Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Effective Branding

I was reading this nicely written paper in Brand Channel. Amit goes on to explain Effective Branding as something which involves working on four important dimensions, namely:

The Functional Dimension
The functional dimension concerns the perception of benefit of the product or service associated with the brand

The Social Dimension
The Social Dimension concerns the ability to create identification with the group

The Spiritual Dimension
The Spiritual Dimension is the perception of global or local responsibility

The Mental Dimension
The Mental Dimension is the ability to support the individual mentally

He goes on explain his framework with the analysis of the brand Airtel:

The Functional Dimension
The role of the technology is to make thing easier for the consumers. Airtel has been very successful in simplifying the use of mobile services by modifying the technology to suit the common users. Even the simplest of the consumer can use the products and services.
Airtel says, "Your world of communication just got simpler."

The Social Dimension
Airtel is a recognized brand to be associated with. I satisfy my esteem and it gives me opportunity to be a part of the culture. It is associated with high level of social value.

The Spiritual Dimension
"Building telecom, building relationships." It is important to be in touch with the relatives and dear ones but this is possible today through the mobile communication. Airtel encourages everyone to be more involved in building relationships and spread the happiness.

The Mental Dimension
Airtel gives me the opportunity to "Express Myself." The message is very clear to be open and daring to express. The expression gives me a lot of pleasure and an opportunity to think that I am a separate individual and have the right to communicate and express myself.

Do all brands fall in this framework? What happens to a brand when it does not satisfy the Social and Spiritual Dimension? What if the brands Mental Dimension is considered too mental from a consumer point of view? Is Cultural Dimension same as Social Dimension? Anyways, I find this a very useful exercise and I am trying to fill in the blanks with several brands from different categories to understand whether this framework make any sense. Why don't you try out for yourself, you might come across something interesting.

2 comments:

gururanganathan said...

roop,

i was given a assignment of valuing a brand in my college few days back..i was asked to value both good as well as failed brands...i could not value all the brands based on a model..some dint fit in to a model....

i have a qusetion how helpful is it to value a brand??? is it of any use at all??? if yes too i have the doubt on how authentic it could be!!!!!!

pooR_Planner said...

Guru, every brand has/should have a set of core values. It is those values that we(people/consumers) buy in. We develop a relationship with the brand and our opinions are based on the experience that this brand offers.

Measuring the value of a brand is doing an assessment of this unique relationship. Interbrand is one such company which does assessment of global brands and release a paper called "100 most valuable brands in the world." Check out their website. In India you'll sometime notice a mnemonic on print ads called 'Superbrand.' Asian Paints, Britannia, Cadbury, Colour Plus etc are some every common ads which you can notice carrying this mnemonic on their print ads. The evaluation is based on certain criteria which makes a particular brand most desirable, adorable, aspirational etc etc.

Therefore, valuation of a brand is very important from a marketers POV. It helps in determining the health of a brand, whether it is doing well or not. If not, what course corrections can be done etc. And this studies are very authenticate since the evaluation of a brand always involves the consumer. Well, probably now you understand why Vodafone had to pay so much for Hutch.

cheers.