Brand building 389
If a brand goes through distributors, some
of the following factors need addressing:
To what extent do the brand’s objectives
marry with each distributor’s objectives?
Are there some distributors who are using
their economic power to demand
unreasonably large discounts?
Does each distributor have a customer profile
that matches the desired brand user profile?
Are all the distributors supporting the brand
with the right level of activity?
Once the distributor analysis is completed, a
one/zero score needs to be assigned, reflecting
whether this force works for or against the
brand.
When considering the third force, that of
consumers, some of the factors to take into
consideration include:
How closely does the brand match consumers’
particular needs?
Does the amount of brand information reflect
consumers’ involvement in the decision making
process?
To what extent does the brand reduce any
perception of risk?
If there is an expectation of the brand making
statements about the consumer, are these the
right sorts of associations?
An analysis of the extent to which the consumer
force impacts upon the brand enables the
brand’s team to consider potential changes.
The fourth force that impacts on the well-
being of a brand is competitors. Some of the
issues to assess include:
the extent to which competitors are
differentiated;
the objectives of competing brands and the
impact these might have;
the strategic direction of competitors;
the resources backing competitors.
Undertaking an overall assessment, using a
zero/one approach, helps appreciate whether
or not this force might challenge the brand’s
growth.
Finally, the macro-environment needs
monitoring to appreciate how future political,
economic, social and technological changes
might impact on the brand.Brand essence
As the model in Figure 15.8 is followed,
analysis becomes combined with creative
insights to conceive the core of the brand,
ideally summarized in a brief statement about a
promise. For example, Hallmark is about caring
shared. Creativity and thinking ‘out of the box’
are critical. For example, while the car break-
down organization, the RAC, used to conceive
its brand in terms of providing breakdown
services, this was also claimed by the AA, who
had a particularly powerful campaign position-
ing itself as the fourth emergency service. After
much analysis, the RAC reconceived itself
around managing people’s journeys and the
brand was repositioned in terms of total mobil-
ity and journey management.
One way of deriving the nature of the
brand promise is to use the brand pyramid, as
shown in Figure 15.14.
When managers devise a new brand, they
are initially concerned with finding unex-
ploited gaps in markets, then majoring on their
core competencies to devise a brand supported
by a novel technology, or process, that delivers
unique attributes. However, consumers are less
concerned with attributes, e.g. a multifunction
remote controller for a video cassette recorder,
and more attentive to the benefits from these
attributes, e.g. ease of recording a TV pro-
gramme. With experience, consumers begin to
understand the brand better and the benefits
lead to emotional rewards. For example, one of
the benefits of Emirates Airline, as an early
innovator, installing individual TV screens in
front of each economy class seat in all their
aircraft is in-flight entertainment, leading to the
emotional reward of fun during the flight. If the
emotional reward is to be appreciated, it must