Mini-Test 2 Flashcards
What is a brand audit?
- consumer focused exercise
- assesses the health of the brand
- uncovers sources of brand equity
- suggests ways to improve and leverage its equity
Why should marketers first conduct a brand audit?
To profile consumer knowledge structures
Definition: brand audit
A comprehensive, systematic independent, and periodic examination of company’s marketing environment, objectives, strategies, and activities with a view of determining problem areas and opportunities and recommending a plan of action to improve the company’s marketing performance
2 steps of a Brand Udit
1) BRAND INVENTORY
•supply side view
•to provide a current, comprehensive profile of how all the products and services sold by a company are marketed and branded
2) BRAND EXPLORATORY
•customer side view
•to provide detailed information about what consumers think of the brand
BRAND AUDITS | brand inventory
1) identify the following for each product/ service sold
•brand elements (names, logos, symbols, slogans, etc.)
•inherent product attributes or characteristics of brand
•marketing programs
2) profile competitive brands to determine POP and POD
OUTCOME
accurate, comprehensive, and up-to-date profile of how all the products/services are branded
•which brand elements are employed and how
•nature of the supporting marketing
BRAND AUDITS | brand exploratory - research
Identify sources of brand equity
INCLUDES
•preliminary activities
•interpreting qualitative research
•interpreting quantitative research
Understanding what consumers think and feel about brand and its product category
BRAND AUDITS | brand exploratory
-Preliminary Activities
1) prior research studies
•may exist and be relevant
•important to dig through archives to uncover reports that may have been buried but that have insights and questions that still need to be posed
2) interview internal personnel
• gain an understanding of their beliefs about consumer perceptions for brand and competitors
•past and current marketing managers may to share wisdom not in prior research
BRAND AUDITS | brand exploratory
-interpreting qualitative and quantitative research
1) brand image
•Marketers should assess all potentially salient associations identified by the qualitative research
•assess according to Strength, Favorability, and Uniqueness
2) brand responses
•should examine specific brand beliefs and overall attitudes and behaviors
•to reveal potential sources and outcomes of brand equity
3) brand awareness
•should assess the breath and depth of brand awareness by employing various cues
4) competitors sources of brand equity
•typically need to do similar research for competitors to better understand their sources of brand equity
•learn how they compare with target brand
2 basic approaches to measuring brand equity (BE)
1) measuring sources of brand equity (SBE)
2) measuring outcomes of brand equity (OBE)
SBE
•identifying and tracking consumers brand knowledge
•all thoughts, feelings, images, perceptions, and beliefs linked to the brand
OBE
•actual impact of brand knowledge on consumer response to different aspects of marketing program
•understand how sources of BE affect outcomes of interest (ie, sales)
Measuring sources of brand equity (SBE)
1) assess potential sources of CBBE by identifying and tracking consumers’ brand knowledge
2) all thoughts, feelings, images, perceptions, Nd beliefs linked to the brand
Measuring outcomes of brand equity (OBE)
1) assess actual impact of. Rand knowledge on consumer response to different aspects of the marketing program
2) understand how sources of BE affect outcomes of interest, such as sales
SBE - sources of brand equity
Measuring SBE requires:
1) FULL UNDERSTANDING of how customers shop for and use products/services
•most importantly, what customers know, think, and feel about various brands
2) measuring aspects of Brand Awareness and Brand Image that can lead to differential customer response making up brand equity
* Arise from consumer mindset
Measuring source of brand equity
QUALITATIVE and QUANTITATIVE research techniques
Qualitative research techniques
•verbal response from customers
1) free associations
2) brand personality and values
Quantitative research techniques •scale questions from which researchers draw numerical representation summaries 1) awareness 2) image 3) brand responses 4) brand relationships
Qualitative Research Techniques:
FREE ASSOCIATIONS
•simplest way to profile brand associations
•what comes to mind when you think if the brand
No cue other than maybe the product category
•form a rough mental map
•identify the range of possible brand associations in consumers minds
Quantitative Research Techniques
can help better assess:
1) the depth and breadth of brand awareness
2) strength, favor ability, and uniqueness of brand associations
3) valence of brand judgements and feelings
4) extent and nature of brand relationships
Quantitative research techniques (4)
1) awareness
- direct and indirect measures of brand recognition
- aided and unaided measures of brand recall
2) image
- scale measures of specific brand attributes and benefits
3) brand responses
- overall judgement and feelings
4) brand relationships
- overall relationship measures
Qualitative research techniques
Brand Awareness: RECOGNITION
-ability of consumers to identify the brand ( and its elements)
Measures
1) I am aware of brand x
2) x is a sushi restaurant I am very familiar with
3) I know what brand x looks like
4) I heard of brand x
5) I can recognize brand x amongst other competing brands of extended stay hotels
Qualitative research techniques
Brand Awareness: RECALL
Ability of consumers to retrieve the actual brand elements from memory
Unaided vs. aided recall
1) when I think of Asian restaurants, Maru is one of the restaurant names that comes to mind (u aided recall)
2) when I think of sushi restaurants, Maru is one of the restaurants that comes to mind (aided recall)
Consideration set
•which brand of sushi restaurant did you consider dining?
Quantitative Research Techniques
Brand Image
- ask open ended questions to tap into the strength, favorability, and uniqueness of brand associations
- associations should be rated on scales for quantitative analysis
- measure any potentially relevant association, including performance-related attributes and benefits
1) primary characteristics and supplementary features
2) product reliability and durability
3) service effectiveness, efficiency, and empathy
4) style, design, and price
Qualitative research techniques
Brand Image Measures
Strength of brand associations
- to what extent do you feel the following restaurant characteristics are descriptive…
Favorability of brand associations
- how good or bad is it for Maru to have the following restaurant characteristics …
Uniqueness of brand associations
- how unique is Maru in terms of the following restaurant characteristics…
Qualitative research techniques
Brand responses
Measures of key brand judgements and feelings
Purchase intentions
- focus on likelihood of buying the brand or switching to another brand
- assume you and family are deciding where to eat. If you found all dining is competitively prices, how likely are you to reserve Maru?
- consumers could indicate their purchase intention on 11-point probability scale that ranges from 0-10
Quantitative research techniques
Brand Relationships: Behavioral Loyalty
Measure of brand resonances
Repeat rate as a key indicator of BE
- how many of people who dines at a particular restaurant last time would dine again this time
Brand attachment
- degree of loyalty the customer feels toward the brand
- strong form of attachment, adherence, is the consumers resistance to change and the ability of a brand to withstand bad news like a product or service failure
Brand activity
- extent to which customers use the brand, talk to others about the brand, seek out brand information, promotions, and events, etc.
- active engagement and word of mouth behavior
What are secondary associations?
Associations related to other entities to which a brand is linked, such as:
- parent company
- country of origin
- spokespeople
- sponsored events
- characters(licensing)
- other brands (co-branding)
- third party sources
Link may lead consumers to assume the beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions they have for the external source will hold for the brand
Secondary associations are the ability to ?
“Borrow” equity from the people, places, or things associated with the brand
-additional leverage for marketers beyond what’s generated by brand elements and marketing programs
Definition: co-branding
Two or more existing brands are combined into a joint product or are marketed together in some fashion
Definition: ingredient branding
Creating brand equity for materials, components, or parts that are necessarily contained within other branded products
- special case of co-branding
- ex: Intel inside a computer
Definition: licensing
Contractual arrangements whereby firms can use the names, logos, characters, etc. of other brands for some fixed fee
Examples:
- entertainment (Star Wars, Jurassic Park, etc.)
- movie/TV characters (Disney princesses)
- designer apparel and accessories (Calvin Klein, etc)
Sponsored events & third party sources (OF BRAND EQUITY)
Events can contribute by becoming associated with brand and improving brand awareness, adding new associations, or improving the strength, favorability, and uniqueness of existing associations
-main means by which event can transfer associations is credibility
Third party sources can be especially credible sources
- marketers often feature in advertising and selling efforts
- ex: J.D. Powers well publicized customer satisfaction index
Personalizing marketing
•internet expansion and fragmentation of mass media brought need for personalized marketing into focus
•concern for big brands is that individualism is leading to fragmentation of brands
-people express individuality by moving away from mass market
•to adapt, marketers embraced concepts such as experimental marketing, one-to-one marketing, and permission marketing
-all potentially effective ways to get consumers more actively involved with a brand
Experimental Marketing (EM)
1) promotes product by connecting it with unique and interesting experiences
2) focuses on customer experience
•idea is not to sell something, but to demonstrate how a brand can enrich a customers life
3) focuses on the consumption situation
4) views customers as rational and emotional elements
5)every company needs a “duck” for its brand
•little element that trigger, frames, summarizes, stylizes the eerie de
6) goal is to make consumers delight in jubilation ( happy marketing)
Product strategies
1) successful brands create strong, favorable, and unique brand associations to functional & symbolic benefits
2) wider range of associations consumer may make to brand besides perceived quality
3) consumer evaluations may be formed by less thoughtful decision making
•simple heuristics and decision rules based on brand reputation or product characteristics ( color scent rather than quality)
4) marketers must take broad, holistic approach to building brand equity
Product strategy: 3-D marketing approach
By McKinsey
Emphasizes 3 product or service benefit dimensions
1) functional benefits
2) process benefits
3) relationship benefits
3-D marketing approach: FUNCTIONAL BENEFITS
Product and performance attributes, value, quality
3D marketing approach: PROCESS BENEFITS
- ease of access to product info
- broad product selection
- simplified/assisted decision making
- convenient transactions
- automatic product replenishment
3D marketing approach: RELATIONSHIP BENEFITS
- value based on personalized service
- strong emotional relevance
- information sharing that creates value exchange
- differentiated loyalty rewards
Product strategy: RELATIONSHIP MARKETING
Based on premise that current customers are key to long-term brand success
- includes marketing activities that deepen and broad way consumers think and act toward brand
- “aftermarketing” and “loyalty programs” are also ways to help create holistic, personalized buying decisions
Why is relationship marketing important?
1) acquiring new customers can cost 5x as much as satisfying and retaining current customers
2) customer profit rate tends to increase over life of the retained customer
Relationship marketing:
Tips for Loyalty (frequency) Program
Tips for building effective loyalty program:
1) KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
- employ sophisticated database and software to determine which customer segment to target with a given program
2) CHANGE IS GOOD
- constantly update the program to attract new customers and prevent other companies from developing “me too” programs
3) LISTEN TO YOUR BEST CUSTOMERS
- suggestions and complaints from top customers deserve careful consideration, because they lead to improvement in the program
4) ENGAGE PEOPLE
- make customers “feel special”
- ie, sending birthday greetings, special offers, etc.
Pricing Strategy
Price is the one revenue-generating element of the marketing mix
Prince Premiums: among most important brand equity benefits of building a strong brand
Consumer price perceptions: consumers often rank brands according to price tiers in a category
Setting to build brand equity:
1) value pricing to set current prices
2) everyday low pricing to guide their discount pricing policy over time
Value-based pricing strategies
1) attempt to uncover right blend of product quality, product cost, and product prices that satisfies needs and wants of consumer and profit goals of firm
2) Southwest Airlines combined low fares with no-frills-but-friendly service
Everyday low pricing strategies
1) establish a stable set of everyday prices and introduce price discounts very selectively
2) creating a brand association to discount can diminish brand equity
Keys for success in adopting a value-based pricing approach
1) product design and delivery
- consumers are willing to pay premiums when they perceive added value in products and services
- product value can be enhanced rough many types of well-conceived and well-executed marketing programs
2) consumer driven pricing
- understand how much value consumers perceive in the brand and thus what premium they will pay over other products
- directly ask consumers their perceptions of price and value in different ways
Communication strategy:
Sales/Consumer Promotions and Event Marketing
1) sales promotions
Short term incentives to encourage trial or usage of a product or service
2) consumer promotions
Designed to change the choices, quantity, or timing of consumer product purchases
3) event marketing
Public sponsorship of events or activities related to sports, art, entertainment, or social causes
-by becoming part of personally relevant/special moment in consumers lives, sponsors can broaden and deepen their relationship with target market
Communications strategy:
Public Relations and Publicity
PR and publicity relate to variety of programs and are designed to promote or protect a company’s image or its individual products
1) publicity
Nonpersonal communications - press releases, media interviews, press conferences, articles, newsletters, photographs, films, etc.
2) PR
May also include annual reports, fund-raining and membership drives, lobbying, special event management, and public affairs
Public Relations and Publicity:
BUZZ MARKETING
- products may enter market with little fanfare but still attract a strong base
- something attracts group of consumers who are eager to spread word to their peers
- companies are attempting to create consumer word of mouth through techniques often called “buzz marketing”
-popular method is to allow customers who are likely to influence to discover product in hope they will pass positive endorsement to their peers
HOPCAT
Successful marketing programs
Accomplish through:
1) strategic engagement with traditional media
2) continuous social media work that builds direct relationship with customers
- Facebook (115,000 likes), Twitter, Instagram, etc
- newsletters
3) relationship building events
- ex: Indiana microbrewery festival
4) embracing local Brewers, who are among their biggest supporters
5) strive to improve communities (charity, green initiatives)
HOPCAT
New communication strategies
1) charity night
2) a professional night
3) paid volunteer time for staff
- set company goal
4) reward program for personal sustainability
5) set public goals for sustainable and green initiatives program
6) new music venue at HopCat Detroit
7) taking “the drunken retort” with the HopCat expansion peogram
