Branding week 2 Flashcards
Frame of reference =
Signals to consumers the goal they can expect to achieve by using a brand
- It dictates the types of associations consumers have from the brand and will function as PoP and PoD.
3 types of brand differences:
Brand performance associations: the ways in which a product/service attempts to meet customers’ functional needs (qualities and features)
* Benefits, reliability, durability, serviceability, style & design and value & price
Brand imagery associations: who uses the brand and under which circumstances (experiences)
Consumer insight associations: insight into consumers’ problems or goals can make the case when a brand’s performance and imagery don’t differ much from competitors.
* However, using consumer insights as PoD is not smart since these insights can easily be taken over by competitors.
PoD can become a strong, favorable, unique brand association when it is:
- Desirable: it is both perceived as RELEVANT (does it matter to the consumer?) and BELIEVABLE (do I think the firm can do it (RtB)) by the brand’s audience
- Deliverable: PoD must be FEASIBLE, PROFITABLE, PREEMPTIVE, DEFENSIBLE (sustainability), DIFFICULT TO ATTACK, communicability
Points-of-Difference =
the benefits that set a brand apart from its competitors, which is what consumers remember from your brand.
3 questions you need to ask for an effective brand positioning:
- Have we established a frame of reference?
- Are the PoD compelling (SFU)?
- Are we leveraging PoP?
Anthropomorphism =
Is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities.
Brand activism =
A marketing tactic for brands seeking to stand out by taking public stances on social and political issues (e.g. gender, sexes, racism etc.)
Authentic brand activism =
when brands match activist messaging, purpose, values with prosocial corporate practice.
Woke washing =
brands that detach their activist messaging from their purpose, values and practice are executing inauthentic brand activism.
2 differences between brand activism and CSR:
- CSR more strongly emphasizes actions and the consequences of those actions (reputation, sales) compared to intrinsic company values (with brand activism)
- CSR activities are viewed as beneficial by the majority of society whereas brand activism lacks this type of consensus,
o Because there is often no universally ‘correct’ response to the sociopolitical issues involved or
o Sometimes these issues are not perceived as problems that need solving.
Brand purpose =
brand’s contribution to wider public interest and societal goals
4 characteristics of brand activism:
- The brand is purpose and value driven.
a. Brand purpose: brand’s contribution to wider public interest and societal goals
b. Authentic brand activism prioritizes the delivery of social and environmental benefits beyond immediate economic interest.
c. Brands may perceive their purpose as educators for a better society, or see themselves as sources of cultural power, providing responsibility to encourage societal change. - It addresses a controversial, contested, or polarizing sociopolitical issue.
a. Not all customers have the same values as the brand, and the brand could potentially alienate certain consumer groups more than others - The sociopolitical issue can be either progressive or conservative
a. Brand activism can address any sociopolitical issue along the political divide - The firm contributes towards the issue through messaging and brand practice
a. It involves intangible (messaging) and tangible (practices (donations)) commitments to a sociopolitical cause.
b. It goes beyond merely advocacy/messaging and involves alignment with corporate practices that uphold brand purpose and values.
3 things are needed for incongruity of brand’s reputation and activist cause to be optimal in driving consumer delight:
- The brand message is a divergence from standard norms and/or the brand’s prior reputation.
- The consumer perceives the divergence to be nonthreatening/ not harmless
- The brand diverges from a social norm (cause and reputation) in a bounded but not extreme way (moderate).
3 types of PoPs
i. Category PoP: necessary to establish category membership
ii. Competitive PoP: negative competitors’ PoDs
iii. Correlation PoP: negative correlated attributes/benefits (e.g. low price vs high quality) or to make other associations believable and diagnostic.
when to communicate PoP? (3)
- When it is not a category standard (e.g. competitive PoP)
- When association ‘suspicious’ (potential conflict with PoD)
- Correlational PoPs.
