1. Readings in Services Assign-
ment on Brands
By
Siddhanth Nair
Contents
Introduction
A)Brands
B)Function of brands
C)Name and logo of brands
Main body
A)Brand Value
B)Brand Equity
C)Holistic Branding
D)Managing Brand Equity
E)Branding Strategy
F)Brand Portfolios
G)Barriers to Brand
H)Brand Packaging
I)Service Brands
J)Branding in Nonprofit Organizations
K)Brand Management
Conclusion
A) Branding beyond Marketing
B) Future of branding
References
Introduction
Brands
Any damn fool can put on a deal, but it takes genius, faith and perseverance to create a brand
(David Ogilvy). Well-managed brands live on, only bad brand managers die (George Bull). A
brand is either a name, symbol, design or combination of things that help us to identify goods
and services of one or more sellers and helping to differentiate from competition. Branding
started way back in the medieval period where craftworkers use to carve a unique symbol on
their products and creation, trademarking their products. Even artists from back in time have
branded their art but the brands of today play a greater role of enhancing consumers lives. A

2. brand helps firms to build relations with consumers and promises customers of unique prod-
ucts and services. A brand adds value to a firm and build up a positive image and goodwill of
the firm and its product and helps consumer remember the products. A brand has been
termed as the heart and soul of a firm as all activities should be involved in building the brand.
Function of brands
A brand gives a company and its products a distinct image which helps to differentiate from
the competition. Brands help in defining the benefits that the target market gets. Brand helps
to focus on marketing activities and all supporting activities, which work to reflect the brand.
Brand promotes a clear message of the credibility and relevancy of a company. Brands can
help to connect with consumers on an emotional level. Loyalty of customers increases when a
brand is develop. All products of a brand can be integrated as are part of a same brand ex-
tension. Eg. Apple. Brands promotes consistency in product quality and helps consumers skim
over other brands towards known brands. A brand can help to communicate benefits a form
wishes to give its customers and provide legal protection of their products. Brands are very
valuable for firms also they simplify inventory handling and organizing. Brand involves lot of
work and is considered as a valuable asset by the firm and high price is paid to buy some of
the good brands as the product and processes can be copied but the minds of the con-
sumers is very hard to alter.
Brand Name and Logo
Selecting an appropriate name for your brand is very important as it does more than giving
you an identity. An effective name should be able to help set your identity, it should be de-
scriptive about your product or service and not something random. A name should be able to
portray of not only what you do but how you do it. E.g. Quick Spa’s. It should also be different
from your competition and excite the interest of the customers but should not be offensive or
intimidating.
Brand’s logo should portray values of the business as it helps customers to recognize your
brand. Logo should convey the message your brand wants to convey. Logo should be profes-
sional in nature. Logo should depict growth and should be able to be used for many years to
come. Logo should be tested in the market before launching them. Effective logo will help you
create a distinct image and improve your brands strategy and position.
Main Body
A) Brand Value
Brand value is very much like an onion. It has layers and a core. The core is the user who will
stick with you until the very end (Edwin Artzt). When the brand has developed, it showed be
reviewed and reinforced into the minds of consumer by continuing to generate value from the
brand. This can be done if the product quality is maintained by the firms by having efficient
manufacturing processes. Proper packaging of products is essential to make the product pre-
sentable and handy. Efficient and skilled staff is required in a firm to increase the brands val-
ue. The whole outlook of the firm should be of standard, even the stationery is important and
can help add value to the brand if everything has logo or name of company on it and is of pre-
sentable quality. People in touch with customers and suppliers should be well dressed, have
proper etiquette and communication skills to increase the image of the company. Brand value
can also be increased by marketing activities like promotions, advertisements, displays, etc.
The best brands have a message communicated through everything in link with the brand.
Branding in also very important when it comes to business customers, they are less influ-
ences emotionally and more interested in your product quality and standards. Healthy and
long lasting relations should be maintained by displaying brand attributes like innovation, con-
sistency and standardization. Business customer also looks for reliability and service back up,
customization should also be offered by good brands.

3. B) Brand equity
A brand that captures the mind gains behavior but a brand that captures the heart gains
commitment (Scott Talgo). Brand equity is the additional commercial value added to its prod-
ucts and services. This can be seen by consumers attitude towards the brand, profits and
market share captured by the firm. Brand equity can also be consumer based in which it de-
pends on the knowledge consumers have of the brand and their response to the knowledge,
marketing is also effected depending on the responses of the consumers and their attitude
towards the brand. Brand equity therefore consists of brand loyalty, brand awareness, per-
ceived quality, brand associations and other brand assets like competitive advantage. If con-
sumers are brand loyal it is very beneficial for the brand as there are reduced marketing costs
and gain trade leverage. If the consumers are aware about the brand they start liking it and
can respond by buying these products. There are some models which explain brand equity,
lets see the Brand Resonance Model. This model involves a series of steps like a pyramid
from down to the top. It begins with Brand Salience, that is how often the brand is remem-
bered during buying decisions. Then comes Brand Performance and Imagery, that is how ef-
fective is the product or service to satisfy the needs of the consumers and how successful is
the brand in meeting the psychological and social needs of the consumer. This is followed by
Brand Judgements and Feelings, this involves the consumers personal experiences, opinions
and the consumers emotional responses related to the brand. Finally comes Brand Reso-
nance, which is the relation that is achieved after the series of steps between the consumer
and the brand, consumers become loyal and brand bonding is intense. Example can be Coke
and Apple.
Brand equity is not created on its own it has to be build by choosing the right brand elements
like logo, slogans, names, which attracts the customers towards the brand and creates reso-
nance. Therefore these elements need hold some meaning and should be adaptable to all
products under the brand, they are also be memorable and likable for the brand to attract
customers. Elements should also be protectable and hard to imitate for the competition. All
supporting activities, marketing and the product also build brand equity, the right strategic
choices are very important to develop brand equity. Brand associations also help in building
brand equity, it should be linked with the right people, place and thing, this creates a particular
image about the brand and can be promoted or advertised through this linkages.
C) Holistic Branding
Mass marketing is no longer followed these days, it is the age of one to one, permission and
experimental marketing, and the 4Ps area no longer beneficial if adopted traditionally. Firm
now wants to know the name of each of its customers, it has become way more personal-
ized. Thus brands following personal marketing can develop long lasting customer relations as
customers are involved and their needs are being served. Marketing in the world of today in-
volves mixing many activities in an integrated manner to deliver value to the consumers. Mar-
keters must internalize the notions of the brand then only can deliver it to the outside world, it
motivates all employees to work for the brand promise and building. By following these holistic
marketing activities brand bonding can be ensured because the brand will live up to its expec-
tation, so companies try to carry out internal branding by talks, seminars, workshops, etc.
Brand equity can also be built by transfer of the brand image of primary and secondary brand
associations, they add value to the existing brand. Associations can include employees, en-
dorsers, alliances, companies, country, events, etc.
D) Managing brand equity
The brand equity may wither over time so the brand has to be effectively managed in the
short term keeping the long term view in mind by carrying out successful marketing activities
and keep the brand up to date with the dynamic internal and external environment. Value of a
brand may decrease over time therefore it should be reinforced in the minds of the con-
sumers through effective marketing activities and by spreading brand knowledge through in-
novative and creative means. E.g. Volvo and Home Depot. When a brand fails to match the
changing environment when there is change in consumer choices, new competitors or tech-
nology, etc. In this scenario the brand has to be revitalized and brought back to its basic
strategies or follow new innovative strategies. Firm should learn from their mistakes and
adapt to the dynamic environment, to bring the brand back to its glory days. E.g. Mountain
Dew.

4. E) Branding strategy
A company can have many existing brands and new products which have to be categorized
under brands. So, the company has the choice to either use the existing brand’s elements in
the new product or to start a new brand with its own elements. A company can also opt for a
mixture of both. If the product is launched under some existing brand it is called Brand Exten-
sion or a sub-brand. E.g. Adobe, Hershey. The existing brand which adds a new product is
called the Parent Brand. Brand Extension can be of two ways, Line or Category extension.
Line extension is to have a new product under your brand which is similar to the existing prod-
ucts and may be used to target different market segments or to increase consumer base.
E.g. Dannon. Category extension involves including such a product under your brand which is
different from the existing products. This helps bring diversity for the brand and target new
markets and attract new customers. E.g. Honda.
Brand extensions can be very beneficial for the company financially and consumers accept
new products from existing brands thus reducing risk and can provide response easily. It can
sometimes be very beneficial for the parent brand and increase its brand value. It helps in in-
creasing shelf presence and reduce switching of existing customers to other brands. This
also promotes healthy competition between different products under a brand. Economies of
scale can be achieved in transportation, marketing activities like advertising and sales. On the
contrary having many sub brands under a parent brand can lead to the diffusion of the parent
brand and its core product, this leads to brand dilution and lose its reputation. E.g. Cadbury
had too many products under its name, so it was losing its image as a chocolate brand. Some
products can end up as a failure and end up harming the parent brand.
Some brands are combined with existing brands to be marketed or to form a combined prod-
uct, this is known as CO-Branding. This can be carried out within the same company, joint
venture or retail. This helps to position the brand in the consumers mind, to increase sales or
to reduce innovation costs but there are also many risks involved in co branding like dilution of
brands, lack of focus and control.There are also some brands which hold the corporate name,
these are known as Corporate Brands. E.g. IBM, Kodak. All the original products and its ex-
tensions together are called Brand line and various brand lines together are known as brand
mix. These are some of the branding strategies. A new product’s branding strategy should
be first to decide what name should be given to the brand under which the new product is to
be launched. Each product can be launched under new brand names thereby it is not con-
nected to the reputation of the company and its other brands. E.g. General Mills. The products
may also be provided the brand name which is same for the whole family of products a com-
pany has. This way of giving a brand name is much economic and less research has to be
done and less expenditure in the marketing of the product as it is under an existing brand.
Separate family brand names can be used for new products if the company produces a vari-
ety of products or it can be a combination of the corporate name and the individual names
used for a brand name. E.g. Kellogg.
F) Brand portfolios
Brand portfolio is the collection of all brands and brand lines a company has and what is offers
to sell to the buyers. An optimal mix should be created to maximize equity of the brands. All
brands must be reviewed over time to locate any problems or unprofitable brands and re-
move them to maintain an optimal mix. Brands in a portfolio can each play a different role, to
help other brands be profitable or solve any problems. Some brands are Fighter brands which
help fight against the competition by setting up its brand against the competitors brands.
These brands are for the benefit of the higher priced brands and should not attack brands in
its own portfolio. Brands can also play a role of regular revenue for the company even though
no marketing efforts are carried out, these are known as Cash Cows. They continue to give
profit despite decrease in sales due to its image, brand equity and customer base. High end
brands may launch new brands at a lower level to attract different consumer segments to-
wards their brand and then try to move customers up to the higher end brands. Some high
end brands may just be launched by a company to add prestige and goodwill to the company.
It also helps to raise the standards and credibility of the portfolio.
G) Brand barriers
When a brand strategy is being formulated analysis should be carried out to find out the barri-
ers that the brand is going to face. Barriers can be internal or external conditions mostly de-
pending upon the market. Some examples of barriers can be Competition, Location, No de-
mand, Timing and Financial. For fighting against this barrier analysis of the product or service

5. should be done throughly. Analysis will help you build your brand and position your brand.
Competitors information should be kept updated and stay ahead of your competition. Analysis
about market conditions and your target market is required to be done to achieve marketing
success.
H) Brand Packaging
Branding is all about your image in the market, it depends upon your packaging. Packaging
can attract customers and gain loyalty and on the other hand it can decrease your demand by
losing customers. Packaging is more essential incase of a new brand, as a existing brand al-
ready has a set image but a new one has to develop an image to attract potential customers
so proper packaging is relevant. Packaging here does not mean the box in which your prod-
uct is packed but as a driving force for a company’s brand. Things to judge effective packag-
ing are stationery, visiting cards, online web site, customer service or response system and
email address. Stationery should have proper logo, company letter head and be of good quali-
ty. Visiting business cards should be professional and clear in nature not casual. Websites
should be easy to surf and understand and help in attracting customers. Customer should be
given importance rather than keeping them waiting .All these elements depict your brands im-
age and should be in tune with it. Your packaging should be such that customers give you a
second look and not ignore your messages. These are the small details which can give you
huge returns.
I) Service brands
The model for brands have always focused on goods but neglected services, they have at-
tempted to represent both but the marketing principles for both are different. Services are
said to be intangible, inseparable and perishable in nature. The service sector is very domi-
nant in the western countries. Studies have been carried out recently developing new market-
ing ideas for service brands. According to Service branding model by Berry (2000), service
brand equity includes brand awareness and meaning. Brand awareness includes all of com-
pany communications like advertising, name and logo of company, facilities for service and
customer contact through PR and general word of mouth. Brand meaning is related to the ex-
perience the customers have with the company, as a service company is more people orient-
ed and not based on machines, the factors affecting brand awareness also affect meaning.
Even though service brands may be good communication and position but it is the people who
are the most important in the service sector. Employees and staff should be well trained and
skilled. Reliable and punctual employees is very necessary for service companies. People
should have good communication and response to any situation faced. People in the service
sector should also be able to assure its customers and be empathic. Personal appearance is
very important as they become the company’s representatives to the customers.
J) Branding in Nonprofit Organizations
Branding in Nonprofit Organizations helps to gain visibility and the value’s of the company.
According to Checco, there are some steps to make branding successful in Nonprofit organi-
zations. It starts with conducting a SWOT analysis of the company which help to understand
the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the company. After the analysis the
company will have knowledge about their processes, products, target markets and their dif-
ferentiating POD’s. The company will also be aware where they fall short and train people
about branding. Analysis will help to identify sources of opportunities for the company to grow
and build their brand and about factors that will hinder the organization to achieve the desired
results. Brand messages can be identified after you have carried out your SWOT analysis.
The brand messages derived should also be such that people want to hear and connect with
it, so proper research and survey is to be done to find out its effectiveness. A brand package
has to be created which would contain logo, name, mission, vision, position and to check this
package again conduct surveys to prove its effectiveness, Focus groups can be used. So fol-
lowing this steps will help nonprofit organizations to attain branding which is successful.
K) Brand Management

6. Brand management involves application of marketing tools to improves customers perception
about the brand. Brand management is to build, improve, measure brand equity. Managing
the brand increases the sales and profits of the company and increases customer satisfaction
by delivering the brand promise. Brand management makes brands become strong, that is
the brand should inform the customers about its features, value, etc., should be also differen-
tiable from other brands and should be able to seduce the customers that is to excite and in-
terest the consumers.
Branding has been succeeded by brand management, and the new brand management con-
nects the brand to the consumers emotionally to create loyalty.
It also involves making the consumer feel like a part of a community and have a sense of be-
longing to the brand. Harley davidson and Apple have been successful in doing so. Brands are
not only required to deliver value to the customers by being unique but should be socially re-
sponsible in the world of today, should carry out activities to improve the environment, other
social causes keeping ethics in mind.
All brands are effective in communication but a strong brand should be different and impress
the consumers and instill the brand not only in the mind but also in the heart of the customers.
E.g. Absolut vodka.
Every detail affect the minds of the customers when it comes to brands. These small details
sometimes matter more than big campaigns. Brands which go beyond others by focussing on
how just to bring a smile to a customer or generate positive word of mouth by not focussing
on costs on working on every small detail end up positioning themselves in a very strong man-
ner in the consumers minds. So shouting about your brand has come to an end and listening
to your customer has become of utmost importance, communication should be a two way
process to be effective. Defining the brand is very important before communicating it, so what
a brand is, does and means should be known to be a strong brand. E.g. VW Beetle, BMW and
Disney.
An effective brand management strategy ensures consistency between the brand and the or-
ganization’s goals and not deter from it. The stakeholders and partners are reflect upon con-
sistency, innovative partners should be chosen to improve profitability of the business. It is
also preferable for partners in business to have the same culture and goals as your business,
it saves time. Brand management should promote healthy and long term relationships.
Conclusion
A) Branding beyond Marketing
Branding is not limited to marketing, you have to follow the thing you preach also. If your
brand says it supports the environment it should hamper the environment itself. Wal-Mart be-
lieves in customer service and people but they give unfair wages to its employees, so it does
not follow what it preaches. Brands and organization should be integrated and work on similar
values and beliefs. Actions of the organization should help in building the brand and not harm-
ing it. Therefore guidelines must be set to ensure consistency, that is the package of the
brand. Following these guidelines and setting a culture that helps the organization to be con-
sistent and no problems will occur then. Moreover a brand should also keep cultural differ-
ences in mind as in this age of communication and globalization. A brand to gain international
reach has to keep the culture issues in mind, so that relations are not affected. There are lan-
guage and semantic differences in cultures which can confusion and many other reason for
differences in cultures but a brand had to be such that it can cross borders easily without any
complications. Brand is beyond marketing as stated before it depends on people behind and
in front of the brand. Following these will improve and strengthen your equity and position of
your brand.
B) Future of Branding
Organizations in the world of today have to face the immense competition and globalization,
the firm has to manage the brand effectively and remove all barriers in its development to
benefit from this intangible asset. Consumer desires value when it buys brands, so brands
should work to deliver value as giving sale on brands is not enough to attract customers as

7. they want value for the money spent by them. Uniqueness has been given prime importance
due to immense competition, differentiation will result in sales and profits for the firm. Brand
promise has to be genuine as consumers have become more knowledgeable and aware
about the products in the market, so only such a brand will grow which delivers what is
promised to the consumer as their expectation has risen a lot, and consumer involvement is
also very important also in brand building. Consumers are up to date with all the innovations
being carried out and want more of it everyday to make their life easier. So such brands will
survive who understand and capitalize on such unmet desires of the consumers.
Old tricks of using emotions to attract customers to brands do not work anymore as con-
sumers cannot be taken for granted and fooled easily. Using the financial downturn to their
benefits some brands tried to emotionally connect with the consumers but were not success-
ful. Endorsers of brands also should be logical and sincere, like Tiger Woods and Accenture.
With online trading being the way to go these days, brands can attract customers quite quick-
ly in a short span of time, so reputed brands have to continue delivering value or the new
brands can catch up easily. Feedbacks of customers is also very important these days as
customer has to be taken care of, for the word to be spread widely about the brands through
consumers. To create effective brand engagement firms have to give up their outdated
modes to engage customers. Firms need to accept certain methods to engage brands to
customers, this can be done through Television and Online, that is the Platform method of en-
gaging or Context method which involves programming and web paging. Effective message is
very important to engage customers and can be projected though advertisements and pro-
motions. Using the Event and Experience method also helps engage customers.
Being easy is a benefit for your brand research shows, so keep it real and simple is the way to
go. The reason behind it is cognitive fluency which means to face ease in understanding a sit-
uation. So a brand should for an easy and simple name, tag line, fonts, logo and advertise-
ment to say a few. As it becomes easier for the consumer to interpret and understand and
brands should try to create a distinct visual and audio identity to help consumer retain infor-
mation for a longer time. The basic thing is to make marketing transparent.
Social Media advertising is catching up fast these days, all firm are using this platform to
reach customers. Sites like facebook, twitter, myspace and youtube have become very popu-
lar to promote brands. These sites have to be monitored regularly to increase customer satis-
faction and loyalty. Even mobile and smart phones have become an avenue to promote
brands and connect with consumers, moreover social media and phones can be linked so us-
ing this media is very effective in reaching people.
Brands should aim to build their brand’s equity but some problems are either created by
competitors or there may be some internal hiccups. If competition is tough, customer loyalty
can be a big problem for the brand, as there is competition is not only the products but also in
aspects of marketing. So research should be carried out to stay ahead of the competition.
Production problems can lead to prices of products being very high this can lead to consumer
switching over to other products. If the brand fails to deliver value to customer as promised,
then brand equity will fall. Positive networking and partnerships should be made which bene-
fits your organization, effective distribution channels should be created. Awareness of the
product is very important, so important steps are to be taken to reach the customers through
many media available today. So if these problems are effectively managed then the brand eq-
uity if the firm will surely rise and the firm will develop and grow successfully and marketers
get one step closer towards building a strong brand.
These trends have to be accepted by firms if they have to succeed in the future, so if a brand
wants to last it should be responsive to the changes taking effect today. Future of brands is
very bright. “A product is something made in a factory; a brand is something that is bought by
the customer. A product can be copied by a competitor; a brand is unique. A product can be
quickly outdated; a successful brand is timeless.”(Stephen King)
References
1.Aaker, D. (1996), Building Strong Brands, Free Press, New York, NY.
2.Aaker, D.A. (1991). Managing brand equity: Capitalizing on the value of
a brand name. New York: the free press.

8. 3.Aaker, D.A., Joachimsthaler, E. (1997). Building brands without mass
media. Harvard business review, 75(1), 39-50.
4.Aaker, D. and Shansby, J. (1982), “Positioning your product'', Busi-
ness Horizons, Vol. 25, May-June, pp. 56-62.
Adrian Payne, Kaj Storbacka, Pennie Frow, Simon Knox (2008). Co-
creating brands: Diagnosing and designing the relationship experi-
ence. Journal of business research, 379-389.
Agarwal, M.K. and Rao, V.R. (1996), “An empirical comparison of con-
sumer- based measures of brand equity'”, Marketing Letters, Vol. 7,
July, pp. 237-47.
Alba, J.W. and Hutchinson, J.W. (1987), “Dimensions of consumer ex-
pertise'”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 13, March, pp. 411-53.
Balaji C.Krishnan, Michael D. Hartline (2001). Brand Equity: Is it more
important in services?
Berry, L.L. (2000), “Cultivating service brand equity'”, Journal of the
Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 28, Winter, pp. 128-37.
Bittar, C. (2003), “Brand builders: Old Spice does new tricks”,
Brandweek, June 2, p.17.
Camp, L. (1996), ``Latest thinking on the optimisation of brand use in fi-
nancial'', Journal of Brand Management, Vol. 3 No. 4, pp. 241-7.
Farquhar, P.H. (1989), ``Managing brand equity'', Marketing Research,
Vol. 1, September, 24-33.
Holt, D. (2004), How Brands Become Icons, Harvard Business School
Publishing, Boston, MA.
James Bell. Brand Management oft the next millennium. Lippincott
publications.
Keller, K.L. (1993), “Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing cus-
tomer-based brand equity'”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 57, January,
pp. 1-22.
Kotler, P. (1991), Marketing Management, 7th ed., Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Leslie De Chernatony, Susan Segal-horn (2001). The criteria for suc-
cessful services brands, European journal of marketing, 1095-1118.
Mark J.Kay (2005). Strong brands and corporate brands. European
Journal of Marketing, Vol 40 No. 7/8, pp. 742-760

9. Sinclair, S. and Steward, K. (1988), “Effectiveness of branding a com-
modity product”, Industr ial Marketing Management, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp.
23-33.
Smith, W.A. (1999). Branding and brand envy. Social Marketing Quater-
ly, 5(4), 40.
Webster, F. and Keller, K. (2004), “A roadmap for branding in industri-
al markets”, Journal of Brand Management, Vol. 11, May, pp. 388-402.