BRANDING
Week 1
Literature
- Swaminathan et al. 2020: branding in a hyperconnected world: refocusing and
rethinking boundaries
- Schultz 2016: rethinking brand development in an interactive marketplace
- Keller 2016: reflections on customer-based brand equity: perspectives, progress,
priorities
Brand equity = A brand can be defined as a name, term, sign, symbol, design, combination of
them which is intended to identify the goods/services of one seller or group of sellers and to
differentiate them from those of competitors (Keller 1993)
→ added value that a brand adds to a certain product
Branding challenges
- What is the function of a brand?
- Social responsibility
‘Woke washing’
Swaminathan et al. 2020: branding in a hyperconnected world: refocusing and rethinking
boundaries
Hyperconnectivity = proliferation of networks of people, devices and other entities, as well
as continuous access to other people, machines, orgs, regardless of time or location
- manner in which consumers interact with brands is constantly changing due to rise of
digitally native brands
- blurring of brand boundaries → shared ownership, co-creation, control
o info availability and speed of info dissemination
o networks of people and devices, growth of platforms
o device-to-device connectivity
- blurring & broadening of brand boundaries
o blurring = brand stakeholders are increasingly shaping various aspects of
product and marketing-mix activities
o broadening = reach of traditional brands and newer brand entities has
broadened to include stockholders who have not been consistently targeted
in the past
shifts in branding
1. rethinking the roles and functions of brands
activist tools, co-creating, co-owning, communities, more data
2. rethinking brand value creation and co-creation
co-creation, networked communications, disintermediation
3. rethinking brand management
internet, more competitors, more ways to communicate, more stakeholders
4. rethinking the boundaries of branding
, idea brands, person brands, place brands
Schultz 2016: rethinking brand development in an interactive marketplace
→ decline in consumers’ preference for fast-moving consumer goods (due to increased use
of digital and social media)
→ decline in consumer-perceived brand differentiation, partially explaining rise in NBP (no
brand preference)
What needs to be done in terms of brand management?
- Shift to behavioral data
- Longitudinal analysis (to understand consumers’ behaviors)
- Focus on Networked systems (instead of individuals)
- Multidimensional models (brands have depth, breadth, length, scope, density)
- Financial focus (basic resource, create financial value for brand owner)
- Connections to/inclusion of other orgs in brand (development)
Keller 2016: reflections on customer-based brand equity: perspectives, progress, priorities
Brand value chain:
Customer-based brand equity (CBBE) = the differential effect that brand knowledge has on
customer response to brand marketing activity
→ CBBE is built through choosing brand identities or elements, designing and implementing
marketing activities, and leveraging secondary associations by linking the brand to some
other entity
→ If brand value ultimately resides in the mind of the consumer
→ brand equity in consumer behavior term
, → all brands have associations on both sides of the pyramid, but the foundation for brand
image is often on one side → dominant brand concept
Level 2 of pyramid: differentiation & positioning
level 3: attitudes & preferences
CBBE/Brand Resonance Model → shows customer mindset: