Professor David A. Aaker, renowed author and international speaker, shares his views on the importance of branding and marketing strategies in the today's competitive market with ArabAd.
ArabAd: What are the major branding questions facing executives today?
David A. Aaker: Executives today struggle to keep their brand relevant, differentiated and energised in the face of difficult, dynamic market environments. They also need to generate growth which means developing brand platforms that will support strategic moves into new product-markets.
AA: What are the keys to keeping your brand relevant in dynamic markets?
DA: The problem is that fragmenting markets create relevant challenges. A brand with high awareness, image, and even loyal customers can decline if they fail to recognise and respond to emerging new product subcategories. One key to staying relevant is to detect and understand market trends. Another is to develop response strategies and a brand strategy to enable those response strategies. A third is to look for opportunities to create and own new product categories such as e-business (IBM), dry beer (Asahi), or hybrid cars (Toyota).
AA: How do you stay differentiated as products and services get more similar?
DA: One way is to create branded differentiators, branded features, programmes, ingredients or services that will serve to be the basis for differentiation. Westin Hotels developed the Heavenly Bed, and later, the Heavenly shower that served to provide a basis for differentiation in a rather homogeneous context. Another is to create a personality. It is harder to duplicate a personality than an attribute and functional benefit.
AA: What is a brand identity or brand vision?DA: It is the aspirational associations that you want for you brand, what you want it to stand for. Typically, it has from six to 12 elements, three to four over which are most important and are labelled the core identity. For Virgin Airlines, the core identity might include service quality, innovation, fun and entertainment and value for money while the extended identity might have underdog; an underdog personality that flaunts the rules and Richard Branson.
AA: Why is it important?DA: The brand identity is specification of where the brand should be going. It should drive not only the brand building activity but also the product development activity. A brand ultimately must involve substance. It is not only what you say but what you do.
AA: What is the value of branding?DA: For the customer, a brand summarises information, reassures, provides emotional, self-expressive and social benefits, and provides a reason to buy. For the firm, a brand improves the efficient and effectiveness of marketing programs, provides price premiums or customer loyalty, leverage with the trade and a platform for future growth. Three studies in which I have been involved with have shown that on the average investments in brand equity pay off in terms of stock return.
AA: What are the keys to global brand management?DA: Effective global brand management needs to address four issues. First, how to exchange customer insights and market experiences across countries. Second, how to develop a common brand management process so that all are using the same inputs, outputs and vocabulary when developing brand strategy. Third, how to organise and encourage synergy in the marketing programmes across countries--ways to break down the "my country is different" attitude. Fourth, how to encourage excellence in brand building programs to emerge and be passed from country to country.
AA: How does branding differ from market to market, meaning how can a brand hold its brand equity in the international arena?
DA: Brands generally differ from market to market because of differing brand equities, market positions, customer motivations, competitive sets and cultures. You do not want the same brand in all countries but, rather, strong brands in all countries. If a brand is not known in a new market how should it try to build awareness? It all depends on the market and the brand equity that already exists, but one option is to buy or license a local brand that already has equity.Ibrahim Debbas
© ArabAd 2004
