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GROWING & SUSTAINING BRAND EQUITY
MRKT 670 – Growing & Sustaining Brand Equity
Regine Rhine
School of Business, Liberty University
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GROWING & SUSTAINING BRAND EQUITY
Introduction
Brand strategy is a core factor of company’s business plan that enables them to build
rapport and favorability in their market. Companies across different industries use their brand
strategy to increase brand awareness across target consumers. This technique has been used
particularly with Nike, and Disney. Effective brand strategies can benefit many aspects of
businesses including an improved brand portfolio. Through proper implementation of
incorporating elements of brand strategies, companies across different industries are likely to be
successful.
Brand Strategy and Brand Portfolios
A brand strategy is an approach companies use to build a strong identity and brand
awareness with their target audience. There are several elements that encompasses a brand
strategy to help improve customer loyalty. Specific elements include competitive awareness,
brand purpose, consistency, and brand loyalty. Competitive awareness requires tracking
competitor performance, determining what is effective in the market based on industry trends
and implementing a strategy that out performs other companies. The purpose element in brand
strategies is the biggest differentiator between companies and their competitors. Creating a
functional purpose focuses on functional business requirements to reach profit, while creating
intentional purpose focuses on meaning and substance. Consistency is the brand’s ability to
create cohesive ad and communication efforts. Moreover, the appeal to emotion has always been
a brand strategy that is effective for all target audiences. When using the emotion strategy,
companies successfully answer the question “why should I care?” for their audience. These
strategies combined lead to cultivating customer loyalty, which can ultimately yield to reaching
higher profits (Foroudi, 2020). Furthermore, core elements that are included in creating a brand
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strategy are the brand story, brand voice, brand design, and brand values. The brand story
effectively communicates the brand meaning through a creative narrative. The brand voice
informs the target market of the brand messaging by merging core values with creative intent.
Both the brand voice and brand story represent the brand values which informs consumers why
the company exists and their core ethics. Lastly, the brand design determines the brand’s visual
identity. This element includes color palette, fonts and photo styles that will be represented
across company collateral to maintain a consistent image and improve brand recognition (Batra,
et al., 2010).
Brand portfolios are a solution for companies who house separate brands under one major
brand. Differentiating products or services with a brand portfolio eliminates inefficiency and
confusion for the organizational function and audience awareness. Advantages to having a brand
portfolio include allowing a company to operate and connect in several markets, cross promotion
between brands, and building credibility across brands. There are three specific brand
relationships within brand portfolios: one that utilizes the main brand name across the
organization, one that uses the larger company brand to endorse sub brands, and one that uses a
collections of company brands to incorporate individual brands. Elements of brand portfolio
include the portfolio itself, product defining roles, portfolio roles, brand scope, brand portfolio
structure, and portfolio graphics (Kirca, 2020).
Nike
Nike, created by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight is now the most innovative and largest
athletic apparel, equipment, footwear and accessories company. The company’s mission
statement has always been “to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.”
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The worldwide brand sells its products in over 170 countries, and serve over 30 major sports
with millions of consumers. There are three effective elements to Nike’s brand strategy. Strong
branding reinforcement is the first element that is shown through Nike’s quality images, visual
collaborations, and strong messaging which emphasizes the company’s mission in creative ways.
The second effective element is Nike’s ability to appeal to emotion through their branding
techniques. Positive aspects of fitness such as dedication, empowerment, strength are portrayed
through the company’s branding materials. Realistic emotions are also portrayed such as pain,
and doubt that allow consumers to relate to their brand, thus building brand loyalty. Lastly,
diversity and inclusion is shown both internally on an organizational level with the corporation
as well as externally through brand strategies by including different demographics in content.
Nike follows a 5-step marketing strategy that begins with understanding their audience
needs. This is followed by determining the best ways to reach their target audience including
social networks, digital and print ads, and streaming platforms. Products are then determined
which range amongst the vast portfolios under the brand. The company sells over 400 styles of
sport shoes, boots and sandals, with best sellers such as the Nike Air Force, Air Max, and Air
Jordan along with different types of apparel (Araujo, 2018). The pricing strategy is another
branding element used by the company. Value based pricing is the first strategy which prices
Nike items based on quality. The price leadership strategy analyzes competitive prices and
creates a price most attractive in the market. Skimming pricing strategy includes the increase or
spike in price of new items and reduction in price of previously launched products. Lastly,
premium pricing strategy is the pricing model where product prices are kept higher than
competitors in the market to maintain product value.
Disney
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Disney, created in 1923, is currently worth more than $200 billion due to its success in
storytelling and whimsical experiences. The company’s brand portfolio includes the California
theme parks, Disney land and Disney California Adventure, the Florida theme parks included at
the Walt Disney World location, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Magic
Kingdom. The company also has a host of cruise ships on the Disney cruise line, including the
Disney Wish, Disney Dream, Disney Fantasy, Disney Wonder, and Disney Magic. Disney also
has an international presence with theme park locations in Hong Kong, Paris and Shanghai. The
company provides entertainment on a digital scale through Disney channel shows, movies, and
radio.
Disney centers its brand strategy approach on story telling by embracing the message of
magic. This first begins with customizing the consumer experience with character meet and
greets, enchanting music, fun food and flavorful scents throughout the them parks and cruises.
This approach sets Disney apart from their competitors as most companies begin with their
physical product, and create a story of the product in the form of marketing. Disney has a strong
understanding of who their audience is, families and children who’ve enjoyed Disney content
growing up. Moreover, Disney’s approach to storytelling begins with creating protagonists that
are commonly seen throughout the park, on apparel and on many tv screens. Characters such as
Mickey Mouse provide strong brand recognition to the company’s audience. The main elements
of the business’ brand strategy include making customers happy through consistent customer
service, increasing brand loyalty and customer retention, and reducing market costs through
convenient pricing strategies for families and groups. In addition to maintaining consistent brand
strategies, the company consistently innovates new rides, attractions and services such as their
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children’s makeover boutique, and star wars land to keep the attention of loyal customers, and
attract new consumers (Lieberman, 2020)
Conclusion
Ultimately, as company’s build their brand portfolio through increasing product and
service offerings, their brand strategy is effectively constructed. By utilizing brand strategy
elements such as competitive awareness, brand purpose, consistency, and brand loyalty,
marketing techniques are exemplified. These efforts orchestrate improved ways to maintain
brand consistency and increase target audiences. These core elements have been exemplified in
different industries ranging from sports, fashion and entertainment. This synergy in market
approach proves that marketing strategies can be effective for a variety of corporations.
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References
Araujo, D., Caldwell, H., & De Fanti, M. (2018). Nike's utilization of brand strategy to increase
global competitiveness. Competition Forum, 16(1), 109-115.
BATRA, R., LENK, P., & WEDEL, M. (2010). Brand extension strategy planning: Empirical
estimation of Brand—Category personality fit and atypicality. Journal of Marketing
Research, 47(2), 335-347. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkr.47.2.335
Foroudi, P. (2020). Corporate brand strategy: Drivers and outcomes of hotel industry’s brand
orientation. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 88,
102519. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2020.102519
Kirca, A. H., Randhawa, P., Talay, M. B., & Akdeniz, M. B. (2020). The interactive effects of
product and brand portfolio strategies on brand performance: Longitudinal evidence from
the U.S. automotive industry. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 37(2),
421-439. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2019.09.003
Lieberman, D., & Lang, B. (2020). disney. Variety, 348(3), 38.
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