Question

1. List four major marketing communication tools and two amplifiers.

2. What is "brand positioning"?

3. What are "brand elements" or brand identities?

4. Evaluate apple and its logo.

5. Five levels of meaning for an automobile (car): core benefit level, generic product level, expected product level, augmented product level, potential level.

6. What is private label brand? List two examples of a private label brand. How could major national brand respond to private (label) brands?

7. "Brand imigary" is the way people think about a brand abstractly. It can have many intangible aspects of the brand. List four main intangibles which can be linted to a brand. Give an example for each one.

Answer 1

1. 4 Marketing Communication Tools

   A marketing person has many tools at his disposal for generating awareness and supporting the selling effort. While there are numerous marketing communication tools, there are also numerous mixes for these tools. The following is a list of some of the more common tools along with examples of their use and some considerations. One important note is remember that marketing communication tools do improve understanding your product or service, reinforcing your messages, supporting the sales cycle and generating awareness.

   1-      Advertising: Advertising’s main feature is increasing awareness.   An example of an ad might be an enterprise promoting that it is number one in providing top quality lawn mowers. Ads also help promote your product or service and branding for your enterprise.   Major advice regarding advertising is to very clear about its objective, who is the audience and how will you measure its effectiveness.

   One major mistake that many companies make is that after doing an excellent job of determining the objectives, defining audience and establishing metrics, is that they do not fund the advertising plan so that it will be effective. All too many times after an ad campaign starts they stop funding it because they do not see any positive results. Typically ad programs have a “threshold” or how many times it must run to be effective, but many companies stop part of the way through and move on to something else. Rule number one; do not run any ads unless you are funded for the full program!

   2-      Direct mail or email campaigns: The primary purpose of mailings, direct or email, is to generate leads, via some form of an offer or call to action. An example of a direct mail might be a message that addresses the need for additional revenues and implementing a marketing program that will result in additional revenues. Mailings can also be used for promoting any major communication messages. Like advertising, first make sure you know your objective and have a targeted audience and how you will measure the campaign. Word of caution, mailings do not usually replace the sales force (I am addressing business to business markets). But as stated, they provide leads or names of potential customers. The biggest mistakes most companies make are; the offer does not line up with the targeted audience, the offer is not compelling. and a lack of a call to action. If you do not address these issues you are only “clicks” away from losing your potential customer.

   3-      Social Media: Social Media’s main purpose is providing “information” about your products, services, and enterprise, and other people’s opinions about all three. As Bob has discussed in a number of articles, social media is not only growing at a rapid rate, it is becoming a resource for consumer/buyers to research the potential product or service way before your enterprise is even aware of the buyer’s interest. Key advice here is to at least monitor these activities, respond to viewer’s comments, especially if there is bad publicity. Common mistakes are not engaging in one form of these activities, becoming defensive about social remarks and not gathering this information for future products or services.

   4-      Trade shows, seminars, webinars: These tools can address many issues, but usually their primary objectives are leads and a product/service introduction or announcement. An example might be “Visit our booth #1234 and see the industry’s fastest switch”.   Two of the biggest mistakes are not getting the leads out to the field in a timely manner and having a very strong message that is easy to understand.

2. Brand positioning is also referred to as a positioning strategy, brand strategy, or a brand positioning statement. ... The goal is to create a unique impression in the customer's mind so that the customer associates something specific and desirable with your brand that is distinct from rest of the marketplace.

   3. Your brand is represented by tangible elements that create a visual, auditory, and olfactory brand identity. For example, your brand logo, color palette, marketing materials, letterhead, signage, messaging, and so on are all tangible representations of your brand that make up its sensory identity.

   4 Branding Elements and What They Mean

   1. Brand identity

   Let us begin with the very basic. What exactly is a brand and what is brand identity? The brand of course is an easily recognizable name that immediately tells people about a certain organization that manufactures certain products or renders certain services. Brand identity is the way people recognize the brand. It may be through the logo or other associated visuals.

   The Swoosh logo of Nike is very simple, but is immediately recognizable worldwide along with its punchline, “Just Do It”.

   2. Brand image

   Brand image is the idea of the brand that people develop in their minds. It also dictates what they expect from the brand. For instance, Rolls Royce has the image of a luxury car maker. So, it cannot be making a budget car even if there is a market. Its existing premium customers won’t take it kindly as it dilutes the said image. It’s hard and sometimes impossible to change brand image, so it’s best to know what you’re aiming at, before you invest hard earned dollars.

   3. Brand positioning

   Positioning is the way a product is placed in the market. It basically defines what segments of the market it is targeting. For instance Virginia Slims is a cigarette targeted at women. Basic ingredients in all cigarettes are same but this one has been positioned to attract women by making it slimmer in size and making the packaging sleeker.

   4. Brand personality

   Brand personality is just like the personality of human beings. It is certain emotional or personal qualities that we associate with a particular brand. For example we can associate youthfulness with Pepsi or ruggedness with Wrangler. Every element of the brand identity including the colour of the logo and the typography on the brand name adds to the personality.

   5. Brand equity

   Brand equity is the value of a brand. It may include tangible financial value such as market share and revenue as well as intangible aspects such as strategic benefits of the brand. For example Apple is a major technology brand and people perceive it is a premium, cutting edge manufacturer of quality products. So, it is not only the sales but the sheer image that takes the equity to a different level altogether.

4.

The bitten Apple is one of the world’s most notable and recognizable logos. The logo of well-known computer manufacturer Apple Inc., this logo has been used and changed in its over 3-decade tenure.
Here is a bite out of Apple’s history. (Scroll down for quick bites)

The history of the bitten apple:

The “bitten apple” is the logo of the well-known computer manufacturer Apple Inc. It is one of the easily recognizable logos in the whole wide world, a fitting symbol to the name of the company behind the picture. Here is one bite out of the apple’s history, to enlighten readers on how the logo sprang into existence.

Newton; Apple’s First Image

The Apple logo was not always the same, or even remotely similar. Apple’s first logo was created by Apple Computer Co co-founder, Ronald Wayne, during the company’s incorporation in the 1970s. The logo was as different as could be from its current look, although still related to the Apple.

The first image to represent the computer company was Isaac Newton, the man who revolutionized science with his discoveries on gravity. How did he figure it out? An apple fell on his head!

Apple’s first logo was a depiction of this event, with Newton sitting under an Apple tree.

The Logo included a quote from William Wordsworth, a romantic English poet; “Newton… a mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought.” The poem was written on the frame of the logo.

The Apple Gets Its Turn

The Newton logo was short lived, as Steve Jobs reportedly believed that it was too old-fashioned, or arcane.

The famous CEO soon hired graphic designer Rob Janoff, who then created the now classic and world-renowned logo of the bitten apple. Jobs quickly threw out the old Newton logo, and Apple’s logo was fully established and used by the end of the company’s first year.

Janoff’s original apple logo contained a rainbow spectrum, a nod towards Apple’s computer Apple II which was the world’s first computer with color display. The logo debuted a little before the computer’s launch. Janoff has said that there was no rhyme or reason behind the placement of the colors themselves, noting that Jobs wanted to have green at the top “because that’s where the leaf was.”

There have been many rumors and speculations about the new logo. Some people think that the shift to the apple design was to make it more appropriate for the company name. There are also people who think that the apple symbolizes Alan Turning, the father of modern computing, who took a bite out of an apple poisoned with cyanide that ultimately took his life.

Jean-Louis Gassée, former Apple executive and founder of BeOS, quipped about the logo:

One of the deep mysteries to me is our logo, the symbol of lust and knowledge, bitten into, all crossed with the colors of the rainbow in the wrong order. You couldn’t dream a more appropriate logo: lust, knowledge, hope and anarchy.

There have been so many rumors that the designer actually spoke out to calm the buzz. “It is a wonderful urban legend, somebody starts it, and then people go ‘oh, that must be it.’”

The multi-colored Apple logo was in use for 22 years before it was axed by Steve Jobs less than a year after his return to Apple in 1997. In its place was a new logo that did away with the colorful stripes and replaced it with a more modern monochromatic look that has taken on a variety of sizes and colors over the past few years. The overall shape of the logo, however, remains unchanged from its original inception 33 years ago.

The bitten apple logo may have had quite a history, a history whose parts remain unknown to people. However, it has not stopped the logo from being recognized all over the world. In fact, the company does not even have to print its name alongside the logo. The logo itself already tells it all.

The Newton Crest: 1976-1976:

The first Apple logo was designed in 1976 by Ronald Wayne, sometimes referred to as the third co-founder of Apple. The logo depicts Isaac Newton sitting under a tree, an apple dangling precipitously above his head. The phrase on the outside border reads, “Newton… A Mind Forever Voyaging Through Strange Seas of Thought … Alone.”

The Rainbow Logo: 1976-1998

Not surprisingly, the above logo only lasted a year before Steve Jobs commissioned graphic designer Rob Janoff to come up with something more modern. Janoff’s eventual design would go on to become one of the most iconic and recognizable corporate logos in history.

According to Janoff, the “bite” in the Apple logo was originally implemented so that people would know that it represented an apple, and not a cherry tomato. It also lent itself to a nerdy play on words (bite/byte), a fitting reference for a tech company.

Quick side note: Corporate design sure was a lot simpler in the 70′s. Nowadays, companies like Pepsi spend millions of dollars on logo re-designs that are based on complete BS and new age mumbo jumbo.

As for the rainbow stripes of the logo, Steve Jobs is rumored to have insisted on using a colorful logo as a means to “humanize” the company. It also could be because it was launched right before Apple’s newest computer, Apple II which was the world’s first PC with colored display.

The Monochrome Logo: 1998 – Present

The current logo, the one everyone knows, wasn’t made simply because Steve Jobs is always looking to change things up. When Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, the company was bleeding money, and Jobs and Co. realized that the Apple logo could be leveraged to their advantage.

If the shape of the Apple logo was universally recognizable, why not put it where people could see it?

When Apple released their first ever iMac, the Bondi Blue, the logo was changed and its rainbow colors disregarded. The rainbow-colored logo would have looked silly, childish and out of place on the sky-blue computer.

The logo then took on a metallic look with embossing, which was applied on many of their products.

The “Glass” themed logo was the next evolution for the logo.

Today, the company uses a more modernized flat “Millennial” Apple logo. The logo comes mainly in 3 colors; silver, white and black.

The millennial apple logo is now one of the sleekest and famous logos in the world, just as famous or even more than McDonalds’s yellow arches. Steve Jobs’s decision to hire Janoff, and go for a minimal styled logo (which is currently in fashion and may have started the “flat” logo craze) was another genius choice by the enigmatic founder.

5.

1.Core benefit level

This is the basic product and the focus is on the purpose for which the product is intended. For example, a warm coat will protect you from the cold and the rain.

2. Generic product level

This represents all the qualities of the product. For a warm coat this is about fit, material, rain repellent ability, high-quality fasteners, etc.

3. Expected product level

This is about all aspects the consumer expects to get when they purchase a product. That coat should be really warm and protect from the weather and the wind and be comfortable when riding a bicycle.

4. Augmented Product level

This refers to all additional factors which sets the product apart from that of the competition. And this particularly involves brand identity and image. Is that warm coat in style, its colour trendy and made by a well-known fashion brand? But also factors like service, warranty and good value for money play a major role in this.

5. Potential level

This is about augmentations and transformations that the product may undergo in the future. For example, a warm coat that is made of a fabric that is as thin as paper and therefore light as a feather that allows rain to automatically slide down.

6.Private-label products or services, also known as "phantom brands", are typically those manufactured or provided by one company for offer under another company's brand. Private-label goods and services are available in a wide range of industries from food to cosmetics to web hosting.

Examples

Common examples of private brands include:

• Grocery products - canned food, frozen food, rice, cereal, sodas, etc.
• Generic medicine and health products - pain relievers, cough syrup, bandages, etc.
• Textiles - towels, washcloths, bed sheets, etc.
• Clothing
• Household supplies - cleaning products, kitchen utensils, dishes, etc.

• A national brand is a prominent or established product, while a private label or store brand is an exclusive product made or acquired for sale through a particular provider. Retailers commonly sell a mix of national brands and private label goods to take advantage of the benefits of each.

  Pros and Cons

  A national brand has a name that typical customers recognize and trust. Ben & Jerry's and Breyers are two prominent national brands of ice cream. In a typical supermarket, these national brands often appear in the freezer section near private label brands. National brands typically cost more to promote, and their price points are typically higher as well. Private label brands are less recognized and sometimes considered generic or of poorer quality. However, private label brands usually have a lower cost-basis, affording retailers higher profit margins. During tough economic periods, consumers become more interested in lower-cost private label brands.

7. Four main intangibles which can be linked to a brand are -

• User profiles - The type of a person or organization that uses brand or a more asperational user , idealized user ( VW's iconic "DRivers Wansted ")
• Purchase and Usage Situations - Under what conditions the brand should be bought and used (eg Corona has an advertising campaignfor years,dubbed by expert as " beach in a bottle".
• Personality and Values: Personality traits and values similar to people(e.g "levis" is a brand that can be seena as rugged", whereas chanel may seen as sophesticated)
• History , heritage and experience:Associations to the past and certain noteworthy events in brand history - either direct personal experience and episodes or more public broad -based and shared to large degree amoung people ( e.g " Coca Cola's strong heritage made it impossible to change the product they attempted to do so with new Coke)