Seminar on Product and Brand

Management
Can you think of anything that cannot be branded? Pick an example that
was not discussed in each of the categories provided (services; retailers
and distributors; people and organizations; sports, arts and entertainment)
and describe how each is a brand?

Brand is a “name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, It is to be able to choose a
name, logo, symbol, package design, or other characteristic that identifies a product and distinguishes
It from others. Though A product is anything we can offer to a market for attention, acquisition, use,
or consumption that might satisfy a need or want but brand is everything that in your mind
A product may be a physical good like a cereal, tennis racquet, or automobile; a service such as an
airline, bank, or insurance company .But brand would be anything so it is so vast & more than a
product - anytime, anything will be a branded.

To explain — there are several meanings attributed to the word “brand”.

The most popular one is “the mark of ownership”. Just like cowboys branded cattle, companies
nowadays brand themselves and their products. Those marks of ownership turn into identities.
Identities are like faces. They tell a story of some kind. But then there is another kind of meaning too
for material things cannot enter your mind directly. What is an object in the material world is only an
idea in your mind. And those are two different things because our perception is highly subjective.
Two people may see the same sing very differently. Just because they have different stereotypes,
different values, and different experiences. And that “idea” in your mind is a brand. In fact people
think in brands. Brands are ideas in our mind and they directly influence our decisions and actions.
Brand you have accepted and in which you put your faith in define who you are. You are what you
consume.

Just few years ago we used to buy rice, flour,suger ,salt is non-branded from any shop. We can not
concern about brand but nowadays we look for brands in oil , flour sugar etc.of convenience goods .
We think that branded thinks are as more reliable as more trusted . So the main role played here
branding.

We see anything around us fall in some categories. Either they are product, service, retail, people,
sports, event or those can be organization, even idea and so on – all of these can be branded.

So I think anything can be branded as like you thirsty, what are you want- Coke or Pepsi. Again we
can see place branding like Cox’s bazar , Sajek valley etc. . Messi , Sakib al hasan also a brand that’s
why most of the people know them. It is not mandatory people must be so much famous ,anyone use
his or her skill , knowledge , work make themselves like a brand. Every people , organization and
company we mainly recognize them their activities. A good idea also a branding . Our government
take initiative for poor people – “ a house be a firm .” this idea is a brand which comes from our prime
minister Sheikh hasina. This type A noble cause always be branded. Canada also sales their pure air to
the chine in cure of populated air. So air is also branding.

But there have some ethical, unethical and something is odd for branding like mosque, church etc.
there have some non-profit organization which cannot take initiative for branding but day by day they
establish their brand by their work.

But if you want a business in profitable way you must create a brand by providing your different
product and service and makes a unique identity as branding. So anything can be branded, to establish
or not to do it , but if you think anything can be brand in your mind.

How do consumers make decisions whether or not to buy the product, and
how do they arrive at their final brand decisions? What are the implications
for brand equity management for the brands in the category?

The Buyer Decision Processes are the decision-making processes undertaken by consumers in
regard to a potential market transaction before, during, and after the purchase of a product or
service. When making a decision, person first needs to identify and define the problem or need
recognition.

5 Stages of The Consumer Decision Making Process

Need recognition :

The very first step, and indeed, often the most important one, in the consumer decision making
process is need recognition. No purchase can happen unless the consumer recognises that they have
a need for your service or product. That need could be triggered by either external or internal
stimuli, but whichever it is, the customer needs to be given a reason to think that they want or need
something which they don’t already have.

Information search

The second stage of the buying process is information gathering. What is information
gathering you may ask.

Once a consumer has recognised their problem or need, the information gathering process can
begin. The buyer has acknowledged the issue and now they want to find a suitable solution.
It’s as simple as that

Evaluation of alternatives

As you might expect, individuals will evaluate different products or brands at this stage on
the basis of alternative product attributes – those which have the ability to deliver the benefits
the customer is seeking. A factor that heavily influences this stage is the customer’s attitude.
Involvement is another factor that influences the evaluation process. For example, if the
customer’s attitude is positive and involvement is high, then they will evaluate a number of
companies or brands; but if it is low, only one company or brand will be evaluated.
Purchase decision

At this stage of the buyer decision process, the consumer buys the product. After the alternatives
have been evaluated, consumers decide to purchase products and services. They decide to buy the
best brand. But their decision is influenced by others’ attitudes and situational factors.

Post-Purchase Evaluation

This stage is still very important to the selling process as it is key to retaining customers, encouraging
return business and further sales through word of mouth. When customers are happy with the
service you provide, brand loyalty will follow and this will allow the information gathering and
evaluation stage to be eliminated from the equation, speeding up the purchasing decision making
process exponentially.

Branding decision is quite different of buying decision process but it is most Import for purchase .A
branding is endorsing product & services with the power of a brand.

Generally there is two important branding decision which helps to customer arrive final brand
product.

a) Branding strategy decision

Consumers mainly purchase decision making by following three ways which helps to final brand
decision .

Learning advantage : brand awareness create customer’s familiarity with the brand by seeing more
and by hearing more& buy tinking more about a brand . thus customer gets more information &
learn incrising about a brand knowledge and arrive final brand.

Consideration advantage : As different kinds of information about a brand is gathered by customer

Choice advantage: Basiccaly customer wants to purchase that products which brand is most familiar
so brand awareness create familiarity & customer easy to arrive final brand.

the implications for brand equity management for the brands is brand image & brand awareness .Then
perceived quality & brand loyalty which helps to make customer satisfaction of mind . Mainly
customer set a brand by quality & loyalty to implicate brand equity management . Then profitable
performance indicate how efficiently a company generates profit & value for shareholders . Customer
value also importance for brand equity . Market performance indicates to utilize the scarcity & fulfil
customer demand. its also important for equity management .Lastly purchase intention is the vital
element for brand equity management . because of purchase is the main motive to create brand and
brand equity maintains these category for a brand .
 Brand
Awareness Profitability
Performance

Perceived
Quality Market
Performance

Brand Purchase
Loyalty Customer Intention
Value

Figure : decision buying brand & brand equity manageent

Pick a brand. Attempt to identify its sources of Brand Equity. Asses its level of Brand
Awareness and the strength, favourability, and uniqueness of its associations.

Sources of brand equity:

brand equity emerges from two sources namely brand awareness and brand image. Customer based
brand equity occurs when the consumer has high level of awareness and familiarity with the brand and holds
some strong, favorable and unique brand associations in memory. Brand awareness alone is enough to create
favourable consumer response. Customers’ subjective and intangible assessment of the brand, above and beyond
its objectively perceived value. The intangible value associated with a product that cannot be accounted for by
price or features.

I picked here mobile operator famous brand Grameen Phone .

Brand awareness: Brand awareness consists of brand recognition which relates to consumers ability to confirm
prior exposure to the brand when given the brand as a cue and brand recall relates to consumers ability to
retrieve the brand from memory when given the product category, the needs fulfilled by the category, or a
purchase or usage situation as a cue.Grameen phone use advertising & given various offer to recall their
customer.

Strength of brand association: Two factors facilitating the strength of association to any piece of information
are the personal relevance of the information and the consistency with which this information is presented over
time. They are brand attributes and brand benefits. Grameen phone is the oldest brand of mobile operator in our
country that’s why it get some advantage from their liable customer & these customers are not interest to change
their number & switch other brand .

Favorability of Brand: Favorable brand association for a brand is those associations that are desirable to
consumers and are successfully delivered by the product and conveyed by the supporting marketing program for
the brand.Grameen phone used their network system to capture customer & addressing them the biggest brand
in our country .

Uniqueness of brand Association: In many categories, non product-related attributes, such as user type or
usage situation, may more easily create unique association.Grameen phone create uniqueness by introducing
new number panel 013…..

Can you think of some general guidelines to help marketers mix and match
brand elements? Can you ever have “too many“ brand elements? Which
brand do you think does the best job of mixing and matching brand
elements?
A brand element is an feature used to identify a brand. The use of a brand is essential as it helps
communicate a particular product in the market. An example of a brand element includes name,
slogan, logo, packaging style, and jingle, among others. In marketing, branding is vital, and more so
when doing marketing mix and match brand elements. There gives some general guidelines is given
below :

Memorability

A necessary condition for building brand equity is achieving a high level of brand awareness.Brand
elements that promote that goal are inherently memorable and attention-getting and therefore
facilitate recall or recognition in purchase or consumption settings.

Meaningfulness

Brand elements may take on all kinds of meaning, with either descriptive or persuasive content. The
first dimension is an important determinant of brand awareness and salience; the second, of
brand image and positioning.

Likability

Brand elements can be rich in imagery and inherently fun and interesting, even if not always directly
related to the product. likable set of brand elements offers many advantages because

consumers often do not examine much information in making product decisions. Descriptive

and persuasive elements reduce the burden on marketing communications to build awareness

Transferability

Transferability measures the extent to which the brand element adds to the brand equity for new
products or in new markets for the brand. There are several aspects to this criterion. The difficulties
or mistakes that even top marketers have encountered in translating their
brand names, slogans, and packages into other languages and cultures over the years have become
legendary.

Adaptability

The fifth consideration for brand elements is their adaptability over time. Because of changes in
consumer values and opinions, or simply because of a need to remain contemporary, most brand
elements must be updated. The more adaptable and flexible the brand element, the easier it is to
update it

Protectability

The sixth and final general consideration is the extent to which the brand element is protectable—
both in a legal and a competitive sense. Marketers should (1) choose brand elements that can be
legally protected internationally, (2) formally register them with the appropriate legal bodies, and (3)
vigorously defend trademarks from unauthorized competitive infringement.

There have some other brand elements is given below :

Brand Names

The brand name 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. Brand names can be

an extremely effective shorthand means of communication

Logos and Symbols

Although the brand name typically is the central element of the brand, visual elements also play

a critical role in building brand equity and especially brand awareness. Logos have a long history

as a means to indicate origin, ownership, or association.

Characters

Characters represent a special type of brand symbol—one that takes on human or real-life
characteristics.

Brand characters typically are introduced through advertising and can play a central

role in ad campaigns and package designs

Slogans

Slogans are short phrases that communicate descriptive or persuasive information about the

brand. They often appear in advertising but can play an important role on packaging and in other

aspects of the marketing program

Packaging is the activities of designing and producing containers or wrappers for a product. Like

other brand elements, packages have a long history. Early humans used leaves and animal skin to
cover and carry food and water.

Each brand element can play a different role in building brand equity, so marketers “mix and match”
to maximize brand equity. The entire set of brand elements makes up the brand identity, the
contribution of all brand

elements to awareness and image. The cohesiveness of the brand identity depends on the extent

to which the brand elements are consistent. Ideally, marketers choose each element to support the

others, and all can be easily incorporated into other aspects of the brand and the marketing program

Some strong brands have a number of valuable brand elements that directly reinforce eachother.

For example, consider Rolls Royce. Phonetically, the name itself conveys softness. The brand slogan,
“Strive for perfection in everything you do,” also help reinforce the key point-of-difference for the
brand of “softness.” Brand names characterized by rich, concrete visual imagery often can yield
powerfullogos or symbolshas a brand name rich in that can be exploited throughout its marketing
program. .”Effortless, Everywhere” for individual services to go everywhere by these type of brand
car . there is another uniqueness to completely build it by handmade .

Although the actual product or service itself is critical in building a strong brand, the right brand
elements can be invaluable in developing brand equity