Branding

Branding is The process involved in creating a unique name and image for a product in the consumers' mind, mainly through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme. Branding aims to establish a significant and differentiated presence in the market that attracts and retains loyal customers.
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "name, term, design, symbol", or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. The legal term for brand is trademark.usually a Brand is a name, logo, slogan, and/or design scheme associated with a product or service.

 

The key to building brands is combining market segmentation with an in-depth understanding of consumers and the brand identity.
Brand identity and brand image are at the core of our understanding and research of brands, and the foundation for subsequent segmentation and positioning.


Brand identity:

• contains all the richness of the brand, 
• represents the basic potential for positioning in various segments, 
• allows coordinated and controlled communication, 
• and is also a reflection of the actual world of the brand.

Every brand is also placed within at least one category of products or services, which function according to their own rules. For this reason we must have a firm understanding of the categories in which the brand appears.

In the process of segmentation and positioning brands are placed in a certain segment of the market, and the marketing web has to be adapted to this segment. Branding activities have a variable effect on the market as well as on the brand image, and both of these effects must be (and are) measurable.

In our branding approach we combine qualitative motivational and projective research, with in-depth understanding of the categories in which the brand is active, and quantitative research, which lets us determine the strongest identifying elements of a brand in comparison with the competition. This allows us to both interpret and quantify the image of the brand.

The Benefits of Branding :

1. Memorability: A brand serves as a convenient container for a reputation and good will. It's hard for customers to go back to "that whatsitsname store" or to refer business to "the plumber from the Yellow Pages." In addition to an effective company name, it helps when people have material reminders reinforcing the identity of companies they will want to do repeat business with: refrigerator magnets, tote bags, datebooks, coasters, key rings, first aid kits, etc.
2. Loyalty:When people have a positive experience with a memorable brand, they're more likely to buy that product or service again than competing brands. People who closely bond with a brand identity are not only more likely to repurchase what they bought, but also to buy related items of the same brand, to recommend the brand to others and to resist the lure of a competitor's price cut. The brand identity helps to create and to anchor such loyalty.
3. Familiarity: Branding has a big effect on non-customers too. Psychologists have shown that familiarity induces liking. Consequently, people who have never done business with you but have encountered your company identity sufficient times may become willing to recommend you even when they have no personal knowledge of your products or services. Seeing your ads on local buses, having your pen on their desk, reading about you in the Hometown News, they spread the word for you when a friend or colleague asks if they know a ____ and that's what you do.
4. Premium image, premium price
5. Extensions: Making your company into a brand usually means that you can get more money for the company when you decide to sell it. A Coca-Cola executive once said that if all the company's facilities and inventory vanished all around the world, he could walk into any bank and take out a loan based only on the right to the Coca-Cola name and formula.
6. Greater company equity: Making your company into a brand usually means that you can get more money for the company when you decide to sell it. A Coca-Cola executive once said that if all the company's facilities and inventory vanished all around the world, he could walk into any bank and take out a loan based only on the right to the Coca-Cola name and formula.
7. Lower marketing expenses: Although you must invest money to create a brand, once it's created you can maintain it without having to tell the whole story about the brand every time you market it. For instance, a jingle people in your area have heard a zillion times continues to promote the company when it's played without any words. 
8. For consumers, less risk:When someone feels under pressure to make a wise decision, he or she tends to choose the brand-name supplier over the no-name one. As the saying goes, "You'll never be fired for buying IBM." By building a brand, you fatten your bottom line.