3.11 Position the company to acquire a desired business image Understand product/service management, emotional intelligence, financial analysis, selling and customer relations.

 Brand identity  Values  Brand cues  Brand Personality  Touch points  Brand promise  Corporate brands Stuff you can do Activity: Make a flip book of the vocabulary words. Use may the Marketing Essentials or Marketing Dynamics as a resource or look the terms up online.

 All of the following elements are often combined to form a firm’s corporate symbol or name.  Brand Name (product brand): It is a word, group of words, letters, or numbers that represent a product/service. ▪ Big Mac, Coco Puffs, Corvette, Hummer, Beats  Trade Name (corporate brand): identifies and promotes a company or a division of a particular corporation. This is the legal name when doing business. ▪ McDonald’s, General Mills, Chevrolet, GM, Dr. Dre  Brand Mark: a unique symbol, coloring, lettering or other design element

 Trade Character: a specific type of brand mark in human form or characteristics.  Trademark: a word, name, symbol, device or a combination of these elements that is given legal protection by the federal government.

 Brand identity includes following elements  Brand vision – what is the brand supposed to be?  Brand culture – fun, serious, competent, who tends to be the customer?  Positioning – relative to competitors?  Personality – Customer Experience Management  Relationships – Who do they partner with?  Presentations – How do they portray themselves?

Stuff you can do  List 10 branded products that you know.  Now, list another brand of that product.  Make three columns on your paper.  First column: ▪ Products for which you will only buy one brand.  Second Column: ▪ Products for which you will buy any brand.  Third Column: ▪ Products which you will buy a store brand or generic brand.

 The value of a brand is its ability to increase sales through brand recognition and brand loyalty.  Brand Loyalty: a situation in which the customer will buy only a certain brand of a product. ▪ Results in repeat purchases ▪ More profits ▪ Occurs when the brand meets the customer’s needs ▪ Occurs when marketers create a strong relationship between the customer and the brand.

What are the company’s values, its most important traits?  Is it a “Green” company?  Is it the most innovative in its field? (Apple)  Does it believe in its employees?  Does it attempt to improve society? Values help build the public’s perception of the company and its products

 We like things to be simple. We shun complexity wherever we can. We avoid spending time on things which have little value to us either functionally or emotionally.  Relying on trusted brand names and reputations can replace the need for in-depth knowledge or the need to spend much time evaluating choices on the part of the customer.

 Particularly when attributes are difficult to assess (or too troublesome to evaluate rigorously), we rely on cues to guide us. Some examples of cues which guide consumer buying behavior are shown below.  To Assess... Consumers May Use...  Low calorie food"Lite" on packaging  Cleaning liquid strengthIntensity of smell  Digital camera qualityNumber of Megapixels  Wine qualityGold stickers on bottle  Airline safetyCleanliness of cabin  Performance of carStripes and other trim  Environmental friendlyGreen packaging 

 Brand Personality  The attribution of human personality traits (seriousness, warmth, imagination, etc.) to a brand as a way to achieve differentiation. Usually done through long-term above- the-line advertising and appropriate packaging and graphics. These traits inform brand behavior through both prepared communication/packaging, etc., and through the people who represent the brand - its employees.   Affects who will buy.  Helps define the target market.

 Brand personality is a method of communicating the benefits associated with your product, in terms of its attributes.  Brand personality distinguishes the brand from competitors.  Brand personality can also be used to create loyal customers by encouraging them to buy your brand through positive associations.

 A touch point is when a customer comes into contact with any promotion or the product  After the brand is built and it is easily recognized, touch points are more readily made between the product and the (potential) customers  Customers come into contact with the brand and might not even give it a passing thought  Yet, subliminally, the customer has thought about the product again each time they saw or heard the touch point

Acquisition Branding (Prospects): Customer Service Technical Support Logistics / Delivery Corporate Headquarters Branch Offices Tradeshow Booth Business Internal Branding (Employees): Recruitment Advertising Website Employee Handbook Screening Process Goals and Objectives Review Process Compensation Structure Internal Communications Recognition Programs Training and Development Promotion Criteria Retention Branding (Customers): Policies and Procedures Logo Identity Website Marketing On Hold Receptionist Brochures Datasheets Press Releases Advertisements Direct Mail Catalogs Packaging Pricing Strategic Alliances Correspondence Announcements Financial Branding (Financial Community): Press Releases Annual Report Quarterly Reports Analyst Briefings Investor Presentation

 This is what the brand says it will do for the customer.  Make the customer more appealing with whiter teeth  “Rule the air” - Verizon  Differentiates the product from the competitor’s Remember Behaviorial segmentation? – Segmenting based on how the customer behaves toward the product and what they believe it will do for them.

 Corporate Brand (manufacturer brand): the brand that represents the whole company.  For example – Nike, Sears, WalMart, General Motors  Also called - national brands or regional brands  Distributor Brands (also private brand): a brand owned by the reseller.  For example - Store brands, dealer brands, private label brand such as: Gap jeans, Sam’s Choice soft drinks, Great Value  Appeal to customers who want the quality and performance of a national brand at a lower price.  Private brands are usually more profitable for the seller than national brands and will often develop higher levels of customer loyalty simply because they cannot be purchased at a competing store.

 Four headings on the board  Food, appliances, gasoline, automobiles  List brand names for each category, both national and private distributor brands.  You must come to the board and put in the proper heading.  You must label whether it is a corporate brand or distributor brand. Stuff you can do

 Imagine that your name is a brand for a company or product.  Describe your product.  What kind of product would it be?  What is your brand name?  State your slogan.  When people hear or see your brand name, what image do you want them to see?  What distinguishes your brand from others in the same field?  How would you represent your brand when you market it? What would you wear? What would you be seen doing?  Why should customers buy your brand? What benefits does your brand offer?  Marketing Essentials book p. 164