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. 2^nd 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]