Marketing
The process of brand development can be divided into four stages. The first stage involves analysing the current situation. The purpose of this stage relates to the identification of gap in customer satisfaction with specific ranges of products and/or services. The second stage of brand development process relates to the formulation of a brand vision. Specifically brand vision is developed in a way that it is directly associated with eliminating gap in customer satisfaction with great level of effectiveness. The third stage is the combination of strategy and creativity. Regarding this particular stage it has been stated that “strategy alone would not succeed; it must be accompanied by a creative identity that engages the senses appropriately, and enough publicity and advertising to arose demand for the brand” (Healey, 2008, p.16). The fourth stage involves analysing the outcome and introducing necessary changes. By the time this stage is reached firms would have results of the level of acceptance of brand by the firm target customer segment. Accordingly, necessary modifications can be introduced to brand strategy in order to eliminate shortcomings that have been identified. References Healey, M. (2008) “What is Branding?” Rockport Publishers
Ingredient branding, as the name implies “is strategic brand management for materials, components, parts, services, etc” (Kotler and Pfoersch, 2010, p.17). Pride et al. (2011) credit the global microprocessor company Intel for the development of the term of ingredient branding. Namely, the introduction of “Intel Inside” program in 1991 was initiated with the main purpose of marking Intel microprocessors from the products of its competitors and build an effective consumer brand. It has been stated that “an ingredient branding strategy pulls demand from end users through the distribution channel back to the original equipment manufacturers, who feel pressure to use the branded ingredients in the goods they make” (Mohr et al., 2009, p.415). At the same time, some respected marketing scholars argue that “ingredient Branding can start in a later stage of a product life cycle” (Kotler and Pfoersch, 2010, p.19). Moreover, Kotler and Pfoersch (2010) specify general targets of ingredient branding in the following manner: General Targets of Ingredient Branding Source: Kotler and Pfoersch (2010) The issue of relationship between brand role and distributors’ own-brands’ market share has been addressed by Kapferer (2012) who identifies individual functions of branding and their consumer benefits in the following manner: Function Consumer benefit Identification To be clearly seen, to quickly identify the sought-after products, to structure the shelf perception Practicality To allow savings of time and energy through identical repurchasing and loyalty Guarantee To be sure of finding the same quality no matter where or when you buy the product or service Optimisation To be sure of buying the best product in its category, the best performer for a particular purpose Badge To have confirmation of your self-image or the social image that you represent to others Continuity Satisfaction created by a relationship of familiarity and intimacy with the brand that you…
Four main components of branding can be specified as positioning, storytelling, design, price, and customer relationships and each of these components are discussed further below in a greater detail. 1. Positioning Positioning means “defining in the mind of a customer what a brand stands for and how it compares with competing brands” (Healey, 2008, p.8). The origin of the concept of brand positioning can be linked to the idea that consumers form particular opinion regarding each brand they encounter and by engaging in brand positioning companies attempt to influence this opinion in a favourable manner. Brand positioning can be divided into four different components. The first component relates to the class of the product of service, as well as, to the structure of the relevant marketplace. The second component of brand positioning involves segmentation of consumers. Consumer perception in relation to the brand compared to the competitors forms the third component of brand positioning. Final, the fourth component of brand positioning relates to the benefits associated with purchasing products and services of the brand. 2. Storytelling It has been stated that in branding through storytelling “the story is what drives the bond between the company and the consumer” (Fog et al., 2010, p.23). Four elements of storytelling as part of branding can be specified as message, conflict, character and plot. All of these four elements should be present in a branding strategy in order to in order for the strategy to be successful. In order to implement storytelling with an increased level of efficiency companies must communicate the same story to organisational stakeholders through an effective integration of various marketing communication channels. 3. Design It has been argued that “design, in all its varieties, has the potential to bring brands to life in a way that can…
Brand has been defined as “the sum of all associations, feelings, attitudes and perceptions that people have related to the tangible and intangible characteristics of a company, product or service” (Brandeo, 2014). The definition of a brand image has been proposed as “the total, global impression of the information that accumulates in the memory of consumers in relation to a band” (Franzen and Moriarty, 2008, p. 241). The terms of branding in particular has been defined as “the process of continuous struggle between procedures ad customers to define the promise and meaning” (Healey, 2008, p.6). The issues of increasing importance of brands and branding in modern global marketplace have been addressed by a wide range of authors and the most noteworthy contributions to the issue have been made by authors such as Hill et al (2006), Franzen and Moriarty (2008), Clifton and Ahmad (2009), and Kotler and Pfoersch (2010). Interestingly, Okonkwo (2010, p.9) reasons that “the origin of brands comes from the times when early cattle-rearing men stamped their ownership on their livestock by burning a mark of their name or identity on the cattle, to distinguish one cattle-farmer’s stock from another’s”. However, according to Franzen and Moriarty (2008) the importance of branding has seen a significant boost during the past several decades, and reasons for this have been offered as increase in the level of well-being of consumers (Inkpen and Ramaswamy, 2006), increasing role of media (Steers and Nardon, 2008), and innovations in marketing communications (Alessandri, 2009). Abbing (2010) addresses the issues associated with the shift in the role and meaning of branding in a detailed manner and presents his findings in terms of differences in branding in the past and present in the following manner: Brands were previously often referred to as being Brands in current thinking are…
By John Dudovskiy
Category: Literature Review
Branding is one of the success factors in business and the segment of social networking services is not an exception. Branding can provide a number of advantages to products and services, including social networking services such as increasing the levels of product recognition, assisting with new products positioning, and formation of strong brand equity. Due to the highly intangible nature of social networking services, their brand value can be stated to be highly subjective. Specifically, when Facebook went public in May 2012, its share has been priced as USD38, causing the company to be valuated at USD104 billion, the highest valuation for a newly listed public company to date. However, its share price has been reduced to USD18 after only several months by August 2012 (Miller, 2013). Social networking service is a highly competitive area and the major players in this market include Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ and others. Social networking site Estimated unique monthly visitors Alexa Rank Facebook 750,000,000 2 Twitter 250,000,000 9 LinkedIn 110,000,000 14 Pinterest 85,500,000 36 My Space 70,500,000 138 Google Plus+ 65,000,000 N/A Comparisons of various aspects of social networking sites as of July 2013 Source: eBizMBA Interestingly, assessment of popularity of social networking sites is not a straightforward matter. For example, opening a Google Mail (Gmail) account automatically registers a new Google+ social networking profile, and for this reason Google has been subjected to criticism in terms of proving inaccurate data of the popularity of its social networking platform. All of the successful social networking service provides listed above target specific customer segment among population. For example, LinkedIn is mainly aimed at professional aiming to establish and sustain professional networks whereas Pinterest positions itself as an informal social networking site. However, a certain tendency can be observed in this regard in a…
Key features of social networking service design elements are associated with high levels of intractability, high levels of personalisation to the user, at the same time when maintaining high levels of simplicity. Design elements can be specified as one of the most important critical success factors for social networking sites. Generally, design elements for social networking websites include personal profile, news feed, navigation features, advertisements and others. The majority of social networking sites offer customers the possibilities of customising design of their personal profiles to varying extents. Moreover, enabling an adequate extent of design customisation for users can be specified as one of the most important critical success factors for social networking services. This point can be illustrated by referring to the case studies of My Space and Facebook. Although, Facebook was launched more than one year after the launch of MySpace, the former social networking site has become more popular than the latter in a matter of few months due a range of reasons including an adequate balance between fixed service design and customisation. In other words, while MySpace offered an excessive level of design customisation to customers, creating a visual clutter, Facebook offered more simplistic and standard design features and offered more limited design customisation, and this difference has played certain role in higher level of popularity of Facebook compared to MySpace. Effectiveness of Facebook’s approach to design has been further confirmed when a similar design template has been followed by Google in its Google+ social networking site launched in 2011. Relevance of Social Networking Service Key Features to Customer Needs The relevance of key features of social networking services to customer needs is not a straightforward issue. While social networking services aim to satisfy a set of customer needs such as communication, self-expression and recreation, innovations…
Social networking service can be defined as “an online service, platform, or site that focuses on facilitating the building of social networks or social relations among people who, for example, share interests, activities, backgrounds, or real-life connections” (Mashable, 2013). Social networking is a part of social media that can be explained as “any of many online tools that allow people with similar interests to share information, learn from others, or network in an open process” (Wilson, 2010, p.1). Customer benefits of social networking sites include staying in contact with friends and family members, making new friends, making important personal or corporate announcements, receiving regular news updates from selected portals, as well as, engaging in recreation through playing games, listening to music and watching videos and others. It has been noted that “one of the biggest benefits of an online social network is the explosive multiplication of an individual’s ability to find answers to questions” (Kraus and Friedel, 2009, p.9). In simple terms, while search engines such as Google and Bing find facts, social networking services can be used to find solutions to problems. This can be done through engaging in online interactions with other individuals who have faced similar problems in the past. Finding old school mates and re-establishing contacts with former colleagues and friends with the use of service of social networking sites can be a highly rewarding experience in personal levels and this is closely associated with emotional benefits offered by social networking services. Users of social networking services can also form new friendships on the basis of mutual interests. Communicating messages to friends and family members through status updates and video and photo sharing can also be mentioned as a substantial benefit offered by social networking services. Moreover, social networking sites can serve as an effective information…
It has been argued by Saad (2012) that there are no vast differences between highly developed and developing countries in terms of criticism associated with the nature of representation of women in media advertisings. However, the levels of frequency and intensity associated with these criticisms differ across counties depending on a range of factors such as religion, values, cultural specifications etc. Generally, criticism associated with the nature of representation of women in media advertisements can be divided into the following three categories (Cortese, 2007, Abel et al., 2010, Biermann, 2011): Women being represented as less capable and less intelligent than men Women being represented as servants to men Women being represented as objects for sexual satisfaction The role of religion on the nature of representation of women in media advertisements has been stressed by Ross and Byerly (2008). Specifically, it has been claimed by Ross and Byerly (2008) that in some religions such as Islam and Judaism indication to female intimate issues in public manner is strictly forbidden, and this would have direct implications on the nature of representation of women in media advertisements in relevant societies. Frith and Mueller (2010) mention a large-scale gender-role stereotyping study conducted by Furnham and Mak (1999) that involved data collection from America, Australia, Denmark, France, UK, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Mexico and Portugal. This specific study has found that across a wide range of cultural settings in advertisements women are most often pictures within home settings, whereas men are pictured in advertisements in diverse settings. Moreover, findings of the same study indicate that the images of women are mainly used to advertise home utilities and products, while images of men are used to advertise products and services that are distant from home. References Biermann, G. (2011) “Stereotypes Galore! Women’s Emancipation as…
The role of women in media advertising has been discussed by many authors from various angles. According to Ross and Byerly (2008) traditionally media advertisements have positioned women as passive and submissive. At the same time, Ross and Byerly (2008) state that this prescribed role for women in media is being changed at the moment, however certain limitations still exist. Cheng and Chang (2009) relate to the role of women in media advertising to sex appeal. Moreover, Cheng and Chang (2009) argue that this situation is not likely to change for a foreseeable future and authors attempt to justify this viewpoint by referring the basic human nature. Accoring to Abel et al. (2010) the integration of female body images in advertisement in various forms has increased significantly during the last two decades. It has been noted that women in advertisements are represented thinner and well below their average weight. Mogel (2010) addresses the issues of media stereotyping in relation to woman. Specifically, according to Mogel (2010) media stereotyping perceives the role of women as intimate objects with submissive characters. Biermann (2011) addresses the same issue and argues that the role of women in many parts of the world is stereotyped by the media as housewives with the main concerns for house cleaning. According to Saad (2012) the significance of the nature of female representation in TV and radios are greater compared to the print media. Saad (2012) explains his stand in a way that while TV media and radio force their advertising on their viewers, in print media generally advertisement are less interruptive, in a way that people can skip them if they want to do so. McAllister and West (2013), on the other hand, relate the reasons of images of women being used more frequently than images of men…
Media can be defined as “communication channels through which news, entertainment, education, data, or promotional messages are disseminated” (Business Dictionary, 2013). Katz (2012) divides media into two categories: lean forward and lean back. The following table illustrates the major differences between lean forward and lean back media. Lean forward Lean back Magazines Newspapers Direct Main Yellow Pages Television (via DVRs, Video on Demand) Internet Television (other) Radio Outdoor The main differences between lean forward and lean back media Source: Katz (2010) In simple terms, lean forward media is a type of media where receivers lean forward to interact and control the flow of information in an active manner. In lean back form of media, on the other hand, viewers can lean back and do receive the information in a passive manner. According to categorisations provided above print media can be specified as lean forward media. References Katz, H. (2010) “The Media Handbook: A Complete Guide to Advertising Media Selection, Planning, Research, and Buying” 4th edition, Taylor & Francis Media (2013) Business Dictionary, Available at: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/media.html