Branding and brand management Essay

What is a brand? A brand is 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 and to differentiate them form those of competitors Essentially a marketer’s promise is to deliver a specific set of features, benefits and services consistently to the buyers Cadbury’s best tasting chocolate constitutes the main ingredient of much of these products including everything from solid blocks to chocolate filled bars and novelties The Cadbury brand is associated with best tasting chocolate Marketing managers at Cadbury are working to ensure this association is continually developed. Key concepts of quality, taste and emotion underpin the Cadbury brand. These core values help to differentiate Cadbury from other brands and ensure its competitive advantage A brand is a complex symbol that can convey up to six levels of meaning 1. Attributes – a brand brings to mind certain attributes – Cherry Ripe – ripe juicy cherries and moist coconut smothered in rich ‘Old Gold’ Dark Chocolate – Crunchie – golden honeycomb smothered in Cadbury ‘Dairy Milk’ Milk Chocolate – Flake – unique, delicate strands of crumbly, flaky Cadbury ‘Dairy Milk’ chocolate – Picnic – combine delicate fingers of crisp wafers, temptation of chewy caramel with goodness of rice crisps, all generously encased in Cadbury chocolate – Roses – delicious mix of Milk and Dark chocolates, ideal token gesture for any occasion – Dairy Milk – the goodness of a glass and a half of rich full cream milk in every 200g, Australia’s favourite chocolate 2. Benefits – each brand’s attributes must be translated into functional and emotional benefits to the consumer 3. Values – Cadbury’s mission statement says simply: ‘Cadbury means quality’; this is our promise. Our reputation is built upon quality; our commitment to continuous improvement will ensure that our promise is delivered’ 4. Culture – For many people, chocolate is Cadbury, and no other brand will do 5. Personality – taste, colour purple and the glass and a half symbol all all hallmarks of Cadbury personality 6. Users – the kind of consumer or who buys or uses the product. Loyal customers are the most valuable customers to have because they will buy your product over and over again Brand equity – Brands vary in the amount of power and value they have in the marketplace – Brand equity is an asset – Cadbury brand equity is highly differentiated from other brands with consumers. Brand equity is the value consumer loyalty brings to a brand, and reflects the likelihood that a consumer will repeat purchase. This is a major source of competitive advantage. Brand name decisions – Manufacturers and service companies who brand their products must choose which brand names to use – Cadbury brands include the Corporate name combined with individual names – The company name legitimises, and the individual name individualises the new product – A suitable name, must be chosen and registered; it must be unique to the product and in today’s business arena, it should be capable of international use. Careful checks must be made to ensure that the selected name does not mean something different in other languages Brand-building tools Amongst the most important tools for attracting attention to Cadbury brands are: – Public relations and press releases – brands can gain a lot of attention from well-placed newspaper and magazine stories. – Sponsorships – brands are frequently promoted in sponsored events. Cadbury sponsor the Melbourne Cup Carnival, the animal nursery’ at the Royal Show, and the three time AFL premiership champion Brisbane Lions – Factory visits – Cadbury have factory tours in which they invite visitors to spend the day at their Claremont factory in Tasmania – Event marketing – product launches – Social cause marketing – some of the projects that Cadbury support are the Students In Free Enterprise, Foodbank and the Variety Club Brand strategy decision Generally a company’s brand strategy varies depending on whether the brand is a functional brand, image brand or an experimental brand – functional brands – are purchased to satisfy a functional need such as immediate eat i.e. chocolate bars – image brands – arise with products or services that are difficult to differentiate, or to assess quality, or convey a statement about the user – experimental brands – involve the consumer beyond simply acquiring the product Over time, each type of brand can be developed further. A company can introduce line extensions (existing brand name extended to new sizes or flavours), brand extensions (new brand names in existing product categories), multibrands (new brand names introduced into same product category), new brands (new brand name for a new category product) and co-branding (combining two or more brand names) Brand auditing and positioning Cadbury need to periodically audit their brands’ strengths and weaknesses It will occasionally discover that it may have to reposition the brand because of changing customer preferences What are Cadbury’s key brands? The Cadbury Dairy Milk block is the company’s flagship brand There are many other favourites including Fruit & Nut and Hazel Nut, as well as popular cream filled products such as Snack and Caramello Cadbury produces a variety of boxed chocolate assortments, most notably Milk Tray and Roses. Children’s lines include Australia’s long time favourites Freddo Frog and Caramello Koala. Famous Cadbury chocolate bar lines such as Cherry Ripe, Picnic, Flake and Crunchie also feature amongst Cadbury brands Are there different brands for different target markets? The Cadbury brand has a profound impact on individual product brands. Brands have individual personalities aimed at specific target markets for specific needs e.g. TimeOut, for example, is an ideal snack to have with a cup of tea Consumers know they can trust a chocolate bar that carries Cadbury branding The relationship between Cadbury and individual brands is symbiotic with some brands benefiting more from the Cadbury relationship, i.e. pure chocolate brands such as Dairy Milk. Other brands have a more distant relationship, as the consumer motivation to purchase is ingredients other than chocolate, e.g. Crunchie. Cadbury has identified brand values and adjusts its advertising strategies to reflect these values in different markets. Its strategy can vary from increasing brand awareness, educating potential customers about a new product, increasing seasonal purchases, or as is currently the case in the ‘Go Another Cadbury’ campaign to highlight the positive emotional value of the brand. How are the brand images related to Cadbury’s overall positioning in the market? Customers come to know a brand through a range of contacts and touch points, particularly trough word of mouth, personal observation and use, and images through advertising and promotion The ‘taste’ of Cadbury’s chocolate has long been the focus of Cadbury’s advertising. This has been supported by the slogan ‘a glass and a half of full cream milk in every 200 grams’, accompanied by a picture of milk pouring into the Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate block. This was a tremendous advertising coup and has served the brand well for over 50 years. The image has become an integral part of the packaging design and has been featured in magazines, and on buses and trains, billboards, and television Cadbury’s unshakable dedication to tradition and philosophy of using only the finest quality of ingredients and finest quality goods help to position it not only in Australia but all over the world Cadbury has established itself as a company of fairness and integrity, which always attempts to operate as a socially responsible business The choice to support and sponsor certain events and organizations alos shapes these images References: Kotler, P 2003, Marketing Management, 11th edition, Pearson Education, NJ, USA Cadbury, http://www.cadbury.com.au, http://www.cadbury.co.uk, http://www.cadburyschweppes.com Cadbury Head Office, The story of Cadbury and Chocolate Making, Port Road, Hindmarsh, SA Gain Report #AS2042, Australian Product Brief Confectionery Products 2002, Australian Centre for Retail Studies