Strategic Brand Management
Communication Plan
Brand is a collection of images and ideas representing an economic producer, more specifically; it refers to the concrete symbols such as name, logo, slogan, and design scheme. Brand recognition and other reactions are created by the accumulation of experiences with the specific product or service, both directly relating to its use, and through the influence of advertising, design and media commentary. A brand is a symbolic embodiment of all the information connected to a company, product or service. A brand serves to create associations and expectations among products made by a producer. A brand often includes an explicit logo, fonts, color schemes and symbols which may be developed to represent implicit values, ideas and personality.
According to (1998), the reputation for quality, style and reliability are judged to be superior by consumers. A strong brand allows its owner to expend market share, command higher prices and generate stronger financial results than competitors.
However, stock market analysts argued that intangible characteristics that form a brand matters. For them, “a brand is worth only as much as what flows through to shareholders.” (1998)
Some marketers distinguish the psychological aspect of a brand from experiential aspect. The experiential aspects consist of the sum of all points of contact with the brand which is also known as the brand experience. The psychological aspect, sometimes referred as the brand image is a symbolic construct within the minds of the people and consists of all the information and expectations associated with the product or service.
Marketers engage in branding seek to develop or align the expectation behind the brand experience, creating the impression that a brand associated with the product or service has certain qualities or characteristics that may be special or unique. A brand image may be developed by attributing a personality to or associating an image with a product or service, whereby the personality or image is branded into the consciousness of consumer. Therefore, a brand is one of the most valuable elements in an advertising theme, as it demonstrates what the brand owner is able to offer in the marketplace.
A brand which is widely known in the marketplace acquires brand recognition. Where brand recognition builds up to a point where a brand enjoys a critical mass of positive sentiments in the marketplace, it is said to have achieved brand franchise. One goal of brand recognition is the identification of a brand without the name of company present.
The art of creating and maintaining a brand is called brand management. Brand management is the application of marketing techniques to a specific product, product line, or brand. It seeks to increase the product’s perceived value to the customers thereby increase brand franchise and brand equity. Marketers see brand as an implied promise that the level of quality of people have come to expect from a brand will continue to present and future purchases of the same product. This may increase sales by making a comparison with competing products more favorable. It may also enable the manufacturers to charge more for the product. The value of brand is determined by the amount of profit it generates for the manufacturer. This results from a combination of increased sales and increase price. Brand management begins with the understanding what brand really means.
Accordingly, (1989) define brand as a symbol, design, or mark that enhances the value of a product beyond its functional purpose. Brand names play a critical role in the marketplace competition because brand names enhance the value of products and are difficult to copy. “For many businesses the brand name and what it represents is its most important asset which is the basis of competitive advantage and of future earnings streams. Yet, the brand name is seldom managed in a coordinated, coherent manner with a view that it must be maintained and strengthened” (1991).
(1989) has pointed out that the brand name also adds value for the manufacturer and for the retailer. But the ability of a brand name to add value for the consumer is, of course, logically prior. A brand name adds value for the manufacturer and the retailer only because it adds value for the consumer.
According to, a brand is defined as “a means of identification,” or “an arbitrarily adopted name that is given by a manufacturer or merchant to an article or service to distinguish it as produced or sold by that manufacturer or merchant that may be used and protected as a trademark.”
Brand management should aim to build into customers’ minds a set of perceptions and attitudes relating to an offering, leading to positive buying behavior. To achieve this goal, managers must know a great deal about their customer base. The power of a brand is measured by its effect on buyers. A powerful brand will cause its customer base to either defer or refuse to purchase if the brand is not available.
Branding is comprised of two elements–external and internal to the customer (2006). Internal brand elements include the following:
· Personality, which relates to customers’ description of the brand;
· Culture, or the social context within which a brand is perceived, as in the case of Mercedes’ “engineering excellence”; and,
· Self-Image, which encompasses what we feel the brand says about us
External elements include the following:
· Physique, or the physical characteristics of the brand that makes us want to know what it does;
· Reflection, which relates to the target user or customer being nurtured; and,
· Relationship, that is, customers should have identifying relationship with the brand itself.
The function and art of branding is a major contributor to the success of a product or service sold by the company that markets it. In this paper, the researcher attempt to use an integrated marketing communication to bring up the reputation of a Japanese cosmetic brand, SKII, in its current crisis in China.
Integrated Marketing Communication
(2001) suggested that modern marketing calls for more than just developing a good product, pricing it attractively, and making it available to target customers. Companies must also communicate with current and prospective customers, and what they communicate should not be left to chance.
A basic IMC principle is that communication is the foundation of all human relationships (2002). Communication is concerned with the exchange of information, ideas, or feelings and the successful development of a communications strategy requires extensive learning and coordination throughout the communications network (1999). Marketing communication is the collective term for all the communication functions used in marketing a product, and the purpose of marketing communications is to add persuasive value to a product for both customers and the company (2002; 1998 ,2002).
The distinct tools of the marketing communications mix are:
· Advertising (1995; 1998; 2002)
· Public relations (PR) (1997; 1998; 1992; 2001)
· Sales promotion (1995;2000; 1998; 1998)
· Direct marketing (1998; 1998; 1999)
· Personal selling ( 2000; 1998; 1998)
· Exhibitions (1993; 2001;
· Point-of-purchase communications ( 2001)
· Cybermarketing ( 2002,2000; 1998)
· Sponsorship (2000;2000; 1991;1999;
Each component has a specific task to achieve and the message is greatly enhanced if it is reinforced by other tools in the mix ( 1998).
The five main elements of the promotional mix, advertising, sales promotion, PR, personal selling and direct-response media, outlined by (1995), vary in their effectiveness across a number of different characteristics. (1995) summarizes three key qualities including their ability to communicate, costs entailed, and control maintained by each individual tool. Each variable has a different capacity to communicate and to achieve different objectives, which highlights the fact that each tool will affect the overall marketing campaign differently.
Although marketing communications has been used for several years as an umbrella term to refer to the various communication functions used by marketing, the strategic integration of these functional areas is what makes IMC a new approach to reaching consumers and other stakeholders (1993; 2002; 1993). In an IMC process model (2002), IMC is viewed as different from other customer-centric processes in that its foundation is communication, which is the centre of all relationships and is considered to be a circular process as opposed to a linear one. The model reveals an ongoing, circular process that creates brand value in the form of sales, profits, and brand equity, and there is no starting and stopping related to obtaining, retaining, and growing customers (2002). (2002) breaks down the major elements of his model and definition to help explain meaning. The cross-functional process means that all departments and outside agencies must work together in unison in planning and monitoring phases of brand relationships. By creating and nourishing stakeholder relationships, new customers are attracted and then interacted with to find ways to satisfy their needs and wants. The idea of profitable customer relationships is important because not all relationships are of equal value to the company. Strategically controlling or influencing all messages refers to all aspects of the marketing mix. Encouraging purposeful dialogue identifies that customers are tired of being talked at by companies and want the opportunity to interact.
IMC can thus be defined or approached in a variety of ways, although each definition suggests five key features that are significant in IMC (2000).
1. The primary goal of IMC is to affect behavior through directed communication
2. The IMC process should start with the customer or prospect and then work backwards to the brand communicator.
3. IMC should use all forms of communication and all sources of brand or company contacts as prospective message delivery channels.
4. The need for synergy, with coordination helping to achieve a strong brand image.
5. Finally, IMC requires that successful marketing communications needs to build a relationship between the brand and the customer.
Integrated marketing Communication Plan for SKII in China
Situation Analysis
The SK-II is one of the country’s premium skin care range. The SK-II line features premium sunscreens, skin whitening and general skin care products, has been available for twenty years and is sold in 14 countries worldwide, including the US, China, Singapore, South Korea and Australia.
However, in March discrepancies came to the fore over levels of the heavy metals chromium and neodymium in the products. Chinese government officials announced that illegal levels of chromium and neodymium had been found in 12 SK-II products. The local Chinese media began to heavily cover the story, noting that these materials could cause liver disease, blindness, skin sensitivity, and other which are relatively very frightening effects.
In March 7, a woman in Jiangxi Province said she had bought the SK-II anti-aging cream with the hope that “the concentrated treatment would work to help even out 47 percent of the deep lines and wrinkles after 28 consecutive days of use” as the ad for the product promised. Instead, the cream created an allergic reaction that left her in pain. Besides, the product was also believed to contain caustic ingredients. So the woman took SK-II and its maker, Proctor & Gamble, to court. The provincial industrial and commercial administration quickly carried out an investigation on the case. The lawsuit resulted in P&G winning on the “skin damage” claim, but losing on the “false advertising” claim. P&G paid compensation to the woman and rewrote the wording for their SK-II product claims.
But, following countless denials that its consumers were not in any danger, it now seems that Chinese authorities are now in agreement with company officials. In a joint statement between the Ministry of Health and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, the report confirmed that the product line posed no danger to human health.
In addition, South Korean authorities said that they had found traces of heavy metal in the Japanese-made formulations, but that the levels were ‘too little to worry about’.
At the time, P&G said that the findings by the Korean authorities confirmed the company’s claims that the SK-II line was safe. Subsequent testing was carried out both by watchdog authorities in Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea and by P&G in all the markets where the product line is sold in Asia. Evidently no test revealed that the formulations proved any threat to human health.
P&G have been relieved to know that SK-II will be back on the shelves relatively soon in China, but the damage to the brand will undoubtedly take longer to put right.
Innovatize dot com commented that P&G has no excuse not to be prepared with the situation since it has experienced these types of problems. According to it, it was just another PR problem for multinational and local consumer product in China. They suggested that P&G should have been very forthcoming about allowing funds and publicly and proactively encouraged product return just to be in the safe side on the first day.
Goal
With the current situation of Proctor and Gamble’s SK-II, their main goal is to enhance the image and reputation of the said brand to the customers by improving their marketing communication specifically on their public relations.
SWOT Analysis
Internal Factors (Strengths and Weaknesses)
Internal Factors
Strengths
Weaknesses
Management
Experienced and supportive of introducing innovative products to marketplace.
Past product failures may restrict product vision.
Personnel
Enthusiastic and innovative staff assures product commitment
With many product lines, key personnel may be re-assigned.
Finance
Excellent growth potential with recurring revenue
The cost for developing the product may require extensive initial capital expenses.
R & D
There will be continuing efforts to maintain market leadership position by differentiating the product through features and enhancements.
Capital in time and money may be lost in R&D for enhancements that either do not work or will not be marketable in a successful way.
External Factors (Opportunities and Threats)
External Factors
Opportunities
Threats
Consumer/Social
There is an expanding market with strong growth potential for new sales and increased revenue
Limited access to additional markets.
Competitive
Since Proctor Gamble is a market leader, a built in market potential exist
New entrants with a strong existing market may provide competition if they include this feature in their product line.
Strategic Marketing Plan
Corporate identity is a valuable management resource because it affects every aspect of corporate life. A company’s image, reputation and managed perception, the three components of corporate identity, influence the performance of its share price, sales, acquisitions, divestments, recruitment and other activities. Establishing a clear identity has become a difficult task due to the trend towards cross-border mergers, the growing importance of environmental concerns and the increasing similarities between products and services.
In the current situation of P&G’s SK-II, it affects it corporate reputation in China. However, there are some strategies which can be done to build up the SK-II reputation and credibility.
Although the brand is only a part of all company actions, marketing communications vehicles such as advertising, direct mail, public relations, trade shows, seminars, and collateral material play an important role in communicating brand. Thinking of these activities as brand conveyors is a useful way to understand their role. They allow you to communicate the organization and brand drivers that make up the heart of the brand.
Consistent with its objective to build up their reputation and credibility towards the customers, SKII would develop a solid message platform that clearly and consistently communicates their product features and benefits in a way that incorporates its brand principle, personality, and associations. The overall strategy serves as a springboard to infuse brand messages fully into additional strategies. Strategies that pull messages to target audiences, by using third parties to help place SKII’s messages in front of its target audiences.
Secondly, SKII would communicate would use third parties to communicate its messages and in order to establish credibility with all target audiences. Third parties include analysts, media, award givers, happy customers, and online newsgroups/list serves.
Strategies to push messages to target audiences, by putting SK-II information directly in front of its target audiences, include the Use direct communications tools to seed brand to target audiences. Tools include direct mail, advertising, collateral material, web site, and current employees.
From among the different tools of marketing communication and with SK-II current situation, we specifically use public relations to bring back the reputation and credibility of the products to its customers.
By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most favorable light. the goal of the public relations is to create, through the organization of news and advertising, an advantageous image for his client, be it a business corporation, cultural institution, or private or public individual; toward an end of the making of favorable public opinion, many research techniques and communications media are used. The earliest form of public relations and still the most widely practiced is publicity. The principal instrument of publicity is the press release, which provides the mass media with the raw material and background for a news story. The growth of modern public relations is generally attributed to the development of the mass media, which accelerated the spread of ideas and increased the importance of public opinion by giving more people access to current events.
Tactics
A massive revolution is permanently changing the rules of marketing. This revolution is characterized by the shift of marketing dollars from media advertising to other forms of marketing including sales promotion, public relations, direct mail, database marketing, catalogs, special events, sponsorships and trade promotions.
The new conventional wisdom is that even after the current recession is over, things will never be the same as they were in the glory days of advertising. The lavish ad budgets of the past must give way to more targeted, more diverse ways to sell goods and services, maintain consumer confidence and build brand loyalty. More than ever, this will require a custom mix of advertising and promotion and direct response marketing and public relations.
And more than ever, it will require that these various elements be coordinated and integrated. It will require that the marketer speak with one voice not only to consumers but also to all those who influence their purchase decisions. That means that every component of the communications process must work together.
Some of the tactics that can be done by SK-II to build up their reputation in China’s customers using public relations are the following.
1. Build marketplace excitement before media advertising breaks.
Today, most marketers recognize that the announcement of a new product offers a unique opportunity for obtaining publicity and for dramatizing the product. They also understand that the news of the new product must precede the advertising break. Once the advertising is seen by the consumer, the product is no longer news to the media.
2. Build a core consumer base.
Marketers are increasingly recognizing the value of maintaining consumer loyalty since it costs far less to keep a customer than to get a new one, especially in these days.
Organizing and cultivating brand faithful has proven to be an effective way to maintain consumer loyalty–it’s not just movie and rock stars that have loyal fan clubs.
3. Build a person-to-person relationship with consumers.
Personal advice could be given directly to the customers of SK-II on how to apply the cosmetic products they offer.
4. Turn satisfied consumers into advocates.
SK-II will be compiling all users of their cosmetic products. Questionnaires will be sent to SK-II users. Based on the responses and follow-up phone and personal interviews with promising prospects, SK-II will identify role models in selected markets who had both attained success with the product and achieved their personal or professional goals. Satisfied users of the product will be the spokesperson for the brand. They will be booked for extensive media interviews in their market interviews which focus on messages on the effectiveness of the SK-II cosmetics which can not be advertised.
5. Influence the influential.
Many public relations programs are designed to target influencers rather than consumers. The influencer may be an authority figure like a teacher, a doctor or a pharmacist. But it could be someone that has a different kind of one-on-one relationship with the consumer, someone like a beautician. A famous model could also be used to promote the product.
Performance Evaluation
The evaluation of the campaign will be based on how well we reach our target market and achieve our communication objectives. First, we will be analyzing consumer response to the advertisements on the various media. Simply stated, we want to see if our ads are effective enough to catch our target market’s attention and interest. Second, we will be evaluating customer experience with our product. We plan to accomplish this through surveys at the events we sponsor and through mail and telephone calls to registered owners. In this way, we can achieve a better understanding of the effectiveness of the both the advertising and the product itself.
Most marketing communication projects are kicked off with a creative brief or creative platform–a form that is filled out by product management and marketing communication management that describes the project’s purpose, audience, content, message, and tone. Brand-savvy companies include a place on this form to in what brand messages will be woven or, at the very least, how the piece will strengthen the brand. This brings the role of brand up to consciousness, an important part of keeping branding efforts on track.
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