Find collocations with the word “brand”.

Unit 2 Brands

Branding

Products can be sold as unbranded commodities. Raw materials are still treated in this way, but increasingly branding is becoming dominant, even in the supply of industrial components and e.g. vegetables.

What is the power of brands? Would you buy perfume as a present for a female relative if it came in an unlabelled brown bottle? Would you buy an anonymous microcomputer from an anonymous source? Branding saves us much time as consumers. A simple word or two comes to represent a lot of associations, and can offer detailed expectations, so that we do not need to think about the possibly dim channels used by the trader in obtaining supplies of the perfume. We know the female relative will like the perfume-she may have even previously specified that brand. We know the range of compatible software for the microcomputer. Consumers learn to place some reliance upon brand names when evaluating competing products. In services, too, branding can serve the consumer by offering consistent, identifiable services, which might reduce confusion and save on search time.

Marks and Spenser is the top brand in Britain according to a survey in 1988. It scored highest on awareness and on how highly regarded it was by members of the public. Top brands across Europe are dominated by car manufacturers. In all cases it is the corporate identity that dominates.

There are several options in brand strategy. A company can sell its own brand or under that of another company. In the latter case it is often a retailer’s own label. In using the company’s brand a choice will be needed between using a “family” brand name for all that firm’s brands, as opposed to giving each product an individualbrand name.

Some companies attempt to obtain the benefits of both strategies by family branding and at the same time having several “sub-brands”. Ford puts its name on all its cars that also have individual brand names.

When it comes to fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), more and more customers tend to switch to own-label products of supermarkets leaving behind their loyalty to heavyweights like Nescafe or Pepsi. Producing own-labels is different from producing look-alikes. The latter mean products whose package reminds the silhouette or colour of famous brands.

Many companies would wish to use their successful brand names and develop products in different categories under the same brand name. This practice is called brand stretching. It may serve as a good solution to avoid restrictions on alcohol and tobacco advertising. That is one of the reason for emerging Camel clothes and Nemiroff’s ketchups.

Answer the questions: Give examples of unbranded commodities. What is the “power of brand”? What options do companies have in brand strategy?  

The choice of brand strategy is the responsibility of brand manager s who in cooperation with marketing managers also decide on the product positioning, marketing and product mix.

Find collocations with the word “brand”.

What are the fast moving consumer goods?

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