The brand, or trademark, is a common term in marketing today. The AMA (American Marketing Association) defines it as a distinctive sign that identifies and differentiates goods or services. Kotler and Armstrong consider it a lasting resource and a fundamental part of the company-consumer relationship, representing sensations and perceptions formed in the minds of consumers, linking meanings and values that influence purchasing decisions. These connections drive consumers to pay a higher price for a product associated with emotional or significant value.
In English the terms "trademark" and "brand" represent distinct concepts. The trademark is a distinctive sign, legally comparable to a company logo. It ensures consumer loyalty and protects products and services through registration and patenting. Trademark can be figurative, verbal, or of other types. The brand, on the other hand, represents values and tangible and intangible elements crucial for the consumer relationship. For consumers, the brand facilitates identification and reduces purchasing risks. For producers, it protects and reduces costs, allowing them to stand out from competitors and ensure quality. The concept of brand is multidimensional and difficult to summarize in a few lines.
The structure of the brand consists of three interconnected elements, each with distinct roles:
- Identification: enables the recognition of the company and the product, ensuring differentiation from competitors. It includes symbols, logos, names, colors, and slogans, fundamental for brand identity.
- Evaluation: communicates with consumers, reflecting the awareness and image of the brand. Customers associate the brand with quality, consistency with company values, and the company's history.
- Reliability: embodies the trust and reputation of the brand over the long term, known as brand reputation. Once a positive judgment is established, consumers attribute credibility and reliability to the brand, creating brand trust.
These components interact to determine brand equity, which is the value of a brand, measuring its ability to gain consumers loyalty.
Brand identity represents a set of tangible and intangible elements used by the company to be recognized, distinguish itself, and communicate with consumers. It includes the name, logo, mission, symbols, know-how, products, prices, advertising, and stakeholder relations. It reflects how the company wishes to be perceived by its target audience and determines its personality and future evolution. A clear identity defines the character and value of the company, guiding it towards its objectives. Jean-Noel Kapferer's model, the Hexagon of Brand Identity, illustrates six dimensions of brand identity, facilitating its understanding and communication. The six dimensions of brand identity can be defined as follows:
- Visual appearance: encompasses the brand's visual characteristics, such as the logo, colors, packaging, and images, which remain in the consumer's mind when thinking about the brand.
- Personality: represents the attitude and how the brand interacts with the audience, akin to a person's behavior, influenced by tone of voice, archetypes, and language used.
- Culture: encompasses the values, mission, and vision on which the brand bases its activities, creating a distinctive bond with the company and often reflecting the cultural influences of the country of origin.
- Relationship: concerns the emotional bond between consumers and the brand, which develops through the customer experience and their interaction with the brand over time.
- Aspiration (of the consumer): the brand creates an aspirational model for the consumer, reflecting how they wish to be perceived by others through the purchase of the product.
- Self-image: it is the self-representation of the consumer after purchasing the product or service, influenced by the use of the brand and often linked to the ideal self-concept.
The prism of brand identity highlights the complexity of the brand and provides a model to ensure consistency in brand activities, enabling capitalization on strengths and improving weaknesses.
Brand awareness represents the level of knowledge that the public has of a brand, indicating its ability to be remembered and associated with its products or services. This awareness is measured by the percentage of the target audience that recognizes the brand, both with and without visual stimuli. It is crucial in purchasing decisions and brand selection, as increased brand awareness enhances the likelihood that consumers will consider the brand during purchases. Familiarity with the brand name can guide consumer choice. However, brand awareness alone does not guarantee a positive image. It is essential to create a positive brand image to promote recognition and consumer loyalty, thereby contributing to the longevity of the company.
The concept of brand awareness can be understood through two key dimensions: brand recall and brand recognition. These are indicators related to brand knowledge, evaluated through various tests. Brand recall involves the ability to remember a brand by associating it with a particular product or service, such as the purchase situation or the need it fulfills. It is assessed through tests that require users to list the brands that come to mind for a specific category of products. On the other hand, brand recognition is the ability of users to recognize the brand after being exposed to distinctive visual stimuli such as the logo or the name. The greater the ability of users to associate the logo and name with the company, the higher the level of brand recognition.
David Aaker developed the "awareness pyramid" to evaluate the presence of a brand in consumers' minds, dividing brand awareness into four stages:
- Brand unawareness: consumers have no familiarity with the brand and do not recognize it even when exposed to stimuli.
- Brand recognition: the brand emerges from anonymity, but consumers need specific stimuli to recognize it, indicating superficial knowledge.
- Brand recall: the consumer has a strong enough knowledge of the brand and can recognize it autonomously without external stimuli.
- Top-of-mind: the brand achieves its ultimate goal, occupying the predominant position in the consumer's mind for a particular product or service.
The pinnacle of brand awareness pyramid isn't attainable through a single marketing campaign but is the result of simultaneous communication efforts both online and offline. New media and traditional channels are both useful for increasing brand visibility: an effective strategy might combine strong search engine positioning, influential social media presence, and dissemination through TV, radio spots, and outdoor advertising. This approach can make the brand's products the top choice in consumers' minds. To maintain a high level of brand awareness, it's crucial to promote brand recognition and stimulate recall, increasing familiarity and strengthening the bond with the product category or purchase situations. Brand image represents customers' perception of the brand and its products or services, including associations, values, and ideas connected to it, as well as the company's reputation in the market.
Associations represent the meaning consumers attribute to the brand and influence how they remember it. For a positive and enduring brand image, it's important to create strong, positive, and unique associations with the brand.
- Positivity: Associations are desirable if they evoke positive feelings, being relevant, different from other brands, and credible. The brand must convince the consumer that it can meet their needs.
- Strength: indicates the solidity of the link between an association and the brand, depending on the quantity and quality of information conveyed through repeated messages over time.
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Uniqueness: It's essential that brand associations are unique and different from competitors, ensuring distinctive and relevant elements in purchasing decisions.
Keller identifies three types of associations that contribute to forming a positive brand image:
1. Attributes: represent consumers' perceptions regarding the distinctive elements of the brand, which can be directly linked to the product or external features like purchase or usage.
2. Benefits: reflect the advantages consumers gain from using the brand's products or services, divided into functional, experiential, and symbolic.
3. Attitude: general evaluations influencing consumer behavior, including confidence in the brand's ability to meet their expectations.
It's important to note that enhancing brand awareness involves increasing knowledge of the brand, its identity, and its products, fostering positive relationships with the audience. From online advertising to in-store slogans, maintaining consistency in how the brand communicates is crucial. Such consistency helps create and reinforce the image and message the brand conveys to customers.