Learning
Objective1: Brand identity
·
What is the difference between brand
identity and brand image?
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as the "name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's goods or service as distinct from those of other sellers." Your brand identity is the representation of your company's reputation through the conveyance of attributes, values, purpose, strengths, and passions. Great brands are easy to recognize, their mission is clear, and it fosters that coveted customer loyalty all businesses crave. A brand is one of the most valuable fixed assets of a business, and it must be carefully crafted to ensure it properly represents the business, and resonates with the intended customer base.
Keller (2008) regards brands as having dimensions that differentiate them from other products designed to satisfy the same need; these differences may be rational and tangible, or symbolic, emotional and intangible. Kapferer (2008) states that identity is the expression of both the tangible and intangible characteristics of the brand, giving authority and legitimacy to the precise values and benefits. Given that values are understood to be a powerful force in terms of influencing consumer behaviour ( de Chernatony and McDonald, 2003), it seems appropriate to consider brand identity and its influence on how the consumer might perceive the brand proposition.
( Jill Ross, Rod Harradine, (2011) "Fashion value brands: the relationship between identity and image", Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal, Vol. 15 Iss: 3, pp.306 - 325)
Shortly, brand identity is something the company managers create and can control, while brand image is how the customers perceive the identity - it can be the same or it can differ. Branding process aligns brand identity and brand image.
·
What are the most important elements
of brand identity?
Louis and Lombart (2010) regard brand identity as all the elements that form the existence of a brand; when using the Kapferer (2008) model as a framework, the concept is comprised of six facets (physique, personality, relationship, culture, reflection and self‐image) that allow the company to specify their brand's meaning.
Kapferer (2008) refers to the “physique” component of the brand identity prism as the physical aspect of the brand in terms of what it is and what it does and, in this context, it is probably the most tangible element of brand identity. With reference to the “personality” component, Southgate (1994) argues that consumers subconsciously ascribe human characteristics to brands and tend to be drawn to those projecting the most appropriate personality. This element of brand identity encompasses the emotional characteristics that evolve from, in part, the brand's core values ( Harris and de Chernatony, 2001), with Brengman and Willems (2009) commenting that adverse personality traits may be evoked in the case of retail personalities due to the many ambient, design and social components of the shopping environment. It is proposed ( Southgate, 1994) that projecting the right personality is one of the most important contributions to building consumer loyalty. The “relationship” element “defines the mode of conduct that most identifies the brand” ( Kapferer, 2008, p. 185) such as love, provocation and friendliness; Randall (2000) argues that it is healthy and positive to establish a relationship between brand and user. Power et al. (2008) confirm the central role that trust plays in building customer relationships and suggest the mediating role of trust is critical to the development of favourable outcomes where negative brand associations exist. The adverse viewpoints presented by Mediaweek (2007) and Clarke (2008) when referring to Tesco implies that trust in the brand and impact on the consumer relationship is important particularly when the size of the organisation may make the brand appear impersonal and contribute to brand image problems. “Culture” can be regarded as the values that feed the brand's inspiration, with corporate culture frequently reducing the freedom experienced by the brand ( Kapferer, 2008). de Chernatony (2001) states that, for corporate brands in particular, an understanding of organisational culture provides a strong indication of the brand values; attention needs to be given to the alignment between the two to prevent inconsistent behaviour and detrimental perceptions of the brand on behalf of stakeholders ( Harris and de Chernatony, 2001). The customer “reflection” facet should not be confused with the target, but refers to the perceived client type and the image of the buyer or user that the brand seems to be addressing ( Kapferer, 2008). Finally, “self‐image” can be regarded as the internal version of the reflective element of the brand identity prism ( Randall, 2000) and refers to how the target inwardly pictures themselves ( Kapferer, 2008). Arnould et al. (2004) argue that consumers evaluate brands partly in terms of how products might enhance their self‐image with Ellwood (2000) stating that consumers create and maintain their self‐image through the consumption of brands. Solomon et al. (2010) assert that consumers demonstrate consistency between their values and the things that they buy.
Branding is not an event, it's a discipline. It's not a battle for the customer, it's a battle for a company's heart. Find your heart and you will find your customer.
Creating your brand is like creating your own language. There are many elements in this language to consider:
- Visual - graphic style.
- Message - what and how information is communicated.
- Products - the configuration of services and products greatly influences your brand identity.
- Interaction - how a person feels after interacting with your company.
Creating and managing a consistent visual and interaction language allows great message efficiency.
Source: http://www.darrenleet.com/news/#
Brands can represent a collection of images, values, or even human qualities (Aaker, Baker, Keller) (Consumer-brand relationships, 2012, p.57). The multi-dimensional nature of brands implies that any brand may elicit a variety of positive or negative consumer responses, depending upon the qualities, brand users, events, or even memories a consumer associates with that brand.
Batra, Ahuvia and Bagozzi (2011) characterize the brand love consisting from the following elements:
1) Great quality/qualities
2) Strongly-held values and existential meaning (self-actualization, religious or cultural identities)
3) Intrinsic rewards (happiness, pleasure, self-confidence)
4) Self-identity (consumer's construction or display of their identity)
5) Positive affect (positive emotional experiences)
6) Passionate desire and a sense of natural fit (love at first sight)
7) Emotional bonding and anticipated heartbreak (upset to lose the loved item)
8) Willingness to invest resources (time, energy, money)
9) Frequent thought and use
10) Length of use (long relationship with loved brands)
Source: Consumer-brand relationships, 2012, p.212
·
How to build a strong brand identity?
Stephen Springfield and Padmini Sharma have come up with "Brand humanity" approach - building the brands on three very human principles:
1)Authenticity - Apple, Virgin, Disney share one common characteristic - they all have passionate founders who believe they can make the world better through their brands. Apple's athem is Thinking different, Branson - fun and comfortable flying, Disney - keep the magic of childhood alive.
Consumers find these brands different and magnetic because they stay true to their founding intent through every action they take. By doing so, they become symbols of belief in a crowded consumer culture.
That's true for founder brands. Others can adopt a point of view, but it should not feel dishonest or manipulative: Dove's "Real beauty" feels authentic, whereas it would feel inauthentic for MAC Cosmetics.
2)Relationship - building sincere and meaningful relationships between brands and consumers.
Ex. Harley - consumers don't just buy the product, but "buy into" the brand. Typically, the people who manage these brands fir their own consumer profile, so it's easy for them to stay true to their ideology and consistently make decisions that out the consumer first.
Ex. Tom Hanks in Castaway calls his volleyball Wilson and see a friend in it. Brand characters are very effective - they humanize the brand, making it easier for the consumers to form relationships with them.
3)Story - it is a perfect methafor for brands. The stories that we find most magnetic are those that contain universal truths about what it means to be human.
Ex. Disney - story of Peter pan, never growing up.
In summary, Brand Humanity operates on the principle that authentic brand stories will result in strong consumer-brand relationships, which are ultimately the only way to succeed in today's consumer culture.
To put these principles into practice, they created a model which has three core building blocks:
1) Understanding the Brand Lover's self-identity and conflict;
2) Defining the Brand's Distinction within its competitive context;
3) Articulating the Brand's Social ideal or its ideological reason for being.
Strong brands activate these three building blocks authentically and consistently. Ultimately, this creates a brand narrative or story that confers meaning to a brand well beyond the sum of its tangible attributes. It is this meaning that provides sustained growth for the brand by making its competition completely irrelevant.
·
How to manage your brand identity to
last?
Learning
Objective2: Brand image
·
How to follow your own brand image in
order to keep it consistent?
Learning
Objective3: Rebranding
·
What are the main reasons for
companies to rebrand?
·
Present case studies about
companies/brands that rebranded.
o What
was the main reason to rebrand?
o Why
was it a good/bad choice to rebrand?
o Did
the change made them achieve the goals they wanted? Was the rebranding
successful?
o Are
there companies that should rebrand in your opinion?
Burberry Case Study
Entrenched in the Digital World article
In 2009, fashion house Burberry was feeling the pressure of the economic downturn, even though its financials had been strong over the past decade. Revenue growth dropped from 18 and 15 per cent in the previous two years to seven per cent that year, excluding the impact of foreign exchange rates, while operating profit margin shrank from about 15 per cent to 9.8 per cent. In this harsh retail environment, Burberry recognised the potential value of the digital media. In March 2009, with 175 million users on Facebook and 600,000 more joining it each day, Burberry began allocating marketing and public relations spend and dedicated personnel to pursue tech-age marketing. Building a social media presence seemed critical, but the question was, "how"?
Burberry was founded in 1856 when 21-year-old Thomas Burberry, a former draper's apprentice, opened his own outdoor apparel store in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England. Soon after, the company introduced the gabardine, a water-resistant but breathable fabric, and started producing the trench coats that would become famous in England and around the world. By the end of the 20th century the brand was going through difficult times, as the company's strategy had not been consistent with the Burberry brand identity. In 1997, Rose Marie Bravo, former president of Saks Fifth Avenue, was named CEO. She and her team initiated a series of changes that repositioned the brand, targeting a younger and higher-end audience, and raised it back to the top of the fashion world.
In 2006, Angela Ahrendts assumed the CEO's position after Bravo retired. She and Christopher Bailey, Chief Creative Officer, focused on digital media as one of Burberry's main strategies to continue strengthening the brand.
Burberry had already joined Facebook, but Bailey wanted to do something more, something distinctive and unique to the brand. Burberry's luxury sector competitors may not have yet made any major waves in digital media, but Burberry's executive team had never been too focused on its peers. Instead, it looked to other iconic brands such as Nike, Apple, and Google. These brands were hitting social media hard, and Burberry wanted to follow suit. The mandate was simple: to develop a campaign that was innovative and would engage younger consumers.
The Burberry brand was democratic and fashion forward. No product better reflected this than the iconic trench, which over the course of its history had been worn by soldiers, royalty, celebrities, and the working class, each group wearing it with its own style and flair. In recognising this unique status of the trench that encompassed Burberry's brand pillars of democratic luxury, function, and modern classic style, the team was on to something. It also recognised that street style photography had become a hot trend, and worked well with the trench look. These two pieces came together in one big idea: why not leverage existing Burberry customers, who personify the brand, to generate content that appeals to them and to their peers?
With that revelation, the idea for the Art of the Trench campaign was born. The team envisioned a website where existing customers could share photos of themselves wearing their Burberry trench coats, giving them their '15 minutes of fame' as models on the site, and allowing other customers to admire their sense of style.
The Art of the Trench site was designed carefully to walk the fine line between appealing to Burberry's high-end customer base and also generating interest in the new youthful, aspirational future customer. For this reason, the campaign was designed as a standalone social media platform, instead of being hosted on an existing platform. This ensured Burberry had control over the look and feel of the site that existing platforms such as Facebook could not offer. The initial idea centred on the trench and the team opted to stick with this limited focus rather than include other apparel.
To engage both existing and aspirational customers, the Art of the Trench offered two levels of participation. Customers could upload photos of themselves in their Burberry trenches, and customers and "aspirationals" alike could comment on them, 'like', and share the photos via Facebook, email, Twitter, or Delicious. Users could also sort photos by trench type, colour, gender of the user, weather, popularity, and the where the photo originated (user submitted, Sartorialist, fashion), and click-through to the Burberry site to make a purchase.
In the year following the launch of the Art of the Trench in November 2009, Burberry's Facebook fan base grew to more than one million, the largest fan count in the luxury sector at the time. E-commerce sales grew 50 per cent year-over-year, an increase partially attributed to higher web traffic from the Art of the Trench site and Facebook. The site had 7.5 million views from 150 countries in the first year. Conversion rates from the Art of the Trench click-throughs to the Burberry website were significantly higher than those from other sources. By all metrics, quantitative and qualitative, the campaign was a success.
The success of the Art of the Trench affirmed Burberry's strategic focus on digital. By 2012, Burberry had moved 60 per cent of its marketing budget to digital. It also had the most number of Facebook fans and Twitter followers in the luxury sector. CEO Bailey described Burberry as being "as much a media-content company as a design company".
Burberry has executed many other digital innovations, setting the bar for online customer engagement. Each of these initiatives has built on the digital strategy Burberry kicked off with the Art of the Trench, and has led to the brand's pre-eminent status as a tech-savvy brand.
Burberry kept 'Customer Experience' at the core of its strategy and it needs to sustain that. It ensured entertainment, engagement, and interaction that appealed to both high-end and newgeneration consumers. It gave a unique experience to its customers by connecting stores digitally, providing online shopping solutions, developing social media applications in association with relevant partners (Facebook, Twitter, The Sartorialist etc). This use of co-creation has helped to drive brand awareness and the convenience of digital technology has given a new dimension to customer engagement.(Rubaba Dowla, Chief Service Officer, Airtel Bangladesh
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