CHOOSING BRAND ELEMENTS TO BUILD BRAND EQUITY
Building Customer-Based Brand Equity
Brand knowledge structures depend on:
The initial choices for the brand elements
The supporting marketing program and the manner by which the brand is
integrated into it
Other associations indirectly transferred to the brand by linking it to some
other entities
Criteria for Choosing Brand Elements
Memorability
Brand elements should inherently be memorable and attention-getting, and therefore
facilitate recall or recognition.
The intrinsic nature of certain names, symbols, logos, and the liketheir semantic
content, visual properties, and so onmay make them more attention getting and
easy to remember and therefore contribute to brand equity.
e.g. Blue Rhino (propane gas cylinder), reinforcing it with a powder-blue
mascot with distinctive yellow flame.
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Meaningfulness
Brand elements may take on all kinds of meaning, with either descriptive or
persuasive content.
Two particularly important criteria
General information about the nature of the product category
Specific information about particular attributes and benefits of the brand
The first dimension is an important determinant of brand awareness and salience; the
second, of brand image and positioning.
Likability
Do customers find the brand element aesthetically appealing?
Descriptive and persuasive elements
communications to build awareness.
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Brand elements can be chosen that are rich in visual and verbal imagery and inherently fun
and interesting.
e.g. PepsiCo introduced their new Code Red soft drink.
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Transferability
How useful is the brand element for line or category extensions?
Transferability of the brand elementin both a product category and geographic sense.
The less specific the name, the more it can be transferred across categories.
e.g.: Amazon connotes a massive South American river and therefore as a brand can be
appropriate for a variety of different types of products, whereas ToysRUs obviously does
not permit the same flexibility.
Adaptability
The more adaptable and flexible the brand element, the easier it is to update it to
changes in consumer values and opinions.
For example, logos and characters can be given a new look or a new design to make
them appear more modern and relevant.
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Protectability
Protectableboth in a legal and competitive sense.
e.g. billions of dollars in losses in the US alone from unauthorized use of patents,
trademarks and copyrights.
Tactics for Brand Elements
A variety of brand elements can be chosen that inherently enhance brand awareness
or facilitate the formation of strong, favorable, and unique brand associations.
Brand Names
URLs
Logos and Symbols
Characters
Slogans
Packaging
Brand Names
Like any brand element, brand names must
be chosen with the six general criteria
of memorability, meaningfulness, likability, transferability, adaptability, and
protectability in mind.
It is a fundamentally important choice because it often captures the central theme or
key associations of a product in a very compact and economical fashion.
Naming guidelines: As with any brand element, brand names must be chosen with the six
general criteria in mind:
1. Descriptive: Describes function literally; generally unregisterable. E.g.: Singapore
Airlines, Global Crossing.
2. Suggestive: Suggestive of a benefit or function. E.g.: marchFIRST, Agilent
Technologies.
3. Compounds: Combination of two or more, often unexpected words. e.g. Eg: red hat.
4. Classical: Based on Latin, Greek or Sanskrit. e.g. Meritor.
5. Arbitrary: Real words with no obvious tie-in to company. e.g. Apple.
6. Fanciful: Coined words with no obvious meaning. e.g. avanade.
Brand Awareness
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Simplicity and ease of pronunciation and spelling
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Familiarity and meaningfulness
Differentiated, distinctive, and uniqueness
In general, it is believed that brand awareness is improved the extent to which brand
names are chosen that are simple and easy to pronounce or spell; familiar and
meaningful; and different, distinctive and unusual.
Simple and easy and easy pronounce, Aim toothpaste
Coca cola became cokes
Consumers may take away different perceptions of the brand if ambiguous
pronunciation of its name results in different meanings.
e.g.: Honda Precis (PREE-sus, PRAY_see, PRAY-sus)
Brand name may use alliteration, Coleco- repetition of consonant
Familiar and meaningful
High imagery, Ocean
Low imagery, Memory
Suggesting product or service category, Juicy Juice
Distinctive, Apple
Unusual Combination of real words, Toys R us
Completely made up words, Xerox, Exxon
Brand Associations
The explicit and implicit meanings consumers extract from it are important. In
particular, the brand name can reinforce an important attribute or benefit
association that makes up its product positioning.
The brand name may be chosen to reinforce an important attribute or benefit
association that makes up its product positioning.
e.g. ColorStay lipsticks, Close-Up toothpaste.
Brand Naming Procedures
1. Define the branding objectives
2. Generating as many names and concepts as possible
3. The names must be screened based on the branding objectives and marketing
considerations
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4. Collecting more extensive information on each of the final 5 to 10 or so names.
5. Consumer research is often conducted to confirm management expectations as to
the memorability and meaningfulness of the names.
6. Based on all of the information collected from the previous step, management can
choose the name that maximizes the firms branding and marketing objectives and
then formally register the name.
For example, consider Compaq computers. When two format Texas instruments engineers
were considering the name for their new life of portable personal computers, they choose the
name Compaq because it is suggested a small computer. Through subsequent introduction
of bigger personal computers, advertising campaigns and other marketing activity, Compaq
has been able to transcend the initial positioning suggested by its name.
URLs
URLs (uniform resource locators) specify locations of pages on the web and are also
commonly referred to as domain names.
A company can sue the current owner of the URL for copyright infringement, buy the
name from the current owner, or register all conceivable variations of its brand as
domain names ahead of time.
e.g.: www.accenture.com
Logos and Symbols
Play a critical role in building brand equity and especially brand awareness
Logos range from corporate names or trademarks (word marks with text only) written
in a distinctive form, to entirely abstract designs that may be completely unrelated to
the word mark, corporate name, or corporate activities
Logos indicate origin, ownership or association.
may be completely unrelated to the word mark, corporate activities on the other
hand.
Strong word marks. e.g.: Coca-Cola, Dunhill, Kit-Kat.
Non-word mark logos are also often called symbols. Abstract logos. e.g.: Mercedes
star, Rolex crown,
Characters
A special type of brand symbolone that takes on human or real-life characteristics
Some are animated like Pillsburys Poppin Fresh Doughboy, Peter Pan peanut
butters character, and numerous cereal characters such as Tony the Tiger, Capn
Crunch, and Snap, Crackle & Pop.
Others are live-action figures like Juan Valdez (Colombian coffee), the Maytag
repairman, and Ronald McDonald. Notable newcomers include the AOL running
man, the Budweiser frogs, and the AFLAC duck.
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Slogans
Slogans are short phrases that communicate descriptive or persuasive information
about the brand.
Slogans are powerful branding devices because, like brand names, they are an
extremely efficient, shorthand means to build brand equity
Jingles
Jingles are musical messages written around
the brand. Typically composed by
professional songwriters, they often have enough catchy hooks and choruses to
become almost permanently registered in the minds of listenerssometimes whether
they want them to or not!
Jingles are perhaps most valuable in enhancing brand awareness.
Jingles can be thought of as extended musical slogans and in that scene can be classified
as a brand element.
RC Cola with tomar jonno morte pari
Packaging
From the perspective of both the firm and consumers, packaging must achieve a
number of objectives:
Identify the brand
Convey descriptive and persuasive information
Facilitate product transportation and protection
Assist at-home storage
Aid product consumption
Tagline & Slogan
The major difference between Tagline and Slogan is that a tagline is created for the product
brand or corporate brand and it lasts forever and becomes the integral part of our daily life.
e.g.
Apple: Think Different.
Nike: Just do It.
Whereas slogan is more towards a product campaign and it can vary according to its target
market and audience.
Disneylands Tagline:
The happiest place on Earth.
Examples of Disneylands slogans from some of its campaigns:
"Where dreams come true"
"I'm going to Disneyland
"Where the magic began"
"Happiest homecoming on Earth"
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Note: For details please see text & reference books.
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