Page 147 - DMGT408DMGT203_Marketing Management

Marketing Management/Essentials of Marketing

Notes Brands live in the minds of consumers and are much more than just a tag for their recognition
and identification. They are the basis of consumer relationship and bring consumers and
marketers closer by developing a bond of faith and trust between them. The promise of brand is
consistent with reliable quality, service, and overall psychological satisfaction. The marketer
has to establish a mission for the brand and a vision of what the brand is and can do. It is crucial
for the marketer to consider that it’s an offering of a contract to the consumer about how the
brand will perform, and it must be an honest contract. All these factors add value not only for the
consumer but also for the marketer. Brands identify the source or maker of a product. This
allows consumers to assign responsibility to a manufacturer or distributor. Based on their past
experience of use, brands are a means of eliminating search costs, risks, and simplify product
purchase decision process.

6.3.1 Brand Identity

Different brands vary in the power and value they command in the market place. Many brands
are largely unknown to consumers and for some others, there is very high level of awareness in
terms of name recall and recognition. David A. Aaker defines brand identity as, “a unique set of
brand associations that the brand strategist aspires to create or maintain. These associations
represent what the brand stands for and imply a promise to customers from the organisation
members.” Brand identity and brand image are sometimes used interchangeably in different
texts. Brand identity refers to an insider’s concept reflecting brand manager’s decisions of what
the brand is all about. Brand image reflects the perceptions of outsiders, that is customers, about
the brand. From customers’ point of view, it is the image they have of a brand that matters.
Brand image is the sum total of impressions created by the brand in the consumer’s mind. This
includes a consumer’s impressions about the brand’s physical characteristics, its performance,
the functional benefits, the kind of people who use the product, the emotions and associations it
develops, and the imagery or the symbolic meanings it generates. To put it differently, how a
consumer perceives a brand in its ‘totality’ is the brand image and encompasses both physical
and perceptual components. It is a concept that drives customer behaviour with respect to brand.
According to Jean-Noel Kepferer, a brand is complex symbol and capable of conveying up to six
dimensions or meanings:
Physique: Physique dimension refers to the tangible, physical aspects. The physical
dimensions are usually included in the product such as name, features, colours, logos, and
packaging.

Example: The physique of IBM brand would be data system, servers, desktop PCs,
notebooks PCs, and service, etc.

Personality: Marketers deliberately may try to assign the brand a personality; or people
on their own may attribute a personality to a brand. It is not surprising that people often
describe some brands by using adjectives such as “young,” “masculine,” “feminine,”
exciting,” “rugged,” “rebel,” “energetic,” etc., as if they are living persons. Brands usually
acquire personalities because of deliberate communications from marketers and use of
endorsers.

Example: Bajaj Pulsar ads communicate “Definitely male.” The personality of Boost is
seen as young, dynamic, energetic and an achiever.

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