brand development process

Introduction

            Name and logo are the two prominent visual elements of a brand name.  They are prominent tools to increase brand recognition.  In this study, local and international brands will be studied by determining the effectiveness of their brand names and brand symbols from the view of Muslim consumers.  Since free trade and liberalization of business transactions become the theme of the 21^st century marketplace, multinational companies have the ease of access to penetrate different markets across borders.  China started to open up its doors to foreign traders recently to concede opportunities and promises of world trade relations.  However, such global trend might skip the cultural and religious barriers of other countries particularly those Islamic regions in the Middle East like the United Arab Emirates.  Are the Western and other Asian companies transacting to UAE maximize their potentials in their global names and symbols?  Or is there a need to transform their names to Arabic and their symbols to Islamic norms?   

 

Research Questions

The researcher proposed to study the performance of brand names and symbols of global companies in UAE particularly in the consumer products industry.  Factors that affect brand recognition of Muslims to these foreign brands will be cross-referenced to Islamic-based companies to determine the advantages and disadvantages of both.  Specifically, the researcher will try to answer the following queries:

1.      What are the factors affecting effective brand names and brand symbols of foreign and Islamic-based companies?

2.      How these factors affect the propensity to patronize a firm/ product?

3.      Are there substantial differences of foreign and Islamic-based firms in effecting branding?  What are these?

4.      What is most preferred branding for foreign firm: brand name or symbol?  For the local firm?

 

Purpose of the Study

            The study aims to fulfill the following objectives:

1. To determine the difference of foreign and Islamic-based firms on the factors that affect effective brand names and symbols.
2. To determine effective brand name and brand symbol impact to Muslim customers?

 

Review of Related Literature

 

A book coined brand name in one chapter as “the company’s most powerful weapon.”  A brand is the embodiment of information about a company, product or service that typically in the form of name and logo including other images, fonts and colors.  However, this is more a general definition.  Branding can almost take activities of marketing and advertising.  In 1964, a mall branding concept tagged Westfield Shopping towns as “A Wonderful Town” to attract not only customers but also strengthens other business partners’ ties.  Because of these advantages, the potential of branding was termed as “unlimited” by the owners.

Limitations of branding, on the other hand, should be dealt by the company seriously.  Not all sweet messages have absolute positive returns.  When a product did not meet the expectations of the customer, like the failure of voice fidelity branding of RCA products for instance as portrayed by a dog’s recognition of His master’s voice in a phonograph, could reduce loyalty and devalue company strengths.  This is where integrated branding comes into the rescue.  It is a strategy where the promise of the company is keep or the situation where company strengths, which are highlighted through branding, satisfy the needs and expectations of the customer.  It let the company focus in its actions and messages to product strengths, thus, false or unmet branding is prevented.

            One of the highest trademark registrations in America was recoded in 2004 at 248,000 which not only has good impact to its economy but also may illustrate how companies want to segregate their identities with one another, set limits to their capabilities and build strong customer relationships.  Although international businesses are the prominent concerned entities in securing trademarks, Florida had recorded active small players in the economy.  Why is some enterprise willing to spend time, money and effort to register their trademarks?  A well-known home of one of the world’s best runner of imitations, China, had recorded 58% increase in registration.  Other countries like India, Poland, Hungary and Russia also showed trademark filing boost which partly caused by large manufacturers’ desire to create strong brand names.

            Trademark is a distinctive mark of goods and services to identify the manufacturer or provider from other brands and indicate the performance and reputation of their offerings to the buyer.  Imitation and infringement of trademarks is protected by an international body World Intellectual Property Organization under the United Nation.   

                Selecting a brand name is a concern that most managers put into their own discretions due to friction that would be created by employees’ suggestions not being accepted in favor of one successful name and the cumbersome tasks of selecting from customers’ responses.  Companies opted to initiate concept testing, business analysis, product development and in-house testing to arrive at a specific brand name which lasted for 64 hours and an estimated cost of $7,600.  But is this enough?  Is excluding customer views about the naming rationale would save the company time, effort and money or would result to failure?

            Customers draw inferences from brand names and associate them to a specific product category.  In addition, they preferred brand names that are typical or more suited to the actual good or service.  As an example, “Mishu” was more preferred than “Pilot” in the product line of cameras.  This simple connection created between the brand name and the actual product was cited as complimentary strategy for a company to succeed in the business.  Aside from the context of brand names, the sound and pitch of those are demonstrated a preconceived notion from consumers hastening familiarity and recognition more easily.  But what should be prioritized by the company, the meaning likeness or sound likeness?

            English companies placed their brand naming process under the veil of objectives (establishing a particular image, fostering brand loyalty, market segmentation) and criteria (compatibility with product image, memorability, trademark availability).  When generating brand names, companies emphasize that it should say something about the product, convey positioning and differentiate form other products.  On the average, 49 names are initially created by the top management that also seek help from advertising agencies, trademark attorneys, naming agencies and marketing research agencies in the following order.  As research agencies below the list, customer views are somewhat underestimated as a reliable suggestion source.

            Creating a brand in a mass-merchandise scale equates a firm to a subcontractor of customers.  Because of this, customization of the brand or “just for me” approach to customer is necessary for appeal and commitment purposes to a certain market.  The firm must be specific in building its brand to prevent to be piled-up in the enormous number of commodity-based products which in the process giving customers a huge option to satisfy its needs that can be detrimental to the company’s long-term success.  To be able to customize the brand, however, the emphasis should be on the competition wherein customer factors are placed second.  Is this a customization or differentiation regime wherein “custom” in customer is undermined to be replaced by competitor?  

It is found that children’s understanding of advertising has a positive relationship with their age partly because of factors like cognitive development, socio-economic status and adult interaction.  The recognition of Joe Camel as a cigarette product indicated the relative inferiority of younger than eight year old children who accounted recognition rate as low as 54% that increased to 86% with age.  This undermines previous studies that suggested children who demonstrated skills with non-verbal figures wherein the scores were uniform in an experiment even for the youngest sample although differentiating the figure was a different story. 

A study of American and Korean consumers evidenced that they perceived globalization of products as related to quality and brand prestige although the former feature was greater emphasized.  Procter and Gamble disposed some of its products due to limited global acknowledgement while Frito Lay and Vodafone changed company name and attached the word “global” respectively.  This trend of firms to include international figure in their products is said to enhance competitiveness over local competitors.  However, limited studies are done to prove effectiveness of a globalized firm over local ones.  What are the impacts of brand name and brand logo alteration to the local customers?

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has 96% Muslim population with the official language is Arabic but Farsi and English are widely used.  Although most of inhabitants are foreigners, most of them are also Muslims.  Oil is the primary industry while imports like food, manufactured gods, machinery and chemicals are sourced out from trading partners like South Korea, India, Japan, United States and United Kingdom.  The country is rooted to Islamic culture and the government is committed to preserve the tradition of its art and culture which is emanated from the establishment of the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation.

Emotional branding can trigger the opportunity to keep customers in a long-term relationship.  As observed, adaptation to customer needs through branding is required if a company aspires to keep customers, that according to Drucker, costlier to attract.  On the flip side, technology allows firm to imitate the inherent features and design of the existing product that basically make branding promises temporary, at least on the original firm’s part. Further, fifty percent of the world markets are customers of United States, products and services are not globalized but “Americanized”.  Are these facts relevant to the purchasing systems of the Muslim population?       

Theoretical Framework  

This study basically aims to determine the factors that determine effective brand name and brand symbol.  The dependent variables are the brand name and the brand symbol while independent variables are geographical classification, adaptation to Islamic language and norms, visual appeal and attractiveness, relevance to the company or product in question and ease of recognition.      

                 

Methodology

            Methodology

            This study is aimed to identify the factors that affect storytelling and interface performance for an effective visual media communication.  The presentation is largely qualitative in nature with a inclusion of some numerical information.  Books, digital reference and other academic materials are used to come up with the study.  Gathered information will be filtered and analyze to arrive at a conclusion and ultimately to design an experimental interface design.  Findings will be based on the data under the lists of contents presented.  The study of the following areas will signal the factors that could create a framework where effective interactivity will result.  Areas to be studied are the complementarities of letter and visual image, hypertext and hypermedia, understanding interface in multimedia, immersed in visual media through visual and storytelling, narrative techniques and finally interface design testing.      

 

• TOPIC: The brand development process, branding for a national and international marketplace.

The proposal should read as a mini dissertation with a maximum of 3000 words.

The layout should include:

1. Introduction.
2. Theoretical framework.
3. Methodology.
4. Ethical considerations. (Ethical issues that is associated with the dissertation).
5. Timescale. (An outline timescale of submission of draft chapters.) From may to august.
6. References and bibliography.

 

A brand is the name, personality, and defining attributes that represent your company and your product.

Name and logo are the two most visible elements of a brand,

Publication Information: Article Title: You've Got a Logo, You Need a Brand. Contributors: Arthur Eilertson - author, William H. Faust - author. Journal Title: ABA Banking Journal. Volume: 86. Issue: 10. Publication Year: 1994. Page Number: 86+. COPYRIGHT 1994 Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation; COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group

This significant result suggests that international marketers should focus on creating and communicating quality rather than the status and prestige advantages of global brands. Although global brands may also communicate higher prestige and status, quality appears to be more heavily weighted by consumers.

In sum, we have evidence supporting our hypothesized causal sequence, from perceived brand globalness to brand prestige and to perceived quality (instead of the reverse or bidirectional direction). We therefore continue using the hypothesized model to test our hypotheses.

Publication Information: Article Title: How Perceived Brand Globalness Creates Brand Value. Contributors: Dana L. Alden - author, Rajeev Batra - author, Jan-Benedict E.M. Steenkamp - author. Journal Title: Journal of International Business Studies. Volume: 34. Issue: 1. Publication Year: 2003. Page Number: 53+. COPYRIGHT 2003 Academy of International Business; COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group          

Although previous studies have found that younger children demonstrate some perspective-taking skills when a nonverbal measure is used, the uniformly high scores achieved by even the youngest children in the study were somewhat unexpected. Virtually all the children, regardless of age or cognitive development, indicated that children are not an appropriate target market for cigarettes.

Recognition of cigarette brand symbols increases with age, as does overall recognition of brand symbols in general. Table 2 gives results of recognition tests for the three age groups that correspond to the pre-operational (younger than six years), transitional (between six years and seven years), and concrete operational (older than seven years) developmental levels. Age in months was used for the analyses.

              Previous research has shown that children's understanding of advertising complexities increases with age and is related positively to other factors, including cognitive development, socioeconomic status, and adult-child interaction.

 Publication Information: Article Title: Young Children's Perceptions of Cigarette Brand Advertising Symbols: Awareness, Affect, and Target Market Identification. Contributors: Lucy L. Henke - author. Journal Title: Journal of Advertising. Volume: 24. Issue: 4. Publication Year: 1995. Page Number: 13+. COPYRIGHT 1995 American Academy of Advertising; COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group

            By customizing the brand it is possible to define and deliver a brand proposition that is designed for and delivered to each individual customer in such a way that it is perceived to be made 'just for me'. Such a brand will be much more appealing and relevant than competitive mass-market offerings. It will also be better differentiated as it will appear in a much more well-defined marketplace – a market of one.

By applying the principles of customizing a brand, the level of commitment will increase as the brand proposition will be more relevant. But, the commitment is not 'for free', it requires a full adaptation of the total marketing mix, from product development and distribution to promotion and advertising.

If, on the other hand, a brand owner continues with a traditional mass-market approach, even spiced up by Internet solutions and CRM systems, the customers will increasingly continue to take charge. The company will in the end become a subcontractor of their wishes and be subject to a marketplace where every product and service is commoditized and all sales are done on the basis of lowest price. For most companies that is not a bright future.

Publication Information: Book Title: Customize the Brand: Make It More Desirable and Profitable. Contributors: Torsten H Nilson - author. Publisher: Wiley. Place of Publication: Chichester, England. Publication Year: 2003. Page Number: 53

advertising agencies (48 percent) and trademark attorneys (39 percent) were most commonly used. Specialized naming agencies (18 percent) and marketing research agencies (11 percent)  

These are: (1) setting branding objectives, (2) creating a list of candidate brand names, (3) evaluating prospective brand names, (4) choosing the best brand names, and (5) applying for registration. 

Objectives of Branding. Most respondents felt that the brand name should say something about the product (see Table 1). Conveying the intended positioning of the product (61 percent) and establishing product differentiation (41 percent) were the most commonly specified naming objectives. Other objectives in decreasing order of importance were establishing a distinct segment for the product (41 percent) and establishing a distinctive image (20 percent).

The second study, Shipley, Hooley, and Wallace (1988) was more extensive in nature. This study summarized responses from 112 consumer-goods manufacturers in the United Kingdom. Unlike McNeal and Zeren (1981), they distinguished branding objectives from branding criteria. According to these authors, companies set explicit branding objectives (e.g., establishing a particular image, fostering brand loyalty, market segmentation, etc.) and branding criteria (e.g., compatibility with product image, memorability, trademark availability, etc.) before they generate names. Overall, companies reported committing a substantial amount of resources to brand-name selection, using a marketing orientation and involving top management extensively. The authors focused only on the importance ratings given to various tasks at different steps. They did not measure what brand-name tasks companies actually performed. A subsequent study, used a questionnaire similar to the one used and focused on industrial companies. Once again the investigation was limited to importance ratings of various tasks at each step of the process.

One hundred and one completed questionnaires were obtained for a 26 percent response rate.

) showed that consumers draw inferences from brand names.  They found that consumers, indeed, associated each brand name with a specific product category. As an example, "whumies" is seen as a brand name for breakfast cereals but not for detergents.

They used meaningful names developed using a priori theory. Their study demonstrated that consonant hardness and vowel pitch in the names increased perceptions of "hardness" in paper towel and cleanser brands. In a similar vein, found that consumers preferred products with "typical" brand names over products with names that were "atypical" for the product category. For example, "Mishu," which was found to be more typical for cameras, was preferred over "Pilot." It was inferred that manufacturers have a better shot at success using typical names, since consumers have a preconceived notion about what a brand name for a particular product should sound like.

Some of Dechert's noteworthy findings for the year 1994 include:

-- On the "Information Highway," applications for marks containing the word VIRTUAL were up 95% from 1993. CYBER was also popular (an 83% increase), as was INTERACTIVE (up 64%).

-- The word SMART has become consistently more popular every year, appearing in 740 new brand names in 1994 (up 19%). As for the word DUMB, it appeared in only 4 new filings.

-- Being REAL or ORIGINAL was still popular in 1994 (up 2%), but the word AUTHENTIC really caught on in the trademark world (up 100%).

-- Marketers clearly believed that consumers wanted things SIMPLE (up 27%) and BASIC (up 11%).

-- The vogue for marks with the prefix EURO- seems to have abated, with 17% fewer filings. Marks containing AMERICA or AMERICAN were still very popular (1,650 filings, up 3%).

-- POWER was powerfully popular in 1994 in American brand names, appearing in 1,100 new marks (up 20%).

NEW TRADEMARK APPLICATIONS SHOW MARKETING TRENDS; DECHERT RELEASES ANNUAL STUDY ON POPULAR BRAND NAMES

 distinctive mark placed on or attached to goods by a manufacturer or dealer to identify them as made or sold by that particular firm or person. The use of a trademark indicates that the maker or dealer believes that the quality of the goods will enhance his or her standing or goodwill, and a known trademark indicates to a buyer the reputation that is staked on the goods. Registration of a trademark is necessary in some countries to give exclusive right to it. In the United States, Canada, and Great Britain, the sufficient use of a trademark not previously used establishes exclusive right to it, but registration is provided as an aid in defending that right. In the United States trademarks are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Internationally, trademark registration is facilitated by the, under the Madrid Protocol. Imitations of a trademark wrong both the owner of the trademark and the buyer, who is misled as to the source of goods, and such infringements of a trademark are punishable by law. Service marks, which are used on services (such as insurance or brokerages) rather than on products, are also covered by trademark laws

The volume of recent trademark applications suggests economic growth, particularly in certain industries and geographic regions. There were 248,000 trademark filings in 2004, a nine percent increase from 2003 and the third highest number in U.S. history. Dechert's Trademark Trends traditionally has shown a correlation between the number of trademark filings and the strength of the economy. For example, the report tracked a steady rise in filings from 1992 through early 2000, with the number of applications reaching an all-time high in March 2000, the same month NASDAQ hit its peak. Applications then plummeted by 23 percent from 2000 to 2001, precisely tracking the burst of the dot.com bubble.

This year, the report looks at regional, state, international, and industry trends to get a sense of economic growth in those areas. An example of the findings: Of the top 10 filing states, Florida is next-to-last in major corporate headquarters, but third in trademark applications, suggesting the state has more than its share of vibrant small businesses. Note to editor: Dechert's Trends in Trademarks contains data on many states, countries, and industries. In addition to data in the report, Dechert can provide geographic- and industry-specific numbers are upon request.

·        On the international front, filings from China rose 58 percent, mirroring recent news about China's rise as an economic power. Although Taiwan still had more applications than China (1,082 compared to 770), China's big increase shows it is gaining rapidly on its island rival, as Taiwan's numbers actually fell by 2 percent from 2003. India and Eastern Europe also saw an upsurge in filings - a 25 percent increase from the previous year for India, while Poland logged a 78 percent increase, Hungary 67 percent and Russia a 22 percent increase. Poland is advancing on Russia, with 105 Polish applications coming up neck-in-neck with Russia's 134. Overall, the data show a rise in applications by countries that have traditionally been manufacturers of products for others, but have not created strong brand names of their own.

Annual Study of New Trademark Applications Reveals Hot Marketing Trends.

Integrated branding is an organizational strategy used to drive company and product direction--where all actions and messages are based on the value the company brings to its line of business. This value is based both on what the company does well and what customers consider important. By focusing actions and messages on company and product strengths, a company is much more likely to create a deep, long lasting relationship with each of its customers.

To summarize, you could also say integrated branding is the promise that you keep. At the heart of any company is the promise that it makes to its customers.

A company that builds products that corresponds more exactly to its strengths builds value, trust, and loyalty with customers far faster than the competition.

Although the effects of branding are most obvious in a company's marketing materials, an integrated brand directs message development and action everywhere in the company. Most people know Nipper, the His Master's Voice dog visual symbol used by RCA. But how many are aware of the brand meaning of "sound fidelity" that was one inspiration behind this association? The concept was that the sound from the phonograph was so clear that the dog recognized his master's voice from the record. "Sound fidelity, is a powerful driver of the RCA brand.

How does an integrated brand use its drivers? If one of a brand's associations is sound fidelity, then it must manifest sound fidelity holistically, throughout the company. That means engineers, marketers, human resource professionals, service personnel, salespeople, accounting, and upper management must all ensure their decisions, actions, and communications further the impression of sound fidelity with customers. For instance, if RCA didn't produce products with high sound fidelity, then an association like Nipper would not seem true to customers. In

fact, it might breed customer cynicism, reduce customer loyalty, and cloud the company's true strengths. The consequence of communication not backed up by actions is devaluing of the customer relationship. This mismatch of promise with reality is one reason why some brands lose value over time.

 

Publication Information: Book Title: Integrated Branding: Becoming Brand-Driven through Companywide Action. Contributors: F. Joseph LePla - author, Lynn M. Parker - author. Publisher: Quorum Books. Place of Publication: Westport, CT. Publication Year: 1999. Page Number: 21.

"We want to be a household name, and we think branding is the way to achieve that goal," said Simon. "Branding is good not only for consumers, but it strengthens our relationships with retailers and outside marketers. The retail sales potential brought about by our branding is unlimited."

Westfield, which claims to have pioneered the mall branding concept in 1964 in Australia when its first malls were built and dubbed "Westfield Shoppingtowns," is rolling out a multimedia campaign. Tagged "It's a Wonderful Town," the blitz will target cities in seven states, including California, New York, Connecticut, Colorado, Maryland, Washington and Missouri.