THE IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING IN THE MARKETING OF UNILEVER PRODUCTS. A RESEARCH PROJECT MATERIAL ON MARKETING
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Perhaps the most distinction skill of professional marketing is their ability to create, maintain, protect and enhance brands. Marketers say, “Branding is the art and cornerstones of marketing”. The American Marketing Association define branding as a name, term, sign, symbol or design or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers.
In essence, a brand identifies the seller or maker. It can be a name, trademark or other symbol.
Brand name is a name given to a product which can be vocalized or pronounced and services to distinguish it from others. Brand mark is that part of a brand show in front of sign, symbol, letter, design which are not alterable. A trademark is a brand mark or a brand name with legal protection. No other seller is given the right to use a trademark except the registered owner.
For trademark law the seller is granted exclusive right to use of the brand name in perpetuity. These brands differ from other assets such as patents and copyright which have expiration data.
A brand is essentially a seller’s promise to consistently deliver a specific set of features, benefits and services to the buyers. The best brand conveys a warranty of quality. But a brand is even a more complex symbol. A brand can convey up to six levels of meaning.
Attrisutes: A brand first brings to mind certain attributes.
Benefits: A brand is more than a set of attributes customers are not buying attributes; they are buying benefits.
Values: The brand also says something about the producer’s values.
Culture: The brand may represent a certain culture.
Personality: The brand can also project a certain personality.
User: The brand suggests the kind of consumer who buys or uses the product.
If a company treats a brand only as a name, it misses the point of branding. The challenge in branding is to develop a deep set of meanings for the brand. When the audience can visualize all six dimensions of brand is deeps otherwise it is shallow.
Given the six level of a brands meanings marketer must decide at which level(s) to deeply anchor identify. One mistake would be to promote only the brands attributes. Firstly, the buyer is not interested in the brand benefits. Secondly, competitor 45 can easily copy the attribute. Third, the current attributes may become less valuable later, hunting a brand that is too tried to specific attributes.