need to understand Slate’s competitors’ brand strategies, their consumers, how to acquire market knowledge through  primary and secondary research , and how to use that knowledge to build and support a brand.

To start your research, visit the websites of Slate’s two biggest competitors and review both scholarly and reliable nonscholarly sources to explore their branding decisions. Your research of the two companies should focus on the branding elements discussed in the previous step.

Consult a minimum of three scholarly sources and twelve reliable nonscholarly sources (15 total). Make sure that you use reliable, nonscholarly sources such as Reuters, Bloomberg, Yahoo! Finance, Statista, Barrons.com, Morningstar.com, Money, Forbes, Fortune, Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Harvard Business Review, as well as the UMGC Library databases such as Hoover’s, IBIS World, and ABI/INFORM.

In addition, explore the following branding websites for relevant content:

· www.adage.com

· www.adweek.com

· www.brandchannel.com

· www.ama.org

· www.cmo.com

· www.marketingprofs.com

Building an International Brand

In This Essay

■ International Brands: Then and Now

■ Global Brand Philosophy

■ International Brand Architecture

■ Making a Good Brand Global

THE EARLIEST INTERNATIONAL BRANDS

Accompanying an increasingly global approach to running businesses and  marketing  products is the need to create a global brand that will appeal to as large a demographic as possible. Apple, Nike, Starbucks, and Calvin Klein are brands that have global as well as regional appeal. The proliferation of global brands is a relatively new phenomenon. It was once understood that the English, for instance, enjoyed Weetabix for breakfast while Americans ate Kellogg's corn flakes. In the 21st century, however, these assumptions can no longer be made, and a business owner needs to think beyond local trends.

While Weetabix is still a popular brand in England, popular local brands tend to appear mainly in the countries that developed them. However, the owners of such brands, even those with strong regional appeal, are likely owned by large corporations, many of which are international entities. The BBC reported that a 60% stake in the Weetabix brand was purchased by China Bright Food (BBC, 2012). Weetabix was a family-owned brand until it was purchased by Lion Capital, a British private equity firm, in 2004.

Sidebar: Hide

Globalization : The growth of interdependence among world economies. Usually seen as resulting from the removal of many international regulations affecting financial flows.

Before  globalization , only a few truly global brands existed, such as Coca-Cola and IBM. These were symbols of their respective industries, and this symbolism created  demand  for products worldwide. However, increased globalization has broadened the market for a variety of global

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brands and has expanded the opportunity for companies to develop a brand that becomes a byword for a certain kind of technology and product (Wasserman, 2010).

The Story of Google

Not only is the opportunity to expand globally available to companies that already have a brand and a sophisticated corporate structure, but the story of Google shows that two young men can develop a global force from one room and through word of mouth (Vise, 2007). Larry Page and Sergey Brin were both Ph.D. students at Stanford University in California when they devised a project to revolutionize Internet search. Before Google, search engines, rating systems were based on how many times the term appeared on the page. Page and Brin developed the system of the Page Rank, which used the number of pages linking to a certain website. The brand name was developed by an accidental misspelling of “Googol,” a word Page and Brin initially came up with as a name for the company. Google spread by word of mouth and through media, without expensive  advertising . That was ironic since Google would eventually become the advertising king, generating more revenue from advertising than most media outlets combined. In the 21st century, Google is a byword for Internet search.

Most business owners have to spend extensive research and development money to come up with the perfect brand name, logo, and marketing strategy. Google, though it has some exceptional elements, is a prime example of the possibilities that are available to those who can come up with a solid global brand.

Global Brand Philosophy

When someone starts a business, it is usually assumed that the brand should have some global appeal. In fact, according to Hayes Roth, chief marketing officer for Landor Associates, a consultancy firm for brand development, it is not even possible for a company to keep a brand local even if its management wanted to. “Only in the last 10 years has global business become the benchmark for how you do business these days … Thanks to the Internet, it's hard to keep your brand just localized. Once you're on the Web, you're accessible pretty much anywhere in the world. It doesn't necessarily make you a global brand but you have to be mindful of the implications” (Wasserman, 2010).

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To create a global brand, a business owner needs to develop a brand philosophy or a vision of the product or the experience using the product. Branding is based on people's perceptions about your business and your products. Paul Williams, founder of the marketing firm Idea Sandbox, says, “Think of a brand as a reputation. Building a reputation in any new market, including overseas, involves a first impression, which comes from the initial interactions someone has with your company, products, and services” (Wasserman, 2010).

A brand is also considered a symbol of the product it signifies. It can express a certain philosophy, or a quality, such as a homemade touch, social responsibility, health and wellness, freedom and youth, and so on. Particularly in the fashion industry, but to some degree in other industries, the brand can be more abstract and symbolic of certain human values or a philosophy of life.

Branding and Consumer Behavior

Branding is particularly important because it can profoundly affect consumer decisions about what to buy. Jim Cramer of CNBC's “Mad Money” noted on his program that although the supermarket industry faces stiff competition between one major chain and another, Whole Foods Markets' stock and company fundamentals continue to be strong, even though items generally sell for a higher price (CNBC, 2011). One reason is that Whole Foods carries different offerings from the typical grocery store despite the fact traditional grocery stores are devoting an increasing amount of their aisle space to healthy offerings.

Whole Foods sells almost exclusively healthy items, from organic produce to free range eggs and hormone-free meat. However, it is not just the product but the image of the Whole Foods brand that attracts customers, even though they can now find increasing types of healthy foods in their regular grocery aisle. Consumers feel confident that when they go to Whole Foods, they will be bringing home groceries that contribute to the health and well-being of their families. Therefore, the Whole Foods brand encourages customers to drive out of their way or to pay a higher bill at the register because they have confidence in Whole Foods' reputation as a brand.

On another “Mad Money” program, Cramer hosted Danny Meyer, restaurateur and owner of the Union Square Café in New York City. Meyer, author of the book Setting the Table: The Transforming Power ofPage 4  |   Top of Article Hospitality in Business, has developed the thesis of the Hospitality Quotient. His thesis maintains that companies have staying power if they provide their clients with care and attention, not just producing or serving quality products. While Meyer mentions companies that fit certain standards of hospitality and customer care, those who have not yet purchased products from these companies or visited their restaurants become customers because of the companies' reputation or  brand image . The image, philosophy, or reputation of a company is essential to branding, which is a highly influential component in decisions by consumers.

On the show, Cramer formed a list of stocks he referred to as “The Hospitality Index.” After three years, he did a follow-up on the Hospitality Index and found that the stocks on his list rose an average of 257% compared to the 65% gain in the S&P 500 (Metzinger, 2012a), indicating the success of companies that have a positive brand reputation.

GLOBAL BRAND ARCHITECTURE

There are different ways of approaching brand architecture, the way a brand concept is regarded in its various forms, including the corporate level, the product category level, and the individual product level. In the most basic sense, a corporate level of a brand involves the name and logo of the product or company. Management invests extensive effort and research to come up with a name and a logo for its product. Nike's logo, a slanted slash with a curved end, and slogan, “Just Do It,” represent the company, the products, and the philosophy of fitness is victory around the world. The name Nike also represents this, but it is a testament to the success of the company that the logo can communicate throughout various cultures.

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Consumer loyalty: Attachment by consumers to particular goods and services.

The word Nike is the name of the winged Greek goddess representing victory. However,  consumer loyalty  to the Nike brand does not require a working knowledge of ancient Greek mythology. While the association is made for those who know the source of the name, managers who want to create a global brand like Nike have to think also about the sound of the word and how well it can translate in the minds of its global clientele (Coucha, 2011).

Universal Logos

A brand or logo should not be entirely linked to a specific language or  culture  if it is going to have global influence. Likewise, when companiesPage 5  |   Top of Article think about expanding globally, management might need to rethink the logo and name in relationship to every country it wants to sell the products. Constant  market research  is needed as a company grows in size and global scope to ensure the brand name and logo will work in diverse areas. Market researchers often go to countries where the company would like to sell the product, conduct surveys, and engage in market research to gauge the potential efficacy of the brand.

A brand name might not work in a particular country for many reasons. Perhaps the word has a negative connotation in that language or represents a nation perceived to be hostile. In addition, social mores need to be taken into account. For instance, before expanding into a country with a strong theological emphasis in its national character, a company may want to eliminate  logos  and advertising that feature people in shorts (Wasserman, 2010).

Another way of thinking about a brand is to consider the product category. Coca-Cola, although it has many different drink categories, is known for its world-famous cola. While it also has other beverage products, the one product is associated with the Coca-Cola brand in a more dominant way than other products. While the company markets many different brands, the Coca-Cola name, originally associated with just one specific beverage, has a compelling appeal when used to promote other beverages.

Nike and Apple, however, represent product categories, not specific products. Nike represents a wide range of sportswear, particularly athletic shoes, while Apple is symbolic of its many electronic products, including the iPhone, the iPad, the iPod, and others. Unlike Coca-Cola, which has its iconic drink as its long-standing symbol, Apple and Nike need constantly to come up with new products of a similar type and in line with the philosophy of the brand to keep customers interested. A brand associated with product categories rather than with individual products requires constant innovation and new releases since customers are watching the company to see what it will produce next (Douglas & Craig, 2002).

In fact, for a company like Coke, identification with a specific brand can also be a disadvantage. The company might need to make acquisitions of smaller companies or create new products with different names to dissociate these products with the icon. With the trend toward healthier eating, and the campaign against having unhealthy soft drinks in school vending machines, Coca-Cola had to acquire the Dasani brand of mineral water to participate in the healthy-eating trend. It would notPage 6  |   Top of Article have helped the company to come up with a product called “Coke Mineral Water” because of the incongruity of the Coke brand with its sugar and caffeine content with mineral water, a healthy alternative. Often a company can be more successful buying an already popular brand than to expend the resources to develop its own. Even though Dasani is owned by Coca-Cola, it does not carry with it the unhealthy connotations of a sugar-filled popular soft drink.

Branding for Multiple Products

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Demographics: Statistics on various markets, including age, income, and education, used to target specific products or services to appropriate consumer groups.

Companies like Procter & Gamble and Unilever are umbrella companies that have a diverse array of products and product categories. The strength of their brands lies in the individual products (Craig & Douglas, 2002). Even within a limited product category like laundry detergent, Procter & Gamble has more than 20 brands, which it needs to name, give a logo to, and package in a way that will appeal to specific  demographics . These companies are able to tailor-make their brands for certain markets since they have the advantage of having a rather generic if reliable company reputation.

For instance, Unilever owns Walls ice cream brand, which is sold only in the United Kingdom. Procter & Gamble owns Marmite, a yeast spread that is a traditional sandwich favorite in the UK but is largely unused in the rest of the world.

Brand architecture is always evolving, and companies need to make decisions on how best to manage their brands in many countries or even reverse these decisions if they do not succeed. Phillips-Van Heusen, the leading purveyor of men's shirts and ties in North America, has shown flexibility in managing its brands and cooperating with other famous brands in mutual marketing strategies. Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH) owns the Calvin Klein brand, which has seen strong sales in Europe, in spite of the recent economic slowdown on the continent.

PVH acquired the popular Tommy Hilfiger brand in 2010, a move that has been enormously profitable for the company. In addition to the acquisition of Tommy Hilfiger, PVH cooperated in a joint venture with Macy's to feature its products in Macy's stores. In this way, PVH could benefit from Macy's brand name, and Macy's could sell more merchandise on the strength of PVH's brands.

When PVH saw weakness in sales of Calvin Klein underwear and jeans in the United States, it decided to acquire Warnaco, the companyPage 7  |   Top of Article that sold these products in 2012. Emanuel Chirico, CEO of PVH, said this move would “unite the house of Calvin Klein” and, by uniting the brand under one operation, management could have more control over the marketing and sale of the products (Metzinger, 2012). PVH is a strong example of how a company can effectively make acquisitions and  joint ventures  for greater success in its brands.

MAKING A GOOD BRAND GLOBAL

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Trademarks: Exclusive legal rights of firms to use specific names, brands, and designs to differentiate their products from others.

Given e-commerce and the global nature of marketing and selling products in the 21st century, many company managers who start a business immediately think globally. The exception would be local service operations such as a hair salon or an auto repair shop. Even in this case, many have a vision of expansion, but usually such expansion is, at most, regional to national. As discussed earlier, it is important to come up with logos,  trademarks , and  brand names  that appeal internationally. This can be a significant challenge and requires knowledge, talent, and a market research team, ideally with those who can relocate to various places (Wasserman, 2010).

Companies that already have a brand name and a logo that might not appeal worldwide might consider brand diversification or brand expansion. Developing an alternate brand name and logo is a challenge, but it might be necessary in many cases. Another strategy larger companies might use is to acquire popular local brands and expand indirectly through acquisition of another company. The work involved in integrating a new company under the umbrella of the larger organization might be as significant a challenge as developing a new brand, and each company manager needs to take into account corporate resources and energies to decide which strategy is better.

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Market research: A systematic collection, analysis, and reporting of data about the market and its preferences, opinions, trends, and plans; used for corporate decisionmaking.

Market research  is required to determine not only how much demand there is for a certain product in a given country, but also how much competition the expanding brand will face. Large demand for a product is not entirely a test of strength if there are plenty of other products to fill the need. The challenge an overseas company faces is to compete with local or national brands that capture the attitude and nuances and appeal to the tastes of a specific country. If a company wants to compete successfully in such a situation, it might want to hire those native to the country to engage in market research, or at least those who are intimately aware of the needs and inclinations of the average local consumer. As mentioned

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earlier, larger companies might find a greater advantage in buying a local brand or a company than trying to start a new enterprise (Daye, 2007).

The Role of Distribution

The second consideration a company must take into account when putting together a global expansion strategy is the important issue of  distribution  (Daye, 2007). Will the products be imported from the home country, or will the company have to build a factory in various countries? Factors to measure include costs related to labor, constructing or purchasing a place of operation or production, raw materials, and delivery of goods. Costs of these items, especially labor, vary from country to country, as do laws about labor and what raw materials can be used.

Growing awareness of fair labor practices and the environmental harm of mining or using certain raw materials has led to legislation in many parts of the world limiting a company's ability to try to avoid high costs for such items at home or to try to skirt environmental restrictions in the home country. Currency fluctuations also have a deep impact on a company's bottom line, and while certain commodities may seem inexpensive in other countries, currency exchange rates can affect the profitability to the company. Tax issues are also an important consideration and vary from country to country.

Food products are governed by packaging laws that are specific to countries and even states. Nutritional information that appears on a package is governed by different regulations, and in some places, certain ingredients have been banned, such as trans fats in New York City. Variations in packaging create another business expense that might provide a challenge to the company.

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North American Free Trade Agreement: Passed in 1993, the North American Free Trade Agreement eliminates trade barriers among businesses in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Company managers need to look into trademark and patent laws in various countries and register the trademark in various parts of the world. Patents and trademarks are protected in all areas of North America and Mexico by the  North American Free Trade Agreement  (NAFTA). Companies can file trademark protection in the European Union by filing for a Community Trade Mark (CTM). Website domains need to be registered to assure they are not copied by others.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BBC. (2012, May 3). Weetabix bought by China Bright Food. Retrieved November 19, 2012, from  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17935661  May 3 2012

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CNBC. (2011, December 14). Whole Foods CEO: We have tremendous momentum.” Retrieved November 16, 2012, from  http://www.cnbc.com/id/45671098/Whole_Foods_CEO_We_Have_Tremendous_Momentum

Coucha, A. (2011, June 20). Nike, building a global brand. Retrieved November 19, 2012, from  http://www.slideshare.net/Ahmed_Coucha/brand-managment-nike-building-a-global-brand-case-analysis#btnNext

Craig, S., & Douglas, S. (2002, April). Dynamics of international brand architecture and overview and directions for future research. Retrieved November 16, 2012, from  Stern.nyw.edu. 4.stern.nyu.edu/emplibrary/Michele%20Ng_Honors%202008.pdf

Daye, D. (2007, January 9). Building a global brand. Retrieved November 16, 2012, from  http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2007/01/building_a_glob.html

Metzinger, M. (2012a, May 10). The hospitality quotient revisited. Retrieved November 16, 2012, from  http://seekingalpha.com/article/580581-cramer-s-mad-money-the-hospitality-index-revisited-5-10-12

Metzinger. M. (2012b, October 31). Uniting the house of Calvin Klein. Retrieved November 15, 2012, from  http://seekingalpha.com/article/967421-cramer-s-mad-money-uniting-the-house-of-calvin-klein-10-31-12

Vise, D. A. (2007). The Google story. Retrieved November 19, 2012, from  http://yanko.lib.ru/books/internet/google_story-l.pdf

Wasserman, E. (2010, Feb. 1). How to build an international brand.  Inc.com  . Retrieved November 16, 2012, from  http://www.inc.com/guides/build-an-international-brand.html

Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2013 Gale, Cengage Learning

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Managing a Brand Across Multiple Markets

In This Essay

■ Designing and Controlling Expanded Management Organization

■ Managing Brand Presence and Reputation in the Face of Market Expansion

■ Maintaining Product Consistency Across Multiple Markets

■ Avoiding Global Pitfalls and Brand Dilution During Periods of Growth

■ Useful Social Marketing Methods for Multiple Market Companies

OVERVIEW

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Diversification : A firm increasing the range of products it produces.

Economies of scale : Unit cost reductions which result from increasing total output.

At some point, a successful company will be faced with the decision of staying small or expanding. A company may choose to grow its operations, moving into new markets, for a variety of reasons. Reasons for growth include a desire to make the most of what a company has to offer, the dilution of risk through  diversification , fortifying a brand name, and achieving  economies of scale .

Some types of company organization are more suited to expansion than others. Chain organization, for instance, is the most common form of business operating in several different markets at once. A chain of supermarkets may be capable of serving several different markets at once using an identical business model with only a few small changes while a hotel chain may find it less expensive to operate on a larger scale.

Operating in several markets at once can be profitable. However, accounting for and controlling operational issues in multiple markets can be a challenge. Serving diverse communities means that data generated from one community may not be comparable to that of another since the parameters of the data are different. This can make it difficult for the company's headquarters to interpret and address issues for many communities at once.

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Moreover, with each additional market, a certain distance enters the relationship between local management personnel and headquarters. Headquarters may not know as much about an individual market as local personnel and may find it difficult to offer useful guidance. Local issues may therefore be better served by local personnel.

Effective Strategy

In general, a local manager will have limited authority to make decisions about how much inventory to stock. Meantime, the most important decisions regarding company strategy, promotions, and products tend to remain with the upper echelons of management. However, it can be difficult for top management officials to monitor business units well enough to plan effective strategy and direction.

Another challenge in running operations in several markets is satisfying the demands of many different types of customers. A company may be selling a single product line that must appeal to diverse customers from varied cultures and subcultures. It may be necessary to develop a different promotional strategy for every location in which the company operates. Labeling and advertising may have to be translated into a different language. A logo or tag line may not have the same meaning when translated and may generate public laughter or offense (Campbell, Datar, & Sandino, 2008).

Extending business operations may yield more sales, but it comes with many considerations and potential pitfalls. Prodigious research can help identify problem areas and appropriate strategies either to deal with these problems or avoid them altogether. Following the examples of companies with a history of successfully navigating market expansion may also be instructive.

MULTIPLE MARKET CHALLENGES

Maintaining Brand Consistency

With the advent of personal computers and the Internet, moving into new markets would seem to be the natural outcome of the world's more global nature. Networks such as Facebook and Skype make faraway lands accessible in ways that were not previously possible. The strongest brands have an edge in global markets, but maintaining brand consistencyPage 279  |  Top of Articlethroughout several business units can be a challenge, according to a 2006 survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Participants in the EIU survey consisted of 145 top executives from various parts of the world. Half of the participants stated that controlling brand consistency is a major impediment in managing expanded operations. Participants cited two main obstacles in achieving effective brand regulation. The primary issues to maintaining branding consistency included cultural disparities (63%) and language or translation considerations (44%). An encouraging result of the survey was that two out of three survey subjects found that adapting branding messages to local culture and language did positively impact sales volumes.

The survey further discovered that firms deal with issues of brand control by concentrating marketing efforts on a short list of their more robust brands. Resources are expended toward finding and implementing the latest technology to improve and facilitate branding messages. The EIU survey subjects said that a corporate brand, as a whole, held greater significance than individual product brands marketed on their own, either locally or abroad.

Corporate brands were rated crucial by 81% of the survey participants while only 64% felt this way about individual product brands marketed singly. The upshot of the survey is that technology and trade agreements may facilitate global commerce, but managing branding information across cultures and in varied languages is a complicated and difficult process (“Companies Struggling to Manage Brands Across Multiple Markets,” 2006).

Local Challenges

Another major challenge in operating across multiple markets is dealing with localized competition in each operative locale. Brand loyalty may be deeply rooted. Local or regional brands are what the people know. When a new brand comes to market, the existing competition reacts as to a threat and may attack the new operation as a rival.

Where several brands exist, assaults may come from numerous sources at once. Crafting strategies to beat all contestants in each market can be a significant and painstaking challenge. Management at both the local and executive levels must weigh the amount of resources (money, manpower, community goodwill) to invest in combating entrenched domestic competition at multiple points of commerce.

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Market penetration: A pricing policy used to enter a new market, usually by setting a very low price.

An example of a local challenge that impeded  market penetration  is illustrated by Google's attempts to make inroads in China during the first decade of the 21st century. Chinese government censors first blocked access to the local Google website in 2002. Users circumvented the censors by accessing the website's universal address, google.com .

Weighing Risks

Attempts by the Chinese government to block access to Google continued as the popular search engine moved into new Chinese territory. These government challenges to Google kept the Internet giant from effectively competing against competitors such as Yahoo!, Bing, and Baidu and hampered Google operations wherever the company began to operate. In March 2010, Google offered its final compromise, moving all Chinese operations to Hong Kong. Today, typing “Google.cn ” into an Internet browser brings up Google.hk (“Google in China: A Timeline,” 2010).

Knowing when and when not to adapt to local conditions can make or break a brand's success. McDonald's is famous for hamburgers, but the product necessarily went off the menu in India where cows are sacred and Indian sensibilities proscribe offering beef products. The chain's Indian menu instead offers vegetable, chicken, and fish burgers. McDonald's weighed the wisdom of diluting its brand to win over a market, gambled, and won. Starbucks, however, came to a different conclusion when deciding whether or not to set up shop in India.

The Indian government does not allow foreign entities to have direct ownership of retail operations. Starbucks would have been forced to create a minority partnership in order to enter India's retail sector. The company felt that such an agreement would compromise Starbuck's branding and consumer perceptions of company culture, key features of the company message. In the end, Starbucks declined to enter the Indian market. Identifying and weighing the risks must preclude the possible formation and implementation of localized strategies (Roll, 2011).

Consumer Learning Curve

According to Nielsen, the United States-based global consumer information ratings company, 85% of the worldwide population has purchased an item online. The primary Internet shopping force is South Korea, where 99% of those with an Internet connection have bought productsPage 281  |  Top of Articleonline. Tied for second place are the United Kingdom and Germany, both with 97% of their respective populations having purchased items through the Internet.

These global markets can be a tempting proposition for domestic companies looking to grow their operations, but it is important to understand that marketing strategies must be adapted to particular markets. Social networking venues can be important global marketing tools, but a social networking forum popular in the United States may not be as popular elsewhere. Honing in on the correct medium and learning that medium's proper usage come down to conducting market research.

Facebook and Twitter are the most popular social networking venues for commerce within the United States. Facebook sells advertising space to support operations. Qzone in China, on the other hand, with more than 500 million users within seven years of existence, sells various marketing tools to bring home the message that different brands require different marketing methods (Kemp, 2012). In France, Skyrock is a favored forum with its 10 million end-users, most often men aged 18–34. On Skyrock, users build company pages to connect with targeted markets.

Professional Social Networking

After identifying the relevant social networking venue for a particular market, the marketer is ready to craft and style the contents of promotional messages. Gathering information about the consumer base in a particular market will tell the marketer about local purchasing habits and the likely local response to a brand. Where necessary, the promotional message is translated into the language of the target market. Using a professional copywriter well-versed in the local language is critical for capturing language-related nuances that might escape any but those who live in that region. Errors in grammar, spelling, and language usage may cause local consumers to lose interest in the brand and turn to the competition.

It has become par for the course for companies to hire a director of social media. Social media is fluid. Consumer feedback shows that the target market is engaged with the brand. There must be someone who can generate interest in the brand, interact with the public, and respond to questions and comments. A good social media director responds to comments with unfailing courtesy. A responsive social media director generates brand loyalty.

In addition to social media directors who monitor and respond to

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the public, online monitoring systems can track all mentions of specific industries, companies, brands, and company-related individuals such as CEOs. Google Alerts is one such system that is free of charge, easy to use, and can be configured a number of different ways to help companies keep abreast of industry-related consumer buzz. It is possible to set up several alerts at once, making judicious use of keywords in the various languages of the company target markets. Monitoring tools are useful and hassle-free as a source of market research (Arno, 2011).

Branding Tactics

The strongest brands offer perceptive marketers guidance by example. When Apple, for instance, announces a product launch date and time, the company's vast and loyal consumers line up the night before in a queue extending several city blocks for an update of a gadget that is almost identical to one they already own. Generating and maintaining this level of robust branding comes from Apple's refusal to make or sell substandard products. Apple products are a study in excellence of design, in both performance and looks.

There is a sense that buying a top-quality product says something about the consumer. The Apple consumer chooses only fine products. Using an iPhone in public is a kind of status symbol for a select group of people. In this effective example of branding, the consumer seeks an association with the brand.

Marketing professionals say that the key to creating a branding message is to make it relevant, stick to the message, and say it often. Before the message can be created, it is helpful to think about what the brand is meant to convey. Writing up a brand charter that describes the target market can be an aid in defining the brand.

Defining Brand Identity

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Target market: The clients or customers sought for a business's product or service.

A common mistake is trying for universal appeal in the branding message. By attempting to appeal to all, the brand may, in the end, fail to appeal to anyone. Some marketers, therefore, feel it is just as significant when committing a brand statement to paper, to define the nature of the consumer who will neither buy nor benefit from the brand. In describing the identity of the brand, the marketer learns how to focus the brand, thus increasing its relevance to the  target market .

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Tom Dougherty, CEO and senior strategist for StealingShare, a branding consultancy firm, points to two companies, Ikea and Target, to illustrate the importance of brand focusing. According to Dougherty, Ikea has done a good job of focusing its brand while Target has diluted its branding message by opening too many branch stores. “They understand fundamentally, if they're not five minutes to my house, I'm going to go somewhere else,” says Dougherty about the proliferation of Target shops. “If they had relevance, I'd be willing to travel to it” (Donnelly, 2010b).

Dougherty believes that Target erred in making generic products easy to obtain, thus rendering the company brand insignificant. According to this theory, the issue of brand dilution might be addressed by closing some Target stores or by having the store offer products that are somehow unique.

Levels of Comfort

A good example of a brand that is available at many locations yet retains its relevancy is the Marriot Hotel chain.

In some cases, two Marriot hotels may be within sight of each other, yet each has something unique to offer that sets it apart, while still offering a sense of brand unity. Marriot offers various levels of comfort for its clientele. The hotels under the heading of “Courtyard,” for example, offer basic, low-budget hospitality, while a Marriot “Residence Inn” will be a resort hotel that provides many extras to guests. The no-frills approach is suitable for traveling businessmen while the luxury Residence Inn hotels are suited to vacationing travelers at leisure.

The key to Marriot's success is in identifying its target market and focusing its brand to suit. Marriot customers have certain expectations, and the hotel aims to satisfy them. At the same time, the hotel chain knows what its consumer base does not want and might find distasteful. For example, Marriot operated a chain of fast food restaurants under the name Roy Rogers from 1968 to 2002 but divested them to concentrate on their lodging line.

Market research found that hotel guests did not like the idea that Marriot might be involved in a fast-food operation. An established hotel sideline is serving as a venue for weddings. Weddings are associated with elegance and class while fast food has a connotation of low-budget provisions. Customers did not like the idea that a wedding might be catered with greasy fast food chicken although the association between weddingsPage 284  |  Top of Articleand fast food might be all in their mind. The company worked hard to escape public knowledge that it operated these two distinct brands at once (Donnelly, 2010a).

Avoiding Self-Competition

Marriot hotels manage to avoid brand dilution even where the hotels proliferate by offering different levels of comfort. This allows two Marriot hotels on the same street to retain their relevance while the brand remains strong. This highly effective branding strategy rests on efficient, centralized organization. Keeping track of the distance between Marriot hotels offering the same level of comfort is crucial, or the chain would risk competing against itself. It is one thing to have a Courtyard hotel and a Residence Inn hotel on the same block, but having two Courtyard hotels on the same block, for instance, would detract from sales volumes for both.

It has become common practice for companies to designate a chief marketing officer (CMO). The CMO keeps watch over all company brands, retaining a broad perspective on operations to offer synchronicity and brand compatibility. To avoid a state of constant competition between management at the different company units, senior executives should encourage an atmosphere of sharing, in which employees offer effective tips and tricks.

Periodic consumer surveys can help management ensure there are no conflicts among brands. Brands are not static, so it is important to review and perhaps adapt marketing strategies to suit. Companies that fail to schedule and carry out brand reassessments run the risk of having competition define the brand (Donnelly, 2010b).

ORGANIZING AN EXPANSION

The benefits of expansion, especially on a global basis, include added income and a more robust margin. Expanding a brand across multiple markets, however, is complex and requires intensive oversight to succeed. Most modern companies are finding technology to be of invaluable assistance in running brands in multiple markets.

Cloud-based software is one popular option for organizing expanded operations. One such enterprise collaboration platform (ECP) is known as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). SaaS provides a virtual office on an independent,Page 285  |  Top of Articlededicated network. Virtual office suites on the order of SaaS offer the office application plus technical support and maintenance. Most large companies see these virtual office applications as time- and money-savers since the SaaS provider takes responsibility for support and maintenance. The provider also installs updates, although a fee may be charged for this purpose.

A virtual office system allows employees to communicate with each other at any time, from any place, as long as an Internet connection is available. Critical information can be relayed in real time and with immediacy, whenever the need arises. The company ECP ensures brand consistency by making the same branding tools and materials available to all branch operations.

Central Hub

In addition to ensuring brand consistency, the ECP eases project management by providing a central hub for projects spread among various markets. With the ECP, all business units have access to the same data and data updates. Employees in different business units around the world can communicate by way of Skype and similar tools, even holding webinars and conferences, with the tools provided by the virtual office space. The various communication tools help employees to feel like a team although they may be spread out in various locations. The end result is improved brand delivery.

Securing documents and office-related digital items is another important facet of the ECP. The ECP offers a central secure storage and retrieval system to ensure that confidential intellectual properties, for instance, will not be lost or stolen. Cloud storage means that if anything untoward happens to a local office system, the company will still have backup copies on the ECP cloud storage system.

Virtual office software also allows training of employees through online management courses. Office software suites offer a rich variety of media tools for creating such training courses. New managers or employees, no matter where in the world they are located, can learn about the brand in an efficient and consistent manner (Rogers, 2012).

MEETING THE CHALLENGE

The savvy marketer calculates the risks inherent in making the switchPage 286  |  Top of Articlefrom domestic to multiple markets and then plans for every possible pitfall along the way, regularly assessing progress and methods. The modern marketer also makes ample use of technology for successful brand expansion. Maintaining brand consistency, learning the ins and outs of designing and using an enterprise collaboration platform, and adapting to local conditions and culture are part of the process of expanding into new markets.

Expanding a brand across multiple markets may seem a daunting prospect to the businessman contemplating growth. Challenges are to be found in successfully marketing a brand across many markets. By identifying the nature of those challenges and through rigorous planning and preparation, however, a way forward can be delineated and diligently traversed, to the benefit of the brand and the company as a whole.

SOURCES OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Google Alerts. http://www.google.com/alerts

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ahmed, S. (2012, June 28). Managing your brand's presence across multiple social channels. Retrieved November 12, 2012, from http://blog.thismoment.com/2012/06/managing-your-brands-presence-across.html

Arno, C. (2011). Managing your online reputation across multiple languages. Retrieved November 12, 2012, from http://www.bossstart.com/managing-your-online-reputation-across-multiple-languages

Campbell, D., Datar, S.M., & Sandino, T. (2008). Organizational design and control across multiple markets: The case of franchising in the convenience store industry. Retrieved February 1, 2013, from http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/08-091.pdf

Companies struggling to manage brands across multiple markets, a new report from the Economist Intelligence Unit reveals. (2006, April 24). FinFacts. Retrieved November 12, 2012, from http://www.finfacts.ie/irishfinancenews/article_10006500.shtml

Donnelly, T. (2010a, October 25). How to master multiple brand management. Retrieved November 12, 2012, from http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/10/how-to-master-multiple-brand-management.html

Donnelly, T. (2010b, November 18). How to maintain brand consistency across product lines. Retrieved November 12, 2012, from http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/11/how-to-maintain-brand-consistency-across-product-lines.html

Google in China: A timeline. (2010, March 22). The Week. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from http://theweek.com/article/index/200837/google-in-china-a-timeline

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Kemp, S. (2012, May 10). Social network users in Asia, May 2012. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from http://wearesocial.net/blog/2012/05/social-network-users-asia-2012/

Rogers, T. (2012). How to: Keep control of your brand when operating in multiple markets. Retrieved November 12, 2012, from http://www.b2bmarketing.net/knowledgebank/international-marketing/best-practice/how-keep-control-your-brand-when-operating-multi

Roll, M. (2011, April 15). Brand globalization pitfalls to avoid. Retrieved November 12, 2012, from http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/columnists/brand-globalization-pitfalls-to-avoid/435599

Roll, M. (2012, April 1). High-profile acquisition: Strategies against brand dilution. Retrieved November 12, 2012, from http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/columnists/high-profile-acquisition-strategies-against-brand-dilution/508591

Tamis, M. (2012, November 7). What Facebook Global Pages mean for marketers. Retrieved November 12, 2012, from http://hearsaysocial.com/2012/11/facebook-global-pages /

What is Software-as-a-Service? (2012). WiseGeek. Retrieved November 18, 2012, from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-software-as-a-service.htm

Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2013 Gale, Cengage Learning

Page 301

Global Brand Success Stories

In This Essay

■ Defining the Global Market

■ Choosing to Enter the Global Market

■ Secrets to Global Success

OVERVIEW

With the advent of personal computers, the Internet, and social networking, the everyday lives of individuals have broadened. It is no longer unusual to correspond by email, chat in real time, or use Skype, a service offering free Internet phone calls, with someone halfway around the world on a daily or even minute-to-minute basis. Interacting with people from faraway places and vastly different cultures has become commonplace. The sophisticated marketer sees the possibility in this new, more global world as a means to expanding business horizons.

Global marketing involves identifying markets abroad and developing products or services to suit these targeted international audiences. If the marketing plan is well-crafted and implemented, a domestic company might be transformed into an important global business force. However, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach in the global market. Individual marketing strategies must be customized and set in motion for every location in which a product is to be sold, even if that just means offering a service in another language.

Some products or services, such as automobiles, food, or health care are in  demand  everywhere. Careful regional marketing with attention to detail is the key to successfully marketing items and services in universal demand. A popular international restaurant chain may adapt its menu to local sensibilities, omitting some items and substituting others. Flexibility on the part of a company and the ability to respond to local  culture  can translate into sales (“Global Marketing, Definition,” 2012).

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A select number of companies have made the transition from strong regional or national success to international glory. Studying the triumphs of such companies as Coca-Cola, Facebook, Samsung, and McDonald's, for instance, can be a useful form of marketing research for those aspiring to place products or services in the global marketplace or for those already involved in the global marketing arena. While marketing is not an exact science, the global marketing methods employed by these companies, and the setbacks along the way, are instructive. Marketing experts can and should study these company histories as case studies in success.

GOING GLOBAL

Sidebar: Hide

Target market: The clients or customers sought for a business's product or service.

In marketing goods and services to the global marketplace, a variety of issues must be considered. Trade agreements, local economies, currency valuations, local regulations, regional culture, subcultures, and nuances of language and body language are just a few of the myriad facets affecting international commerce. Each individual  target market  will have its own set of complexities. The astute marketer will identify and address all relevant marketing factors for each location in which the product or service is to be sold.

The interplay between local and global regulations, foreign relations, and cultural sensibilities also figures large in any global marketing plan. The integration of global markets has remained an elusive goal from the time of World War I and the Great Depression. Free trade agreements, the end of the Cold War, and the emergence of China as a significant world trader and investor are all late 20th-century developments that have contributed much toward integrating the global marketplace (“What Is a global market?” 2012). Another important effort toward such integration was the creation of the European Union (EU). A primary goal of the EU is to standardize currency and regulations throughout Europe, thus simplifying  international trade  (“European Union,” 2012).

The complexities of operating on a global scope cannot be denied. However, in some cases, “going global” may actually simplify a business operation. Production costs can be lower in some locations while regulations may be less complicated elsewhere, making compliance easier.

Avoiding Stagnation

Even where moving into another market adds to business complications,Page 303  |   Top of Article

Sidebar: Hide

Stagnation: A negative level of economic growth. If this only happens in the short-term it may be called a recession, but if it lasts longer, then it may be referred to as stagnation.

there are numerous reasons to venture into the global marketplace. For one thing, a shift to the global market is a means of avoiding stagnation in a domestic market that has been fully penetrated. Entering the global market translates to movement and growth in company culture.

Another factor in making the decision to move into the global marketplace is the consumer public's perceptions. The company that makes the transformation from the domestic to the global market shows vigor and a willingness to adapt and respond to new markets. Venturing into the global marketplace proves a company's mettle by its capacity to execute innovation. Consumers appreciate and respond to a company with drive and energy.

The potential of the global marketplace is another reason to expand and develop in parts of the world hitherto unknown. Regional markets in a state of growth and development hold much potential for the savvy businessperson. Identifying and cultivating these markets may yield untold results.

Consumers want worldwide purchasing power and may be disappointed at finding that products found on the Internet are not shipped to their part of the world. Fiscal prudence means responding to these global consumer demands before competitors enter the global fray. Getting to a regional market first can help generate countless numbers of customers and create brand loyalty (Delaney, 2010).

CASE STUDIES IN SUCCESS

Coca-Cola

One of the most successful examples of a domestic product gone global is Coca-Cola (Coke). The fact that 94% of the world population recognizes the company trademark speaks reams about Coca-Cola's global success, as does the fact that the phrase Coca-Cola is second only to OK in terms of universal understanding. One can find Coca-Cola at a gas station in a rural African outback or on an isolated mountaintop in a town not listed on any map. The beverage can be purchased in any of the world's five continents.

The first batch of Coca-Cola dates back to 1886, when Dr. John Styth Pemberton cooked it up in his backyard in a three-legged kettle made of brass. Since that time, the company has developed a numberPage 304  |   Top of Article of other popular soft drinks, although none is as popular as Coke. From such humble beginnings, Coca-Cola has evolved into a product that is in demand in all but 20 countries. The trial and error process that resulted in the Coca-Cola Company's current business policy is, therefore, worthy of study.

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Differentiation: A strategy which offers the same goods at different prices for different sectors of the market.

Coca-Cola attributes its overwhelming global success to differentiating products, customers (purchasers), and consumers (end users). One of Coca-Cola's most important lessons in product  differentiation  was to focus its efforts on its best-selling lines. In the mid-1980s, only 77% of the company's income was derived from its soft drink lines, with the rest of its business spread among such diverse items as coffee, wines, fish farms, and water desalination.

Eventually, the company realized the wisdom of selling only those products and services yielding high returns, gradually selling off most of its other businesses. Today, a full 97% of Coca-Cola income comes from its popular soft drink lines.

Consumer Differentiation

Meeting the needs of consumers is part and parcel of succeeding in business, but to do this on a global scale means looking at cultures and subcultures and adapting products, product messages, and company culture to suit. Coca-Cola succeeds in the global market because of good  market research  that leads to improved consumer differentiation. Global success can be measured by volume of sales and the amount of money generated.

Coca-Cola succeeds because the company takes a close look at end users, making products available where consumers will be likely to purchase and drink them. For this reason, Coca-Cola can be found at cinemas, gas stations, supermarkets, discotheques, and athletic clubs. Consistent, dependable delivery, catchy  advertising , and customer service are well executed, giving the company unimpeachable credentials. Retailers know that Coca-Cola beverages yield profits without fail.

For decades, Coca-Cola invested in horizontal expansion, by adding manufacturers, distributors, stores, and locations. This type of expansion was exploited to the fullest so that today, there is hardly a place in the world where Coca-Cola beverages cannot be found. Therefore, the company has begun to aim for vertical brand expansion, by increasing the amount of product produced and sold.

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Vertical Expansion

Successful vertical expansion means offering consumers more compelling reasons to choose Coca-Cola beverages instead of those of competitors. Knowing the consumer is the key to honing in on what will tend to sway one subculture or another into buying more products. This is the essential nature of differentiation. With 5.6 billion Coca-Cola drinkers already loyal to the brand, it is a daunting task to differentiate successfully enough to increase an already huge consumer base (“Who Dares Wins - Success Through Intelligent Risk,” 2012).

An example of Coca-Cola's successful consumer differentiation is found in the company's campaign to grow its customer base in China. In 2001, China was Coca-Cola's seventh largest market. A decade later, China had moved up to third largest market, just behind the United States and Mexico. Here, understanding  consumer preferences  proved a key factor in increasing the company's customer base.

Increasing sales of Coca-Cola in China came down to dispelling a belief among the Chinese that cold beverages are a danger to health. In order to increase sales, it was found expedient for the Coca-Cola Company to invest in re-educating the public regarding this long-held notion. Several hundred million dollars were spent in teaching the locals that Coca-Cola drinks can be safely drunk whether cold or warm (D'Altorio, 2009).

Facebook

Like Coca-Cola, Facebook, a popular social networking site established in 2004, is an archetypal U.S. success story gone global. Coca-Cola's success was in part, a coming-of-age story, with the company having long ago passed its 100th birthday while Facebook is still young. In spite of its youth, Facebook, less than decade after launching, had already generated more than one billion global users. For this company, continued global growth is crucial. Potential investors need assurances that the company still has room to grow.

The goal of the company is to ensure that every person in the universe connects to Facebook. To the onlooker, the company appears to be well on its way to this aim. In examining Facebook's methodology on global development, however, the first glimmer of understanding is found in the lightning speed with which the company grew to international fame.

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Almost from its inception, Facebook had a powerful user base overseas. What distinguishes Facebook is that it grew faster abroad than it did at home. When Facebook was in its third year of operations, the largest number of Facebook users was found, not in the United States, but in London. This did not escape the attention of the Facebook hierarchy, but rather than concentrate on market research and differentiating consumers, the company created a tool that allowed users to translate the social networking interface to their own languages. In essence, Facebook used a single tool to reach the multitudes, saving time and manpower.

Translator Tool

The effect of the translator tool became obvious on the first day it was launched. Before the day was over, statistics showed that 90% of the website had been viewed in French. Andy Johns, who worked on user growth and engagement at that time, called the language tool “the greatest lever” ever for company growth. Instead of opening branch offices in separate countries and installing office people and management in each, the language tool engineered an unheard of economy of scale that allowed the user to develop the product for the company.

The language translator tool with its 80 languages meant that Face-book could enter the territory of that many or more unchartered geographic locations without any need for targeted research or investment. An example of how this played out is in Turkey, a language-specific country with a rapidly developing Internet market. Facebook never identified Turkey as a market to target, yet managed to outpace all other social networking sites in the country within a short span of time (Johnson & Andrews, 2012).

Another factor in Facebook's phenomenal international success is the aggressive atmosphere of its company culture. Johns credits the tenor of the Facebook company culture with Chamath Palihapitiya, an early member of the growth team. Palihapitiya had leadership skills and took on the task of motivating the team, lighting the way forward with his fearlessness and knowledge.

Facebook developers pushed the boundaries as far as possible to grow and develop the social networking site everywhere in the world. The office was decorated with visible symbols of the company's global aspirations. Facebook rivaled the United Nations for the number of national flags hanging from its office ceilings.

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Signs with inspirational messages are also a commonplace feature at the Facebook growth team headquarters. One sign depicts Godzilla and reads, “Go Big or Go Home,” while another proclaims, “Up and to the Right” (a computer techie's twist on “onward and upward”). Also popular is a sign that reads, “Done is Better than Perfect.” Two other slogans dotting the walls of the company office include, “What Would You Do If You Weren't Afraid?” and “Move Fast and Break Things” (Johns, 2012).

Samsung

Coca-Cola dabbled in diversity and lost while the focus at Facebook was on a single product. In the case of Samsung, however, the multinational conglomerate started out with a purpose and products utterly at odds with its current incarnation. Established in 1938, Samsung began as a modest concern, with two comestibles, dried fish and noodles, as its exclusive stock in trade. Today, Samsung is a brand name that is recognized everywhere and is associated with a multitude of industrial lines such as electronics, Internet technology, engineering, shipbuilding, and more (“The Success Story of Samsung Electronics,” 2012).

Samsung, like Coca-Cola, chose to go the route of diversification. Unlike Coca-Cola, Samsung found that several vastly different  product lines  were better than only a few. Today, the conglomerate serves as an umbrella for numerous diverse companies around the world.

While Samsung, from its inception, remained heavily invested in diversification and in becoming a force in the global market, the company's fulfillment of its global potential was only realized during the late 1990s. In 1998, Samsung honed in on branding as the way toward international recognition. To that end, Samsung Electronics Corporation contracted to sponsor the Seoul Olympics.

Sidebar: Hide

Brand image : The view held by consumers about a particular brand of good or service. The stronger the brand image the more inelastic the demand for the product is likely to be.

At that time, Samsung was the leading electronics company in South Korea. By sponsoring the Olympics at home, where Samsung used domestic popularity to leverage a sponsorship agreement, the company was able to increase its global  brand image  several notches. Samsung products became more visible in numerous parts of the world, and the name of the company became part of the global vocabulary.

Sudden Global Fame

This sudden worldwide fame after 60-some years in business could notPage 308  |   Top of Article fail to be noticed by Samsung management. The company expanded on this success by sponsoring sporting activities and other events that might bring the brand name and logo of Samsung to the world's attention. In addition to these efforts, the company extended its branding potential by courting several thriving companies in various parts of the world with an eye toward creating alliances. Fame by association with successful businesses was a Samsung strategy that worked.

As a result of these marketing tactics, between 2001 and 2009, for example, Samsung's value increased from US$5.2 billion to US$10.8 billion. Soon, Samsung appeared on Interbrand's top 100 brands list, coming in at 25th on the roster in 2002 and 2003. Interbrand is considered the foremost brand consultant worldwide. By 2002, Samsung was the only Asian brand not from Japan listed on Interbrand's top 100.

In the midst of a worldwide recession during 2007–2008, Samsung netted 1.5 trillion South Korean won (US$1.4 billion) in profit, in the third quarter alone. This figure represented approximately 20% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in South Korea. With brand recognition at an all-time high, even a worldwide economic slump could not dampen Samsung's success.

Marketing experts believe that Samsung's global success story is due less to diversification than to the way the company settled on a single method for growing its branding image. Samsung's branding strategy was developed in 1996 by company chairman, Lee Kun-Hee. The company continues to rely on the execution of this simple branding scheme, investing an annual sum of US$3 billion toward these efforts. Samsung brand recognition continues its upward growth pattern, thanks to Kun-Hee's substantiated branding program (“Samsung: A Success Story in Branding Strategy,” 2009).

McDonald's

Coca-Cola focused on consumer differentiation as a means to global fame while Facebook engineered global user growth by way of its translator tool. Samsung piggybacked its way to global brand recognition by sponsoring events and making alliances with successful business. McDonald's, however, shot to worldwide celebrity by tailoring company culture to the locales in which it set up shop.

The story of McDonald's began in 1940, when two brothers, Dick and Mac McDonald, opened a restaurant on Route 66 in San Bernardino,Page 309  |   Top of Article California, in the United States. They had no big aspirations. They just thought they could set up a barbecue pit along the highway and have a group of waiters serve drivers as they sat in their cars out front. Drive-in restaurants were already a trend in the suburbs of southern California. The McDonald brothers' venture was just another greasy highway grill.

When people think of hamburgers, they think of McDonald's, yet the hamburger was already in vogue before the McDonald brothers opened that first restaurant. The meat patties were inserted between bread slices to eliminate the need for plates. In California, burgers were often topped with cheese and lettuce. None of these burger-centric concepts originated with the McDonald Corporation.

In the years between the two world wars, the hamburger became a U.S. institution. As railroads grew and motorists explored the United States, chain restaurants sprang up in strategic locations to take advantage of this moving clientele. Travelers wanted everyday food, the kind they were used to eating at home.

Firm Reputation

A chain was only as strong as its dependability, and customers flocked to restaurants they trusted, where there were no rumors of food poisoning. White Castle, launched in 1921, was the first hamburger chain to establish a firm reputation. The name of this chain was so designed to offer an impression of cleanliness and purity.

McDonald's main innovation was to mechanize and speed up the process of cooking and serving burgers. The company created a model of efficiency that went far beyond that of any other burger chain. Dick and Mac termed this new style of business, the “speedy-service system.” Customers got their food fast and with quality control thrown in. Consumers knew exactly what to expect at McDonald's, and that was a plus in the restaurant's favor (Adams, 2010).

Sidebar: Hide

Franchise: A type of business organization where the owner keeps control. Each outlet of the business is owned by an individual who is allowed to use the name.

Ray Kroc encountered the brothers' restaurant while selling milk shake mixers in California in 1954. He saw the potential in McDonald's and persuaded Dick and Mac to let him partner with them. Kroc opened a  franchise  in Des Plaines, Illinois. Within five years, he had opened another 100 restaurants. In 1961, he bought out the McDonald brothers for US$2.7 million. At the time of Kroc's death in 1984, McDonald's had grown to become the largest restaurant chain worldwide.

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Addressing Local Sensibilities

McDonald's global success focuses on fashioning company culture to suit the sensibilities of local culture. In the United Kingdom, for instance, the firm spent £95 million to go “green.” This involved offering coffee that is harmless to rainforests, making use of only organic dairy products, and serving free-range eggs. The facades of McDonald's restaurants in the United Kingdom were painted over in green, to further underline the eco-friendly ethos of the company's adopted culture.

In France, all 1,000 McDonald's restaurants use food items grown by French farmers. Market research performed by McDonald's in France showed that using locally grown produce is a priority with the French people. McDonald's paid attention to what the people had to say and offered a product that suited their demands.

Conducting market research and following through means remaining flexible. Flexibility extends to making menu changes. In Middle Eastern countries, for example, customers want kebabs. McDonald's adapted its menu to suit, offering Big Macs alongside kebabs and taking all pork products out of circulation since Muslims do not eat pork. Adapting the menu was also important in India, where cows are holy and eating beef is frowned upon. In Israel, milkshakes were taken off the menu since eating milk and meat together is forbidden for those who keep kosher. In Japan, portions are smaller, and one can order a Teriyaki McBurger.

McDonald's success in the global market is due to diligent market research and an unwavering commitment to giving customers what they want. McDonald's does not fear changing an iconic menu or storefront if that is what its target market desires. The company stands willing to customize promotional advertising, branding, and products to suit local culture (Adams, 2010).

LESSONS LEARNED

In each of the examples above, Coca-Cola, Facebook, Samsung, and McDonald's, a company developed a marketing strategy that worked. However, none of these companies shared a common strategy. There is no one-size-fits-all  global strategy  that ensures success.

While it may not be possible to extract a winning formula for global greatness, there are still lessons to be learned for the marketer with an eye toward entering the international market. Coca-Cola, for example, discovered that it was a mistake to diversify when only one category ofPage 311  |   Top of Article product, beverages, was selling well. The company recognized this mistake and concentrated efforts on selling only a short list of items in just the one product category. Coca-Cola also changed its marketing strategy from horizontal to vertical expansion. Realizing mistakes and rectifying them means identifying flaws and remaining flexible enough to own up to them.

Facebook saved time and money by engineering a new tool that obviated the need for expensive, time-consuming market research and follow-through. The translator tool represented an idea about the global market as the young company's primary consumer target, rather than as the next step in expanding operations. To Facebook, the domestic market was never the company's most important focus. Facebook proved the point by offering its product in a multitude of languages, making the product user-friendly for a worldwide consumer base, almost from its inception.

Samsung changed branding notions by piggybacking onto important local events and allying itself with successful domestic companies. This was a risk-free method of attracting positive public attention. Samsung had a vision that success begets success. Young boys and men want to be athletic. A successful athlete at an Olympic event wearing a shirt or shoes that say “Samsung” offers a positive branding message. The association between “Samsung” and “athlete” is one that sticks in the mind and sells products.

Substantiated Method

McDonald's rise to global success, unlike that of Facebook, involved extensive market research. Furthermore, the company adapted, and continues to adapt, products and promotional materials to each targeted market with meticulous attention to detail. This is the traditional, accepted way to marketing success. Market research and lots of it, followed by implementing strategy based on the results of that research is costly and takes time, but ultimately, it is a substantiated method that generates results.

Facebook engineered its success with innovative high-tech tools while McDonald's chose a tried-and-true method of market research and implementation. Coca-Cola learned from its mistakes to sharpen its focus while Samsung chose fame by association. The unifying factor in these different approaches to global triumph is in having a vision, moving forward, and remaining flexible enough to match consumer culture, inPage 312  |   Top of Article spite of entrenched company concepts, marketing notions, and methods. Therefore, boldness and flexibility, with a vision, is the proven pathway to global achievement.

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The success story of Samsung Electronics: How it all began. (2012, June 1). Samsung Village. Retrieved November 4, 2012, from  http://www.samsungvillage.com/blog/2012/06/samsungblog-the-success-story-of-samsung-electronics-how-it-all-began.html

Tobrin, D. (2008, February 4). Horizontal or vertical expansion, which is best for you? Retrieved November 6, 2012, from  http://secondwindconsultants.com/blog/2008/02/04/horizontal-or-vertical-expansion-which-or-neither/

Transcreation (definition). (2011). Branded Translations. Retrieved November 4, 2012, from  http://www.brandedtranslations.com/transcreation

von der Heydt, A. (2010, June 22). Facebook's COO explains their success. Retrieved November 4, 2012, from  https://www.consumergoodsclub.com/cgc-official-blog/80-new-media/393-facebooks-coo-explains-their-success

Page 314  |   Top of Article

What is a global market? (2012). WiseGeek. Retrieved November 4, 2012, from  http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-global-market.htm

Who dares wins - success through intelligent risk. (2012). The Times 100 Business Case Studies. Retrieved November 4, 2012, from  http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/coca-cola-great-britain/who-dares-wins-success-through-intelligent-risk/a-story-of-global-success.html#ixzz2BF59Wn4H

Why go global? (2012). McCampbell Global. Retrieved November 2004, 2012, from  http://www.mccampbellglobal.com/Why-go-global-.html

Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2013 Gale, Cengage Learning

Primary and Secondary Research

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The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines marketing research as follows: “the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information—information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process. Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues, designs the method for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection process, analyzes the results, and communicates the findings and their implications.” (AMA, 2013, para. 2)

There are two types of research (Marshall & Johnston, 2011):

· primary research—Data is collected specifically for a certain research question, (i.e., primary data). Data may be quantitative (statistical analysis), or qualitative (e.g., surveys, focus groups, and interviews). Primary research is important when making strategic decisions. While primary research is costly and more time consuming, it is more accurate and reliable.

· secondary research—Data was collected for some other purpose than the research question at hand. Secondary research may involve an internet search, periodicals, CRM data, government sources (e.g., economic census), and market research organizations. Secondary data is cheaper to obtain and is less time consuming to use because it is readily available; however, it may be outdated or unreliable. In addition, secondary research may not be a perfect fit for the research question. In general, primary research usually starts with a scan of the available secondary information to help further refine the search.

References

AMA (2013). Marketing research definition. Retrieved from www.ama.org

Marshall, G. W., & Johnston, M. W. (2011). Essentials of marketing management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Then proceed to the next step, where you will discuss branding strategy.

project 2: Conducting a Brand Audit Step 4: Discuss Competitors' Branding Strategies

Importance of Branding

As you are researching Slate’s competitors, Carlos asks you to participate in a  meeting on the importance of branding  with his team.

Review the meeting details, then go to the discussion area and begin by posting your main response to Carlos’s questions. Support your arguments with at least one source from the course readings, and three reliable nonscholarly sources derived from your own research. Then respond to at least two postings in the discussion group. Complete all discussion posts and responses by the end of Week 3 at the latest.

Review the  MBA Discussion Guidelines  for instructions on participation in discussions.

Meeting on importance of brand equity

Carlos Chance, the head of branding at Slate, Inc., soon hosts a kick-off Zoom meeting asking for the case team’s insights into the company’s logic on brand equity.

Carlos noted that "brand equity is basically the added value that a brand gives to a product beyond the functional benefits that it provides. Brand equity provides competitive advantages; for example, Mercedes Benz implies quality. A second advantage is that consumers are willing to pay more for a product with a brand equity. Here, brand equity is represented by the premium that a consumer is willing to pay for a certain brand over another when both brands provide similar functional benefits. Acura, Infinity, and Lexus cars enjoy a price premium that arises from their brand equity” (Kerin & Hartley, 2017).

Carlos also noted that “Keller (1998) defined brand equity as the added value of a brand that represents the part of a product created in consumer minds as a result of previous investments in brand marketing. In addition, Keller (1993) argued that brand equity is assessed through a customer-based lens by examining how consumers would react favorably to a brand versus a generic version of the product.”

Carlos added that “a company like P&G has 22 global brands bringing in more than a billion dollars each in annual sales (Brownfield, 2020). P&G spends millions of dollars each year to defend its brands; they are its most precious assets.”

Carlos said. "I want you to research the role that brand equity plays in our competitors’ branding strategies, and how we can learn from them to enhance and defend our brand equity.”

Contribute your thoughts in the Slate, Inc.’s project team discussion area, and discuss your ideas with your team members.

 

Reference:

Brownfield, A. (2020). A look at Procter & Gamble's billion-dollar brands, including some made in

Triad. Triad Business Journal. https://www.bizjournals.com/triad/news/2020/10/17/these-arep-gs-billion-dollar-brands.html

 

Keller, K. L. (1993). Conceptualizing, measuring, managing customer-based brand equity.

Journal of Marketing, 57(1), 1–22.

 

Keller, K. L. (1998). Strategic brand management: Building, measuring and managing brand equity.

Prentice Hall.

 

Kerin, R. & Hartley, S. (2017). Marketing (13th ed.). McGraw Hill.

MBA Discussion Guidelines

Throughout the MBA program, you will be asked to participate in discussions. Assigned discussions, both individual and group work, are part of the process of developing your project deliverables.

In general, address your discussion posts to your classmates, rather than the instructor. Do not attach files; use only the discussion textbox. Your posts do not need the structure or format of formal business memos or reports. These discussions should be an informal exchange of ideas with your peers. You should, of course, still adhere to the norms of standard written English.

To receive the maximum benefit, you should participate in accordance with the guidelines provided below.

· timeliness

· initial posting(s) submitted by 11:59 PM ET on Saturday

· response(s) to other discussion postings submitted by 11:59 PM ET on Tuesday

· proper citation

· cite sources any time you quote or paraphrase an idea or evidence from another work

· use APA citation style (example below)

· meaningful engagement

· posts contribute to substantive scholarly discussion

· student demonstrates professionalism in interaction with peers

· posts critically discuss topics presented in the current week and, when appropriate, in previous weeks

· posts are grounded in the theories and concepts presented in the course

Example:

Based on the  UMGC library’s guidance on APA citations , including guidance on how to cite content from the UMGC online classroom, please use the following format for classroom resources with no author or no date:

Title of resource. (n.d.). Document posted in University of Maryland Global Campus Course Name Course Number online classroom, archived at: hyperlink

SWOT analysis. (n.d.). Document posted in University of Maryland Global Campus MBA 610 2182 online classroom, archived at:  https://lti.umgc.edu/contentadaptor/page/topic?keyword=SWOT%20Analysis

In the next step, you will respond to your boss’s request for a vetted list of references you are using to support your report.

Project 2: Conducting a Brand Audit Step 5: Present Your Research Results

When you are just about finished with your research, MCS CEO, Jillian Best, decides to check in on your progress. She emails you requesting that you provide a list of the sources you are using for analysis:

INBOX: 1 New Message

Subject: Sources for Slate Project

From: Jillian Best, CEO, MCS

To: You

I know that you’re deep into your analysis of the Slate, Inc. case, but I wanted to preview your work and check in on the  sources of information you are using to develop your report. Slate has asked to examine the sources of secondary research that we are using in our report to ensure their quality and originality. Accordingly, I want you to share the list of references you have been using to research Slate’s competitors.

Deliverable: Provide a reference list derived from your research that has a minimum of three scholarly and 12 reliable, nonscholarly sources (15 in all).  

I suggest using reliable nonscholarly sources, such as Reuters, Bloomberg, Yahoo! Finance, Barrons.com, Morningstar.com, Money, Forbes, Fortune, Financial Times, Statista, The Wall Street Journal, and Harvard Business Review, as well as UMGC Library databases, such as Hoover's, IBIS World, and ABI-Inform.

All sources should be referenced using APA formatting.

Thanks for your hard work,

Jillian

Submit your reference list to the Assignments folder. Then proceed to the next step, where you will write your brand analysis report.

Project 2: Conducting a Brand Audit Step 6: Submit Your Brand Analysis Report

Required Readings

Chapters 7 and 16

Lancaster, G., & Massingham, L. (2018).  Essentials of marketing management  (2nd ed.). Routledge.

Deliverable: Based on your research of the two companies’ brands, write an eight to nine-page report (four pages on each company under its own heading, and each brand element discussed and supported separately under its own subheading) that addresses the following  branding elements :

1. brand personality

2. brand image

3. brand identity

4. brand differentiation

5. brand positioning

6. brand communication

7. brand loyalty

8. brand equity (including financial equity)

As you examine these branding elements, your report should also answer the following questions:

1. How strong are the companies’ brands in the market?

2. What are the factors contributing to their strengths and weaknesses?

3. How are these two brands competing against each other? How strong is their global performance?

4. How do consumers perceive their brands?

5. Are there any sub-brands? Are there any brand extensions?

Support your work with course readings, scholarly sources, and reliable nonscholarly sources, such as Reuters, Bloomberg, Yahoo! Finance, Barrons.com, Morningstar.com, Money, Forbes, Fortune, the Financial Times, Statista, the Wall Street Journal, and Harvard Business Review, as well as UMGC Library databases, such as Hoover's, IBIS World, and ABI-Inform. All sources have to be cited using APA formatting, both within the text and in the reference list.

Your report to Carlos should be 11-12 pages, excluding cover page, the reference list, and appendices. Any graphs, tables, and figures should be included as appendices. Your report should have one-inch margins and be double spaced in 12-point Times New Roman font. The report should be organized using headings and subheadings to improve its readability.

Essentials of Marketing Management

Authors:

Geoffrey Lancaster Lester Massingham

Publication Information:

Abingdon, Oxon : Routledge. 2018

Resource Type:

eBook.

Description:

The overall success of an organization is dependent on how marketing is able to inform strategy and maintain an operational focus on market needs. With an array of examples and case studies from around the world, Lancaster and Massingham's vital study offers an alternative to the traditional American focused teaching materials currently available. This second edition has been fully revised and updated, including a new chapter on digital marketing written by Dr Wilson Ouzem. Topics covered include: consumer and organizational buyer behaviour product and innovation strategies direct marketing Social media marketing Designed and written for undergraduate, MBA and masters students in marketing management classes, Essentials of Marketing Management builds on the successful earlier edition to provide a solid foundation to understanding this core topic.

Subjects:

Marketing--Management

Categories:

BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Marketing / General BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / General BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Marketing / Direct BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / International / Marketing

Related ISBNs:

9781138038882. 9781138038967. 9781351709071. 9781351709088. 9781315177014.

OCLC:

989519841

Accession Number:

1581263

Database:

eBook Collection (EBSCOhost)

Publisher Permissions:

Print/E-mail/Save 60 Pages Unlimited Copy/Paste

Concurrent User Level:

Unlimited User Access

Branding Elements

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Branding elements are the foundation of a branding strategy and help distinguish a brand from its competitors. There are several elements that are important in distinguishing a brand. These include brand personality, brand image, brand identity, brand differentiation, brand positioning, brand communication, brand loyalty, and brand equity. Analysis of these elements will allow marketers to understand the performance of a particular brand.

The branding elements described in the sections below are critical for a successful branding strategy.

Brand Personality

Successful brands acquire a brand personality over time, which is a set of human characteristics that is associated those brand name. Consumers "assign personality traits to products"—for example, rugged, romantic, rebellious, or sophisticated—and choose those brands that are more in line with their "desired self-image" (Kerin & Hatley, 2017, p. 304). Marketers can instill a brand with a personality; for example, Pepsi’s personality traits include exciting and young, while Coca Cola is real and all-American. On the other hand, Harley-Davidson portrays defiance, masculinity, and individualism (Kerin & Hartley, 2017).

The five key dimensions of brand personality include the following (Imagibrand, 2017):

1. brand competence—Is the company branding its expertise? The attributes represented by this brand personality are success, intelligence, expertise, and reliability.

2. brand sincerity—Does the company have a genuine brand? The attributes represented by this brand personality are honesty, wholesomeness, genuineness, and cheerfulness.

3. brand excitement—How daring is the company's brand? The attributes represented by this brand personality are daring, playfulness, spirit, and imagination.

4. brand sophistication—Would James Bond ever use the company's brand? The attributes represented by this brand personality are poise, elegance, and charm.

5. brand toughness—Can the company's brand stand against the competition? The attributes represented by this brand personality are potency, forcefulness, power, and ruggedness.

Brand Image

The American Marketing Association (AMA) (n.d.-b) defines brand image as the "The perception of a brand in the minds of persons. The brand image is a mirror reflection (though perhaps inaccurate) of the brand personality or product being. It is what people believe about a brand—their thoughts, feelings, expectations."

There are two conventional—but incorrect —wisdoms about brand image (Johansson, 2009):

1. Brands are only important for luxury products. The typical reasoning behind this misconception is that luxury products are hedonic (i.e., not bought for functional utility).

2. Brands are not at all important for B2B products. The typical reasoning behind this misconception is that business buyers are coldly rational and are not influenced by emotions.

Research has shown that even utilitarian product choices are influenced by brands., and the driving force is competition. When competition is intense, all products will soon offer equal functional advantages (benchmarking, "me-too" strategies, follow-the-leader, etc.). Accordingly, the one sustainable advantage is the brand image. Anything can be differentiated and branded, even a commodity such Butoni or Barilla pasta (Johansson, 2009).

Brand Identity

Brand identity refers to the distinct and relatively lasting characteristics of a brand. A brand tends to have an appealing and solid identity when consumers perceive its identity as more distinct and prestigious (Bhattacharya & Sen, 2003).

Creating a company's brand identity involves more than designing its logo. A brand identity is both emotional and visual and communicates trustworthiness and relevance. Building an effective brand identity takes many years of perpetual tweaking and hard work; however, it is crucial to the success of the company. When it comes to creating and maintaining a brand identity, every small detail counts. It is a delicate task of following the company's core values, while simultaneously being able to adapt to changing market forces and trends. This task is difficult for even big multinational companies (Jansen, 2018a). Remember how Kodak failed to adapt to changing market conditions?

A strong brand identity can help a company succeed (e.g., Apple and Amazon). This success requires a strong focus and strict brand guidelines to maintain the company's brand and keep it elevated in the face of the changing market forces. In order to do this, companies are advised to heed the following guidelines (Jansen, 2018b):

· Keep things simple and focus on their core values.

· Be flexible and adapt to changing market trends.

· Follow data, but do not ignore emotion.

· Do not jump on market trends without thinking of the bigger picture.

· Do not wait too long to rebrand themselves.

· Do not ignore market trends.

Brand Differentiation

Building a strong brand is crucial to success in today's business world, and strong differentiation is necessary to build a compelling and powerful brand. Brand differentiation is the means by which a company's brand is set apart from its competition, by associating a superior performing aspect of its brand with multiple consumer benefits (Carter, 2014).

Brand differentiation is related to a company's corporate reputation. There are several elements of reputation, including a good customer service, packaging, prompt response to problems, and product-specific comments, that consumers seek when buying. These elements not only provide a basis on which the company can improve its reputation, but also help it differentiate itself from the competition. Corporate reputation may be enhanced by different activities that are closely related to the vertical differentiation of a product, such as technological innovation and a strong brand image. On the other hand, a solid corporate reputation may also help to differentiate a brand. Companies are increasingly recognizing consumers as their most important asset in building an estimable corporate reputation (Vahabzadeh et al., 2017).

In this era of globalization and hypercompetition, companies need to rethink the way that they manage their customer portfolio, as well as how they interact with their customers. Fader (2012) stresses that customers are an asset (customer equity) that should have a place on a company's balance sheet. The author defines customer equity as "the sum of the customer lifetime values across a firm's entire customer base" (p. 62). Since every company's objective is to maximize its overall equity and since customers are perceived as an asset (customer equity) that is an integral part of the company's overall equity, the company should dedicate the necessary resources to maximize its customer equity (Fader, 2012).

Employees are another crucial factor in enhancing a company's reputation. They may help differentiate the company from the competition, as consumers evaluate the corporate reputation that is behind the product and brand presented to them. Accordingly, many companies use their corporate reputation as a vital resource in developing their strategic value. Reputation includes corporate social responsibility, innovativeness, and honest communication, which customers subconsciously convert into brand differentiation of the company's products (Vahabzadeh et al., 2017).

Brand Positioning

Brand positioning is the designing of a company's offering and image to occupy a distinct place in the mind of the target customers (Kotler & Keller, 2015). Brand positioning is the sum of all the marketing activities that position the brand in the target customers’ minds relative to the competition. Positioning does not create something new or different, but rather manipulates the mindset (Ries & Trout, 2001).

Positioning is a crucial stage in a brand management strategy. A good brand positioning strategy helps in the development of new products, communication, market expansion, pricing, and the selection of the distribution channels (Fayvichenko, 2018). Brand positioning is a process of creating the brand's own image, values, positive associations, and distinctive properties in the customers' minds in order to create a sustainable brand image and ensure consumers' attachment to that brand (Fayvichenko, 2016). Today, brand positioning is perceived as a process that begins with the design of a trademark position; however, it is "difficult to specify the essence of positioning when its ultimate goal is not clearly understood" (Fayvichenko, 2018, p. 245). To understand the essence of brand positioning, it is crucial to determine the ideal position of the brand. A clear representation of the ideal position of a brand is a "prerequisite for researching positioning as a target process and developing a system for evaluating its effectiveness" (p. 245).

Ideally, a brand will be positioned so that the customer has positive associations with a brand, is convinced of its unique advantages over other brands, and considers the brand to be of high value or a necessity. This brand-supporting customer is convinced that people who buy other brands are making the wrong choice, considers it a duty to recommend this brand to other consumers, and feels a spiritual unity with consumers who have chosen this brand (Kendukhov, 2008).

Accordingly, Kendukhov (2008) perceives brand positioning as a process of managing the perception of a brand by a customer. The purpose of this process is "persuasion of the consumer in the unique advantages of this trademark over other brands; formation of the consumer's exclusive affiliates with this trademark; formation of the consumer's sense of the indispensability and vital necessity of the brand; formation of fanatical devotion to the brand; raising a sense of duty to recommend this brand to other consumers; forming a sense of spiritual unity with consumers who chose this brand; forming a belief in the consumer that other consumers who buy goods under other brands make the wrong choice" (Fayvichenko, 2018, p. 246).

Brand Communication

The value of a company's brand may rise or fall with its brand communication. Even strong brands must communicate their values and core benefits to the customers in order to sell. Successful brand communication involves satisfied employees and enthusiastic customers. Companies used to communicate their brands using PR and advertising. Nowadays, customers and company employees define the reputation and reality of a brand. They discuss their experience with the company and its products around the clock using social media. Trust plays a crucial role here, and is only built up when the customers receive a consistent and credible brand experience. Employees help a company earn its customers' trust if they credibly communicate the brand's values and positioning (BrandTrust, 2018).

Social media provides an array of constantly changing brand communication tools in the corporate world, which play a crucial role in how customers research and share information, and learn about their brands. Similarly, companies use social media networks for the advertising and sponsorship of their products and services brands in order to develop trust and create sustaining relationships with their customers (Khadim, Hanan, Arshad, Saleem, & Khadim, 2018).

Social media comprises well-built platforms that have a significant and substantial impact on brand loyalty. Customers use social media as a tool to communicate and respond quickly to each other at any time (that information moves much faster on social media compared to traditional media). In addition, social media allows a company to send its brand messages to multiple audiences and collect their recommendations. This feature is crucial, as markets and customer preferences, needs, and wants change quickly, especially in this era of globalization. Social media allows a company to judge how its customers think about its brand and what they want from it. It also enables the company to make improvements to its brand and think forward to anticipate changes in customer needs and preferences (Khadim et al., 2018).

Brand Loyalty

Consumers usually benefit from branding, and trademarks may help them shop more efficiently, as they avoid brands that they dislike, while buying the brands that they like most. Brand loyalty is a favorable perception of, and the consistent buying of, a certain brand over time. The marketplace has been dramatically changing in the past decade thanks to advanced and cheaper communications technologies, which enable consumers to make better choices and share their buying experiences with others, worldwide. Consumers are now increasingly dependent on the internet to acquire information and compare brands before buying. Consumers can easily shift brands if they believe that they have not been treated fairly by a certain company (Kotler & Keller, 2015).

Brand Equity

AMA (n.d.-a) defines brand equity as "the value of a brand. From a consumer perspective, brand equity is based on consumer attitudes about positive brand attributes and favorable consequences of brand use."

According to Johansson (2009) brand equity is “the value of the positive associations that consumers have with a product's brand name. These associations often involve emotional attachments, affinity, positive brand image, and brand identity. They also involve cognitive factors such as familiarity, knowledge and perceived quality, as well as social factors including peer-group acceptance. When these associations turn negative (as in antiglobalization sentiments against global brands) the brand equity can go down very quickly.”

Brand equity is basically the added value that a brand gives to a product beyond the functional benefits that it provides. Brand equity provides competitive advantages; for example, Mercedes Benz implies quality. A second advantage is that consumers are willing to pay more for a product with a brand equity. Here, brand equity is represented by the premium that a consumer is willing to pay for a certain brand over another when both brands provide similar functional benefits. Acura, Infinity, and Lexus cars enjoy a price premium that arises from their brand equity (Kerin & Hartley, 2017).

Brand equity takes time to develop and is carefully crafted and nurtured by marketers who forge unique, strong, and favorable experiences and associations with the brand. Brand equity resides in the consumers' minds, and results from what they have seen, heard, felt, and learned about the brand over time. Brand equity is not quickly or easily achieved (Kerin & Hartley, 2017).

Financial Brand Equity

Financial brand equity is the monetary value of a brand in terms of net revenues the brand is expected to generate over time, across all country markets. The set of assets linked to a brand name include the following (Johansson, 2009):

· brand name awareness

· brand loyalty

· perceived quality

· brand associations (in the consumer's mind)

Financially lucrative brand licensing agreements may arise from brand equity. Successful brand licensing needs a thorough marketing analysis to ensure compatibility between the licensor's brand and the licensee's products. Companies such as Ralph Lauren, Disney, and Luxottica eyewear earn millions every year from licensing their brand names to others (Kerin & Hartley, 2017).

Global Brands

Why are global brands often the most valuable assets of a global company? Global brands are important because product differentiation is difficult to sustain. Accordingly, global brands become the most sustainable competitive advantage. Global brands have become more important because financial brand equity is strongly correlated with global reach (Johansson, 2009).

References

AMA (n.d.-a). Brand equity. Retrieved from https://www.ama.org/resources/Pages/Dictionary.aspx?dLetter=B

AMA (n.d.-b). Brand image. Retrieved from https://www.ama.org/resources/Pages/Dictionary.aspx?dLetter=B

Bhattacharya, C. B., & Sen, S. (2003). Consumer-company identification: A framework for understanding consumers' relationships with companies. Journal of Marketing, 67(2), 7688. doi:10.1509/jmkg.67.2.76.1860

BrandTrust (2018). Brand communication. Retrieved from https://www.brand-trust.de/en/glossary/brand-communication.php

Carter, L. (2014). Brand differentiation: 30 ways to differentiate your brand. Persona Design [Web log]. Retrieved from https://www.personadesign.ie/brand-differentiation-30-ways-to-differentiate-your-brand/

Fader, P. (2012). Customer centricity (2nd ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wharton Digital Press.

Fayvichenko D. (2016) The concept of brand positioning. Mignarodnii naukovo-praktuchniy gurnal «Tovaru I runki», 1(21), 25–32.

Fayvishenko, D. (2018). Formation of brand positioning strategy. Baltic Journal of Economic Studies, 4(2), 245–248.

ImagiBrand (2017). The 5 key dimensions of brand personality. Retrieved from http://imagibrand.com/5-key-dimensions-brand-personality/

Jansen, K. (2018, a). The dos and don'ts of building a brand identity (Part 1). Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/03/05/the-dos-and-donts-of-building-a-brand-identity-part-1/#7287b18a61bc

Jansen, K. (2018, b). The dos and don'ts of building a brand identity (Part 2). Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/04/02/the-dos-and-donts-of-building-a-brand-identity-part-2/#1f763498644a

Johansson, J. (2009). Global marketing (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Kendyuhov V. (2008) Effectivnist vucorustannya marochnogo capital [Effectiveness of using branded capital]. Donetsk: Institute economy promislovist, 96–103.

Kerin, R. & Hartley, S. (2017). Marketing (13th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Khadim, R. A., Hanan, M. A., Arshad, A., Saleem, N., & Khadim, N. A. (2018). Revisiting antecedents of brand loyalty: impact of perceived social media communication with brand trust and brand equity as mediators. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 17(1), 1–13.

Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2015). Marketing management (15th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ. Pearson.

Vahabzadeh, A., Vatanpour, H., Dinarvand, R., Rajabzadeh, A., Salamzadeh, J., & Mohammadzadeh, M. (2017). Impact of corporate reputation on brand differentiation: An empirical study from Iranian pharmaceutical companies. Iranian Journal of Pharmaceutical Research, 16(4), 1658–1670.

Project 2: Conducting a Brand Audit Step 7: Complete Your Brand Analysis Report

Deliverable: Incorporate any revisions to your final Brand Analysis report.

Also, include the following:

1. A one-page executive summary that highlights the most important findings of your analysis.

2. A clear  recommendation  on Slate’s branding of the new product that they intend to launch, and include your rationale (at the end of the paper).

3. A one-page table in an appendix at the end of the paper that compares the eight brand elements for the two brands.

Your final report to Carlos should be 11-13 pages, excluding cover page, executive summary, the reference list, and appendices. Any graphs, tables, and figures should be included as appendices. Your report should have one-inch margins and be double spaced in 12-point Times New Roman font. The report should be organized using headings and subheadings to improve its readability.