Importance Of Brand Strategies Marketing Essay

”Companies must be flexible to respond rapidly to competitive and market changes they must benchmark continuously to achieve best practice.They must outsource aggresively to gain efficiencies.”(Michael Porter; “What is Strategy”, Harvard Business Review, 1996, Nov-Dec, p.61.)in this quote Michael Porter states what the companies should do in the face of sudden changes in key points.When we got the origin of the word “strategy” we faces with the names of Greek(stratÄ“gía)Leading army ve military commander(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/strategy). As combining Porter’S description with the original version of the word strategy, we define the firms as military and commanders as the brand. We realised from that militaries that does not have a good commander cannot fights completly. If we look at today’s business environment, the firms doesnt have good brands fight with competitors disadvantegously. Fort his reason ,the concept of international brand should be taken with strong fundamentals.A strong brand strategy enables the brand to create a strong brand identity in foreign markets and also to helps the firm to compete with its competitors.Because of the brand strategies occured , as the firm enters the foreign market , the risk level will decrease and the success will increases..( _.Ü. Siyasal Bilgiler Fakültesi Journal 2007)

B.Elements of Ä°nternational Brand strategies

The firms that are willing to enter international markets must concentrate on firstly the elements of brand that creates the brand strategy, because a brand with weak basic could force the firm into bad conditions. The firm’s success in international arena based on the chosen brand strategy and the elements that creates this strategy. The increase in the brand value of the firm in international arena will no doubtly affects the profit positively. The most important goal of international brand strategies is to increase the brand value.

According to Kevin Lane Keller(2002) the elements are divided into seven part;

Brand Names

URL S

Logos and symbols

Characters

Slogans

Jingles

Packaging

Brand Name

It is not an easy task to choose a brand name which is can ben seen as an art or science.As a matter of fact, the brand name is important because it always captures the main point or the main associations of a good in a compact and financial trend..Brand names might be an productive stenography means of communication.Whereas the time it hets consumers to grasp marketing communications can range from a half minute.It is also the most difficult brand element for marketers to subsquently change.Consequently , brand names often systematically researched before being chosen.

As Henry Ford II named his new automobile the “Edsel” after the name of a family members seem to be long gone.Is it dificult to come up with brand name ? Ira Bachrach , a well-known branding consultant, notes that although there are 140,000 words in English vocabulary , the average American only detect 20,000 words.

In some ways , this difficulty of finding a brand name should not be surprising.Any parent can probably sympathize with how hard it can be to choose a name for a child , as evidenced by the thousand of babies born each year without names because their parents have not decided on – or perhanbs not agreed upon a name yet.

Brand Awareness

As a whole , it is believed that brand awareness is developed the extent to which brand names spell are selected that are uncomplicated and easy to declare or; familiar and meaningful ; and dissimiliar ,distinctive , and unusual.To highlight brand recall , to be easy-understandable , hend and easy to pronounce or spell are the desirable criterias fort he brand name.Simplicity reduces consumers” cognitive effort to understand and process the brand name.3

Short names often ease recall because they are easy to encode and store in memory ( e.q., Aim toothpaste , Raid pest spray , Bold laundry detergent , Suave shampoo , Off insect repellent , Jiff peanut butter ).Risk the embarrassment of mispronouncing a dificult name ( as might be the case with such potentially difficult to pronounce names as Hyundai Automobiles , Fruzen Gladje ice cream ).3

Pronunciation issues may arise from not approving to lingquistic rules.Although Honda chose the name “Acura” because it was associated with words connoting precision in different languages , they primarily had some trouble with consumer pronunciation of the name ( pronounced AK-yur -a ) in the American market, perhaps in part because they chose not to use the phonetically simpler English spelling of Acurca ( with a double c ).

Brand names ought to be familiar and meaningful so that it would be able to tap into eisting knowledge structures.Brand names may be concrete or abstract in their meaning.All types of categories can be used to form a name ( e.q. , people,places,animals,birds, or different kinds of inanimate objects).Because these objects already exist in memort in verbal and visiual form,less learning has to occur.

One research study of hypothetical brand names showed that “high-imagery” brand names, ( e.q. Ocean , Frog, Plant, and Paper ) were significantly more memorable acroos a variety of recall and recognition measures than “low-imagery” words (e.q.,History,Truth,Moment, and Memory ).Thus , when a consumer sees an ad fort he firsttime for a car called “Neon” the fact that the consumer already has the word stored in memort should make it easier to encode the product name and thus improve its recallability.Although choosing a simple, easy o pronounce ,familiar, and meningful brand name can improve recallability, to improve brand recognition, on the other hand , it is important that brand names be different,distinctive and unusual.

Note that cultural differences may exist in brand name memorability and recall.In one study , Chinese speakers were more likely to recall names presented as brand names in visual rather than spoken , whereas English speakers were more likely sensations of verbal information in Chinese are coded primarily in a visual manner whereas verbal in English is coded primarily in a phonological in a visal manner.

As with all brand choice criteria, tradeoffs must be recognized.Even if a distinctive brand name is advantageous for brand recogniton.Ä°t also has to be seen as credible and desirabe in the product category.A notable exception is Smuckers jelly, which has tried to turn the handicap of its distinctive-but porential dislikable-name into a positive through its slogan.

Brand Associations

Although choosing a memorable name is valuable , it is often necessary fort he brand to have broader meaning to consumers than just the product categort it is in.Because the brand name is a bundle form of communication , the specific and implicit meaning that consumers extract from the name can be critical.In particular, the brand name can be selected to strenghten an essential attributes benefit association that makes up its product positioning.

A descriptive brand name should make it easier to link the reinforced attribute or benefit.That is, it should be easier to communicate to consumers that a laundry detergent”adds fresh secnt”to clothes ıf it were given a name such as”Blossom”than ıf ıt were given a neutral,nonsuggestive name such as “Circle”.

Made-up brand names, however , ara generally devised more systematically.Fictitious words are typically based on combination of morphemes.A morpheme is the smallest lingual unit having meaning.here are 6,000 morphemes in the English language , including real words.

( e.q., “man”) as well as prefixes , suffixes, or root.For example, Compaq computer’s name comes from a combination of two morphemes indicating “computers and communication” and a “small,integral object”.

Naming Product

A number of different procedures pr systems have been suggested for naming new products.Although some differences exist, most systems for developing brand names can be seen as basically adopting a procedure something along the following lines.

In general, the first step in selecting a brand name for a new good is to dine the branding objectives in terms of the six general criteria.It is particularly important to define the ideal meaning that brand should take.It is also necessary to recognize the role of the brand within the corporate branding hierarchy and how the brand should relate to other brands and products.

With the strategic branding direction in place, the second step involves generating as many names and concepts as possible.Any potential source of names can be used:company management and employees;existing or potential customers.

Next , the names have to be viewed found on the branding objectives and marketing thoughts as well as just common sense , to produce a more manageable list.For example , General Mills starts by eliminating the following;

Names that have unintentional double meaning

Names that are patently unpronounceable, alreadt in use , or too close to an existing name

Names that have obvious legal complications

Names that represent an obvious contradiction of the positioning

The fourth step involves conveing more broad information on each of the final 5 to 10 or so names. Before spending large amounts of Money on consumer research. It is usually advisable to do an extensive international legal search.

Next, consumer research is ofteh conducted to authorize supervision watchfulness as to the memorability and meaningfulness of the names.Consumer testing can take all forms.Many firms attempt to simulate the actual marketing program fort he brand and consumer’s likely purchase experiences as much as possible.

Finally, based on all information conveied from the prior step,supervision can select the name that maximzed the firm’s branding and marketing goals and then legally register the name.

1.Descriptive

Describes function literally; generally unregisterable

Examples; Singapore Airlines, Global Crossing, Turkish Airlines

2.Suggestive

Suggestive of a benefit or function

Example; marchFÄ°RST, Agilent Technologies, ASELSAN

3.Compounds

Combination of two or more, often unexpected, words

Example; redhat

4.Classical

Based on Latin, Greek, or Sanskirt

Example; Meritor

5.Arbitrary

Real words with no obvious tie-in to company

Example; Apple, Çilek Mobilya

6.Fanciful

Coined words with no obvious meaning

Example; Avanade,Zorlu

Landor’s Brand Name Taxonomy

URLs

Urls are used to particularize spots of pages on Web, and are likewhise usually allude to as domain names.Urls ought to set down or recompense for the call by a service like register.com.In recent years , as the numbers of companies entering web have been increased , the importance of URLs increased dramatically.The number of registered URLs realm names almost doubled to 17 million from May to September 200.The rank of URLs reached 84,000 per days or approximately on eper second.(Keller , 2002 )

Another declare companies faces with respect to URLs is to protect their brand from unauthorized use in realm names.For instance , Nike could not countenance the name seen in the URL of a facle fan site www.nikerules.com.In order to protect its brand name from unauthorized realm use in a URL.The exact name used in Urls are much more understanable than anyother uses, which means that the name of the brand ought to create the name of URLs.For instance , a few exapmles from turkish based companies’ Urls ; www.beko.com.tr www.arcelik.com.tr , www.ulker.com.tr , www.vestel.com.tr. (Matt Hicks ,”Order Out of Chaos” 2001)

In 2000 , ICANN , the agency directs the internet’s adress system brought seven new domain suffixes.Two addition of two domains were .biz and .info , in nowember and it makes the new domains necessary.These new domains entangled issues , but , for huge companies that applied sizeable time and money to secure the URLs.Additional cost element occurs as the companies are forced to buy these new domains , however companies have to do all due to protect the brand image.

Logos and Symbols

(Those some of examples Turkish brand logo’s and symbols)

Visual brand dimensions often take a critical role in constructing brand equity, although the brand name particularly is the central element of the brand. Logos have a long history that means to point out center, ownership, or association. For instance, logos for years, ages, have been used to visually represent their names by families and countries. .(Keller, 2002 )

Many kınds of logos, ranging from trademarks or corporate names , exist and they are written in a distinctive form.To wholy abstract logos,that might be entirely unconcerned with the word mark,corporate acitivites or corporate name.Some of the brands has strong word Marks such as Coca-cola , Dunhill,AND Kit-Kat.Some examples for abstract logos are the Mercedes star, Rolex-crown,CBS ETC.(27)

There are two extremes that many logos fall between. Logos always concorted as symbols to reinforce the meaning of brand in anyway. Many logos are the exact from of representation of brand name and that makes the brand so easy to be known and to be kept in my mind for long time. Logos are often useful as the use of the full brand name is restricted in anyway. National Westminster, Bank in the United Kingdom, for instance,created a triangulardevice as a logo in part becasue the name itself was long and cumbersome and the logo could be more easily appear as an identification device on the check books.(Keller 2002)

In updating logos, however, it is important to make gradual changes that do not mislay sight of the intrinsic advantages of the logo. In the 1980s, for many firms was to create more abstract, stylized versions of their logo. Recognizing the logo’s potential contribution to brand equity, some firms in the 1990s reverted to a more traditional look for their symbols.(32)

Unlike brand names, logos can be easily changed over time to success a more coeval look. To illustrate with an example,”Burger-Kıng” is the second largest hamburger chain in america, added blue to its logos to make it more eye-catching. The change was intended to “convey a message of strenght and aility with a technology edge”.(31)

Slogans

Some examples for turkısh brand’s slogan as follows ;

BEKO ”A World Brand”

VESTEL ”Friendly Technology”

Turkish Airlines ”Globally Yours”

ÜLKER ”A Happy Moment”

Slogans are short expresses which communicate descriptive or convincing information related to the brand.Slogans frequently come forth in advertising,but can play an important role on packaging and in other viewpoint of the marketing campaign.For instance , Snickers “Hungry ? Snickers Really Satisfies” slogan appears in ads and on the candy bar wrapper itself.Slogan can function as useful “hooks or handles” to help consumers grasp the meaning of a brand in terms of what the brand is and what makes it special.(Keller 2002)

Slogans often become closely tied to advertising campaings can be used as tag lines to summarize the descriptive adn persuasive information conveyed in the ads.For exapmle,De Beers diamonds “A diamond Is Forever” tag line communicates the intended ad message that diamonds bring eternal love and romance and never lose value.(Keller 2002)

Some slogans become so strongly linked to the brand that ıt becomes difficult to subsequently introduce new ones.For example,Miller Lite beer has struggled to find a successor to its memorable “Tastes Great … Less Filling”slogan.After the failure of the controversial “Made by Dick”ads with their sometimes bizarre renditions of the “Miller Time” refrain.(Keller,2002)

Characters

Those character examples represent to three multinational Turkish companies

Arçelik:Character name is ”Çelik”

Vestel:Characters name are ”Vestron”

Opet:Character name is ”Opedo”

Characters identifies a particular kind of brand symbol is one that takes on people or real life characteristics.Brand characters kindly are announced by using advertising and can play an important role in those and subsequent ad campaings and package designs.As similiar to other brand elements , brand characters come in many several forms.Some brand characters are enlivened.(Keller 2002)

Brand characters may supply a count of brand equity advance.The reason is that they are frequently colorful and wealthy in visiual,they ought to be attention getting.As a result , brand characters can be quite useful for creating brand awarness.Brand characters can help brands break through the marketplace clutter as well as help to communicate a key product benefit.For instance,Maytag’s Lonely Repairman has helped to reinforce their key”reliability” product association.(Keller 2002)

Brand characters do not trpically have direct product meaning,they may also be trasferred relatively easily across product categories.For insatance,Aaker notes that”the Keebler’s elf identify gives the brandlatitude to extend into other baked goods and perhaps even into other types of food where homemade magic and fun might be perceived as a benefit.34

Jingles

Jingles are musical messages that are written round the bran.Particularly, conveyed by Professional songwriters,they often have adequate catchy hooks and choruses so become almost permanently registered.Jingels can be considered as stretched musical slogans and in that perceive might be clasified as a brand element.The importance of Jingles over brands existence is so high so that the jingles must be clear.(Keller 2002)

A well-known jibgle can serve as a foundation for advertising for years.As an example,in the United States, the familiar “Give Me a Break” jingle for Kit Kat candy bars has been sung in ads by Professionals and everyone since 1988 and has helped to propel the brand to the sixth best sellinh chocolate candy bar.38

Similarly,after two decades as the centerpiece of their ad campaign,there was an uproar when the US Army switched from their familiar “Be All That You Can Be” to “Army of One”.

Packaging

Packaging consists of the activities of designing and manufacturing containers or wrappers for a product that protect the product from damages.Like other brand elements,packages have a long history.Early humans used leaves and animal skin to cover and carry food and water.Glass containers first appeared in Egyp as early as 200.keller 2002

From the view of both the consumer and company,,packaging have to success a number of objectives.

Identify the brand

Convey descriptive and convincing knowledge

Smooth product transfer and guard

Asist at home storage

Aid product consumption

To success the marketing objectives fort he brand and satisfy the desires of consumers the aesthetic and functional components of packaging must be choosen correctly.Packaging can have essential brand equity promote for a firm.Frequently,one of the strongest associations that customers have with a brand connects to the view of its think of Heineken beet,a common response is “gren bottle”.(Keller 2002)

Packaging switches can have sudden effect on selling.To illustrate with an example,sales of the Heath candy bar increased 25 percent after its wrapper was redone.Similarly,Rice-Aroni’s sales increased 20 percent in the first year after a packaging revitalization.44