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How Do You Manage Brand Equity?
Companies fight hard to occupy a space in the mind of the customer. It is very crucial for companies to ensure that not only do customers know about the product and believe in the product and the brand, but they also remember the brand at the time of purchase. This remembrance and positioning of the brand in the minds of customers over the years are known as brand equity. Companies have to invest a lot of money in marketing campaigns as well as deliver excellent products and services throughout the years to create this brand equity for themselves.
Brand equity helps the firm earn a normal profit in the market and also ensures that the brand has regular customers. With all that being said, we know that the market today is changing every few minutes. Companies are diversifying their product lines, and customers are overloaded with information. In this situation, brands have to manage their equity to ensure that they are not lost in the crowd of thousands.
Hence in this article, we will be understanding the concept of brand equity, the two ways in which a brand can manage brand equity, and examples of renowned companies all over the world that have used these concepts to succeed.
The Concept of Brand Equity
Brand equity is how brands position themselves in the minds of their customers over the years. It deals with the marketing campaigns by the companies, the product being offered, as well as the initiatives taken by the company toward the community, employees, or any stakeholder of the company. Managing brand equity is always beneficial for the company.
Two Ways in Which Companies can Manage Brand Equity are
Brand reinforcement: This is a situation in which the company, through its product offering, marketing campaign, and services, reinforces the brand's standing among the customers. Brands can constantly convey their meaning through −
The product offerings that the brand sells
The core benefits that the brand supplies to its customers
What needs does the brand satisfy through its products or services?
How are the brand’s products superior to the competitors' products?
And the strong, favorable, and unique associations the brand has with its offerings.
Certain Examples Help Explain the Situation Better
Britannia − Brand reinforcement is basically a situation in which, through its efforts, a brand ensures that the customers will not forget about the brand, its legacy, and its essence. For example, Britania is a household brand in India. Britania does not have to run advertisements to create awareness about its major selling products or brand name, but it still does because it wants the customer to remember the brand at the time of the purchase and also when they are watching 50 other advertisements from the company.
Cadbury Dairy Milk − Companies also have to keep in mind that during brand reinforcement, they have to ensure that their core essence is not lost and that they are coming up with new or altered advertisements to keep the customers interested in the product. Cadbury Dairy Milk, a chocolate brand, is always coming up with ads whose goal is to share the message of "Kuch meetha ho jaye", If the brand, in the name of innovation, changes the message of the company, the customers will get confused.
Nokia − Brands cannot even ignore the market just because they are core to brand reinforcement. Nokia as a brand had its selling point that even if you throw the headset from the 5th floor, the phone will not break and will work just fine. Reliability was the message. The company was doing great, but when the technology advanced and customers were offered smart touch-screen phones, they replaced the brand. Nokia kept shouting about the unreliability of the competitor’s brand and about its superiority, but no one paid heed to it. Brand reinforcement is necessary, but as per the market's needs and factors.
Brand Revitalization − In this situation, brands understand that their brand essence or legacy is not working for them. The legacy or essence of the brand is not bringing in nostalgia and sales but is bringing in negative associations with the brand. Customers would not want to purchase products from the brand because it might mean outdated products, a lack of trust, not being on par with their social status, or other factors. This is a situation in which the brand sheds its old values and relaunches itself as a brand that is relevant and desirable to the customer.
Certain Examples to Better Explain the Concept are
Eu Yan Sang − It is a Chinese pharmacy company, that has come a long way. The brand has more than 300 shops worldwide and helps Chinese medical practitioners sell homemade and ancient remedies from their ancestors. The brand has always been portrayed as one that is carrying on the legacy of ancient Chinese thinkers and experts. An old man in ropes is selling sour soups made from home ingredients. This approach did not work well with millennials and Gen Z. Customers were skeptical about the brand's offerings, so the brand changed its packaging, marketing campaign, and even the taste of the medicine to suit the current market need.
Tata Nano − The brand wanted to position itself as a brand for middle-class Indian society. Marketing campaigns were designed accordingly, along with a small portable car that fit the needs of a family. The company, however, failed to understand that buying a car was a matter of social status and esteem for the consumers. When they buy the car, they want the middle-class status to disappear and not be reinforced. The product failed drastically, and hence the company has to revise the brand's standing for further launches.
Brand reinforcement and revitalization are important parameters for the company to manage its brand quality. Companies should use a mix of both techniques to succeed in the fast-paced, dynamic, and ever-changing working environment. Change is the only constant.
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