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| There are plenty of definitions of brands and branding. Some people think a brand is a logo. Or advertising. Or packaging. Or another word for the name of the product and service they buy. In fact it’s all of these things and a lot more. |
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To get a sense of what a brand is, just stop and think like a customer. I buy Nike sports shoes and Apple computers, fly with Virgin, shop with Amazon, dream of owning a Ferrari and donate money to Unicef because I like what these ‘brands’ stand for. I fly with Virgin because of the quality of the experience, the look and feel of the planes and the way I am treated by the check-in and on-board people. Similarly I buy Apple computers because of the quality of the hardware and software, the position of the brand as an outsider and the in-store experience. I have never bought and never will buy any other computer. Owning an Apple is an emotional thing.
If we want to get slightly more academic, here is a definition from de Chernatony and McDonald (1998) as to what makes for a successful brand: ‘…an identifiable product, service, person or place, augmented in such a way that the buyer or user perceives relevant, unique added values which match their needs most closely. Furthermore, its success results from being able to sustain these added values in the face of competition.’ There are alternatives to this definition, but it does contain the essentials of identifiability, augmentation, customer orientation and competitive sustainability. If we structure de Chernatony and McDonald’s definition we can see how the different elements of the successful brand inter-relate. Internally the brand is defined by an understanding of customer needs and wants that determines the approach to product and service development. At the interface with customers the augmentation of the product through such mechanisms as customer service delivery, advertising and packaging is converted into the perception of relevant value. |
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