Year: 2005

Brand Extension – 10 principles

Mentioned here before, [tag]brand extension[/tag], is the application of a brand beyond its initial range of products, or outside of its category.

Many brand extensions are simply bad business ideas. Just because consumers would accept chocolate pudding from Nestl� doesn�t mean this is a good business idea. The category may be dominated by another company. Nestl� may not be able to efficiently manufacture the product. The margins in the new category may be too small to justify the investment, etc. Launching a brand extension that is an orphan in the category can be a prescription for failure because the item cannot generate sufficient sales to be adequately supported and defended.

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10 Steps To An Irresistible Brand

The methodology of crafting brand strategies, defines ten steps on the “yellow brick road” to an irresistible brand, each complete with its own tools, and all composing a comprehensive and well structured work process. Using the ten not so easy, but sure-fire steps, you can create truly amazing brands.

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Best Global Brands by Value for 2005

In the new special report, BusinessWeek and Interbrand rank the companies that best built their images — and made them stick in 2005. The names that gained the most in value focus ruthlessly on every detail of their brands, honing simple, cohesive identities that are consistent in every product, in every market around the world, and in every contact with consumers. (In the ranking, which is compiled in partnership with brand consultancy Interbrand Corp., a dollar value is calculated for each brand using publicly available data, projected profits, and variables such as market leadership).

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Online-only brands ‘lack trust’

A survey of over 1,000 customers by insurers Direct Line shows even though internet buying is surging in popularity, shoppers still do not trust online-only brands.

Despite the convenience of shopping online, nearly two out of three consumers prefer to buy a known and trusted brand that also exists offline,

the study claims. Only one in three feel as well-informed when purchasing goods online as they do when buying face-to-face or over the phone, while 83 per cent prefer access to an expert, a feature not inherent in web-based companies.

“Consumers today want the convenience of the internet and the comfort of knowing an expert is at the other end of the phone at any time,” said Emma Holyer, from Direct Line.

The survey found the attitude pervasive across all age groups, particularly among 25- to 34-year-olds, an audience typically more relaxed to brand affiliation.

Some 65 per cent of this group said they believe brand awareness to be a key factor when purchasing online.

Well I wouldn’t totally agree with this study, looking at brands like Amazon or eBay, but we also have to consider it took some years for these kind of brands to become what they are nowadays.

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Five Dimensions in Branding

In contemporary branding we have the option to not just ‘brand’ products, services or organizations, in order to make them more appealing to consumers. Brands are now often conceived as well-differentiated concepts of novel and exclusive ways to provide a benefit (of any sorts) to consumers.

Brand Actualization is performed in five interlinked dimensions (although there is no necessity to use all five), all serving our dual purpose of both arousing anticipation of benefit and fulfilling them:

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Corporate identity basics

Corporate identity refers to the strategic concept for positioning a company. It entails defining identity traits, integrating them into a congruent action concept and coordinating them within this concept. Its objective is to permanently anchor a distinct, easily recognizable image in consumers’ minds.

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Brand Value – 10 Ways To Create It

Consumers love brands because they offer an extra value—that is, one in addition to the core product or service. That value becomes the major motivation for consumers to buy or use the product.

How precisely is this value being added and incorporated into the brand? Advertising professionals say it is advertising. Consumers love the ad—so they’ll love the brand. Other marketing experts are suggesting that a consistent and total brand experience is the key.

Brands are not human-like and they do not have a life of their own outside the consumer’s mind. They are instruments, simply means to achieve ends. Emotions cannot be glued to them. They arouse emotions when they are perceived as a source of something beneficial. The positive emotions are direct outcomes of these anticipations. Their various symbolizations (name, logo, font, emblem and so on) have little impact on their own; their importance is mainly as identifiers of sources of already attributed and anticipated benefits.

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Brand System – The Experience

As mentioned before, experience is the third step in defining Brand as a System. Brand experience is the aggregate of consumer perceptions that come from interacting with a brand.

The process of exposing consumers to the various attributes associated with a particular brand, a successful brand experience creates an environment in which the consumer will be surrounded by the positive elements attached to the brand.

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Sucessfull Online Branding

Web presence is nowadays essential part of the branding process. That’s because the Web is equally a:

  • Communication medium that conveys image. To take advantage of the inherent strengths of the Web — potentially endless depth and two-way communication — sites must provide content and function that support Brand Image. For example, to back up Apple’s claim to “lead the industry in innovation,” its site must describe the innovative aspects of Apple products and provide standout function like a best-in-class configurator. To reinforce multichannel marketing campaigns, sites also need elements like language, imagery, typography, and layout to be consistent with both the intent of the positioning and the style of ads in other media.
  • Delivery channel that enables action. Sites don’t just appear before customers the way television ads do. If a customer sees a home page, it’s because she typed a URL or clicked a link — and that means she arrived with goals like finding specific information, making a purchase or getting service. To avoid frustrating and annoying her — a bad way to build brand — sites must supply the content and function she needs to achieve her goals. For example, customers looking for a low-cost American Express card need content that includes annual fees and APR plus function that lets them apply online. Sites also need navigation that makes it easy to find the content, and they need presentation that makes it easy to consume the content.

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Company names etymologies

Tell me if these company names tell you something:

  • Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
  • Accent on the Future
  • Albert Heijn Holding
  • Badische Anilin und Soda Fabrik
  • Bringing ENjoyment and Quality to life
  • Bayerische Motoren Werke

Well, how about these ones:

  • 3M
  • Accenture
  • Ahold
  • BASF
  • BenQ
  • BMW

I’ll bet you the second list sounds way more familiar. Just found an imppressive list of company names etymologies.

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