Creating And Sustaining Brand Equity Marketing Essay

Consider an example of Daytime Brands: at the morning you can use Sensodyne and Dove to wash, Armani to dress and Mercedes to go working, then Lavazza for the break and Mcdonald’s to eat etc.

The strenght and success of the brand in the marketplace is called Brand Equity and reflect how consumers think and feel about it. It adds value to the firms products and services.

According with a survey made by the agency DDB the characteristics of a strong brand are (in order of importance) brand awareness, a precise and distinct image, sign recognition and brand esteem, status and loyalty.

Brand equity encompasses specific know how, consumers relationships, loyalty and brand image. It is a security indicator and often its value is higher than the all company assets.

How to develop brand equity

according with keller are 2 the keys for developing brand equity: brand awareness and brand image

Brand awareness is the first step and is defined as “the ability of a consumer to name the brands existence when its product category is mentioned”.

For example if ask to a friend that love eating out to name the restaurants in his city and he will not mention one of them, it will not have brand awareness.

To build brand awareness, companies must focus on exploitong repeated exposure for the brand in all the possible form and presenting strong brand identity.

Brand image is the generalized perception of a brand in people’s minds and encompasses both positive and negative values.

Companies can build the Brand image using the communication mix: Advertising, personal selling, sales promotions, PR and Direct Marketing; an important issue in developing brand image is the coordination of all communications from the firm.

To maintain Brand equity the firm must pursue several strategies:

achieve customer satistaction, that turn in customer loyalty and good publicity and awareness for the company;

Developing an integrated marketing communication and a communication strategy;

Understand customer expectations and associations in order to turn this knowledge into actual product features.

What is it that Swiss Army is selling? What are the consumers really buying? Discuss these questions in terms of the core benefit, actual products and augmented product levels.

Swiss army brand is so well known and positioned that can be linked to many kind of businesses.

The Swiss army brand has been applied to Knives, clothes, leather goods, watches, fragrances and sportswear. The Swiss Army brand revolves around these core benefit: practicity, functionality, reasonable price and top-quality products.

“Followers” of this brand are buying the personality, the values, the cultural contents, the symbolic value of the brand, the brand experience. Companies use brands to reduce the anxiety in making purchases, creating meaning for the customers. Then customers buy the unique selling point of the firm.

The values expressed are : precision, seriousness, design, reliability, but also the adventure that affect the customer perception of the brand, that is extremely positive. Swiss army bond its product to the life experience of its customers, as seen on SA websites, in which they publicize adventurous experiences of the customers. This tool stimulate the people emotions, enhancing their commitment to the brand.

Those values make up the augmented product, that is the non-physical part of the product. This is an added value that distinguish, for example, a normal brand knife or watch from a Swiss Army one, and allow the company to increase the price.

What future strategies would you recommend to Swiss Army brand managers

Before recommend strategies we need to do a brand assessment.

SA is well established brand, has an high degree of brand awareness and its product are saw as god quality, durable, reliable, classic items used outdoor. It has also diversified its product portfolio to some products.

So I suggest to continue the brand development strategy: Brand extension, focusing on the values of the company.

An example of brand extension can be the entry in the camping business.

To maintain and enhancing the brand equity, I suggest to

Invest in advertising program to maintain high awareness;

Continuously train employees to deliver the brand experience;

Assess if the company really deliver the benefits that the customers value;

Reward customers involvement to make them becoming brand evangelists;

Sources

Managing sport brands

The New Strategic Brand Management: Creating and Sustaining Brand Equity

The New Strategic Brand Management: Advanced insights and strategic thinking

The Science and Art of Branding

brandingstrategyinsider.com

ad2sell.com

Principles of marketing

welcome

lifestyle brand

http://www.victorinox.com

Intellectual Property Management: The Role of Technology-Brands in the appropriation of Technological innovation