P.12
----signifier: connect this to rosenbaum----
In 1982, the French philosopher Jacques Derrida analysed difference and explained that meaning cannot be found in the signifier itself. It can only exist in relation to other things. There is little conscious access to this matrix, but it is everywhere in the human world. The absolute identity does not exist because these concepts are co-dependent. This matrix cannot exist without society, so it is a mirror individuals use to assess their own hierarchical position. These comparisons are a fundamental survival tool.
Material possessions are deployed as signifiers of status. They allow consumers to cast a desired role. Capitalist societies measure success by wealth and the individual pressure to keep up with the group is not about being the fastest, but avoiding being the slowest.
P. 36
Humans consume meaning, not matter. Objects simply provide the canvas for these connotations for the user. These reflections help individuals to construct their own identity and shape their future.
Monday 30 October 2017
Rosenbaum-Elliott et al. (2007). Strategic Brand Management. P. 4-7, 13, 22-27, 38, 53, 67-69, 94-97, 110, 112, 114
P. 4-7
Brakus, et al. (cited in Rosenbaum-Elliott et al., 2007) defines a brand as "a label, designating ownership by a firm, which we experience, evaluate have feeling towards, and build associations with to perceive value". The mind of the costumers are the realm where brands exist, so its management is all about perceptions. By influencing perceptions, the experience of using a product can be changed.
Brands that master the emotional/symbolic language are perceived as the safe choice rather than the easy one. By increasing the levels of risk, the choice is more complex and consumers have to develop a relationship with a brand. "As consumers become more involved with a purchase decision, their choice becomes increasingly driven by emotional processes and so the consumer benefit of the brand becomes a safe choice, safe in terms of all the expectations that consumers have for the product, be in performance, excitement, style, status, etc." (Rosenbaum-Elliott et al., 2007)
Brakus, et al. (cited in Rosenbaum-Elliott et al., 2007) defines a brand as "a label, designating ownership by a firm, which we experience, evaluate have feeling towards, and build associations with to perceive value". The mind of the costumers are the realm where brands exist, so its management is all about perceptions. By influencing perceptions, the experience of using a product can be changed.
Brands that master the emotional/symbolic language are perceived as the safe choice rather than the easy one. By increasing the levels of risk, the choice is more complex and consumers have to develop a relationship with a brand. "As consumers become more involved with a purchase decision, their choice becomes increasingly driven by emotional processes and so the consumer benefit of the brand becomes a safe choice, safe in terms of all the expectations that consumers have for the product, be in performance, excitement, style, status, etc." (Rosenbaum-Elliott et al., 2007)
For consumers to recognise a need or an opportunity for a product, they must perceive what is in their way between where they are and where they want to be.
P. 13
Simple associations between a brand and its attributes or emotions largely drive consumers' choices. Consumers learn and are reminded about these characteristics through advertising and they will even build their own interpretations. As Carpenter et al (cited in Rosenbaum-Elliott et al., 2007) suggests, the best brands can make this happen even with meaningless differentiation based on irrelevant attributes.
P. 22-27
In order to understand how to use emotions is important to know the difference between the roles this concept plays in regards of feelings. Bradley and Lang (cited in Rosenbaum-Elliott et al., 2007) explain that feelings describe the point where someone becomes aware of an emotion. As Damasio (cited in Rosenbaum-Elliott et al., 2007) put it: "The full human impact of emotions is only realised when they are sensed, when they become feeling, and when those feelings are felt. That is where they become known, with the assistance of consciousness".
Emotions have two fundamental ways of creation: through the uncontrolled cognitive system and the sociocultural environment or experience, which can be manipulated at will.
Emotional judgements drive consumers choice. If someone says a car is 'too flashy', it says more about the judge than about the vehicle. Emotional judgements reflect subjective feelings without the need of using verbal descriptors, which means emotion relies on non-verbal channels of communication.
When looking for an emotional response, knowing a sociocultural context will not make the prediction easier. To understand emotional responses, one way is to assume that emotions work like mechanisms that cannot be altered. The following principles have been framed as laws by Frijda (cited in Rosenbaum-Elliott et al., 2007).
- Law of concern
The natural response that arises in consumers' in response to their goals, motives or concerns are emotions. They continually interpret situations they have to face through their own system of values, which lead them to have a preference to experience things that reinforce those values.
- Law of apparent reality
Emotions are brought out by events that seem real, and the intensity is given by the level of reality. For example, the Red Cross is more successful showing a photo of a starving child that telling potential donors that thousands die every day. The apparent reality focuses on consumers' weaknesses and it suggests that imagination can overwhelm reason for consumers to create their own reality.
- Law of closure
A desire for a product can cloud the judgement of consumers, making them ignore other aspects of it to be completed absorbed in the shopping experience.
- Law of the lightest load
The regular tendency is to minimise the negative emotional load. Consumers often engage in 'retail therapy', which is simply buying something to treat themselves after having a stressful time. Mood repairing is a major motivation that overarches a wide range of compensatory behaviours in consumption.
P. 38
Advertising has certain social roles, and one of them is educating consumers. Over the years, they have learned how to feel towards a product or service. For example, luxury ice-cream is something that was successfully repositioned as a product with romantic or sexual connotations. Products can be 'emotionalised' to increase their connection with powerful emotions.
Emotion-driven choices are almost instantaneous, and marketers have to make sure consumers have no impediments to react.
P. 53
Advertising creates and modifies cultural meanings and it also reflects the consumers' world view. This means that a culture can have new meanings and products can be part of a culture.
P. 67-69
It is important to understand the difference between the signifier and the signified for semiotic analysis. The signifier (E.G: A brand name) does not have a meaning on its own. The meaning is acquired through associations with other pre-existing meanings until it stands on its own. The signifier is a statement of a fact. The signified is a connotative communication that generates associations, feel and overtones. It can be anything that can be linked with the signifier.
Marketers need to understand the communication codes in particular cultures to be in control of the meaning. Unspoken rules and conventions that structure sign systems and meanings, Lawes (2002) says. (cited in Rosenbaum-Elliott et al., 2007)
The following analysis aimed to identify the key codes of major beer brands from six major markets worldwide.
The analysis enabled marketers to better understand how beer advertisement communicates with the audience and the hidden propositions competitors were making, allowing them to plan a new brand strategy.
----a brand as a person or a person as a brand----
If a personality can be designed for a business, it means that a business can be personified. Human personality traits are associated with a brand, and sometimes, real persons are used to represent a brand. For example, Richard Branson in Virgin. Aaker (cited in Rosenbaum-Elliott et al., 2007) claims that these traits can be associated indirectly through other features like name, symbol, style, price or distribution channel. When a personality has to be faithfully conveyed across different cultures is important to consider the five factors of brand personality: sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication and ruggedness. Brand personality offers a way for personal expression by the consumer based on metaphors, symbols, emotional benefits and self-expressive benefits.
P.94-97
Strong brand awareness can be achieved exploiting concepts like familiarity, which is a primitive sense of knowing about something without the need for specific details. (Schacter, 2001. cited in Rosenbaum-Elliott et al., 2007). This is important to consider, as in a market with so many brands dividing attention, a customer will rely on the brand that has certain sense of familiarity, whilst specific details about others will be put on a side. Brand awareness is the beginning of a relationship that, if everything works out, will lead a customer to feel loyal towards a certain brand. The key is to keep a strong and positive attitude.
Choices are not easy, and even less if they have to be done based on attributes. Brands have to offer trust, and this is when emotional associations become important. Particular memories linked with these associations affect directly the perception a consumer has from a brand. In the functional realm, brands are chosen based on attributes. But in the emotional realm, it is required more from a brand. There must be certain attitude. More difficult the choice is, more important the emotions become, but in the end, both features are equally important. If a product is not good enough, it is very difficult for the emotions to convince the consumer.
P.110
----DEFINITION OF BRAND----
The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines brand as to enable a person to identify one alternative from a competitor. This is very accurate, but Rosenbaum-Elliott et al. (2007) suggests that a brand must be a label, something that is attached to a product and gives information about it.
P.112
Brands that are the best in their category do not need to continually list their benefits. The other brands should have a differential positioning, focusing on the benefits that consumers find important.
P. 114
Consumers might buy lower calorie foods because they are gaining weight (a negative motive), or buy certain brands for more taste (a positive motive). Rosenbaum-Elliott et al. (2007) explains that benefits related to negative motives (problem-solution or problem avoidance) 'are unlikely to drive specific brand purchases. Someone may be looking for a lower calorie product, but probably not at the expense of taste. The reason this is such an important point is that positive motives suggest marketing communication where the execution itself actually becomes the product benefit'. Positive motives require a unique execution and the brand has to own the feeling created in adverts. If the motive is negative, the benefit is in the information provided.
P. 13
Simple associations between a brand and its attributes or emotions largely drive consumers' choices. Consumers learn and are reminded about these characteristics through advertising and they will even build their own interpretations. As Carpenter et al (cited in Rosenbaum-Elliott et al., 2007) suggests, the best brands can make this happen even with meaningless differentiation based on irrelevant attributes.
P. 22-27
In order to understand how to use emotions is important to know the difference between the roles this concept plays in regards of feelings. Bradley and Lang (cited in Rosenbaum-Elliott et al., 2007) explain that feelings describe the point where someone becomes aware of an emotion. As Damasio (cited in Rosenbaum-Elliott et al., 2007) put it: "The full human impact of emotions is only realised when they are sensed, when they become feeling, and when those feelings are felt. That is where they become known, with the assistance of consciousness".
Emotions have two fundamental ways of creation: through the uncontrolled cognitive system and the sociocultural environment or experience, which can be manipulated at will.
Emotional judgements drive consumers choice. If someone says a car is 'too flashy', it says more about the judge than about the vehicle. Emotional judgements reflect subjective feelings without the need of using verbal descriptors, which means emotion relies on non-verbal channels of communication.
When looking for an emotional response, knowing a sociocultural context will not make the prediction easier. To understand emotional responses, one way is to assume that emotions work like mechanisms that cannot be altered. The following principles have been framed as laws by Frijda (cited in Rosenbaum-Elliott et al., 2007).
- Law of concern
The natural response that arises in consumers' in response to their goals, motives or concerns are emotions. They continually interpret situations they have to face through their own system of values, which lead them to have a preference to experience things that reinforce those values.
- Law of apparent reality
Emotions are brought out by events that seem real, and the intensity is given by the level of reality. For example, the Red Cross is more successful showing a photo of a starving child that telling potential donors that thousands die every day. The apparent reality focuses on consumers' weaknesses and it suggests that imagination can overwhelm reason for consumers to create their own reality.
- Law of closure
A desire for a product can cloud the judgement of consumers, making them ignore other aspects of it to be completed absorbed in the shopping experience.
- Law of the lightest load
The regular tendency is to minimise the negative emotional load. Consumers often engage in 'retail therapy', which is simply buying something to treat themselves after having a stressful time. Mood repairing is a major motivation that overarches a wide range of compensatory behaviours in consumption.
P. 38
Advertising has certain social roles, and one of them is educating consumers. Over the years, they have learned how to feel towards a product or service. For example, luxury ice-cream is something that was successfully repositioned as a product with romantic or sexual connotations. Products can be 'emotionalised' to increase their connection with powerful emotions.
Emotion-driven choices are almost instantaneous, and marketers have to make sure consumers have no impediments to react.
P. 53
Advertising creates and modifies cultural meanings and it also reflects the consumers' world view. This means that a culture can have new meanings and products can be part of a culture.
P. 67-69
It is important to understand the difference between the signifier and the signified for semiotic analysis. The signifier (E.G: A brand name) does not have a meaning on its own. The meaning is acquired through associations with other pre-existing meanings until it stands on its own. The signifier is a statement of a fact. The signified is a connotative communication that generates associations, feel and overtones. It can be anything that can be linked with the signifier.
Marketers need to understand the communication codes in particular cultures to be in control of the meaning. Unspoken rules and conventions that structure sign systems and meanings, Lawes (2002) says. (cited in Rosenbaum-Elliott et al., 2007)
The following analysis aimed to identify the key codes of major beer brands from six major markets worldwide.
The analysis enabled marketers to better understand how beer advertisement communicates with the audience and the hidden propositions competitors were making, allowing them to plan a new brand strategy.
----a brand as a person or a person as a brand----
If a personality can be designed for a business, it means that a business can be personified. Human personality traits are associated with a brand, and sometimes, real persons are used to represent a brand. For example, Richard Branson in Virgin. Aaker (cited in Rosenbaum-Elliott et al., 2007) claims that these traits can be associated indirectly through other features like name, symbol, style, price or distribution channel. When a personality has to be faithfully conveyed across different cultures is important to consider the five factors of brand personality: sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication and ruggedness. Brand personality offers a way for personal expression by the consumer based on metaphors, symbols, emotional benefits and self-expressive benefits.
P.94-97
Strong brand awareness can be achieved exploiting concepts like familiarity, which is a primitive sense of knowing about something without the need for specific details. (Schacter, 2001. cited in Rosenbaum-Elliott et al., 2007). This is important to consider, as in a market with so many brands dividing attention, a customer will rely on the brand that has certain sense of familiarity, whilst specific details about others will be put on a side. Brand awareness is the beginning of a relationship that, if everything works out, will lead a customer to feel loyal towards a certain brand. The key is to keep a strong and positive attitude.
Choices are not easy, and even less if they have to be done based on attributes. Brands have to offer trust, and this is when emotional associations become important. Particular memories linked with these associations affect directly the perception a consumer has from a brand. In the functional realm, brands are chosen based on attributes. But in the emotional realm, it is required more from a brand. There must be certain attitude. More difficult the choice is, more important the emotions become, but in the end, both features are equally important. If a product is not good enough, it is very difficult for the emotions to convince the consumer.
P.110
----DEFINITION OF BRAND----
The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines brand as to enable a person to identify one alternative from a competitor. This is very accurate, but Rosenbaum-Elliott et al. (2007) suggests that a brand must be a label, something that is attached to a product and gives information about it.
P.112
Brands that are the best in their category do not need to continually list their benefits. The other brands should have a differential positioning, focusing on the benefits that consumers find important.
P. 114
Consumers might buy lower calorie foods because they are gaining weight (a negative motive), or buy certain brands for more taste (a positive motive). Rosenbaum-Elliott et al. (2007) explains that benefits related to negative motives (problem-solution or problem avoidance) 'are unlikely to drive specific brand purchases. Someone may be looking for a lower calorie product, but probably not at the expense of taste. The reason this is such an important point is that positive motives suggest marketing communication where the execution itself actually becomes the product benefit'. Positive motives require a unique execution and the brand has to own the feeling created in adverts. If the motive is negative, the benefit is in the information provided.
Sunday 22 October 2017
Jansson-Boyd, C. (2010). Consumer Psychology. P. 47-49, 51, 57, 60
P.47-49
There is a direct relationship between the level of arousal a person might experience and the attention. Jannson-Boyd (2010) explains that a mid-point in arousal, not too high or too low, is where the audience can have a higher level of attention. There is when the visual selective attention happens. Humans explore environments mainly visually and there are several theories of what they normally focus on depending on their culture, language (if they right from left to right or the other way around) and so on. The truth is there seems not to be an exact consistent pattern of how humans conduct a visual search.
P.51
Humans have a selective perception that filters out certain information that is incompatible with our own interests. If a company has a clear visual brand identity it is very helpful for consumers to notice their products. The same brand might have different types of products, so a visual consistency helps them to be spotted and recognised. For example, Apple and Nike are easily recognisible, so most consumers pay little conscious attention to this stimuli. They have reached that level of recognition by repeated exposure.
P.57
Normally, people try to find out about those that appear to do worse than them in way way or another so they compare themselves to feel in a better position. This is called downward social comparison. If one owns a Porsche while others drive Beetles, it is likely that the first person feels superior and with a higher self-esteem. Although, not always one can choose who to compare with, and an owner of a Porsche comparing himself or herself with the owner of a Ferrari will be an upward comparison. This happens almost everyday to everyone exposed to the 'ideal' media images, which is a destructive kind of approach as it increases sales by lowering the self-esteem of consumers.
P.60
Some products have an undesired meaning. The same way consumers choose what to buy, they consciously know what not to purchase. The ideal self is the projection of the personality consumers try to be, and the opposite of this idea is the person they do not wish to become. It has been found that consumers express their dislikes and avoidance of products based on what they represent. If a product constitutes, for example, an idea of something old and outdated, consumers would like to get rid of it as a way to leave their past behind.
There is a direct relationship between the level of arousal a person might experience and the attention. Jannson-Boyd (2010) explains that a mid-point in arousal, not too high or too low, is where the audience can have a higher level of attention. There is when the visual selective attention happens. Humans explore environments mainly visually and there are several theories of what they normally focus on depending on their culture, language (if they right from left to right or the other way around) and so on. The truth is there seems not to be an exact consistent pattern of how humans conduct a visual search.
P.51
Humans have a selective perception that filters out certain information that is incompatible with our own interests. If a company has a clear visual brand identity it is very helpful for consumers to notice their products. The same brand might have different types of products, so a visual consistency helps them to be spotted and recognised. For example, Apple and Nike are easily recognisible, so most consumers pay little conscious attention to this stimuli. They have reached that level of recognition by repeated exposure.
P.57
Normally, people try to find out about those that appear to do worse than them in way way or another so they compare themselves to feel in a better position. This is called downward social comparison. If one owns a Porsche while others drive Beetles, it is likely that the first person feels superior and with a higher self-esteem. Although, not always one can choose who to compare with, and an owner of a Porsche comparing himself or herself with the owner of a Ferrari will be an upward comparison. This happens almost everyday to everyone exposed to the 'ideal' media images, which is a destructive kind of approach as it increases sales by lowering the self-esteem of consumers.
P.60
Some products have an undesired meaning. The same way consumers choose what to buy, they consciously know what not to purchase. The ideal self is the projection of the personality consumers try to be, and the opposite of this idea is the person they do not wish to become. It has been found that consumers express their dislikes and avoidance of products based on what they represent. If a product constitutes, for example, an idea of something old and outdated, consumers would like to get rid of it as a way to leave their past behind.
Wednesday 18 October 2017
Riezebos, R (2003). Brand Management. P.61, 70, 127-134, 144
---- In relation to Maslow's Pyramid---
P.61
The first choice taken in brand values is the aspiration level of the brand. There are three aspiration levels: the need-driven, the outer-directed and the inner directed level. Riezebos (2003) explains it:
"If a manager chooses the aspiration level of a brand to be need driven, it means that the brand relates to material and biological consumer needs. If the outer-directed aspiration level is chosen, the brand refers to consumers' relational needs. For the inner-directed aspiration level, the brand should relate to consumers' need for self-actualisation. The choice for an aspiration level can be made by taking three factors into account: the characteristics of the product, the characteristics of the organisation and the choices made by competitors. Regarding the product, it is driven, as bread fulfils material and biological needs... With regard to the organisation, one should take care that the aspiration level of the brand does not conflict with the aspiration level of the company".
The ideal scenario is to first choose one or two aspiration levels: one that describes the needs on which the other is focusing in greater detail. Then, Riezebos says "a maximum of three values may be selected within the aspiration level(s) chosen". In the following table, each aspiration level has specific values.
There are three groups of aspiration levels with their respective needs and personal values.
P.70
There are five dimensions of psycho-social meaning for brands (also known as 'brand personality'). This does not mean that the perceived performance of a product has the same meaning for the consumer, only that a product can be wrapped in a certain unique make up.
P.127-134
Kotler and Rath (1984) stated: "Design creates corporate distinctiveness in an otherwise product and image-surfeited marketplace. It can create a personality... so it stands out... it communicates value to the customer, makes selection easier, informs and entertains".
Robert Blaich defined design management as "the implementation of design as a formal activity program within the organisation, by communicating the importance of design for the long-term organisational goals, and by coordinating the design 'resources' on all levels of organisational activities, in pursuit of the organisational goals".
Design can influence consumers, so it is an instrument that must be used with care. The visual identity is the natural extension of the brand identity. Different roles in brand development can be fulfilled by design, most of the times spending much less money than advertising. The most important roles are:
1.- Identification: for categorisation and recognition.
2.- Differentiation: how an article is different from the competition.
3.- Transfer of material brand values: The performance of the brand can be represented through image, structure, material, colour, size or shape.
4.- Transfer of immaterial brand values: Design can attribute certain character traits to the psycho-social meaning of a brand.
Riezebos (2003) classifies design in regards to their characteristics and corresponding media.
****include table in p. 132****
----good introduction to point out i'm gonna focus on strategic design----
1.- Strategic design works for the recognition or appearance of the brand. It has a long-term character and its most important aim is the consistency in appearance for a consistency in recognition. There is a number of influential factors to take into account:
A.- Visual reference to brand values and positioning of the brand.
The design must visualise material brand values and an immaterial experience world.
B.- Category codes.
Products use visual codes for recognition (in Holland, for example, red is for buttermilk and light blue is for skimmed milk). These codes can be kept or broken, but low-budget projects should go by set codes.
C.- Brand individuality.
Easy recognition is important for early phases and high marketing communication budgets.
D.- Competitive position of the brand (authority).
Design can make a product seen as the best in its class by exploiting specific values.
2.- Tactical design is aimed at brand content. Current trends and developments is what strongly leads it and it is mostly used for external target groups. It is a temporary form of design and it is applicable to features like packaging or advertisement. These are the factors to take into account:
A.- Visual references to brand values and position of the brand.
B.- Visual references to trends.
C.- In sales promotion, design can help increasing its success by making clear that it fits the brand.
D.- In experience communication, design helps in creating an experience world surrounding an event surprising and inviting the public.
In this type of design, there are certain communication goals, target groups and product or market segments. The aim is to ensure that a brand becomes and remains meaningful showing broads and flexible applications of the brand but keeping visual expressions related to the brand values in a coherent manner.
3.- Operational design is related to the services surrounding a product. In this media (letters, forms, instructions, etc) design facilitates information in a friendly and serviceable manner.
P.144
There are several reasons why a brand might decide to change its visual identity. It is worth to mention that brand can live for a long period of time if the strategic design has been carefully carried out.
Some of the reasons are:
1.- To keep the brand 'up to date'. Gradual changes that are barely noticed by the consumer might be the best solution, as the position of the brand should not be altered in this instance and, in fact, the aspects of the previous style can be exploited to determine how to increase the familiarity of the new one.
2.- Repositioning, revitalisation or 'rebirth' of a brand. This means the brand values have changed and it affects the visual identity.
3.- Introduction of extensions that require family resemblance.
4.- Expansion to different geographic markets. Different codes, naming and so on to make a product fit. Although, the design should have the minimal alterations. In a roll-out of global brands, an opposite approach is required for a better differentiation from local markets.
5.- Fusions, acquisitions and partnerships. Solutions to this might be to create a new brand or keep one of the old ones depending on their goals.
6.- New techniques of packaging, displaying and everything that involves technology upgrading.
P.61
The first choice taken in brand values is the aspiration level of the brand. There are three aspiration levels: the need-driven, the outer-directed and the inner directed level. Riezebos (2003) explains it:
"If a manager chooses the aspiration level of a brand to be need driven, it means that the brand relates to material and biological consumer needs. If the outer-directed aspiration level is chosen, the brand refers to consumers' relational needs. For the inner-directed aspiration level, the brand should relate to consumers' need for self-actualisation. The choice for an aspiration level can be made by taking three factors into account: the characteristics of the product, the characteristics of the organisation and the choices made by competitors. Regarding the product, it is driven, as bread fulfils material and biological needs... With regard to the organisation, one should take care that the aspiration level of the brand does not conflict with the aspiration level of the company".
The ideal scenario is to first choose one or two aspiration levels: one that describes the needs on which the other is focusing in greater detail. Then, Riezebos says "a maximum of three values may be selected within the aspiration level(s) chosen". In the following table, each aspiration level has specific values.
There are three groups of aspiration levels with their respective needs and personal values.
P.70
There are five dimensions of psycho-social meaning for brands (also known as 'brand personality'). This does not mean that the perceived performance of a product has the same meaning for the consumer, only that a product can be wrapped in a certain unique make up.
P.127-134
Kotler and Rath (1984) stated: "Design creates corporate distinctiveness in an otherwise product and image-surfeited marketplace. It can create a personality... so it stands out... it communicates value to the customer, makes selection easier, informs and entertains".
Robert Blaich defined design management as "the implementation of design as a formal activity program within the organisation, by communicating the importance of design for the long-term organisational goals, and by coordinating the design 'resources' on all levels of organisational activities, in pursuit of the organisational goals".
Design can influence consumers, so it is an instrument that must be used with care. The visual identity is the natural extension of the brand identity. Different roles in brand development can be fulfilled by design, most of the times spending much less money than advertising. The most important roles are:
1.- Identification: for categorisation and recognition.
2.- Differentiation: how an article is different from the competition.
3.- Transfer of material brand values: The performance of the brand can be represented through image, structure, material, colour, size or shape.
4.- Transfer of immaterial brand values: Design can attribute certain character traits to the psycho-social meaning of a brand.
Riezebos (2003) classifies design in regards to their characteristics and corresponding media.
****include table in p. 132****
----good introduction to point out i'm gonna focus on strategic design----
1.- Strategic design works for the recognition or appearance of the brand. It has a long-term character and its most important aim is the consistency in appearance for a consistency in recognition. There is a number of influential factors to take into account:
A.- Visual reference to brand values and positioning of the brand.
The design must visualise material brand values and an immaterial experience world.
B.- Category codes.
Products use visual codes for recognition (in Holland, for example, red is for buttermilk and light blue is for skimmed milk). These codes can be kept or broken, but low-budget projects should go by set codes.
C.- Brand individuality.
Easy recognition is important for early phases and high marketing communication budgets.
D.- Competitive position of the brand (authority).
Design can make a product seen as the best in its class by exploiting specific values.
2.- Tactical design is aimed at brand content. Current trends and developments is what strongly leads it and it is mostly used for external target groups. It is a temporary form of design and it is applicable to features like packaging or advertisement. These are the factors to take into account:
A.- Visual references to brand values and position of the brand.
B.- Visual references to trends.
C.- In sales promotion, design can help increasing its success by making clear that it fits the brand.
D.- In experience communication, design helps in creating an experience world surrounding an event surprising and inviting the public.
In this type of design, there are certain communication goals, target groups and product or market segments. The aim is to ensure that a brand becomes and remains meaningful showing broads and flexible applications of the brand but keeping visual expressions related to the brand values in a coherent manner.
3.- Operational design is related to the services surrounding a product. In this media (letters, forms, instructions, etc) design facilitates information in a friendly and serviceable manner.
P.144
There are several reasons why a brand might decide to change its visual identity. It is worth to mention that brand can live for a long period of time if the strategic design has been carefully carried out.
Some of the reasons are:
1.- To keep the brand 'up to date'. Gradual changes that are barely noticed by the consumer might be the best solution, as the position of the brand should not be altered in this instance and, in fact, the aspects of the previous style can be exploited to determine how to increase the familiarity of the new one.
2.- Repositioning, revitalisation or 'rebirth' of a brand. This means the brand values have changed and it affects the visual identity.
3.- Introduction of extensions that require family resemblance.
4.- Expansion to different geographic markets. Different codes, naming and so on to make a product fit. Although, the design should have the minimal alterations. In a roll-out of global brands, an opposite approach is required for a better differentiation from local markets.
5.- Fusions, acquisitions and partnerships. Solutions to this might be to create a new brand or keep one of the old ones depending on their goals.
6.- New techniques of packaging, displaying and everything that involves technology upgrading.
Packard, V. (1957). The Hidden Persuaders. P.35, 37-40, 43, 47, 48, 65, 70, 74-77, 86-96, 100, 106, 107, 110, 112
P.35
Customers buy a promise. Cosmetics sell hope, not lanolin. Oranges sell vitality. Cars sell prestige.
P.37-38
Advertising Age once claimed: "In very few instances do people really know what they want, even when say they do". One cannot assume that people know what they want or will tell the truth about it even if they do. Consumers will more likely give answers that protect them to sound insensible, stupid or irrational. Accepting what a costumers say they want is, in the words of a consulting firm, "the least reliable index the manufacturer can have on what he ought to do to win customers".
P.39-40
The Color Research Institute carried out a series of tests to see if irrational decisions could be controlled through packaging. They gave housewives three different boxes of detergent and these women were asked to try them for a few weeks. They needed to report which one was the best for delicate clothing. The boxes were very different, but the detergent was the same.
The first box was designed using yellow as it was a colour that could stand out at the store shelves. The second box was predominantly blue, without any yellow. The third box had splashes of yellow on a blue background.
The women reported that the detergent in the yellow box was too strong and even ruined some clothes. The one in the blue box seemed to be quite weak. The third box, which had an ideal balance of colour, received the most favourable responses. They used words like "wonderful" and "fine" to describe the performance of the detergent.
P.43
Packard (1957) assures that people do not seem to be reasonable. But this does not mean they do not have a purpose. They do, and their behaviour makes sense in terms of their goals, needs and motives.
P.47
There are different levels of human consciousness. The first level is the conscious, the rational level. It is the level where an individual knows what is going on and he or she is able to tell why. The second and lower level is the subconscious, where the awareness of a situation is more vague and it is more related to attitudes, feelings and sensations but an explanation of these reactions cannot be easily found. Here is where assumptions, prejudices or fears live. The third and final level is where an individual is not aware of true attitudes and feelings, features that are preferably not discussed if possible. Exploring these unconscious attitudes towards brands formed the science of motivational analysis or research, which allow designers to apply psychoanalytic techniques to market research.
P.48
In 1941, Dr. Dichter encouraged ad agencies to organise themselves as what they really were, "one of the most advanced laboratories in psychology". He claimed that for an ad agency to be successful it needs to manipulate human emotions and desires to develop a need for something that a personn was once unfamiliar with or even undesirous of.
P. 65
Research director of a New York advertising agency once claimed: "People have a terrific loyalty to their brand of cigarette and yet in tests cannot tell it from other brands. They are smoking an image completely."
In a talk in 1956 in Philadelphia, Pierre Marineau said that advertising is no longer what it was once: a presentation of a product's merits. The intention is to create an illogical situation where the customer falls in love with the product that is being advertised and have a profound brand loyalty even if the product is very similar to many others. In order to do this, Marineau said the first task is to create a differentiation in the mind of the prospect, an individualisation from the rest.
----LINK THIS WITH POSITIONING----
P.70
Packard (1957) points out a study made by Social Research, Inc. A team of social scientists used different probing techniques on 352 car owners in the Chicago area and they found out that a minority of the population have any real interest in the technical side of cars. In fact, what the investigation reflected was that automobiles are heavily loaded with social meanings and they "provide avenues for the expression of the character, temperament and self concept of the owner and driver. The buying process is an interaction between the personality of the car and the personality of the individual".
The report pointed out the personality of a specific sort of owner of different major makes of car. These are some profiles of the owners that were defined with single words:
- Cadillac: Proud, Flashy, salesman, middle-aged, social mobility, good income level, responsible.
- Ford: Speed demon, good income, young man, proud, upper lower class, drives to work, practical.
- Pontiac: Stable class outlook, middle of road, married woman, mother, sincere, conventional, busy.
The investigators claimed "people buy the cars they think are especially appropriate for them".
P.74-77
In the conflict between pleasure and guilt, brands give moral permission to have fun without guilt. A group of investigators wanted to find an answer of why people keep smoking despite their guilt feelings. They found out that smokers like to have a cigarette between their fingers when they enter in a room full of people, so they look less nervous and more sophisticated. Many see smoking as a symbol of heir vigour, potency and virile maturity. It is a psychological satisfaction that overcomes health fears, hides ridicule and also the obvious weakness of 'enslavement to habit'.
To deal with this guilt feeling, candies started to be made in bite-size pieces to appeal indulgence in moderation. The consumer can buy a bar and only eat a bite before putting it away. This shows understanding from manufacturers, like some kind of permission for eating it in moderation.
The guilt can come in another shape. When releasing products that make the life of consumers easier, there might be some resistance, as consumers sometimes view certain products as threats to what they expect from themselves. Instead of selling more freedom, companies need to convince consumers to buy their products so they can work harder on other things.
P.86-96
Packard (1957) assures that there are eight hidden needs human beings have that marketers can take advantage of when selling a product. These are some of them:
- Emotional security
One of the emotions that can be sold through a product is security. That is what freezers do. Economically, they do not make sense taking into account the intial cost, the electric bill and the leftovers that are eventually thrown away. The Weiss and Geller advertising agency made a study where probers found out that the popularity of freezers increased after World War II. Many families were anxious because of the uncertainties of the time. The freezer was, for many, a representation of the assurance that there is always food in the house, and the food represents warmth, security and safety.
- Reassurance of worth.
People need to hear that what they are doing has a value. A product that points out the worth of a consumer is a good candidate to be used in order to remind the user his or her importance in their environments. In the 50's The Chicago Tribune made a study about sales of soaps for housewives. The results proved that those advertisements that exalted the role of housekeeping as something to be proud of were much more successful than others, because housewives were very unappreciated by that time and marketers knew.
- Ego gratification
Similar to the reassurance of worth, the product should be an extension of the user and should not gain more importance than a human being in order to boost their ego.
- Sense of power
A car is a good example of how a product can represent an extension of a person's power.
- Sense of roots
When adverts use phrases like 'the good old days' or 'just how grandma used to make it' they are appealing to a sense of belonging and nostalgia that many people need to satisfy.
- Immortality
Life-insurances are a clear example of selling immortality. Everyone is aware that they are going to die, but no one stands the idea of being obliterated, so they try to remain immortal through other means.
------
"Infatuation with one's own body is an infantile trait that persists in many an adult's subconscious. The ethics of exploiting it to sell goods is something else". Fortune.
P.100
Cigars makers sold 6 million cigars only in 1955 because it is a potent symbol of masculinity for an affordable price. It is favoured by gangsters and big bankers. Young and Rubicam ad agency found out in a study that young men do not feel comfortable smoking cigars as it feels presumptuous. Although, Weiss and Geller found out that cigars appeal both to strong and weak men.
P.106-107
Freudian psychiatry pictures many adults as subconsciously searching for mouth satisfaction. Social Research found that many foods are loaded with hidden meanings, as depending on what someone eats it can be interpreted as a punishment or a reward. For people under stress or in situations of anxiety, new food can be a problem and it's easier to reinstate more comfortable feelings by serving them the food they feel familiar with.
P. 110
Social Research also found that oral gratifications are very important when explaining why many people continue smoking cigarettes. Smoking provides a repeated and continuous stimulation for the mouth while it allows the hand to do something well organised and familiar.
Something similar happens with a remedy and substitute of smoking, the chewing gum. A study carried out by Weiss and Geller says that chewing relieves tension. Sweetening the breath, aid digestion or freshen the mouth are just side effects of mitigating anxiety, providing oral comfort, releasing tension and aggressive feelings.
P.112
DuPont's investigators found out that many people do not make a list of the things they need to buy in the store. The reason is because they make the decision in the store, which means shoppers buy on impulse. James Vicary suspected that consumers might be under pressure when confronted with so many different choices that they were forced to quickly decide what to purchase. By hiding a camera that recorded the eye-blink rate of the shopper he could tell the inner tension that person was going through. It was found that his suspicions were right. Gerald Stahl, executive vice-president of the Package Designers Council, added to this: "Psychiatrists say that people have so much to choose from that they want help".
Sense of roots
Packard (1957) talked about the sense of roots, in which the intention is to pack a feeling that humans collectively associate to what they consider a better past time so they can relive it through a product.
Customers buy a promise. Cosmetics sell hope, not lanolin. Oranges sell vitality. Cars sell prestige.
P.37-38
Advertising Age once claimed: "In very few instances do people really know what they want, even when say they do". One cannot assume that people know what they want or will tell the truth about it even if they do. Consumers will more likely give answers that protect them to sound insensible, stupid or irrational. Accepting what a costumers say they want is, in the words of a consulting firm, "the least reliable index the manufacturer can have on what he ought to do to win customers".
P.39-40
The Color Research Institute carried out a series of tests to see if irrational decisions could be controlled through packaging. They gave housewives three different boxes of detergent and these women were asked to try them for a few weeks. They needed to report which one was the best for delicate clothing. The boxes were very different, but the detergent was the same.
The first box was designed using yellow as it was a colour that could stand out at the store shelves. The second box was predominantly blue, without any yellow. The third box had splashes of yellow on a blue background.
The women reported that the detergent in the yellow box was too strong and even ruined some clothes. The one in the blue box seemed to be quite weak. The third box, which had an ideal balance of colour, received the most favourable responses. They used words like "wonderful" and "fine" to describe the performance of the detergent.
P.43
Packard (1957) assures that people do not seem to be reasonable. But this does not mean they do not have a purpose. They do, and their behaviour makes sense in terms of their goals, needs and motives.
P.47
There are different levels of human consciousness. The first level is the conscious, the rational level. It is the level where an individual knows what is going on and he or she is able to tell why. The second and lower level is the subconscious, where the awareness of a situation is more vague and it is more related to attitudes, feelings and sensations but an explanation of these reactions cannot be easily found. Here is where assumptions, prejudices or fears live. The third and final level is where an individual is not aware of true attitudes and feelings, features that are preferably not discussed if possible. Exploring these unconscious attitudes towards brands formed the science of motivational analysis or research, which allow designers to apply psychoanalytic techniques to market research.
P.48
In 1941, Dr. Dichter encouraged ad agencies to organise themselves as what they really were, "one of the most advanced laboratories in psychology". He claimed that for an ad agency to be successful it needs to manipulate human emotions and desires to develop a need for something that a personn was once unfamiliar with or even undesirous of.
P. 65
Research director of a New York advertising agency once claimed: "People have a terrific loyalty to their brand of cigarette and yet in tests cannot tell it from other brands. They are smoking an image completely."
In a talk in 1956 in Philadelphia, Pierre Marineau said that advertising is no longer what it was once: a presentation of a product's merits. The intention is to create an illogical situation where the customer falls in love with the product that is being advertised and have a profound brand loyalty even if the product is very similar to many others. In order to do this, Marineau said the first task is to create a differentiation in the mind of the prospect, an individualisation from the rest.
----LINK THIS WITH POSITIONING----
P.70
Packard (1957) points out a study made by Social Research, Inc. A team of social scientists used different probing techniques on 352 car owners in the Chicago area and they found out that a minority of the population have any real interest in the technical side of cars. In fact, what the investigation reflected was that automobiles are heavily loaded with social meanings and they "provide avenues for the expression of the character, temperament and self concept of the owner and driver. The buying process is an interaction between the personality of the car and the personality of the individual".
The report pointed out the personality of a specific sort of owner of different major makes of car. These are some profiles of the owners that were defined with single words:
- Cadillac: Proud, Flashy, salesman, middle-aged, social mobility, good income level, responsible.
- Ford: Speed demon, good income, young man, proud, upper lower class, drives to work, practical.
- Pontiac: Stable class outlook, middle of road, married woman, mother, sincere, conventional, busy.
The investigators claimed "people buy the cars they think are especially appropriate for them".
P.74-77
In the conflict between pleasure and guilt, brands give moral permission to have fun without guilt. A group of investigators wanted to find an answer of why people keep smoking despite their guilt feelings. They found out that smokers like to have a cigarette between their fingers when they enter in a room full of people, so they look less nervous and more sophisticated. Many see smoking as a symbol of heir vigour, potency and virile maturity. It is a psychological satisfaction that overcomes health fears, hides ridicule and also the obvious weakness of 'enslavement to habit'.
To deal with this guilt feeling, candies started to be made in bite-size pieces to appeal indulgence in moderation. The consumer can buy a bar and only eat a bite before putting it away. This shows understanding from manufacturers, like some kind of permission for eating it in moderation.
The guilt can come in another shape. When releasing products that make the life of consumers easier, there might be some resistance, as consumers sometimes view certain products as threats to what they expect from themselves. Instead of selling more freedom, companies need to convince consumers to buy their products so they can work harder on other things.
P.86-96
Packard (1957) assures that there are eight hidden needs human beings have that marketers can take advantage of when selling a product. These are some of them:
- Emotional security
One of the emotions that can be sold through a product is security. That is what freezers do. Economically, they do not make sense taking into account the intial cost, the electric bill and the leftovers that are eventually thrown away. The Weiss and Geller advertising agency made a study where probers found out that the popularity of freezers increased after World War II. Many families were anxious because of the uncertainties of the time. The freezer was, for many, a representation of the assurance that there is always food in the house, and the food represents warmth, security and safety.
- Reassurance of worth.
People need to hear that what they are doing has a value. A product that points out the worth of a consumer is a good candidate to be used in order to remind the user his or her importance in their environments. In the 50's The Chicago Tribune made a study about sales of soaps for housewives. The results proved that those advertisements that exalted the role of housekeeping as something to be proud of were much more successful than others, because housewives were very unappreciated by that time and marketers knew.
- Ego gratification
Similar to the reassurance of worth, the product should be an extension of the user and should not gain more importance than a human being in order to boost their ego.
- Sense of power
A car is a good example of how a product can represent an extension of a person's power.
- Sense of roots
When adverts use phrases like 'the good old days' or 'just how grandma used to make it' they are appealing to a sense of belonging and nostalgia that many people need to satisfy.
- Immortality
Life-insurances are a clear example of selling immortality. Everyone is aware that they are going to die, but no one stands the idea of being obliterated, so they try to remain immortal through other means.
------
"Infatuation with one's own body is an infantile trait that persists in many an adult's subconscious. The ethics of exploiting it to sell goods is something else". Fortune.
P.100
Cigars makers sold 6 million cigars only in 1955 because it is a potent symbol of masculinity for an affordable price. It is favoured by gangsters and big bankers. Young and Rubicam ad agency found out in a study that young men do not feel comfortable smoking cigars as it feels presumptuous. Although, Weiss and Geller found out that cigars appeal both to strong and weak men.
P.106-107
Freudian psychiatry pictures many adults as subconsciously searching for mouth satisfaction. Social Research found that many foods are loaded with hidden meanings, as depending on what someone eats it can be interpreted as a punishment or a reward. For people under stress or in situations of anxiety, new food can be a problem and it's easier to reinstate more comfortable feelings by serving them the food they feel familiar with.
P. 110
Social Research also found that oral gratifications are very important when explaining why many people continue smoking cigarettes. Smoking provides a repeated and continuous stimulation for the mouth while it allows the hand to do something well organised and familiar.
Something similar happens with a remedy and substitute of smoking, the chewing gum. A study carried out by Weiss and Geller says that chewing relieves tension. Sweetening the breath, aid digestion or freshen the mouth are just side effects of mitigating anxiety, providing oral comfort, releasing tension and aggressive feelings.
P.112
DuPont's investigators found out that many people do not make a list of the things they need to buy in the store. The reason is because they make the decision in the store, which means shoppers buy on impulse. James Vicary suspected that consumers might be under pressure when confronted with so many different choices that they were forced to quickly decide what to purchase. By hiding a camera that recorded the eye-blink rate of the shopper he could tell the inner tension that person was going through. It was found that his suspicions were right. Gerald Stahl, executive vice-president of the Package Designers Council, added to this: "Psychiatrists say that people have so much to choose from that they want help".
Sense of roots
Packard (1957) talked about the sense of roots, in which the intention is to pack a feeling that humans collectively associate to what they consider a better past time so they can relive it through a product.
Thursday 12 October 2017
Bernays, E (1928). Propaganda. P.74, 75, 77, 84, 86, 87
P.74-75
Human beings are rarely aware of what motivate their actions. Regular consumers believe that they buy a car because they have concluded that is the best choice after a careful study of technical features from different models. They are fooling themselves. The real reason might be that a consumer's friend he financially respects bought one last week; or because the neighbours thought he or she could not afford a car like that; or maybe the colours match their college fraternity.
"Many of man's thoughts and actions are compensatory substitutes for desires which has been obliged to suppress. A thing may be desired not for its intrinsic worth or usefulness, but because he has unconsciously come to see in it a symbol of something else, a desire for which he is ashamed to admit to himself". A person might really want a car because it is a symbol of social position, an evidence of success.
P.77
It is possible to deal with potential customers in the mass through group formations setting up psychological and emotional currents that will work for them. There is no point in a direct attack if someone is interested in knowing more. Companies must provide this circumstance and context that will swing emotional currents to meet consumers' demands.
A whole country might be covered in ads with a text that says: "YOU buy a Mozart piano now. It is cheap. The best artists use it. It will last for years". These claims might be all be true, but they are in direct conflict with other manufacturers' claims and in indirect competition with other products, as everyone is competing for the consumer's money.
The question that remains is: why is the purchaser actually planning to spend his or her money on a new car instead of a new piano? Simple. Both are different commodities, locomotion and music. The customer buys a car because it is at the moment the group custom to buy cars. That is why is so important to create the circumstances that will modify that custom.
P.84
In order to make customers a company needs to understand not only their own business, but also the structure, personality and prejudices of their target audience.
P.86-87
Just like the production manager has to be familiar with every detail concerning the materials he is working with, the person in charge of a firm's public relations has to know the structure, prejudices and whims of the general public to handle their problems accordingly. People have their own standards, demands and habits. They can be modified but not contradicted. It is not possible to persuade a whole generation to wear long shirts. Although, working through leaders of fashion, people can be persuaded to wear a similar clothing piece. The public cannot be molded at will like an amorphous mass, or dictated to. Businesses and individuals have different personalities that can get along. The terms of this friendship can be mutually beneficial, and a business must explain itself, its aims and objectives to the public in terms that the public can understand and is willing to accept.
Human beings are rarely aware of what motivate their actions. Regular consumers believe that they buy a car because they have concluded that is the best choice after a careful study of technical features from different models. They are fooling themselves. The real reason might be that a consumer's friend he financially respects bought one last week; or because the neighbours thought he or she could not afford a car like that; or maybe the colours match their college fraternity.
"Many of man's thoughts and actions are compensatory substitutes for desires which has been obliged to suppress. A thing may be desired not for its intrinsic worth or usefulness, but because he has unconsciously come to see in it a symbol of something else, a desire for which he is ashamed to admit to himself". A person might really want a car because it is a symbol of social position, an evidence of success.
P.77
It is possible to deal with potential customers in the mass through group formations setting up psychological and emotional currents that will work for them. There is no point in a direct attack if someone is interested in knowing more. Companies must provide this circumstance and context that will swing emotional currents to meet consumers' demands.
A whole country might be covered in ads with a text that says: "YOU buy a Mozart piano now. It is cheap. The best artists use it. It will last for years". These claims might be all be true, but they are in direct conflict with other manufacturers' claims and in indirect competition with other products, as everyone is competing for the consumer's money.
The question that remains is: why is the purchaser actually planning to spend his or her money on a new car instead of a new piano? Simple. Both are different commodities, locomotion and music. The customer buys a car because it is at the moment the group custom to buy cars. That is why is so important to create the circumstances that will modify that custom.
P.84
In order to make customers a company needs to understand not only their own business, but also the structure, personality and prejudices of their target audience.
P.86-87
Just like the production manager has to be familiar with every detail concerning the materials he is working with, the person in charge of a firm's public relations has to know the structure, prejudices and whims of the general public to handle their problems accordingly. People have their own standards, demands and habits. They can be modified but not contradicted. It is not possible to persuade a whole generation to wear long shirts. Although, working through leaders of fashion, people can be persuaded to wear a similar clothing piece. The public cannot be molded at will like an amorphous mass, or dictated to. Businesses and individuals have different personalities that can get along. The terms of this friendship can be mutually beneficial, and a business must explain itself, its aims and objectives to the public in terms that the public can understand and is willing to accept.
Verma, H. (2010). Branding demystified. Plans to payoffs. P.40
There is a generally held belief that it is enough to satisfy a customer. Trying to change this satisfaction status to a complete satisfaction the financial return is not attractive enough. This idea was challenged and it was found that loyalty is what a company gets when they reach the customer's complete satisfaction status, and this results in superior financial performance in a long term. That change of status is a serious challenge in value generation, and companies must rate complete satisfaction ratings above mere satisfaction ratings.
Ries, A and Trout, J (2001). Positioning: the battle for your mind. How to be seen and heard in the overcrowded marketplace. P.1, 2, 7, 8, 19-22, 30, 34, 40, 46, 49, 50, 53-58, 60, 61, 63-66
P.1
Nowadays, there is a problem in our society of overcommunication. Every year there's more to be said than what is received.
P.2
Positioning is not something that can be done to a product. It is the mind of the prospect what can be altered to position a product.
P.7
An oversimplified message is the most effective approach to take in an overcommunicated society.
P.8
It is a matter of choosing what is really important in that message for the best chance to get it through.
P.19
Quote: "Positioning is an organised system for finding a window in the mind. It is based on the concept that communication can only take place at the right time and under the right circumstances".
An easy way to get into people's mind is to be the first.
P.21-22
The hard way is to be second. It is always better to be first than having the best product in a particular field. The key is to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond. The size of the pond can always be increased.
P.20
Communication is like love. What counts the most is receptivity. When two individuals fall in love with each other it is because they are both receptive to that idea.
P.30
Experiments involving blind tasting champagne usually ranked inexpensive brands from California above the French ones. With the labels on, this does not happen.
(use example of hidden persuaders with detergent)
One of the main objectives in advertising is to heighten expectations about a product or service and make consumers believe it will perform the expected miracles. Although, a company might create the opposite expectation and get in trouble trying to sell a product. Gablinger's beer introductory advert sold the product as a diet product, which has an implication of a bad taste. It worked to perfection, and consumers were easily convinced that it did taste bad. One tastes what one expects to taste.
Humans' mind automatically reject information that does not have anything to do with experience or prior knowledge to work with. Dr. George A. Miller, psychologist at Harvard, asserts that seven units at a time is the limit for a human mind to deal with. People rarely remember more than seven brands in a given product category. And for products with less interest, consumers name no more than one or two brands.
To deal with so much information consumers have learned to simplify to deal with everything as a necessity to keep from being overwhelmed with so many complexities in life.
P.34
If a company is not the first (which most likely will not be) it has to try to be the second. Ries and Trout call the 'uncola' position the strategy that 7-Up once carried out, linking their product with something that already existed in the mind of the prospect as an alternative to it.
Conventional logic says that the concept can be found in a brand or its product, but this does not work when trying to find an unique position. It is the prospect's mind that dictaminates it. The 'uncola' is not inside a 7-Up can, it's in the drinker's head.
Avis is another example of how to successfully deal with being second. At the beginning, they started by saying 'Avis is going to be No. 1'. That's telling the world about the aspirations, but this is wrong psychologically and strategically speaking. The truth is that they ignored competitor's position.
--- link this to the other Avis' ad campaign: "we work harder because we are 2nd".---
P.40
If a company is the competition of a famous one (for instance, IBM) the first thing the smaller business has to do is to understand they are not them, so they do not have to act like IBM. A better strategy would be to take advantage of the existing position IBM owns in the minds of the prospects and project a new one in computers that is somehow related to IBM.
P.46
If a company is the leader, it is pointless to repeat to the consumers that they are the No.1, for example. A company cannot build a leadership based on their own terms: 'The best-selling under-$1000 high-fidelity system east of the Mississippi'. Companies have to build a leadership position in the terms of the prospect. 'The real thing' Coke advert is an example that can work for any leader. Saying 'we are No.1' is not the same as what Coca-Cola did. The number one will be the number one because of low prices, more availability and so on. But being 'the real thing' has an emotional attachment, and will always own a special place in the mind of the prospect.
P.49
When a leader is established it should cover competitive moves by introducing another brand. Instead of stay still, a company with a should do this to reflect changes in tastes, technology and the like. For example, Ivory is a soap that has been in the market for more than a hundred years. The availability of heavy-duty laundry gents put pressure on the company to release Ivory Detergent. Although, instead of changing the position in the prospect's mind, a new brand was released: Tide. This new detergent had a name to be matched with and it was an enormous success.
P.50
New names can help to bridge a gap between eras and allows companies to make mental transitions. Government agencies know very well how to broad a name. The Department of Housing and Urban Development used to be Housing and Home Finance Agency. With this new name, the agency can enlarge increase its staff, enlarge its scope of operations and justify a larger budget.
P.53
Brands that accentuate their products on the 'better' rather than on the 'speed' fail to achieve sales goals. The better version of a me-too product is a regular mistake. This approach is a waste of time in trying to improve a product that is going to be released with a small advertising budget than the leader's.
P.54-55
To find a gap in the market, a company must be able to think in reverse and go against the grain. For years, cars were becoming better looking and more streamlined, until the Volkswagen Beetle got in the market and changed the game. The conventional way to advertise this car would have been to maximise the strengths and minimise the weaknesses, but they stated their position very clearly: 'think small'. Two simple words stated Volkswagen position and challenged prospect's assumption that bigger is not a synonym of better.
P.56
Companies confuse greed with positioning thinking too often. In order to get rich, charging high prices is not the answer.
A company has to be first to:
1.- Establish the high-price position
2.- Do it with a valid product story
3.- Place it in a category that high-prices are not strange to consumers.
High prices need to on the advert, no in the store. The price should be treated like any other feature.
P.57-58
Another effective way to find a gap in the market is using sex to segment a product category and establish a position. Perfume, for example, is normally sexualised. One would think that the more feminine and delicate the brand, more appealing it will be. But Revlon's Charlie is the first brand to try a masculine name with a great success. The majority of perfumes move in one direction, so the opportunity lies in the opposite.
P. 60
"Don't try to trick the prospect. Advertising is not a debate. It's a seduction". Verbal logic will not be what the prospect will consider. "If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, I say it's a duck".
P.61
Sometimes there are not gaps in the market that can be found. It is then when a company must create one. This can be done by repositioning competitors that own a place in the prospect's mind.
P.63-64
In order to achieve this, a company must say something about their competitor's product that makes the prospector change his or her mind about it. For example, "Most American vodkas seem Russian" was something said in an advert. Captions said: "Samovar: Made in Schenley, Pennsylvania. Smirnoff: Made in Hartford, Connecticut. Wolfschmidt: Made in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Stolichnaya is different. It is Russian" and the bottle was labeled "Made in Leningrad, Russia". The result was that sales began to soar for Stolichnaya. Something to keep in mind is that people like to see the high and mighty exposed.
P.66
Although, saying that a company is better than its competitors is not repositioning. It is comparative advertising, which is not very effective. The psychological flaw the prospect easily detects is: "If your brand is so good, how come it's not the leader?"
These are failed attempts of repositioning the competition. What they are actually doing is using the competitor as a benchmark so they tell the potential consumer how much better they are.
P.65
If a product is in the corner of the brain marked with the word "loser" it is best to start all over again with a new product and a new game.
Nowadays, there is a problem in our society of overcommunication. Every year there's more to be said than what is received.
P.2
Positioning is not something that can be done to a product. It is the mind of the prospect what can be altered to position a product.
P.7
An oversimplified message is the most effective approach to take in an overcommunicated society.
P.8
It is a matter of choosing what is really important in that message for the best chance to get it through.
P.19
Quote: "Positioning is an organised system for finding a window in the mind. It is based on the concept that communication can only take place at the right time and under the right circumstances".
An easy way to get into people's mind is to be the first.
P.21-22
The hard way is to be second. It is always better to be first than having the best product in a particular field. The key is to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond. The size of the pond can always be increased.
P.20
Communication is like love. What counts the most is receptivity. When two individuals fall in love with each other it is because they are both receptive to that idea.
P.30
Experiments involving blind tasting champagne usually ranked inexpensive brands from California above the French ones. With the labels on, this does not happen.
(use example of hidden persuaders with detergent)
One of the main objectives in advertising is to heighten expectations about a product or service and make consumers believe it will perform the expected miracles. Although, a company might create the opposite expectation and get in trouble trying to sell a product. Gablinger's beer introductory advert sold the product as a diet product, which has an implication of a bad taste. It worked to perfection, and consumers were easily convinced that it did taste bad. One tastes what one expects to taste.
Humans' mind automatically reject information that does not have anything to do with experience or prior knowledge to work with. Dr. George A. Miller, psychologist at Harvard, asserts that seven units at a time is the limit for a human mind to deal with. People rarely remember more than seven brands in a given product category. And for products with less interest, consumers name no more than one or two brands.
To deal with so much information consumers have learned to simplify to deal with everything as a necessity to keep from being overwhelmed with so many complexities in life.
P.34
If a company is not the first (which most likely will not be) it has to try to be the second. Ries and Trout call the 'uncola' position the strategy that 7-Up once carried out, linking their product with something that already existed in the mind of the prospect as an alternative to it.
Conventional logic says that the concept can be found in a brand or its product, but this does not work when trying to find an unique position. It is the prospect's mind that dictaminates it. The 'uncola' is not inside a 7-Up can, it's in the drinker's head.
Avis is another example of how to successfully deal with being second. At the beginning, they started by saying 'Avis is going to be No. 1'. That's telling the world about the aspirations, but this is wrong psychologically and strategically speaking. The truth is that they ignored competitor's position.
--- link this to the other Avis' ad campaign: "we work harder because we are 2nd".---
P.40
If a company is the competition of a famous one (for instance, IBM) the first thing the smaller business has to do is to understand they are not them, so they do not have to act like IBM. A better strategy would be to take advantage of the existing position IBM owns in the minds of the prospects and project a new one in computers that is somehow related to IBM.
P.46
If a company is the leader, it is pointless to repeat to the consumers that they are the No.1, for example. A company cannot build a leadership based on their own terms: 'The best-selling under-$1000 high-fidelity system east of the Mississippi'. Companies have to build a leadership position in the terms of the prospect. 'The real thing' Coke advert is an example that can work for any leader. Saying 'we are No.1' is not the same as what Coca-Cola did. The number one will be the number one because of low prices, more availability and so on. But being 'the real thing' has an emotional attachment, and will always own a special place in the mind of the prospect.
P.49
When a leader is established it should cover competitive moves by introducing another brand. Instead of stay still, a company with a should do this to reflect changes in tastes, technology and the like. For example, Ivory is a soap that has been in the market for more than a hundred years. The availability of heavy-duty laundry gents put pressure on the company to release Ivory Detergent. Although, instead of changing the position in the prospect's mind, a new brand was released: Tide. This new detergent had a name to be matched with and it was an enormous success.
P.50
New names can help to bridge a gap between eras and allows companies to make mental transitions. Government agencies know very well how to broad a name. The Department of Housing and Urban Development used to be Housing and Home Finance Agency. With this new name, the agency can enlarge increase its staff, enlarge its scope of operations and justify a larger budget.
P.53
Brands that accentuate their products on the 'better' rather than on the 'speed' fail to achieve sales goals. The better version of a me-too product is a regular mistake. This approach is a waste of time in trying to improve a product that is going to be released with a small advertising budget than the leader's.
P.54-55
To find a gap in the market, a company must be able to think in reverse and go against the grain. For years, cars were becoming better looking and more streamlined, until the Volkswagen Beetle got in the market and changed the game. The conventional way to advertise this car would have been to maximise the strengths and minimise the weaknesses, but they stated their position very clearly: 'think small'. Two simple words stated Volkswagen position and challenged prospect's assumption that bigger is not a synonym of better.
P.56
Companies confuse greed with positioning thinking too often. In order to get rich, charging high prices is not the answer.
A company has to be first to:
1.- Establish the high-price position
2.- Do it with a valid product story
3.- Place it in a category that high-prices are not strange to consumers.
High prices need to on the advert, no in the store. The price should be treated like any other feature.
P.57-58
Another effective way to find a gap in the market is using sex to segment a product category and establish a position. Perfume, for example, is normally sexualised. One would think that the more feminine and delicate the brand, more appealing it will be. But Revlon's Charlie is the first brand to try a masculine name with a great success. The majority of perfumes move in one direction, so the opportunity lies in the opposite.
P. 60
"Don't try to trick the prospect. Advertising is not a debate. It's a seduction". Verbal logic will not be what the prospect will consider. "If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, I say it's a duck".
P.61
Sometimes there are not gaps in the market that can be found. It is then when a company must create one. This can be done by repositioning competitors that own a place in the prospect's mind.
P.63-64
In order to achieve this, a company must say something about their competitor's product that makes the prospector change his or her mind about it. For example, "Most American vodkas seem Russian" was something said in an advert. Captions said: "Samovar: Made in Schenley, Pennsylvania. Smirnoff: Made in Hartford, Connecticut. Wolfschmidt: Made in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Stolichnaya is different. It is Russian" and the bottle was labeled "Made in Leningrad, Russia". The result was that sales began to soar for Stolichnaya. Something to keep in mind is that people like to see the high and mighty exposed.
P.66
Although, saying that a company is better than its competitors is not repositioning. It is comparative advertising, which is not very effective. The psychological flaw the prospect easily detects is: "If your brand is so good, how come it's not the leader?"
These are failed attempts of repositioning the competition. What they are actually doing is using the competitor as a benchmark so they tell the potential consumer how much better they are.
P.65
If a product is in the corner of the brain marked with the word "loser" it is best to start all over again with a new product and a new game.
Wednesday 11 October 2017
Olins, W (2003). On Brand. P. 7, 11, 14, 16-22, 27, 74, 89, 102, 128, 137, 144, 145, 147, 167, 176-195, 218, 220
P. 7
The main target of financially based businesses is to maximise their profits. There are also many businesses that are passionate about what they do and are very proud about how they do it, but they don't forget about the profits. There is also another group of companies that try to seduce their customers, and despite being an ordinary word, Ollins (2003) claims this is what branding is all about. Branding is about seducing, persuading and attempting to manipulate people into spending money in products and services. What a company does is not as important as how they do it. But it's even more important how they are perceived to do it.
-------SIMON SINEK GOLDEN CIRCLE HERE--------
P. 11
Because of this manipulation, these marketing strategies have been criticised and morally questioned. The truth is that branding is expanding to politics, nations, culture, sports and the voluntary sector. Charities are using emotional appeals to encourage people to donate money. The key issue, Ollins points out, "it is how and where and in what cause it is used that's truly significant".
P.14
Branding is the way to define something that is immediately comprehensible to everyone else.
P.16
People like brands. If not they would not buy them. Some brands make customers fall in love and others go unnoticed. This means marketing does not have an entire control over the brand. Customers do. Its power comes from a mixture of performance and what it stands for. If the mix is right, customers feel it adds an extra meaning to themselves.
P.17
For example, Irn-Bru is a bottled version of the film 'Trainspotting'. Ollins (2003) describes it as a "caricature of young, deprived, Scottish, tattooed, drugged-up thuggery to which many people apprently aspire". Many athletes wear Nike shoes because they perform better with them, but it is also a fashion statement. The shoes have a functional purpose but they are also symbolic. Most people who wear Nike shoes are not athletes. Maybe they are not even interested in sports. What remains is the statement they make by wearing them. Someone in a poor country will save money to buy a certain pair to show that he or she is part of the rich world glamour and fashion, and that makes those shoes iconic.
P.18
Another example that involves brand extension is Porsche watches. At first, it does not make any sense that a car manufacturer is making watches, but in the longer term successful companies shift their ground from making and selling to being, to represent a set of values.
P.19
This set of values can be also associated with national characteristics. Companies like Givenchy, Kenzo or Loewe belong to LVMH, which has created individual brands for its products representing national features. (Givenchy - France, Kenzo - Japan, Loewe - Spain).
P.21
Benetton does the same using social content to show sympathy with human suffering.
P.22
Charities sells caring for the less fortunate and they aim to individuals' emotions. Does a person care more about multiple sclerosis or cancer relief? Charities compete for people's money and they are on top when it comes to appeal to emotions. At some point in a business, brands dominate what they represent and they are often the most important contributor to the asset value of companies.
P.27
The world is a competitive place and rational choice is now an oddity. Brands are there for clarity, status, membership and everything else that helps consumers to define themselves.
P.74, 75
This system of values changes in services. Brands based on services rely on people, and people might be volatile. They may have a bad day, can get tired or be anxious, which makes branding much more complicated than with products. Services are about people, and this people are a vital part of the brand. They need to learn how to live the brand they work with.
P.76
With a product brand, 75% of the money, time and energy will be spent in trying to influence customers and 25% in other things. This is different with a service brand, as at least 50% of time and money has to be dedicated to influencing the people in the company. In other words: with products, the customer comes first. With the service, employees do. And even in companies that seem to be product-dominated, service is really important.
P.89
There are a few rules for sustaining service brands:
- Employees have to be trained to live the brand
- The way one talks is important
- Keep consistency and coherence
P.102
In the everyday life many people want to be different from the rest. They don't want to be inclusive, but exclusive instead. Heterogeneity is as influential as homogeneity across global brands. LVMH has a portfolio of many different companies, like Louis Vuitton Moët & Henessy or Krug. LVMH has brands with attitude and enhances independence across their advertisement campaigns despite these brands not being independent at all. They understand the power of uniqueness.
P.128
Big companies sometimes have to expand their brand framework within a single business. Companies like El Corte Ingles or Wal-Mart sell from groceries to financial services. They even issue their own credit cards because their clients have real faith in them, thinking those companies are actually behind it. Brands have portability and Tesco, according to Merrill Lynch, wants to deal with utilities, telecommunications, travel, ticketing and leisure.
It's all about reputation and trust, and this can only be encapsulated through the brand name and values.
P.137
It is interesting how people usually say things like 'if a car is German, then it's a good car'. Engineering and Germany integrity are mutually reinforcing concepts. In general, engineering German products have credibility just because of the fact that they are German... but Mercedes M Class SUV are actually made in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Same happens with other nationalities and their characteristics, and brands allow companies to use them as tools for communication.
P.144-145
This graphicis part of a series of studies on what 'made in' means carried out by Wolff Olins with Financial Times. It shows the meaning of 'Made in Germany'. 'Technical prowess' is the attribute that stands out over the rest, whilst 'emotions' seem not to be involved at all in their modus operandi. Banking, electronics or pharmaceuticals are other areas where German have been very successful, but they are usually ignored. Traditional prejudices is what makes this happen. Ollins (2003) claims that the way people perceive a nation can be changed, but a company with products that do not fall into these stereotypes should maybe ignore its German origins. Designers can take advantage of the prejudices and ignorance these stereotypes offer to give meaning to something.
P.147
On the other hand, this is a concept that is being less used in modern times. There are big companies that have worked not to have national connotations or associations, since it can be, as Ollins puts it, a 'kind of sentimental hangover of no practical value', because at some point it is more important what company does what instead of where it is made.
P.167
These characteristics of a nation can be changed. In order to do this, Ollins (2003) suggests to avoid the obvious (trade fairs, commercial work in embassies and advertising), but to influence people with food, art, film, sports, etc. This is the reason why football games and film festivals are very important as commercial missions, even more if the nation wins.
P.176-195
Despite having a distrust for rules, Ollins (2003) made a set of guidelines that suggest a methodology that can be helpful creating and sustaining brands:
1.- The four vectors
There are four vectors by which a brand manifests itself: product, environment, communication and behaviour. In other words, the what, where and how of a company. Brands are usually a mix of these four vectors.
Brands based on products function is important, but it must be supported by the ergonomics and aesthetics of the design. On the other hand, if the product is not right, the design cannot make it work.
People choose hotels based on what they feel like, their facilities and location. These are all environmental factors.
Coca-Cola, for example, is a communication-driven brand, specifically in in advertising. Its packaging, materials, events and so on are designed to arouse a very specific set of emotions. These emotions are what makes this product be seen through its communication.
An example of behaviourally led brands are airlines. Customers judge them based on the service and not in the time it took for them to get from point A to point B.
2.- Brand architecture
There are three options Ollins (2003) uses to describe different company structures:
- Monolithic: It uses the name and visual idea to describe what an organisation does. For example, Yamaha makes pianos and motorcycles under the same name.
- Endorsed: An organisation with a series of brands, each one of them with their own name and identity. For example, Balliol College are a ramification from Oxford University.
- Branded: Each brand is projected in a separated way to the consumer, so they are perceived as independent. The reality is that it is owned by an entity that controls it. An example of this are the brands Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff or Guinness, which they all are under the same roof of Diageo.
Customers want to believe their favourite brands create their products specifically for them in small workshops, and the idea is to persuade them that these brands have retained their traditions and integrity.
3.- Invented, reinvented and name changes
Brands might be new or reinvented. This differentiation is important considering that when a brand needs to be created from scratch, it is like a blank sheet of paper. Although, reinventing it, there are features that can be worked with, like culture, tradition, attitude or reputation. These processes usually involve name changes, which is the most sensitive branding issue in the minds of the public and media. They are expensive complex and in most cases ridiculed when first announced. The good news about these facts is that after a few weeks all that goes away.
4.- Product quality
If the product is as good as the best of its competition, that is a good sign of success. If it is better than that, competition will catch up at some point, usually very quickly. So, if the product is not in these two categories, it will certainly fail.
5.- The inside and the outside
A basic rule of marketing is that the customer comes first. The staff has to understand the brand, live it and believe in it. Otherwise, they cannot persuade the final customer to buy it. Brands persuade outsiders to buy and insiders to believe. For the customers, the insiders (staff) are the brand.
------------SIMON SINEK: Staff comes first, not customers.
6.- Differentiators or core ideas
A product must be differentiated and designed to be in a specific way to appeal to a specific market. Simpler the message, easier to get across. Names, typefaces, colours or even music and smells derive from emotional power. There are hundreds of similar products in a very competitive market, all fighting each other to get customers attention. Design has the power in making this differentiation through emotions.
7.- Breaking the mould
Rejecting conventions that surround a business is sometimes the best idea. Going for something entirely new, like Apple did with computers. Breaking the mould usually happens thanks to design.
8.- Reducing risk
Branding is risk. Research can tell a designer about the past and current times and give a fair indication of what consumers are moving towards. The problem with research is that it cannot predict if a product will work in a market place, if it will sell or if people will like it. It is useful, it is another tool, but it is not reliable. Risk is intrinsically embedded in branding.
9.- Promotion
Brands need to be known to meet their purpose. Money is usually the biggest issue, but through collaboration and organisation it is possible to get a brand out in the market.
10.- Distribution
Coverage is vital for distribution. For example, The Lion King's merchandise, musical, books and so on are all opportunities to get at customers and to reinforce its message. It is endless, ubiquitous and merciless. But it is effective.
11.- Coherence, clarity and congruence
From the first contact a brand must reinforce trust. Attitude, style and culture are three pieces that must perfectly fit. It should feel the same across different platforms.
P.218
It is important to remember that there are stronger forces that affect brands. These are vulnerable to fashion and also to themselves, as bad management can be very destructive. Brands are also vulnerable because they cannot anticipate how people will use them and changes in opinion about used materials or other features.
P.220
Brands are not as powerful as they look and they are very vulnerable to the unpredictability of the consumers. The brand is part of the corporation, and the way the latter behaves has a direct impact on the brand. Problems can also be part of the brand, and that is when companies do not have it all their own way.
The main target of financially based businesses is to maximise their profits. There are also many businesses that are passionate about what they do and are very proud about how they do it, but they don't forget about the profits. There is also another group of companies that try to seduce their customers, and despite being an ordinary word, Ollins (2003) claims this is what branding is all about. Branding is about seducing, persuading and attempting to manipulate people into spending money in products and services. What a company does is not as important as how they do it. But it's even more important how they are perceived to do it.
-------SIMON SINEK GOLDEN CIRCLE HERE--------
P. 11
Because of this manipulation, these marketing strategies have been criticised and morally questioned. The truth is that branding is expanding to politics, nations, culture, sports and the voluntary sector. Charities are using emotional appeals to encourage people to donate money. The key issue, Ollins points out, "it is how and where and in what cause it is used that's truly significant".
P.14
Branding is the way to define something that is immediately comprehensible to everyone else.
P.16
People like brands. If not they would not buy them. Some brands make customers fall in love and others go unnoticed. This means marketing does not have an entire control over the brand. Customers do. Its power comes from a mixture of performance and what it stands for. If the mix is right, customers feel it adds an extra meaning to themselves.
P.17
For example, Irn-Bru is a bottled version of the film 'Trainspotting'. Ollins (2003) describes it as a "caricature of young, deprived, Scottish, tattooed, drugged-up thuggery to which many people apprently aspire". Many athletes wear Nike shoes because they perform better with them, but it is also a fashion statement. The shoes have a functional purpose but they are also symbolic. Most people who wear Nike shoes are not athletes. Maybe they are not even interested in sports. What remains is the statement they make by wearing them. Someone in a poor country will save money to buy a certain pair to show that he or she is part of the rich world glamour and fashion, and that makes those shoes iconic.
P.18
Another example that involves brand extension is Porsche watches. At first, it does not make any sense that a car manufacturer is making watches, but in the longer term successful companies shift their ground from making and selling to being, to represent a set of values.
P.19
This set of values can be also associated with national characteristics. Companies like Givenchy, Kenzo or Loewe belong to LVMH, which has created individual brands for its products representing national features. (Givenchy - France, Kenzo - Japan, Loewe - Spain).
P.21
Benetton does the same using social content to show sympathy with human suffering.
P.22
Charities sells caring for the less fortunate and they aim to individuals' emotions. Does a person care more about multiple sclerosis or cancer relief? Charities compete for people's money and they are on top when it comes to appeal to emotions. At some point in a business, brands dominate what they represent and they are often the most important contributor to the asset value of companies.
P.27
The world is a competitive place and rational choice is now an oddity. Brands are there for clarity, status, membership and everything else that helps consumers to define themselves.
P.74, 75
This system of values changes in services. Brands based on services rely on people, and people might be volatile. They may have a bad day, can get tired or be anxious, which makes branding much more complicated than with products. Services are about people, and this people are a vital part of the brand. They need to learn how to live the brand they work with.
P.76
With a product brand, 75% of the money, time and energy will be spent in trying to influence customers and 25% in other things. This is different with a service brand, as at least 50% of time and money has to be dedicated to influencing the people in the company. In other words: with products, the customer comes first. With the service, employees do. And even in companies that seem to be product-dominated, service is really important.
P.89
There are a few rules for sustaining service brands:
- Employees have to be trained to live the brand
- The way one talks is important
- Keep consistency and coherence
P.102
In the everyday life many people want to be different from the rest. They don't want to be inclusive, but exclusive instead. Heterogeneity is as influential as homogeneity across global brands. LVMH has a portfolio of many different companies, like Louis Vuitton Moët & Henessy or Krug. LVMH has brands with attitude and enhances independence across their advertisement campaigns despite these brands not being independent at all. They understand the power of uniqueness.
P.128
Big companies sometimes have to expand their brand framework within a single business. Companies like El Corte Ingles or Wal-Mart sell from groceries to financial services. They even issue their own credit cards because their clients have real faith in them, thinking those companies are actually behind it. Brands have portability and Tesco, according to Merrill Lynch, wants to deal with utilities, telecommunications, travel, ticketing and leisure.
It's all about reputation and trust, and this can only be encapsulated through the brand name and values.
P.137
It is interesting how people usually say things like 'if a car is German, then it's a good car'. Engineering and Germany integrity are mutually reinforcing concepts. In general, engineering German products have credibility just because of the fact that they are German... but Mercedes M Class SUV are actually made in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Same happens with other nationalities and their characteristics, and brands allow companies to use them as tools for communication.
P.144-145
This graphicis part of a series of studies on what 'made in' means carried out by Wolff Olins with Financial Times. It shows the meaning of 'Made in Germany'. 'Technical prowess' is the attribute that stands out over the rest, whilst 'emotions' seem not to be involved at all in their modus operandi. Banking, electronics or pharmaceuticals are other areas where German have been very successful, but they are usually ignored. Traditional prejudices is what makes this happen. Ollins (2003) claims that the way people perceive a nation can be changed, but a company with products that do not fall into these stereotypes should maybe ignore its German origins. Designers can take advantage of the prejudices and ignorance these stereotypes offer to give meaning to something.
P.147
On the other hand, this is a concept that is being less used in modern times. There are big companies that have worked not to have national connotations or associations, since it can be, as Ollins puts it, a 'kind of sentimental hangover of no practical value', because at some point it is more important what company does what instead of where it is made.
P.167
These characteristics of a nation can be changed. In order to do this, Ollins (2003) suggests to avoid the obvious (trade fairs, commercial work in embassies and advertising), but to influence people with food, art, film, sports, etc. This is the reason why football games and film festivals are very important as commercial missions, even more if the nation wins.
P.176-195
Despite having a distrust for rules, Ollins (2003) made a set of guidelines that suggest a methodology that can be helpful creating and sustaining brands:
1.- The four vectors
There are four vectors by which a brand manifests itself: product, environment, communication and behaviour. In other words, the what, where and how of a company. Brands are usually a mix of these four vectors.
Brands based on products function is important, but it must be supported by the ergonomics and aesthetics of the design. On the other hand, if the product is not right, the design cannot make it work.
People choose hotels based on what they feel like, their facilities and location. These are all environmental factors.
Coca-Cola, for example, is a communication-driven brand, specifically in in advertising. Its packaging, materials, events and so on are designed to arouse a very specific set of emotions. These emotions are what makes this product be seen through its communication.
An example of behaviourally led brands are airlines. Customers judge them based on the service and not in the time it took for them to get from point A to point B.
2.- Brand architecture
There are three options Ollins (2003) uses to describe different company structures:
- Monolithic: It uses the name and visual idea to describe what an organisation does. For example, Yamaha makes pianos and motorcycles under the same name.
- Endorsed: An organisation with a series of brands, each one of them with their own name and identity. For example, Balliol College are a ramification from Oxford University.
- Branded: Each brand is projected in a separated way to the consumer, so they are perceived as independent. The reality is that it is owned by an entity that controls it. An example of this are the brands Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff or Guinness, which they all are under the same roof of Diageo.
Customers want to believe their favourite brands create their products specifically for them in small workshops, and the idea is to persuade them that these brands have retained their traditions and integrity.
3.- Invented, reinvented and name changes
Brands might be new or reinvented. This differentiation is important considering that when a brand needs to be created from scratch, it is like a blank sheet of paper. Although, reinventing it, there are features that can be worked with, like culture, tradition, attitude or reputation. These processes usually involve name changes, which is the most sensitive branding issue in the minds of the public and media. They are expensive complex and in most cases ridiculed when first announced. The good news about these facts is that after a few weeks all that goes away.
4.- Product quality
If the product is as good as the best of its competition, that is a good sign of success. If it is better than that, competition will catch up at some point, usually very quickly. So, if the product is not in these two categories, it will certainly fail.
5.- The inside and the outside
A basic rule of marketing is that the customer comes first. The staff has to understand the brand, live it and believe in it. Otherwise, they cannot persuade the final customer to buy it. Brands persuade outsiders to buy and insiders to believe. For the customers, the insiders (staff) are the brand.
------------SIMON SINEK: Staff comes first, not customers.
6.- Differentiators or core ideas
A product must be differentiated and designed to be in a specific way to appeal to a specific market. Simpler the message, easier to get across. Names, typefaces, colours or even music and smells derive from emotional power. There are hundreds of similar products in a very competitive market, all fighting each other to get customers attention. Design has the power in making this differentiation through emotions.
7.- Breaking the mould
Rejecting conventions that surround a business is sometimes the best idea. Going for something entirely new, like Apple did with computers. Breaking the mould usually happens thanks to design.
8.- Reducing risk
Branding is risk. Research can tell a designer about the past and current times and give a fair indication of what consumers are moving towards. The problem with research is that it cannot predict if a product will work in a market place, if it will sell or if people will like it. It is useful, it is another tool, but it is not reliable. Risk is intrinsically embedded in branding.
9.- Promotion
Brands need to be known to meet their purpose. Money is usually the biggest issue, but through collaboration and organisation it is possible to get a brand out in the market.
10.- Distribution
Coverage is vital for distribution. For example, The Lion King's merchandise, musical, books and so on are all opportunities to get at customers and to reinforce its message. It is endless, ubiquitous and merciless. But it is effective.
11.- Coherence, clarity and congruence
From the first contact a brand must reinforce trust. Attitude, style and culture are three pieces that must perfectly fit. It should feel the same across different platforms.
P.218
It is important to remember that there are stronger forces that affect brands. These are vulnerable to fashion and also to themselves, as bad management can be very destructive. Brands are also vulnerable because they cannot anticipate how people will use them and changes in opinion about used materials or other features.
P.220
Brands are not as powerful as they look and they are very vulnerable to the unpredictability of the consumers. The brand is part of the corporation, and the way the latter behaves has a direct impact on the brand. Problems can also be part of the brand, and that is when companies do not have it all their own way.
Lusensky, J (2010). Sounds like branding: using the power of music to turn customers into fans. P.30-37
P.30
---Start of dissertation---
According to the National Encyclopedia, a brand is "a specific trademark used to distinguish their own goods or services from others". It's a term that comes from the agrarian practice of burning the owner's initials or symbol into the cattle skin.
Another more modern definition of this word attributed to David A. Aaker is "a set of assets which are linked to a brand name or symbol, which contribute to the value of a product or service".
Aaker also defines branding as creating a unique position "in people's minds and eventually the market by communicating internally or externally by fulfilling the brand promise mad to its customers".
The identity, on the other hand, is the perception of the company and the values associated with it.
P.31
Three concepts are key when building an identity:
1.- Core Identity: The foundation of the brand must be clear and consistent. Example: McDonald's identity is built around the concepts of "value, service, quality, family, children and cleanliness".
2.- Extended brand identity: Components that are flexible and can be modified depending on company initiative or market situations. These elements are related to visual styles, personality and tone.
3.- Brand essence: A slogan or tagline that communicates the brand's soul. For example, Nokia's "Conneting People".
P.32
Brand equity according to Aaker
Familiarity: To trust a brand a customer must know it.
Loyalty: Loyal customers are cheaper as it requires less marketing costs to encourage them to buy again. It is also a feature that protects from competitors.
Perceived quality: It is necessary for the customer to believe that the offer (including service, experience and performance) is of value.
Associations: Positive and negative connotations associated with the brand that can be influenced by personal experiences, designs, symbols and many other factors.
----put this together with the exercise of humanising a product or viceversa----
Brands establish relationships with customers in a human way. In other words: brands are treated like individuals with their own set of values and beliefs.
Lusensky (2010) also considers a strong brand when it offers the possibility to sell any kind of product and keep continuity in their communications. An example of this is Disney, a company that sells products like toothpaste to services like vacations.
P.34
The unceasing growing volume of similar products made very difficult for businesses to differentiate their products on only attributes. The companies that thrived and even charged more for their products were those that differentiated themselves using emotional benefits to connect to their customers in a different way. This can only be achieved through branding.
P.35-36
To understand how brands work it's important to understand what motivates human beings. Abraham Maslow claimed that we all aspire to reach the top of his pyramid, either consciously or unconsciously. This can only be done by completely satisfying the steps below.
Nowadays, the lower part of the pyramid represent the basic needs our modern, convenient and relatively safe society. After fulfilling that, we look for something more. Customers choose brands to tell others who they are and what they believe in. Consuming it's a modern way of expression.
P.37
Kevin Roberts, Saatchi & Saatchi agency CEO, claims brands will evolve into something that customers truly love and remain totally devoted to. He names them "Lovemarks", and there are three main factors for this evolution:
1.- Mystery. Stories and mythology surrounding a brand engages the audiences.
2.- Sensuality. Not only through sight , but we experience the world through touch, smell, taste and hearing. In the future, brands will engage customers through all senses.
3.- Intimacy. Dialogue instead a one-way communication.
---Start of dissertation---
According to the National Encyclopedia, a brand is "a specific trademark used to distinguish their own goods or services from others". It's a term that comes from the agrarian practice of burning the owner's initials or symbol into the cattle skin.
Another more modern definition of this word attributed to David A. Aaker is "a set of assets which are linked to a brand name or symbol, which contribute to the value of a product or service".
Aaker also defines branding as creating a unique position "in people's minds and eventually the market by communicating internally or externally by fulfilling the brand promise mad to its customers".
The identity, on the other hand, is the perception of the company and the values associated with it.
P.31
Three concepts are key when building an identity:
1.- Core Identity: The foundation of the brand must be clear and consistent. Example: McDonald's identity is built around the concepts of "value, service, quality, family, children and cleanliness".
2.- Extended brand identity: Components that are flexible and can be modified depending on company initiative or market situations. These elements are related to visual styles, personality and tone.
3.- Brand essence: A slogan or tagline that communicates the brand's soul. For example, Nokia's "Conneting People".
P.32
Brand equity according to Aaker
Familiarity: To trust a brand a customer must know it.
Loyalty: Loyal customers are cheaper as it requires less marketing costs to encourage them to buy again. It is also a feature that protects from competitors.
Perceived quality: It is necessary for the customer to believe that the offer (including service, experience and performance) is of value.
Associations: Positive and negative connotations associated with the brand that can be influenced by personal experiences, designs, symbols and many other factors.
----put this together with the exercise of humanising a product or viceversa----
Brands establish relationships with customers in a human way. In other words: brands are treated like individuals with their own set of values and beliefs.
Lusensky (2010) also considers a strong brand when it offers the possibility to sell any kind of product and keep continuity in their communications. An example of this is Disney, a company that sells products like toothpaste to services like vacations.
P.34
The unceasing growing volume of similar products made very difficult for businesses to differentiate their products on only attributes. The companies that thrived and even charged more for their products were those that differentiated themselves using emotional benefits to connect to their customers in a different way. This can only be achieved through branding.
P.35-36
To understand how brands work it's important to understand what motivates human beings. Abraham Maslow claimed that we all aspire to reach the top of his pyramid, either consciously or unconsciously. This can only be done by completely satisfying the steps below.
Nowadays, the lower part of the pyramid represent the basic needs our modern, convenient and relatively safe society. After fulfilling that, we look for something more. Customers choose brands to tell others who they are and what they believe in. Consuming it's a modern way of expression.
P.37
Kevin Roberts, Saatchi & Saatchi agency CEO, claims brands will evolve into something that customers truly love and remain totally devoted to. He names them "Lovemarks", and there are three main factors for this evolution:
1.- Mystery. Stories and mythology surrounding a brand engages the audiences.
2.- Sensuality. Not only through sight , but we experience the world through touch, smell, taste and hearing. In the future, brands will engage customers through all senses.
3.- Intimacy. Dialogue instead a one-way communication.
Adams, S and Morioka, N (2006). Logo design workbook: A hands-on guide to creating logos. P.12, 14, 18, 22, 23
P. 12
"Man's desire to claim ownership is inherent. Whether this is a result of pride, greed or hope of immortality is personal. We mark our names on childhood drawings. We develop a signature, unique to each of us, to protect our identity. We carve initials into tree trunks with a heart, hoping to make a union permanent. It redefines these motives from the individual to the collective".
P. 14
A logo is a condensed visual representation that serves for different purposes:
- Differentiate from competition
- Create a focus internally
- Provide clear identification
- Enable the audience to form a personal relationship
- Create merchandising opportunities
- Create credibility
- Bring order to chaos
- Communicate the message
P.18
Identity and brand are two different concepts. The identity consists in the combination of the visual system (imagery, colours, typeface) and editorial tone working together with the purpose of creating a cohesive and coherent message for an idea, object, company or person. On the other hand, the brand is the perception of the audience based on values, mission and other features. Designers use the identity to shape the perception (brand) the audiences have about something.
P.22
--OP--
The designer, the client and audience have different set of opinions, personal preferences and influences. We are surrounded by subjectivity, so it's important to stick to the strategy and the target audience in order to achieve a successful outcome.
P.23
Points that need to be clarified for brand strategy:
"
1.- Positioning. Compared to other companies, what is the client's current positioning?
2.- Purpose. What is the client's business and purpose?
3.- Mission. Beyond the economics, why is it worth doing it?
4.- Composition. What is the client's current internal structure?
5.- Culture. What are the client's distinctive shared behaviours that best support the purpose and mission?
6.- Personality. What is the client's chosen style and manner?
7.- Goals. What are the five key goals over the next year / five years?
8.- Growth. What are the greatest opportunities for the growth of the client and its image?
9.- Promises. What promises does the client make?
10.- Current audience. Who is the client's current audience? Who, where, when and why?
11.- Audience goal. Does the client want another type of audience? What is the desired demographic?
12.- Perception. How does the client's target audience currently view the brand?
13.- Desired perception. How does the client want the audience to view the brand?
14.- Competition. How is the client different from its competition?
15.- Response. What response does the client want the target audience to take away with them?
16.- Objective. What is the marketing objective?
"
"Man's desire to claim ownership is inherent. Whether this is a result of pride, greed or hope of immortality is personal. We mark our names on childhood drawings. We develop a signature, unique to each of us, to protect our identity. We carve initials into tree trunks with a heart, hoping to make a union permanent. It redefines these motives from the individual to the collective".
P. 14
A logo is a condensed visual representation that serves for different purposes:
- Differentiate from competition
- Create a focus internally
- Provide clear identification
- Enable the audience to form a personal relationship
- Create merchandising opportunities
- Create credibility
- Bring order to chaos
- Communicate the message
P.18
Identity and brand are two different concepts. The identity consists in the combination of the visual system (imagery, colours, typeface) and editorial tone working together with the purpose of creating a cohesive and coherent message for an idea, object, company or person. On the other hand, the brand is the perception of the audience based on values, mission and other features. Designers use the identity to shape the perception (brand) the audiences have about something.
P.22
--OP--
The designer, the client and audience have different set of opinions, personal preferences and influences. We are surrounded by subjectivity, so it's important to stick to the strategy and the target audience in order to achieve a successful outcome.
P.23
Points that need to be clarified for brand strategy:
"
1.- Positioning. Compared to other companies, what is the client's current positioning?
2.- Purpose. What is the client's business and purpose?
3.- Mission. Beyond the economics, why is it worth doing it?
4.- Composition. What is the client's current internal structure?
5.- Culture. What are the client's distinctive shared behaviours that best support the purpose and mission?
6.- Personality. What is the client's chosen style and manner?
7.- Goals. What are the five key goals over the next year / five years?
8.- Growth. What are the greatest opportunities for the growth of the client and its image?
9.- Promises. What promises does the client make?
10.- Current audience. Who is the client's current audience? Who, where, when and why?
11.- Audience goal. Does the client want another type of audience? What is the desired demographic?
12.- Perception. How does the client's target audience currently view the brand?
13.- Desired perception. How does the client want the audience to view the brand?
14.- Competition. How is the client different from its competition?
15.- Response. What response does the client want the target audience to take away with them?
16.- Objective. What is the marketing objective?
"
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