Branding

A few days ago, I was contemplating whether to buy a Mac or a normal windows PC. The question would have been less baffling if I had less money or if I had no choice :D.
Think about how easy would it be for you when you walked into a barista and asked for a coffee, no need to answer if you wanted it black or with milk, sugar or no sugar, cream or without cream. How good would it be if they gave you everything and you used whatever you wanted to :D.

The question made me think about a very important concept of marketing called “Branding”.

We are all familiar with the term Brand but little do we know that everything around us has a brand value, even ourselves. There is one thing that differentiates one person or thing from the other which may be exploited as the thing/person’s brand value.

All cars cannot be a Ferrari!!!

When talking of Brands, it is also important to know how to keep the brand alive. It is important, hence, for brand managers to think of what extensions to give to a product/product name. Should it be a line extension of launching a new product in the same category, should a company go for a brand extension of introducing a new category or should a company foray into the unknown territory by moving into a totally new industry? While it may be a good idea to extend the line of existing products a brand manager should be careful because the new product can bring about a decline in sales of the older products while may not bring in additional profit. Line extensions make sense when the company can benefit from customer loyalty.

Brand Extension and Brand Stretch are a riskier and trickier. I may like to wear a Benetton t-shirt but would I like to buy laptop that goes by the same name, not really! Also the question of renaming the brand comes up when it comes to brand stretch that explains why Levi’s named its cotton trousers Dockers rather than calling it Levi’s cottons. So why did Levi’s do it, because it gave them the opportunity to establish a new brand image.

Quality is no longer a discriminating factor; it used to be, not anymore. It may create a tad bit of a difference but not enough to get a firm grip on the market. It is the after sales service, customer relationship management and USP of the brand.

Finally, a brand does not sell because of less cost, better quality or higher costs of the competitor. It sells on goodwill and customer retention. Try to work out how you get you can do that, and you’ve got yourself a “BRAND”.

P.S: I bought the Mac 