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INTRODUCTION The word "brand", when used as a noun, can refer to a company name, a product name, or a unique identifier

such as a logo or trademark. In a time before fences were used in ranching to keep one's cattle separate from other people's cattle, ranch owners branded, or marked, their cattle so they could later identify their herd as their own. The concept of branding also developed through the practices of craftsmen who wanted to place a mark or identifier on their work without detracting from the beauty of the piece. These craftsmen used their initials, a symbol, or another unique mark to identify their work and they usually put these marks in a low visibility place on the product. Not too long afterwards, high quality cattle and art became identifiable in consumers minds by particular symbols and marks. Consumers would actually seek out certain marks because they had associated those marks in their minds with tastier beef, higher quality pottery or furniture, sophisticated artwork, and overall better products. If the producer differentiated their product as superior in the mind of the consumer, then that producer's mark or brand came to represent superiority. Today's modern concept of branding grew out of the consumer packaged goods industry and the process of branding has come to include much, much more than just creating a way to identify a product or company. Branding today is used to create emotional attachment to products and companies. Branding efforts create a feeling of involvement, a sense of higher quality, and an aura of intangible qualities that surround the brand name, mark, or symbol. So what exactly is the definition of "brand"? Let's cover some definitions first before we get too far into the branding process. What is a brand? If you ask ten marketing professionals or brand managers to define the word "brand", you very well may get ten different answers. Most of the answers you receive, hopefully, will at least have some commonalities. In my own experience and in my extensive study of brands and branding, there is one definition of "brand" that seems to most succinctly define exactly what a brand is.

The definition of brand: A brand is an identifiable entity that makes specific promises of value. In its simplest form, a brand is nothing more and nothing less than the promises of value you or your product make. These promises can be implied or explicitly stated, but none-the-less, value of some type is promised. Additional definitions Brand image is defined as consumers' perceptions as reflected by the associations they hold in their minds when they think of your brand. BRAND AWARENESS Brand awareness is when people recognize your brand as yours. This does not necessarily mean they prefer your brand (brand preference), attach a high value to, or associate any superior attributes to your brand, it just means they recognize your brand and can identify it under different conditions. Theres a familiar adage among sales people that says nothing happens until something is sold. In marketing, that saying could be changed to nothing is sold until someones aware of it. Dozens of studies have shown strong correlations between awareness and market share, between awareness and brand preference, between awareness and product usage, between awareness and sales. Brand awareness is a marketing concept that measures consumers' knowledge of a brand's existence. At the aggregate (brand) level, it refers to the proportion of consumers who know of the brand. Brand awareness can be measured by showing a consumer the brand and asking whether or not they knew of it beforehand. However, in common market research practice a variety of recognition and recall measures of brand awareness are employed all of which test the brand name's association to a product category cue, this came about because most market research in the 20th Century was conducted by post or telephone, actually showing the brand to consumers usually required more expensive face-to-face interviews (until web-based interviews became possible).

This has led many textbooks to conceptualize brand awareness simply as its measures, that is, knowledge that the brand is a member of a particular product category, e.g. softdrinks. Examples of such measures include: Brand recognition - Either the brand name or both the brand name and category name are presented to respondents. Brand recall - the product category name is given to respondents who are asked to recall as many brands as possible that are members of the category. Top of mind brand awareness - as above, but only the first brand recalled is recorded (also known as spontaneous brand recall). Brand awareness consists of both brand recognition, which is the ability of consumers to confirm that they have previously been exposed to your brand, and brand recall, which reflects the ability of consumers to name your brand when given the product category, category need, or some other similar cue. Aided awareness occurs when you show or read a list of brands and the person expresses familiarity with your brand only after they hear or see it. Top-of-mind awareness occurs when you ask a person to name brands within a product category and your brand pops up first on the list. Brand awareness is a marketing concept that measures consumers' knowledge of a brand's existence. At the aggregate (brand) level, it refers to the proportion of consumers who know of the brand.

Measurement driven conceptualization Brand awareness means the extent to which a brand associated with a particular product is documented by potential and existing customers either positively or negatively. Creation of brand awareness is the primary goal of advertising at the beginning of any product's life cycle in target markets. In fact, brand awareness has influence on buying behaviour of a buyer. All of these calculations are, at best, approximations. A more complete understanding of the brand can occur if multiple measures are used. A brand equity is the positive effect of the brand on the difference between the prices that the consumer accepts to pay when the brand known compared to the value of the benefit received. There are two schools of thought regarding the existence of negative brand equity. One perspective states brand equity cannot be negative, hypothesizing only positive brand equity is created by marketing activities such as advertising, PR, and promotion. A second perspective is that negative equity can exist, due to catastrophic events to the brand, such as a wide product recall or continued negative press attention (Blackwater or Halliburton, for example). Colloquially, the term "negative brand equity" may be used to describe a product or service where a brand has a negligible effect on a product level when compared to a no-name or private label product. The brand-related negative intangible assets are called brand liability, compared with brand equity

Family branding vs. individual branding strategies The greater a company's brand equity, the greater the probability that the company will use a family branding strategy rather than an individual branding strategy. This is because family branding allows them to leverage the equity accumulated in the core brand. Aspects of brand equity includes: brand loyalty, awareness, association, and perception of quality. Brand awareness can be measured by showing a consumer the brand and asking whether or not they knew of it beforehand. However, in common market research practice a variety of recognition and recall measures of brand awareness are employed all of which test the brand name's association to a product category cue, this came about because most market research in the 20th Century was conducted by post or telephone, actually showing the brand to consumers usually required more expensive face-to-face interviews (until web-based interviews became possible). This has led many textbooks to conceptualise brand awareness simply as its measures, that is, knowledge that the brand is a member of a particular product category, e.g. soft-drinks. Examples of such measures include:

Brand recognition - Either the brand name or both the brand name and category name are presented to respondents.

Brand recall - the product category name is given to respondents who are asked to recall as many brands as possible that are members of the category.

Top of mind awareness - as above, but only the first brand recalled is recorded (also known as spontaneous brand recall).

Research on metrics There has been discussion in industry and practice about the meaning and value of various brand awareness metrics. Recently, an empirical study appeared to put this debate to rest by suggesting that all awareness metrics were systematically related, simply reflecting their difficulty, in the same way that certain questions are more difficult in academic exams.

Brand recall Brand Recall is the extent to which a brand name is recalled as a member of a brand, product or service class, as distinct from brand recognition. Common market research usage is that pure brand recall requires "unaided recall". For example a respondent may be asked to recall the names of any cars he may know, or any whisky brands he may know. Some researchers divide recall into both "unaided" and "aided" recall. "Aided recall" measures the extent to which a brand name is remembered when the actual brand name is prompted. An example of such a question is "Do you know of the "Honda" brand?" In terms of brand exposure, companies want to look for high levels of unaided recall in relation to their competitors. The first recalled brand name (often called "top of mind") has a distinct competitive advantage in brand space, as it has the first chance of evaluation for purchase. Brand Recognition Brand Recognition is the extent to which a brand is recognized for stated brand attributes or communications In some cases brand recognition is defined as aided recall - and as a subset of brand recall. In the case, brand recognition is the extent to which a brand name is recognized when prompted with the actual name. A broader view of brand recognition is the extent to which a brand is recognized within a product class for certain attributes. Logo and tagline testing can be seen as a form of brand recognition testing. For example, if a product name can be associated with a certain tagline, logo or attribute (safety and Volvo; "Just do it" - Nike) a certain level of brand recognition is present.

MEASURING BRAND AWARENESS 1. Top-level quantitative measurement: Image and identity studies Brand awareness/preference studies

2. Qualitative tools: Focus groups Measures of brand value Net present value of future profits of the brand

3. Indicators: Home page visits Search engine referrals Editorial mentions Trade show traffic

Importance/Relevance of the Market Research The importance of this market research would be, that it will help us to determine which Car Brands enjoy different benefits due to their Brand Awareness in the mind of the consumers. Our research work will help us define how does brand awareness helps the customer to pick or choose that specific brand and get a clear picture as in is Brand Awareness really important part of the marketing strategy or is it just a burden on the marketing system. Brand awareness is an important way of promoting commodity-related products. This is because for these products, there are very few factors that differentiate one product from its competitors. Therefore, the product that maintains the highest brand awareness compared to its competitors will usually get the most sales, our research findings will help us in determining those factors.

Brand awareness is not everything Brand awareness is vitally important for all brands but high brand awareness without an understanding of what sets you apart from the competition does you virtually no good. Many marketers experience confusion on this point. Strategic awareness occurs when not only does the person recognize your brand, but they also understand the distinctive qualities that make it better than the competition. Strategic awareness occurs when you have differentiated your brand in the mind of your market. This distinction as to why your brand is unique in your category is also referred to as your Unique Selling Proposition or USP. Your USP tells your target market what you do and stand for that is different from all of your competitors. Brand preference occurs when consumers prefer your brand over competing brands. Brand preference might be considered "the holy grail" of branding because it is the result of consumers knowing your brand, understanding what is unique about your brand, connecting emotionally with your brand, making a decision that your brand is superior to others for some reason or combination of reasons, and choosing it over competing brands. Brand Equity Brand Equity is the sum total of all the different values people attach to the brand, or the holistic value of the brand to its owner as a corporate asset. Brand equity can include: the monetary value or the amount of additional income expected from a branded product over and above what might be expected from an identical, but unbranded product; the intangible value associated with the product that can not be accounted for by price or features; and the perceived quality attributed to the product independent of its physical features. A brand is nearly worthless unless it enjoys some equity in the marketplace. Without brand equity, you simply have a commodity product. Brand Management If a brand is not effectively managed then a perception can be created in the mind of your market that you do not necessarily desire. Branding is all about perception.

Wouldn't it be nice to have people perceive you the way you would like them to perceive you? That is what branding and brand management are all about. Brand management recognizes that your market's perceptions may be different from what you desire while it attempts to shape those perceptions and adjust the branding strategy to ensure the market's perceptions are exactly what you intend. So you may now have a better understanding of what a brand is and why awareness about your brand does not necessarily mean your brand enjoys high brand equity in the marketplace. You might even understand that brand management is all about shaping and managing perceptions. You may still be asking yourself, however, why you should care about branding in the first place. The benefits of a strong brand Here are just a few benefits you will enjoy when you create a strong brand:

A strong brand influences the buying decision and shapes the ownership experience. Branding creates trust and an emotional attachment to your product or company. This attachment then causes your market to make decisions based, at least in part, upon emotion-- not necessarily just for logical or intellectual reasons.

A strong brand can command a premium price and maximize the number of units that can be sold at that premium.

Branding helps make purchasing decisions easier. In this way, branding delivers a very important benefit. In a commodity market where features and benefits are virtually indistinguishable, a strong brand will help your customers trust you and create a set of expectations about your products without even knowing the specifics of product features.

Branding will help you "fence off" your customers from the competition and protect your market share while building mind share. Once you have mind share, you customers will automatically think of you first when they think of your product category.

A strong brand can make actual product features virtually insignificant. A solid branding strategy communicates a strong, consistent message about the value of your company. A strong brand helps you sell value and the intangibles that surround your products.

A strong brand signals that you want to build customer loyalty, not just sell product. A strong branding campaign will also signal that you are serious about marketing and that you intend to be around for a while. A brand impresses your firm's identity upon potential customers, not necessarily to capture an immediate sale but rather to build a lasting impression of you and your products.

Branding builds name recognition for your company or product. A brand will help you articulate your company's values and explain why you are competing in your market.

Stability of responses While brand awareness scores tend to be quite stable at aggregate (level) level, individual consumers show considerable propensity to change their responses to recall based brand awareness measures. For top of mind recall measures, consumers give the same answer in two interviews typically only 50% the time. Similar low levels of consistency in response have been recorded for other cues to elicit brand name responses Brands are intangible and conditional assets that are dependent on tangible assets to deliver the full value of their benefits. Of course partial value may be realized without material assets through licensing. Brand Equity on the other hand, as defined by Marketing Science, is the set of associations and behavior on the part of a brands customers, channel members and parent corporation that permits the brand to earn greater volume or greater margins than it could without the brand name'. Broadly speaking, Brand Equity is the intrinsic value customers attribute to a brand, beyond its fair market value. This metric can be calculated in several ways, especially between the disciplines of Marketing and Finance. In Finance, this metric is an intangible portion of Firm value that is typically valued during times of acquisitions/divestitures.

For publicly traded firms, financial Brand Equity can be measured as the difference between Market Value of the firm (total outstanding share multiplied by share price). On the other hand Marketing Brand Equity is measured as a weighted function of several constructs:

Brand Awareness: Brand Awareness can be measured by customer ability to recall brand related features or advertising, either aided or unaided. Brand Resilience: This is the Brands ability to resist new competitors in the category by defending market share against market entrants. Brand Premium: Brand Premium is the extent to which customers will pay a premium for your product when compared to similar competing products. This can be negative if the product needs to be offered at a discount to competitors to induce purchase. Brand Leverage: One dimension of Brand Equity is the trust customers put in the Brand by their willingness to try new products or line extensions under the brand name. Extensive usage of Brand Leverage could result in Brand Dilution, especially if the new products or line extensions fall below customer expectations. Market Leverage: Market leverage of a brand is its ability to gain market access via distribution channels.

Brand Equity can be considered as a weighted average of each of these metrics. Weights for each Brand Equity can be derived from expert judgment or by quantitative methods, for example by regressing long-term market-share time-series (approximated by moving average estimates) against time-series of each of these metrics collected from a sufficiently large and random sample of respondents. Brand Valuation: Brand value is as important an aspect of a firm's value as the value of it's tangible assets and cash-flows. Brand value has several different dimensions and components. Brand Assets are indirect drivers of brand value because they help maintain the brand's competitive position, premium and consumer perception, which in turn help the brand drive excess cash-flow over and above what the tangible assets and services of the firm would be expected to generate.

Consumer-based Brand Valuation Models: These models rely on consumer perception to assess quantify different attitudes and behavior that ultimately result in financial benefit to the brand. These methods do not necessarily quantify the financial impact of the brand's equity. Another potential drawback is that these methods on survey data to quantify consumer perceptions and there may be a gap between stated vs. actual attitudes.

Financial Brand Valuation Models: Financial valuation models include cost-based approaches that basically assumes that the value of the brand is the summation of all investments in the brand including R&D, Marketing and Advertising. The disadvantage is obvious, valuation will be biased by management quality and effectiveness behind these investments. This can definitely provide a number to the shareholders when considering if an offer covers their costs or not. Another approach is Comparable Valuation- by creating a set of brands most similar to the brand being valued, for which estimates of brand values are known (through M&A, or disclosed values). Again not the most accurate approach, since every brand by definition has unique characteristics that differentiates it from other brands making comparison very difficult. However this approach can definitely provide another data point for triangulation. Price premium that consumers pay for the brand's products vs. Generic or Private Label products- problem is it is always difficult to say what is really generic. One advantage is that it is closer to market perception of the brand though. A more complicated financial approach is the Economic Use model that that values the brand as the net present value (NPV) of all future cash-flows/earnings generated by the brand in it's specified use. This is also an approach that ties the value of the brand to financial realities, but may underestimate value of growing brands and overestimate values of maturing brands. All in all the best approach is to use all of the above and take a weighted average approach. The most important assets of any business are intangible including its base of loyal customers, brands, symbols & slogans and the brands underlying image, personality, identity, attitudes, familiarity, associations and name awareness. These assets along with patents, trademarks, and channel relationships comprise brand equity, and are a primary source of competitive advantage and future earnings. The brand is a distinguishing name and/or symbol (logo, trademark, or package design) intended to identify the origin of the goods or services and to differentiate those goods or services from those of competitors. A brand signals to the customer the source of

the product and protects both the customer and producer from competitors who would attempt to provide products that appear to be identical. By developing strong & consistent images, well-regarded brands generate hidden assets or brand equity that give them distinct advantages. Brand equity is a form of wealth that is closely related to what accountants call "goodwill." A brand is a promise made to its customers and shareholders. Promises that are kept yield loyal customers and produce steady streams of profits. Brand equity is initially built by laying a foundation of brand awareness eventually forming positive brand images and is ultimately maximized by high levels of brand loyalty:

At least five general approaches to assessing the value of brand equity have been proposed.

Price premium that the name can support Impact of the name on customer preferences Replacement value of the brand Stock market valuation (stock value less tangible assets) Earning power of the brand

Brand equity has been also defined as:

The component of overall preference not explained by objectively measured attributes; and

The set of consumer associations & behaviors that permits the brand to earn greater volume or margins than it could without the brand name.

7 WAYS TO BUILD BRAND AWARENESS

To some, branding might not feel like a tangible aspect of running a business. It cant be seen like a product on the shelf, or counted like a cash drawer at the end of the night. But, branding is the reason people pay three times more for a product at one store over another. Good branding is the product of a clear vision, and nobody knows more about vision than small business owners. But, with limited resources, creating a brand identity can be tricky. Fortunately, building brand awareness on the Internet doesnt need to take a lot of money or resources.

Here are seven strategies to build your business brand: 1. Define the vision. Before moving ahead with the web site, create a brand positioning statement. This isnt just, What kind of web site do we want to be? This is Who are we? says Harley Manning, vice president at Forrester Research in Cambridge, Mass., a technology and market research firm that advises on the effects technology has on consumers and businesses. Good brand statements typically include the companys mission, vision and values. Its succinct. Its typically something that will fit on a page easily, he says. 2. Build a brand worth believing in. Do you so believe in what youre creating that you would trademark it? says Andrea Fitch, president and CEO of RedCarpet Creations, Inc., and national president of the Society for Marketing Professional Services, both based out of Alexandria, Va. Really consider what kind of brand could represent the business through the next decade. Dont have a logo that in five years youre going to be tired of and discard for another, she says. 3. Remember, the web site is the brand. A web site is not just a communication medium, Manning says. It is actually a channel that must deliver on the promise. Essentially, a web site should embody the promise that it makes to customers. If, for instance, a business claims to be innovative, the web site should look fresh and modern. 4. Create a cohesive experience between all mediums. Before she launched her companys new web site, Fitch made sure it would be an event that her potential clients would never forget. RedCarpet Creations mailed 4,000 silver tubes containing scrolls that looked like rolled-up carpet. Inside the scrolls was an announcement about the web sites launch. Once online, the web site was an extension of the invitations because it followed through on the themes of red carpet imagery and references to visitors being treated like a VIP. Customers should easily be able to recognize the companys brand, whether it is print, online or some other form of media, Manning says.

5. Dont sacrifice creativity. Once the brands guidelines are established, creative choices must bring those attributes to life, Manning says. Dont let the companys brand become so dominating that there is no room for new thoughts and ideas. Brand should be the jumping-off point for interesting ideas, not the place where every new idea dead-ends. Fitch stresses that a sense of fun and whimsy will only enhance the likelihood that people will take an interest in the web site. 6. Dont communicate brand at the expense of delivering. While a web site can be a significant tool for building brand awareness, clarity and functionality are paramount. Just be careful not to let the communication about your brand get in the way of delivering your message, Manning sa ys. People should be able to understand how to navigate the site without knowing a thing about the companys catch phrases. You cant frustrate and annoy people into liking your brand, he says. 7. Listen to the customers: They determine a brands true value. Pay attention to customer feedback about the site because, ultimately, its the customers opinion that counts. When it comes to building a brand, a company can incorporate everything from signature colors to catch phrases, but at the end of the da y, its the consumer who decides what a brand is really worth. Its not what you say [about] yourself, its what others say of you, Fitch says.

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