Branding is important because not only is it what makes a memorable impression on consumers but it allows your customers and clients to know what to expect from your company. It is a way of distinguishing yourself from the competitors and clarifying what it is you offer that makes you the better choice. Your brand is built to be a true representation of who you are as a business, and how you wish to be perceived.
big brand theory pdf 14
There are many areas that are used to develop a brand including advertising, customer service, social responsibility, reputation, and visuals. All of these elements (and many more) work together to create one unique and (hopefully) attention-grabbing profile.
If the explanation of branding was simple, there would not be so much ambiguity and dissonance regarding the concept. Still, for the most part, a strong understanding of branding requires a decent grasp of business, marketing, and even (human) relational basics. Branding is such a vast concept that a correct definition that truly encompasses everything that it represents would not bring too much clarity to the subject just by itself. But, for the sake of lowering the propagation of obsolete, incorrect, and incomplete information about branding, we offer a more complete definition:
If you compare this definition to the official Cambridge definition, you can clearly see that the latter (Cambridge) offers more surface-level information, giving a false sense of understanding to the reader. This might be one of the reasons why most people think that definition is correct and choose it as the foundation of their knowledge-building on the subject. In truth, basing your learning about branding on a definition that reduces it to only one element (visual identity) makes every other branding-related concept fall short when trying to connect the dots.
1. Perpetual processBranding is a perpetual process because it never stops. People, markets, and businesses are constantly changing and the brand must evolve in order to keep pace.
2. Identify, create, manageThere is a structured process to branding, one where you must first identify who/what you want to be to your stakeholders, create your brand strategy to position yourself accordingly, and then constantly manage everything that influences your positioning.
4. Perception of a brandAlso known as reputation. This is the association that an individual (customer or not) has in their mind regarding your brand. This perception is the result of the branding process (or lack thereof).
5. StakeholdersClients are not the only ones that build a perception of your brand in their minds. Stakeholders include possible clients, existing customers, employees, shareholders, and business partners. Each one builds up their own perception and interacts with the brand accordingly.
Just like with the reputation of a person, the reputation of a brand precedes it. Once a certain perception of the brand has been established in the market, an uncontrollable chain of propagation begins. Word of mouth will pass the perception on and further reinforce or tarnish the reputation of that brand. If the reputation is positive, potential new customers may come into contact with the brand, having an already-positive association in their mind that makes them more likely to make a purchase from this brand than from the competition.
When an employee works for a strongly branded company and truly stands behind the brand, they will be more satisfied with their job and have a higher degree of pride in the work that they do. Working for a brand that is reputable and held in high regard amongst the public makes working for that company more enjoyable and fulfilling.
With over 10 years in design and more than 5 in branding and thought leadership, Radu works with an informally educated mindset on what brands are and how they should be built.His focus is on coherent experiences and creating value for the consumer. He previously served as Brandingmag's brand director and editor.
The chemical imbalance theory of depression is still put forward by professionals [17], and the serotonin theory, in particular, has formed the basis of a considerable research effort over the last few decades [14]. The general public widely believes that depression has been convincingly demonstrated to be the result of serotonin or other chemical abnormalities [15, 16], and this belief shapes how people understand their moods, leading to a pessimistic outlook on the outcome of depression and negative expectancies about the possibility of self-regulation of mood [64,65,66]. The idea that depression is the result of a chemical imbalance also influences decisions about whether to take or continue antidepressant medication and may discourage people from discontinuing treatment, potentially leading to lifelong dependence on these drugs [67, 68].
This review suggests that the huge research effort based on the serotonin hypothesis has not produced convincing evidence of a biochemical basis to depression. This is consistent with research on many other biological markers [21]. We suggest it is time to acknowledge that the serotonin theory of depression is not empirically substantiated.
Brands that have wide appeal but low distinctiveness fall into the lower-right quadrant. These mainstream brands tend to be the first that come to mind when consumers think of the category. Their lack of distinctiveness reduces their pricing power, but they are very popular and most often chosen by consumers. For cars, mainstream brands like Ford and Chevrolet account for about 44% of sales; for beer, popular brands like Miller and Busch deliver 19% of sales.
Peripheral brands have little to distinguish them. They are unlikely to be top of mind or the first choice for most consumers. Examples in the lower-left quadrant include Kia and Mitsubishi for cars and Old Milwaukee for beer. Despite their low prices and lack of distinctiveness, many peripheral brands clearly succeed in this seemingly unattractive position; they account for 24% of car sales and about 15% of beer sales.
If higher distinctiveness results in lower sales, why do so many brands aim for the crowded higher-distinctiveness quadrants? (Together these account for more than 65% of beer sales volume, even though being more central yields higher sales volume.) The answer lies in the higher prices that more distinctive brands can charge.
Porsche, the most distinctive car brand in our survey, had the highest average base retail price. The most distinctive beer brand, Guinness, also had the highest retail price. For cars, a one-point increase in distinctiveness is associated with a retail price increase of $12,900, on average, per unit. For beer, a one-point increase translates into a retail price increase of about $2.59 for a 12-pack.
The key for aspirational brands is to make their distinctive features sufficiently mainstream to be widely appealing without becoming run-of-the-mill. They must defend their position against challengers coming at them from the mainstream and unconventional quadrants.
Many companies that attempt to manage global brands in a standardized way find themselves stymied by differences across markets. C-D maps offer a way to visualize differences in consumer perceptions and in performance across markets. Consider Chevrolet and Tide. Both brands are highly central in the United States but score relatively low in centrality and distinctiveness in emerging markets such as India. The ability to gauge these differences is useful on three levels. First, it helps a firm set realistic performance goals for a global brand across geographical markets. Second, it helps explain differences in cross-border performance. And finally, it helps global managers make decisions about brand standardization versus localization.
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