Wednesday, 28 September 2011

Brand Extension

House of Brands - Unilever (Knorr, Persil, Magnum, Comfort..)



It helps in increasing differentation and spreading the risk amongst a number of products rather than one. It is a safe way of branding a company because if one item from the Unilever chain goes bad it will not affect the other products. 160 million times a day someone somewhere chooses a Unilever product which proves that because of their wide range of products, even if one product goes wrong they still have the assured profit of all the other products.

Website: http://www.unilever.co.uk/

Branded House - Sainsburys





A branded house is a smart way of reveraging the success. The repetition of the name of the brand 'Sainsburys' on all products from a cup of coffee to a box of biscuits helps capture the energy of the main brand and ensures that a consumer sees that name wherever they go or whatever they purchase. However, it is risky because if a consumer buys one bad or faulty Sainsburys product they will then have a negative perception about all other Sainsburys products.



Another example of branded house would be Nestle, which has a huge variety of products from chocolate to water produce that have a small logo on all products with their brand name on it.



Stand Alone - Starbucks

Starbucks is a brand name that has great market power, it is the worlds largest coffee house company. Seeing as that its brand name is strong and has a established place in the market, it is sure that with or without the name of its brand people can easily recognize starbucks. They have recently changed their logo to just the image of the goddess, in the future if they decide to put a green circle people will probably still be able to identify starbucks when they see it. They have done so well in getting brand loyalty that customers will find and identify it no matter what.

Website: http://www.starbucks.com/

Sunday, 25 September 2011

Looks like 'Pulp' has competition

I decided to go back and take a look around 'The Natural Kitchen' to have a better idea of the service of the restaurant and what they have to offer. I saw nothing new, the mess was still the same and the clutter was exactly where it was.

One thing i saw different was a women behind a small table selling a few items that i am guessing were from her own shop or she makes them, it was like a merger between the woman and the Kitchen for allowing her to sell her stuff.

One thing that caught my eye was this



This item looked very similar to Pulp, it was by a brand called 'Ella's Kitchen'. They had two flavours which did not only include fruits but also vegetables. One thing that stood out was the fact that the packaging was identical to that of Pulp, the sachet packaging as well as the circular top! Not sure if one company stole the idea from the other or if the two companies are related but it looks like it.


Wednesday, 21 September 2011

Pulp- have you heard of it?


 After choosing pulp from waitrose we decided to do a mind map of our ideas and the issues that we thought made pulp a weak brand.

Honestly, after doing some research i only just realised that pulp is not a smoothie or a drink as we thought it was, its actually just a blended fruit, without water or milk, which a smoothie or a milk shake is which makes me wonder which category pulp goes into.



There was also a lack of information on the packing, although the ingredients were on the front to prove to the consumer that it is really a 100% fruit, however as a group we assumed it to be a smoothie or a drink, i did not think that it was merely a blended fruit which i believe should be mentioned on the front.

The drink is placed in the adult section drinks but as a group we think that it was targeted for a much younger age, probably the target consumer would be between the age of 3-7, as it could be part of a kids school meal and parents would find it very healthy.



We also went through identifying a few strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities:

Opportunity: 
We saw that pulp was in a great market, it had not much competition and could, if they take their product a few steps further, dominate the market and become a market leader. Their product is very creative and smart but the branding is very weak

Also, the packaging is designed to very high standards but has not been implemented in a smart way as they did not look into the actual physical part of the packing

Threat:
The threat was mainly 'innocent' which is a smoothie company which is a highly successful company therefore pulp should look to reaching that point in competition.

Strength:
A smart idea and attractive/innovative ideas for the logo and website. 

Weakness:
Their focus on design and creativity is more than their focus on the actual product and sales of it which has brought them down and affected them. 

The packaging was very creative, by thinking of doing it into a sachet is a smart way of making their brand stand out amongst just a normal bottle, however, that is also a problem. The sachet material is quite thin and therefore reserves the cold which is a benefit, however it reserves a bit too much cold that it could be a bit annoying to hold. 

Also, the sachet is not attractive when organising the pulp product on the shelf, they tend to slant on a side and as you can see form the photo below they do not look very attention grabbing to the consumer. 

Pulp - eat fruit the easy way


Pulp fruits are 100% fruit, it is basically a fruit peeled, chopped and blended and then packed. Nothing is added, no sugar, no water and no colorings. It was launched by two women and a man who had a passion for fruits.

They have three different flavours:

  • Banana, mango and passion fruit 
  • Apple, strawberry and blueberry 
  • Banana, strawberry and raspberry
It is only available in two supermarkets, waitrose and ocado. Which makes me wonder if this company is owned by Waitrose possibly (Will look into the details of that).

Their website is quite appealing, you can choose one of the three flavours and a drop down box of all the ingredients and their benefits will pop up which is a smart way to attract customers. Also, the bottom of the page has a stream of fruit facts passing by.


The link to their website is http://www.pulpfruits.co.uk

The Power of Branding- Written Task



Explore the role of branding and its critical value to business. Look at successful companies and reference clearly.

Branding is a vital tool to any company wishing to stand out of the crowd. It is a way of determining and communicating the fundamental nature of a business and what core value it delivers to the customers. In order to differentiate a business from its competitors, branding helps create an identity and reputation tat a business then works hard to maintain.

Although branding can nevertheless create a sustainable wealth creation for a business, it is the idea of shifting away from the conventional idea that brand is only about marketing and advertising and focusing on using branding as a means of organizing ideas in their corporate strategy (Business Link, 2011).

Branding does not only revolve around the strengths of a business but rather the ability of the business to deliver the promises. For instance, Toyota failed to live up to their branding value in terms of quality, after years of building a strong reputation for themselves they have not been able to keep their promises.

Moreover, branding strategies differ from one company to another based on the nature of the company and its focus.  Apple has used branding as a tool to build their corporate image and gain acceptance over the years by customers. By applying brand traits a business can diversify without changing the core brand distinctiveness. The Apple brand persona is directed around the idea of dreams, innovation and power-to-the-people through technology. By staying faithful to the idea of ease and following a humanistic approach, apple was able to exceed “$100 billion in sales” for a full year (Ahmad, 2009).

Maintaining an optimistic brand reputation and image allows a business to introduce new products and services to extend its line of products to build on brand equity. Seeing that a brand is mainly a sellers assurance to satisfy a customers needs and consistently deliver the best quality. When Jaguar launched the Jaguar X-type in 2006, many consumers believed that it was bringing down the value of the jaguar brand failing to meet their expectations (Ahmad, 2009). However, when Toyota introduced the Yares, a lower priced cars they were able to gain customer satisfaction, as they made sure to maintain the quality.

As branding plays an important role in creating a perfect image of a company, perception follows. Samsung were once associated with low end products of low quality and then switched to a new identity, which represented new and improved technology while still maintaining the core value of the company.

Branding adds an economic entity to a business seeing as it opens up opportunities for success, “the 100 most valuable brands in 2008 were worth over $1.2 trillion” (Healey, 2008). As long as a business delivers its promises and continues to innovate it slowly be able to establish brand loyalty allowing him to gain greater control of the competitive market. Furthermore, the social benefits of branding are obvious such as wealth creation and improving living standards as well as creating stability of employment (Business Link, 2011).



Bibliography 

Ahmad, S., et al., 2009. Brands and Branding. 2nd Edition. US: Bloomberg Press.

Healey, M., 2008. What is Branding?. Switzerland: Rotovision SA.

Business Link, 2011.  Branding: The Basics. [Online] Available at: http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/staticpage?page=Copyright&r.l1=1086951342&r.s=f  [Viewed on: 20/9/2011]

Natural Kitchen II - A little too natural


After going into 'Natural Kitchen' and taking a walk around we began to realize and see the walk points of the brand that were just coming up one after the other. Even without trying their food, out first impression of the Cafe/restaurant was not a positive one.

We created a mind map with my group members in class of all the weak points that we noticed in the brand and of all the issues that we saw were a drawback to the success of this brand.

Many of our comments were that the organic theme was not fully being communicated. Other than the atmosphere and the chairs, and the boxes of fruits by the front there really was not much, we thought maybe there could have been informations boards or signs to direct that.


Seeing as it is a organic restaurant, keeping the olives open with no covers does not really seem hygienic or encouraging to eat from. As a consumer one wonders if a kid or maybe an adult has stuck their finger in there to try an oliver or two. Simple issues like these should be addressed.



And the mess continues. With the huge amount of mess, one is not sure what to buy because the products are not well displayed for a customer to be able to distinguish between each.



Upon entering the restaurant it is welcoming when the lady says 'Hello ma'am, may i help you?' as soon as you enter through the door, but just after that she walks away and the customer is confused about whether it is a serve yourself coffee shop or a grocery store.

Miscommunication of service leaves the consumer at a confused spot.


The Cafe/Restaurant was very messy and cluttered and not in an appealing or organic way. The fact that the consumer can see the office/stacks of papers behind the counter is attractive. As a consumer i wonder if the employees hands are clean and if the same person touching those papers that have ink on them will be touching my sandwich. Issues like these should be hidden and should be moved to a seperate office.


This plastic box of lettuce was placed behind the counter, as you can see next to the soup, the counter is visible for consumer to see, when a consumer sees that their salad comes from that it becomes less appealing to eat a salad, also the plastic box is not closed from the top. Even if other restaurants did this, it should not be visible to the consumer.


One thing that confused and me and my group members was the fact that the logo of the shop was a duck. When we think of organic the first thing that comes to mind is not a duck, its probably a flower or a fruit to symbolize natural and purity. The logo of the duck confuses a customer as to what exactly the brand is about.


The Natural Kitchen


The Natural Kitchen is a cafe/restaurant, it has two locations, one in Marylebone and one in the city, specifically in Fetter Lane. It also provides outside catering as well as a Butchery, and also a ordering online service.

It has a rustic/organic atmosphere as well as setting. The use of wood throughout the tables, chairs and counters supports that. Also the use of simple wooden apple and orange boxes to display the fruits. They also  offer a wide selection of meals and food.

I have personally never heard of any recommendations to this restaurant, however these are a few of the customer reviews that i was able to take directly from their website:


"The way the feedback from the last lunch you provided (17th May) was brilliant 
they all thought it was fantastic!"
"Just to give you feed back, everyone loved the food last night. Thank you very much for your help and for delivering in good time. We will definitely use you in the future!"
"Please thank your chef and waiting staff they were excellent  everyone had a thoroughly good time."
"Thanks so much for our orders this week... the deliveries were right on time, looked and tasted great :)"
This is a link to their website: http://www.thenaturalkitchen.com 












Trip down Marylebone Highstreet

While taking a trip down Marylebone High street we were on a hunt to find weak brands. Before heading out the task seemed simple but once we were at it we found out that it was harder than we thought.

We decided to choose one product and one service and if we found any more we would make out final decision based on two.

Our first stop was 'The Natural Kitchen', it was a restaurant/grocery shop that basically sold organic food. They had a variety of meals such as salads and ready made sandwiches which you can buy from the counter and are all displayed , they also had a butcher on one corner. They also had baskets of fresh goods such as apples and a variety of vegtables. There was seating both on the inside which was a small bar kind of setting with approximately 7 chairs and 4 tables with 2 chairs each on the outside. The display tried to bring through the concept of 'organic' but in our eyes failed to do so which i will explain in the next blog.

Here are a few photos we took of 'The Natural Kitchen' through our walk.





We then moved on to go to Carphone warehouse, we found a 'Alcatel' phone, small grey phone that had no camera and looks like was targeted towards someone who was not fascianted with techonology. One thing that grabbed our attention was the fact that all other mobiles had a details/information sheet next to it except for that one so it obviously was not branded properly. However, we later decided to drop this product and focus on another product instead.

Walking into Waitrose there was a wide variety of products to choose from, we looked at the coffee brands and at the innocent brand. One thing about innocent was that their packaged soup/mini meal, which was shrimp with noodles etc, that the box was transparent but the food on the inside was not appealing at all, however the branding for innocent is really good so we didnt do that.

We found a smoothie/drink company called 'pulp', it was placed in the adult drinks section, meaning alongside cokes and ice-teas etc. It came in a sachet package with a round cap. It came in two different flavours with an image of the fruit displayed on the front. The packaging had vibrant colors and the next blog will explain why we thought it was a weak brand.

Here are a few photos we took of it:


Tuesday, 13 September 2011

Batelco - What helps distinguish them?

 Batelco is the most well known tele communication company in Bahrain, it was established in 1981 and has been running ever since.

 Over the years consumers have been able to identify batelco through their different logos that they would change every few years. For the past years Batelco has made an effort to link their logo to anything that is Bahrain related to emphasize the origin that it comes from, seeing as the brand name 'Batelco' stands for bahrain telecommunications company.


They have made an effort to stick to the two colors of the Bahraini flag (Red&White) but have recently renewed their logo as you can see from the two photos and how the logo has evolved.



The second logo which is the new brand logo is the letter B in english and in arabic inter-connected to represent Bahrain so does the color.


Personally - I find it very effective to stick to their one essence which is representing Bahrain through anything and everything it is they do. It is a very successful company and works very well in representing Bahrain.


Image- The image of unity and community involvement is always visible through their ads and campaigns throughtout the year.



One of my favourite ads that they have created is the image of two hands being connected and one dyed in white and the other in red forming the Bahraini flag. To me it describes many different themes and makes shows me how strong the brand works to find new ways of representing their essence.

Introduction to Branding - Lecture I

What do you think branding is?

-Identity
-A way to distinguish one company from another
-Representation
-Image as a particular company
-Design is a big profit
-Tangible aspects
-Communication of aspects

Statement
  • Loyalty from customers
  • Communicate the values as a company or organization
Business Dictionary defines it as "The process involved in creating a unique name and imagefor a product in the consumers' mind, mainly throughadvertising campaigns with a consistent theme. Brandingaims to establish a significant and differentiated presence in the market that attracts and retains loyal customers."

Main aspects

-Essence
-Vission
-Values
-Mission
-Positioning 

Ex 
Disney- a magical vibe; Company should stick to the same essence, if re-directed could loose  many customers.



Brands contain valuable assets, a brand has a specific reputation that it wishes to maintain in order to provide a perfect image of their company to the consumer. Tiger Woods a famous golfer was used as the face of Nike and other companies, after being caught in a scandalous act he did not only affect his career but also affected the companies he used to represent. When being the face of a well known company one must think of the impact he/she will cause and what harm his actions may bring to such a big company.