This is a lot cleaner, spell checks as well as added quotes etc. I would still like to see more block quotes, something i’ll come back to focus on. There are still a lot of formatting mistakes. I’ve added a biblography to each chapter as a way to keep track easier. I will also have to go back and find page numbers. There is a lot of confustion as to whether it is mandaotry or not. The metholodology of using a colour coded sytem for Sources, exmaples and analysis is a very helpful visual aid. Just by glance I know that this chapter need more analysis, and could benifit from more scources and larger quotes. My examples could be better defined and closer to the essay topic of supermarkets. Overall, it is a massive imporvement on the first draft.
Word Count: 1715
Key: Sources, Examples, Analysis
Word Count: 1715
Key: Sources, Examples, Analysis
Chapter One
I. What is a Brand?
The primary definition of ‘brand’ is the name given to a service or product from a particular source. However, today, we know ‘brand’ as an organization, or a product. Kotler and Keller’s (2011) definitive publication, Marketing Management, defines a brand as: ‘a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors.’ The emergence of brands in the commercial worlds most probably started at the end of the 19th century after the industrial revolution (Davis 2009). With the upsurge of marketed commodities in the 1800’s, manufacturers began to ‘brand’ their widening range of products - such as flour, beer and sugar - to indicate their source. The reliability and consistency of a product’s quality was a persistent problem for consumers in this time; branding was a means by which this problem was addressed and resolved (Lury 2001). Before this, there was no possible way for the customer to have a repeated guarantee that the product would be the same on re-purchase. Seddon (2009) noticed ‘the traditional view – that brands are about logos and packaging, and only meaningful for consumer products' businesses - is on its way out.’ The concept of brand management and marketing systems, like that of research and development, emerged around the 1920’s and 1930’s. However it was undoubtedly the growth of post-war economies and an expanding middle class that gave impetus to brands and a rising consumerism (Davis 2009). Brands are forever evolving and, today, stand for much more than once thought. A brand is a promise and is often misunderstood as merely a design, symbol or logo. Whilst branding does habitually include logos, they are born through thorough and concept-driven colour schemes, typefaces, shapes, and even sounds. An example is the delivery company FedEx, formally known as Federal Express. [Figure 1] Their logo uses negative space to show an arrow, connoting a speedy delivery and an efficient overall service. It also uses different colours within the ‘Fed’ portion of the logo to represent the company’s subdivisions. Brands establish elements to cooperatively symbolise implicit core values, personality and ideas. All of these are what form the basis of an overall brand.
Brands are evolving to become increasingly all pervasive and ubiquitous. They now represent the entire 'personality' of the company and is the interface between a company and its audience (Davis 2009). Branding, once merely a tool to show reliability is used by multinational companies to elevate themselves to another level: to show what they stand for, to seduce customers, to sell products, to project their ideas with clarity, again and again.
II. Brand Architecture
Brand Architecture, a theory initially developed by Aaker and Joachimsthaler (2002), illustrates how different brands belonging to the same manufacturer are used to market a large range of products. [Figure 3] Aaker and Joachimsthaler define brand architecture as ‘an organizing structure of the brand portfolio that specifies the brand roles and the relationships among brands...and different product-market brand contexts.’ The pair justify brand architecture as consisting of five dimensions: (1) The Brand Portfolio: this consists of the sub-brands and all other brands that are attached to the products and services sold into the market; (2) Portfolio Roles: these show the contribution of the brand within sales and profits; (3) Portfolio Graphics: this refers to the visual patterns adopted i.e. logos and symbols that are used throughout the brand; (4) Product-market Context Roles: the decided roles that the brand plays within a specific product/market; and (5) Portfolio Structure: this specifies how the brand within the company’s brand portfolio are related to one another. As described here, brand architecture defines clear relationships between all the brands that would exist in a company's portfolio. Having a structure that helps companies to define these relationships between the different brands enables an overview for ease of management. A brand structure should depict the whole brand 'family', including the relationship between the parent brand and it's sub-brands, the relationships among sub-brands and also its brand extensions (Davis 2009). Architecture, therefore, is crucial to a company running a successful sub-brand system.
The relationships between brands are incredibly important in the food retailing business, a market that, in today’s economy, depends on its sub-brands and services. This is seen in Sainsbury’s supermarket, also managing services such as Sainsbury’s bank, mobile, energy and TU clothing line. Similar structures are seen in the Co-op Company, owning positions within insurance, banking, funeral care, travel, legal services and food. All these companies need to utilise an effective architecture in order to enable all brands to work cohesively under an untied name, brand and logo.
Aaker and Joachimsthaler (2002) explained how ‘A coherent brand architecture can lead to impact, clarity, synergy, and leverage rather than market weakness, confusion, waste, and missed opportunities.’ On the topic of relations concerning brands, the pair introduced the Brand Relationship Spectrum. [Figure 4] This is a system they considered a ‘powerful architecture tool’ in which they identity four strategies: house of brands, endorsed brands, sub brands and branded house.
House of brands - A branded house uses a single master brand to span a set of offerings that operate with only descriptive sub-brands. Examples are Sony, Nike and Kodak. These companies operate a large number of products under the master brand using this "branded house strategy." Aaker and Joachimsthaler (2002). The House of Brands strategy, involves an independent set of stand-alone brands, each maximizing the impact on a market. Procter & Gamble is a house of brands that operates over 80 large brands, many with only small links to P&G or to each other. In doing so, P&G sacrifices the economies of scale and synergies that come with leveraging a brand across multiple businesses (Aaker and Joachimsthaler 2002). The house of brands strategy, however, allows firms to clearly position brands on functional benefits and to dominate niche segments.
Endorsed Brand – Within the prior mentioned house of brands strategy, the brands are independent. Endorsed brands are still independent, but are also endorsed by an additional brand, and most likely an organizational brand (example: Polo Jeans by Ralph Lauren, Woolworths Created by Jamie, Heston for Coles). Endorsements by established brands provide credibility and substance to the product.
Sub-brands – These are brands connected to a master or parent brand that modifies the associations of that master brand. Examples include Microsoft’s Office, Money and Silverlight. Other previously cited brands including Virgin and FedEx also operate sub-brands successfully. The common role of a sub-brand is to extend a master brand into a meaningful new segment – something as simple as Ocean Spray stretching from juice to snack foods. The link between sub-brands and their master brand is much closer than the link between endorsers and the endorsed brands. As a result of this a sub-brand has considerable potential to affect the associations of the master brand, which in turn can be both a risk and an opportunity.
A branded house – In a branded house strategy the parent brand becomes a driver between many offerings and products. Again, Virgin successfully uses a branded house strategy. Their name, brand and logo provides an umbrella under which its various businesses can operate: Virgin Airlines, Virgin Express, Virgin Radio, Virgin Rail, Virgin Cola, Virgin Jeans, and Virgin Music and many others. Other branded houses are Sony, Adidas and Disney. The branded house option, of course, ‘puts a lot of eggs in one basket’. Aaker and Joachimsthaler (2002) take into account ‘the experience of brands like Levi's, Nike, and Kodak illustrate the risk. Each has struggled with a brand that has been an umbrella for a wide product line. Each has found it difficult to maintain a cool image or a quality position with a large market share.’ These strategies are observed within supermarket retail, as evidenced. Tools like this allow supermarkets to manage and observe their services and offerings effectively.
Focusing on UK supermarkets, the concept of brand architecture is based entirely on the assumption that these brands will never be evaluated in isolation but will always be valued in a wider context. This is essential within the concept of retail. Consumers will never be looking solely at one brand or product on a shelf. Their personal feelings and evaluation of an individual brand will differ depending on the context its being viewed in; the other products on offer within the same category, past experiences with the product and/or its manufacturer, the market outlet etc.
Organizations have a number of different models to chose from when developing these structures, to control and modulate not only their brands, but be able to absorb new ones (Oilns 2008). Within the realm of supermarket retail, mass food retailers utilise strategies, which will strengthen the ‘family’, the perceived quality and the promise. Additionally, Supermarkets fall into the Corporate or Monolithic brand structure: the 'single business identity' brand. These brands use only one name and one visual system throughout (e.g. Yamaha, Virgin, HSBC, Heinz). Monolithic brands can also be used in conjunction with descriptions and sub-brands: e.g. Heinz Cream of Tomato Soup, Virgin Trains. There is no doubt that 'corporate branding', brands using their name to project their entirety, is becoming increasingly important. All organizations need a framework to operate on. The architecture should be clear, easy to comprehend and consistent (Olins 2008). Again, Virgin is in-fact a brilliant example of an organization utilizes the monolithic brand structure, a structure that goes hand in hand with the branded house strategy. Originally being birthed out of the music business, they now embrace other areas of the market as previously revealed. When a product carries the Virgin name, it connotes relaxed, friendly and informality. For many customers, Virgin is not only a seal of a certain kind of quality, but a symbol of a way of life. The core strength of the monolithic brand is that each product or service delivered by that organization has and represents the same message and quality the others (Olins 2008). The audience recognize a whole entity and by default, consistency. Companies who adopt the monolithic structure tend to have high visibility and a clear positioning as a consequence, which is an invaluable advantage in such a competitive market place
Biblogoraphy
AAKER, D and JOACHIMSTHALER, E (2000) The Brand Relationship Spectrum: The key To The Brand Architecture Challenge. California Management Review. [Online] [Accessed: 17th December 2015]
AAKER, D and JOACHIMSTHALER, E (2002) Brand Leadership. New York: Free Press
DAVIS, M (2009) The Fundamentals Of Branding. Worthing: AVA Publishing
KOTLER, P and KELLER, K (2011) Marketing Management. 14th Ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall
OLINS, W (2008) The Brand Handbook. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd,
