Brands and Brand Positioning
• http://www.managementstudyguide.com/br
and-management.htm
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5BnnB
OLOUU
• Brand is to be a source of value for an
organisation
• Its positioning in the market and the minds
of consumers will be critical to the actual
value created.
• Positioning means owning a credible
and profitable “position” in the
consumer’s mind, either by getting
there first, or by adopting a position
relative to the competition, or by
repositioning the competition.
Positioning process
Understanding
all stakeholder needs and
desires
Opportunity
modelling
Brand
platform
Brand
identity
Brand
architecture
Continuous
evaluation and
development
Stakeholders
• The brand positioning process begins with
identifying an organisation’s stakeholders, or
audiences, assessing how important different
stakeholders are, and defining the ideal
relationship needed with each to enable business
goals and objectives to be met.
• Different stakeholders will define the brand
differently, according to their needs and their
distinctive agendas.
Modelling the opportunity for
positioning (I)
Relevance
Brand
Credibility Opportunity Stretch
Differentiation
Modelling the opportunity for
positioning (I)
1. Relevance. Strong brands connect with
customers. They meet functional needs and also
tap into, and satisfy, emotional needs and desires.
2.Differentiation. Strong brands add value, which
makes them stand out from their competitors.
3. Credibility. For customers to be loyal to a
brand, the brand must be true to itself and keep
the promises it makes.
4. Stretch. A brand’s continued success lies in its
ability not only to remain relevant in a changing
world but also to foster innovation and to bring
new products and line extensions into its value
proposition.
Differentited
Increasing brand
competition
Aspirational
benefits
Increasing market
sophistication
Emotional benefits
Functional benefits
Increasing category
maturity
Functional attributes
Generic, price of entry
The brand platform
Brand
communications
Brand manifestation and area
of competence
Brand personality
BRAND PLATFORM
Brand vision, mission
and values
The ‘tone of voice’
Products, services and behaviours
Bringing the brand to life for all audiences
Seven Signs You’ve Developed a Brand
Identity
•
Brand Identity is clearly defined:
– What is the brand’s particular vision and aim?
– What makes it different?
– What need is the brand fulfilling?
– What is its permanent crusade?
– What are its values?
– What is its field of competence? Of legitimacy?
– What are the signs which make the brand
recognizable?
Brand Identity Prism - Elements
Physique
Personality
Relationship
Culture
Rallying Cry
Reflection
Aspirational
Self-Image
‘Brand Identity Prism’ by Jean-Noel Kapferer, The New Strategic Brand Management, 2012, p.156
Jean – Noel – Kapferer’s prism
• PHYSIQUE – this forms the basis of the brand.
• PERSONALITY – personality here means personification of
the brand. The brand personality is perceived as a person
or an animal.
• CULTURE – the country of origin of the brand that is seen
as a product attribute forms the culture.
• RELATIONSHIP – it is the understanding between the
consumer and the organization.
• REFLECTION – this is the consumer’s perception of the
brand and its values.
• SELF-IMAGE – this is about what the consumer thinks
about himself or herself.
Prism Element: Physique
This element answers the question: What do we do?
Many brands have problems with their physical facet because
their functional added value is weak. Even an image-based
brand must deliver material benefits. We focus on capabilities,
which are about the brand’s value-added.
Example: Foster Farms Frozen Cooked Chicken
Capabilities:
•Chicken – Highest quality
•Cooking – Making perfectly cooked chicken
•Resource – Helping you make successful
dinners
2
1.15 15
Prism Element: Relationship
This element answers the question: Who are we?
Strong brands are built on a strong culture and a clear set of shared
values.
•Brand’s core beliefs and way of operating.
•Unwavering, and uncompromising.
According to Kapferer: “The cultural facet of brands’ identity
underlines that brands are engaged in an Physique
ideological competition.”
Example: Nike
Nike champions ‘solo willpower’
with a dose of optimism, and
addresses a major sociological
insight:
Millions of people in the world today
know that they can count only on
themselves.
1.16 16
Brand as a religion
• http://www.verilliance.com/2010/01/26/appl
e-brand-cult-or-religion
Prism Element: Reflection
This element answers the question: Why do we exist?
Strong brands are a vision of the world. The idea of ‘Being of Service’
underlies this facet of the Brand Identity prism. It is meant to be
motivating to employees, and important to customers and other
external stakeholders.
Examples:
•Patagonia
•Body Shop
•Ben & Jerry
•Newman’s Own
•TOMS
•Innocent
1.18 18
Prism Element: Brand Personality
• This element answers the question: How
do we deliver?
• Some brands are incredibly earnest, others
are super smart. By communicating their
personality, brands build character.
Consumers identify with the brand’s
personality or project themselves into it.
Prism Element: Culture
• This element answers the question: What do we
have in common?
•
•
Brand loyalty provides a sense of belonging. Whether it’s formal or
grassroots, that connection provides a powerful bond and source of
distinction.
Example: Harley Davidson’s creation of a brand community was
central to its turnaround
– Created a group of ardent consumers organized around the
lifestyle, activities, and ethos of the brand
– Retooled every aspect of the organization—from its culture to its
operating procedures and governance structure—to drive its
community strategy.
– Made Harley into one motorcycle
manufacturer that understood bikers
on their own terms.
Prism Element: Aspirational Self-Image
• This element answers the question: What do customers
want their use of the brand to say about them?
• Repeated use and reliance on a brand demonstrates its value
to the user.
• Brand loyalty provides an emotional or self-expressive
benefit.
• Use of the brand tells others something about the user, and it
tells the user something about her/himself.
• Example: Lacoste
– Users see themselves as members of a chic sports club – an open
club with no race, sex or age discrimination, but which endows
its members with distinction.
– This works because sport is universal.
Prism Element: Rallying Cry
This element answers the question: what does all this add up
to?
The Rallying Cry is 3-5 word shorthand encapsulation of your
brand identity.
Emotional
Modifier
+
Descriptive
Modifier
+
Brand
Category/Industry
•Defines the category of business for the brand, sets boundaries
and clarifies what is unique.
•Should be memorable, crisp and vivid.
•Stakes out ground that is personally meaningful and relevant to
employees.
•Not an advertising slogan, and, in most cases, not used publicly.
22
Rallying Cry - Examples
Emotional
Modifier
+
Descriptive
Modifier
+
Brand
Category/Industry
Disney: Fun Family Entertainment
http://youtu.be/MAE_OgMrkaQ
BMW: Ultimate Driving Machine
http://youtu.be/NJ81ivxPl20
Betty Crocker: Homemade Made Easy
http://youtu.be/qm-_TIE2w2Q
Brand architecture
• Brand architecture orchestrates the relationship
between the corporate brand and its businesses,
product lines and product brands. Brand
architecture creates value through clarifying all
levels of branding based on:
–
–
–
–
-
the needs and priorities of target audiences;
expressing the breadth and depth of the offering;
generating economic efficiencies;
extending and transferring brand equity between corporate and
product and sub-brands;
making brand strategy credible
Brand architecture structures (I)
• Masterbrand
– A single brand spans a set of offerings
that operate only with descriptive
offerings; continual product innovation,
new releases, and so on.
– Ex.: GE, Cisco, 3Com
Brand architecture structures (II)
• Overbrand
– Individual business unit or product
brands operate under a strong family
brand. Dual level of communications:
individual offering establishes a unique
position while leveraging credibility of the
source.
– Ex.: Microsoft, Kellogg’s.
Brand architecture structures (III)
• Freestanding brand
– An organisation consists of independent standalone
brands, each maximising its impact on the market with
little or no connection to its parent. There is a competitive
need to develop distinct equities for line of business
brands. Source brand does not fit or carries negative
baggage.
– Ex.: Proctor & Gamble brands: Pringles, Old Spice, Luvs
Diapers and Gillette
Brand architecture structures (IV)
• An endorser brand architecture is made up of
individual and distinct product brands, which are
linked together by an endorsing parent brand. The
endorsing parent brand plays a supportive and
linking role, and, in many respects, an endorser
brand architecture can be seen as an inversion of
a sub-brand brand architecture.
Continuous evaluation and development
• A well-thought-out brand positioning is as
fundamental as a solid financial plan in creating
long-term value for a business. It is the engine of
sustainable brand value. This is particularly
important as a result of the growth of intangible
assets in business and the ability of competitors to
mimic product developments more quickly.