READING: BRANDING

The 22 Immutable laws of Branding

Al Ries and Laura Ries, 2002

PART ONE:

What is branding? From a business point of view, branding in the marketplace is very similar to branding on the ranch. A branding program should be designed to differentiate your product from all the other cattle on the range. Even if all the other cattle on the range look pretty much alike. Successful branding programs are based on the concept of singularity. The objective is to create in the mind of the prospect the perception that there is no other product on the market quite like your product. Can a successful brand appeal to everybody? No. The same concept of singularity makes certain that no one brand can possibly have a universal appeal. Yet, broadening the base, widening the appeal. and extending the line are all popular trends in marketing. The same forces that try to increase a company's market share are also the forces that undermine the power of the brand. In the short term, convetioal marketing strategies (expansion and line extenstion) can increase sales, but in the long run they usually undermine the power of the brand and decrease sales.It's the difference between selling and branding.

Questions

1. What would happen in the long term to the Rolex brand if sold it for $50?

2. What is the difference between selling and branding?

PART TWO:

A brand name is nothing but a word in the mind, albeit a special kind of word. A brand name is a noun, a proper noun, which like all proper nouns is usually spelled with a capital letter. Any and every proper noun is a brand, whether it's owned by an individual, a corporation, or a community. Patagonia is a brand name for a clothing line, but it's also a brand name for the tourist industries of Argentina and Chile interested in promoting travel to this pristine and beautiful place. Philadelphia is a brand name for the leading cream cheese, but it's also a brand name for the City of Brotherly Love.

Brands are not limited to the 2.5 million trademarks registered with the U.S. government. Nor the additional millions of names and logotypes registered with other countries around the world. The power of a brand lies in its ability to influence purchasing behavior. But a brand name on a package is not the same thing as a brand name in a mind.

The customer who stops at a 7-Eleven to pick up a loaf of bread and a quart of milk usually ends up purchasing two branded products. Yet there might be little or no brand preference in the buyer's mind. It's just a quart of milk and a loaf of bread. Both commodity purchases. Yet the same customer might also buy a six-pack of beer and a carton of cigarettes. Chances are high that the customer will search out a particular brand of beer and a particular brand of cigarettes to buy.

Conventional wisdom suggests that beer and cigarettes are different from bread and milk. Beer and cigarettes are brand buys. Bread and milk are commodity purchases. While this may be literally true, it overlooks an important consideration. You can build a brand in any category, including bread and milk, as long as you follow the laws of branding. Some companies already have done so with brands like Lactaid in milk, Silk in soy milk, and Earth Grains in bread. If there ever was a commodity category, it's H2O, otherwise known as water. Since almost every person in America has access to good, clean water out of a tap, there is no need to buy water from a store, but many people do. The brand name Evian is so powerful that the last time we bought 1.5 liters, we paid $1.69. That same day, on a per liter basis, Evian was selling for 20 percent more than Budweiser and 40 percent more than Borden's milk. That's the power of branding.

Questions

4. Do you agree with this statment " A brand is a brand is a brand." why or why not.

4. Are you a brand and if so why?

5. If you want to be truly successful in life, why should you consider yourself a brand?

BRAND THINKING OR THE BRANDING PROCESS