Branding the Company

1. Branding the Company Maximize Marketing Potential Arun Kottolli

2. Corporate Brands • IBM, Citibank, Federal Express, UPS etc. • These are examples of excellent Corporate Brands, company name is the Brand • Service firms like Accenture, EDS, Unisys, KPMG have only one main brand – their Corporate Brand • Brand consists of Name, symbols, Slogans and other distinguishing elements • To provide customers an efficient mechanism of identifying a particular service

3. Branding the Firm • In Service sector, Brand impact shifts to the company brand • Corporate Brand can significantly influence service customers as they rely more heavily on service • Customers are more likely to choose FedEx for sending critical documents • “Nobody got fired for buying from IBM”

4. Model of Services Branding • Principal elements, influences in service branding are: • Presented Brand • Brand Media • Brand Meaning • Service, Concept, Quality & Value • Choice Behavior of customers • Brand Elements has different levels of influence on new customers and for experienced customers

5. Brand Media Brand Meaning Presented Brand Service Concept Quality & Value Choice Behavior New Customers Trial

6. Experienced Customers Service Concept Quality & Value Brand Meaning Presented Brand Choice Behavior Brand Media Repeat Buy

7. Elements of Brand • The Core of the Presented Brand is the Company’s name – accompanying words, symbols, sounds etc • The ‘Brand’ the company presents is not necessarily the brand the customer perceives • Brand Meaning is the customer’s impression and classification of the firm • One customer may see IBM as a reliable, cutting edge service provider • Other customer may see IBM as an expensive service firm

8. Elements of Brand • Brand Meaning is a function of brand presentation and service concept, quality and value, i.e., how well it performs the service • Service’s value influence customer interpretations of the presented brand • Managers cannot shield a brand from customers’ actual brand experiences • Mangers can create a service that reinforces the intended brand image • Customers’ experience based beliefs are powerful, diminishing the effects of company controlled communication that contradict actual experience

9. Customer Choice Behavior • In case of new or inexperienced customers, Brand media or company communication has a big influence on Choice Behavior (leading to a trial) • For experienced customers, Service Concept, Quality & Value are the major influence determining Choice Behavior • Excellent Branding strategy, intensive advertising cannot make-up for weak service or bad customer experience • Customers’ negative experience with a service can close the doors that branding helps to open

10. Branding & Marketing Edge • An effective brand provides a marketing edge to service companies: • When customers perceive competitors to be similar in service concept, quality & value • When customers have little or no experience with competing firms and respond to the strongest presented brand • When a firm introduces a new service category • When a firm enters a new market • When a firm changes its marketing strategy

11. Branding & Marketing Edge • Strong service brands help customers to understand & believe in its service • Strong brand help to reduce customers’ perceived monetary, social or safety risk • Buying IBM service is risk free • Strong brand reassures customers while purchasing intangible “black box” service • While buying a new type of service, customers often go by Company reputation and Branding

12. Name – Core of Service Brands • The company name is the core element of the presented service brand • Four Elements of a strong Brand Name • Distinctiveness: Distinguish from competitors • Relevance: Convey the benefit of the service • Memorability: Name can be used, understood and recalled easily • Flexibility: The name accommodates the inevitable strategies in organizations E.g: Dell Corp is better than Dell Computers

13. Brand is More Than Words • Brand’s effectiveness depends on integration of words, colors, symbols, and consistent application of these elements all across brand media • Blend all communication elements into cohesive image, and fidelity in their use – to overcome the intangible, amorphous nature of services • “Develop a consistent presentation of all the visible elements of the service”

14. Branding & Consistency • Consistency has a powerful influence on human behavior • The more consistent a company’s “appearance” is to customers, the stronger the brand identity • E.g: McDonalds, Pizza Hut maintain a common image everywhere • UPS turned its fleet of 20,000+ trucks into rolling billboards also reinforced by employee uniform • Graphic symbols reinforces the Name • MGM, 20th Century Fox, IBM, Dell etc • Consistent slogans reinforce the brand name

15. Building a Brand • Service quality is the foundation for services marketing and services branding • Company can create Brand Meaning via building a brand • Company can only do Image Management • Some guidelines for building a powerful company brand: • Start with Research • Select the right medicine • Build on what exists • Internalize the Brand

16. Start with Research • Brand Development relies heavily on research, research identifies things to be done • What is the company’s current brand meaning to customers, employees and owners? • How does the company’s brand meaning compare with that of competitors? • How well do brand elements compare with that of competitors? • What are the relative effects of service concept, quality and value on brand meaning? • What is important about the company’s service offering that could be conveyed by the brand?

17. Research Cont’d • Services marketers should build a brand that expresses the firm’s strongest qualities, its “reason for being” in a compelling way for customers & stakeholders • Research involves: • Interviews with customers, executives, frontline employees • Monitor the consistency & fidelity of brand presentation across media, specific services & markets • Dynamic nature of brand influences makes research an ongoing process

18. Select the Right Medicine • Branding is often misused to solve operational problems – asking it to do more than it can • Poor service offering cannot be overcome with excellent branding – irrespective of the budget • If existing mediocre name, though flawed may still provide familiarity, comfort & credibility for customers – then don’t change the brand name • E.g: Delta Airlines is an average name, but has huge customer base, goodwill & reputation • Allegheny Airlines changed its name to USAirways • New name is a risky & Expensive medicine • Through Research & clear strategic intent is needed to change brand name

19. Build on What Exists • Changing a brand name is usually a bad idea • Huge investments needed to build & sustain brand awareness • Datsun to Nissan : A branding blunder • If existing strategy is incompatible with brand name & old name has strong negative feeling – Change name • E.g: Anderson consulting to Accenture • Opt for brand continuity by double-branding, co-branding e.g: Courtyard by Marriot, IBM Global services

20. Internalize the Brand • Service company employees are the most powerful medium for conveying the brand to customers • On-the-Job interaction converts verbal brand into verbal-action brand • Internalizing involves involving employees in the care & nurturing of the brand • Make employees understand and believe in the company’s brand • Employees visualize the brand for customers

21. Manager’s Checklist • Are we proactive in presenting a strong company brand to our customers? • How does our company name rate on tests of distinctiveness, relevance, memorability, & flexibility? • Do we use to full advantage branding elements other than the company name? • Is out presented brand cohesive? • Do we apply our brand consistently across all media? • Do we use all possible media to present our brand?

22. Manager’s Checklist • Do we recognize the influence of the service offering on brand meaning? • Do we base our branding decisions on research? • Are we respectful of what exists when we change our brand or add new brands? • Do we internalize our branding?