Branding Decisions

Brand Decision :

The first branding strategy decision is whether to develop brand name for a product. Today, branding is such a strong force that hardly anything goes unbranded. Assuming a firm decides to brand its products or services, it must then choose which brand names to use. Four general strategies are often used :

1. Individual Names : Procter & Gamble (INDIA) has several individual brands in different product categories such as Vicks (health care), Whisper (feminine hygiene), Ariel and tide (fabric care), Pantene, Head & Shoulders, Rejoice (hair care), and Pampers (baby care). A major advantage of an individual – names strategy is that the company does not tie its reputation to the product. If the product fails or appears to have low quality, the company’s name or image is not hurt. Companies often use different brand names for different quality lines within the same product class. Kingfisher Airlines, after acquiring Air Deccan, a low – cost airline, modified the brand name to Simplifly Deccan, and retained it as a separate brand, partly to protect the equity of kingfisher, a full – fare, full – service airline.
2. Blanket Family names : This policy is followed by Tata. The blanket family name of the company is used in diverse product categories such as salt, tea, coffee, automobiles, and steel. Development cost are lower with blanket names because there’s no need to run “name” research or spend heavily on advertising to create recognition. Sales of the new product are likely to be strong if the manufacturer’s name is good. Corporate – Image associations of innovativeness, expertise, and trustworthiness have been shown to directly influence consumer evaluations. Finally, a corporate branding strategy can lead to greater intangible value for the firm.
3. Separate family names for the product : The Aditya Birla Group in India follows this policy to a great extent. It uses separate family names for its various products. Hindalco for aluminum. Ultra Tech for cement, Grasim and Graviera for suitings are some examples. If a company produces quite different products like these, one blanket name is often not desirable. Swift and Company developed separate family names for its hams (Premium) and fertilizers (Vigoro).
4. Corporate names combined with individual product names : Kellogg combines corporate and individual names in Kellogg’s Rice Krispies, Kellogg’s Raisin Bran, and Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, as do Honda, Sony and Hewlett – Packard for their products. The company name legitimizes, and the individual name individualizes, the new product.

Individual names and blanket family names are sometimes referred to as a “house of brands” an a “branded house.” respectively, and they represent two ends of a brand relationship continuum. Separate family names comes in between the two, and corporate – plus – individual names combine them. Not every company follows one strategy. For instance, When FedEx acquired copier chain Kinko’s, the branding decision was trickier. Named Kinko’s for founder Paul Orfalea’s headfull of kinky red hair, the copying service had enough brand equity that FedEx didn’t want to throw the name out. After numerous focus groups, FedEx decided to co-brand the chain hence, the name “FedEx Kinko’s.”

So although firms rarely adopt a pure example of any of for strategies, deciding which general strategy to emphasize depends on several factors.

Source: http://ebooks.narotama.ac.id/files/Marketing%20Management%20(14th%20Edition)/CHAPTER%209%20Creating%20Brand%20Equity.pdf

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Tags: Aditya Birla Group, Air Deccan, Ariel, Auomobiles, Brand, Branding, Coffee, Decision, FedEx, Grasim, Head & Shoulder, Hewlett-Packard, Hindalco, Honda, Kellogg's, KingFisher, Kinko's, Marketing, Pampers, Pantene, Procter & Gamble, Rejoice, Salt, Sony, Steel, Strategy, Swift, TATA, Tea, Tide, Vicks, Whisper