How Do I Get My Brand Into The Consumer’s Mind-Space?
Objectives:
- The role of marketing communications in Brand management - Positioning
Marketing Communication
• Without MC there would be no brand
• Above the line – advertising
• Below the line – promotions
• ‘Advertising’ – any message where primary objective is to build & sustain brand awareness & positive brand attitude
• MC raises awareness for brand, gives it meaning – meaning formed by brand attitude & learning from MC which in turn builds brand equity
• Two elements essential to establishing & maintaining desired meaning of brand: effective positioning & strong positive brand attitude
o Positioning; image or understanding of brand in their mind cued by/ communicated by brand name
o Brand attitude; reflects everything you know about product &
what it means to you (belief = attitude = behaviour)
Perceptual Mapping; research technique enabling marketers to plot graphically consumers’ perceptions of product attributes of competing brands.
5 Steps For Development of Strategic MC Plan 1. Identify target audience
2. Gain understanding of how target goes about making decisions in category 3. Establishing positioning for brand
4. Setting communication objectives:
a. Brand awareness b. Brand attitude 5. Setting media strategy
Ø Brand must be positioned such that when need for product occurs, it is the brand that comes to mind
Ø Target should immediately understand that advertising is talking to them
Brand Communication Strategy Brand Awareness Strategy
- Recognition brand awareness; when purchase decision made at point of purchase, where need for product is stimulated by seeing the brand
o Use packaging, brand name, logo, in-store
- Recall brand awareness; when brand name must be remembered/
recalled once need for product occurs - Build brand awareness through:
o Repeated exposure
o Visual iconic learning (wrote learning – often low involvement, remember things by constant exposure)
o Classical conditioning – emotional response to an ad - Examples;
o Qantas – I still call Australia Home o OMO – makes clothing brighter o Oh What a Feeling Toyota
o It’s moments like these you need a Minty Brand Attitude Strategy
Ø Involvement
o Degree of risk (fiscal/ psychological) – high/ low involvement determines whether message must be accepted/ believed Ø Motivation
o Understanding motivations during purchase decision, positive/
negative, determines how to focus upon brand’s benefits
o Motivations have positive or negative valence – achieve something or avoid something
o Positive motive – focus be on emotional benefit alone or emotion that results from subjective characteristic of benefit (pleasurably good or pleasurably good because natural for you)
o Negative – focused on attribute of brand in support of subjective characteristic or negative emotion resolved/ eliminated because of subjective characteristic attributed to brand (Paracetamol – gentle on the stomach, effective on pain OR pain relief – fast due to fast
absorbing paracetamol) The Rossiter-Percy Grid
Informational/ transformational reflects general goal (negative/ positive motivation) of brand communication strategy
Brand Attitude Creative Tactics
Ø Low Involvement/ Informational (negative); provide one/ two clear
benefits, even exaggeration of benefit (e.g. Colgate Fluoride, Dyanmo Laundry Liquid)
Ø High involvement/ informational (negative); provide believable
information about brand that is consistent with target audience’s existing attitudes, do not over-claim (e.g. NAB home loans, GIO insurance)
Ø Low involvement/ transformational (emotional); key is perceived emotional authenticity of execution, and target audience must like it (e.g.
Coca Cola, Smith’s Lites)
Ø High involvement/ transformational (emotional); emotional authenticity is critical, and target audience must personally identify with feeling created (e.g. Club Med, Jeep)
Integrated Marketing Communications
• Evaluate all possible communication options according to effectiveness, efficiency, relevance of target market
• Mix and Match to build CBBE; awareness, linking POP/ POD to brand in memory, positive brand judgements/ feelings, stronger consumer-brand connection, brand resonance
• Example; V music festival marketing
• High involvement; personal selling, informative Ads, direct messages, public relations, brand ads
• Love involvement; social media, sales promotion, WOM
• Non-traditional media; internet, mobile marketing, social marketing, packaging, sponsorships/ event marketing, trade shows/ fairs, PR, personal selling
Brand Touch Points
All different ways brand interacts with/ makes impression on customers and stakeholders; pre, during and post purchase.
- Any place, artefact, interface where person experiences a brand - Brand experience = sum of all touch points brand has with customer - Old way = integration VS. New way = interlinking
- Old funnel metaphor; consumers started with large number, slowly funnel down to decide which to buy
- New funnel metaphor; systematically narrowing choices, add and subtract brand from group under consideration during extended evaluation phase.
Developing The Brand Positioning
Brand Positioning; As a ‘super communication’ effect that tells potential customer what brand is, who it is & what it offers.
Brand positioning; frame of reference à POD/POP à Brand Mantra Frame of reference: category membership of product or which product category a brand competes with
• Signals to consumers goals they can expect to achieve by using a brand
• Stage in product lifecycle may influence choice of frame of reference Point of difference (POD); In terms of attributes, benefits, values – relevant, distinctive, believable – something about brand that makes it different (this difference valued by consumers)
- Generally defined in terms of consumer benefits;
o Attributes; objective components
o Characteristics; subjective claims about product o Emotions; feelings associated
- POD does not matter without requisite POP
- Benefits consumers strongly associate with the brand, positively evaluate, believe could not find to same extent with competitive band
• Brand performance associations; way product/ service attempts to meet customers functional needs…
o Performance on benefits
o Reliability, durability, serviceability associations o Effectiveness, efficiency, empathy associations o Style & design
o Value and price
• Brand imagery associations; used when making choices based on experience. Who uses brand, under what circumstances.
• Consumer insight associations; when brand’s performance and imagery don’t differ much from competitors. Brand shows insight into consumer goals, it is the solution. (least attractive basis for positioning)
2 Fundamental POD filters;
1. Desirability; POD perceived as relevant and believable
2. Deliverability; POD feasible, positioning on benefit is profitable, positioning pre-emptive, defensible, difficult to attack.
Point of Parity (POP); not unique to brand but shared by others in product category.
• Meeting minimum requirements for playing the game, depend on where product is in lifecycle – a KEY MUST HAVE
• POD competitor has over your brand that needs to be counteracted
• Category POP; necessary category feature must have
• Competitive POP; potentially negative associations, arising from existence of the other, more positive associations
Positioning Statement – Slogans/ Mantras
Ø Embodies the essence of a brand, from it philosophy to its vision & identity Ø Is the brand for (target audience) that satisfies (category need) by offering
(benefit)…
1. Relate brand to category need for effective brand awareness
2. Related brand to an overall benefit to build positive brand attitudes 3. Select specific benefit in terms of its importance, delivery and uniqueness
(key brand discriminator)
4. Correctly focus upon benefit relative to appropriate motivation driving behaviour in the category
Emphasise POD or POP?
Ø ‘Me-Too’ Competitor; being weaker competitor, piggyback on success of market leaders by highlighting POP’s
Ø Market leader; maintain market leadership, seen as superior/ different in key ways, focus on relevant POD’s
Ø Entering established and mature market; when likelihood of switching relatively lower, POD’s required to break habitual loyalty
Ø Fast-growing market; primary demand (i.e. first time customers to market), therefore, POP positioning should be used in capturing new customers Ø Diversity of needs, even in fairly narrow market segments; when
significant diversity of needs, POD’s should be used
Ø Target market where firm already offers multiple brands; reduce risk of cannibalisation in sales, more emphasis on POD’s required
Ø Relatively price sensitive market; provide additional benefits, order to reduce importance of price in decision. POD’s positioning required.
Central vs. Differential Positioning
Ø Central; for brand leaders – those who have recognisable, known benefits that majority of consumers rely on and believe. Delivers main benefits associated with product category i.e. McDonalds
Ø Differential; looks for benefit which consumer feels is important & does a better job
