THE PURPOSE OF BRANDING With the rapid improvement and sophistication in technology, production processes have become a lot more automated. Manual handling in production of goods and service delivery continues to reduce as more advanced computerization empowers many production processes to do things unaided. Many production machines and lines continue to churn out standard quality products, meeting the specifics, with extremely minimal defects as almost every aspect of the process has been programmed to deliver perfectly. All the engineer needs to do is just program the machines and monitor the process to deliver. The world has come that advanced. Be it food processing, aviation, automobile, FMCGs, telecoms, office machines, home appliances and equipment, courier and logistics production and service sectors, there are extremely intelligent machines created and well programmed to deliver, superior and standard products and services at much faster rates. The marvel adjoined to this innovation in manufacturing and production is the speed. What may require a hundred men to churn out in 30 days manually hitherto can be delivered by just one automated machine in 30 minutes. Hence, manufactures are able to produce more and deliver more efficiently in shorter time spans and periods. As exciting as this may sound, there are consequences attached to this rate of output. Of course the reason for production is consumption. Products are manufactured for consumers to purchase and consume. Though the quality and speed of production has been enhanced tremendously over time, the volume and speed of consumption however has not been able to match or equate production. Consumers don’t consume at the same rate producers produce. Two basic factors I’d like to consider, responsible for this are nature and purchasing power. I will not drink 20 bottles of soft drinks at once because the bottling company can now produce one thousand bottles per minute. Even if I want to I can’t because it is naturally impossible. Similarly, I cannot buy 100 brand new cars at the same time because the manufacturers now have the capacity to produce 1000 cars in 5 hours. This is simply because I don’t need that number of cars and I can’t afford that number of cars. Even if I could afford, it doesn’t make sense buying 100 of the same type of car. The immediate option for manufacturers hence is seeking new markets; new buyers and developing them, but most companies avoid venturing first because of the high cost of virgin market penetration, they’ll rather compete in already developed and growing markets. Hence the improvement and speed in production technology has its own attended challenges. Besides the fact that product sales; that is offtake or purchases by consumers is far below the quantity manufacturers can produce per occasion nowadays, competitors are also producing as fast and as much products and selling to the same consumers hence, the ability to even sell most of what is produced by a manufacturer is made more difficult by the presence and activities of competitors also talking and selling to the same people in the same market. What’s more, competitors may even be able to produce superior quantity and sell at a lower price if they get their value chain process management right and manage it more efficiently. This situation is inevitably the purpose and what gave rise to branding. Branding is basically the science of differentiating your product from that of competitors by making it recognizable and preferred among similar options. Branding is driven by the need to create recognition and a relationship with potential consumers; nurture this relationship and bond with the consumer to drive loyalty by fulfilling the promise made to the consumer by the brand. Branding is essentially in place to make the product the preferred amongst several options available to the customer. This can only be achieved if the brand lives up to its promise. My dear friends, branding is not just creating recognition for your product, recognition does not sell a product, fulfilling the brand promise is actually what sells the product. It’s really unfortunate nowadays to hear even experts think exciting product identity is what sells a product. For most establishments, their understanding of the branding concept stops at just the differentiation level. You’ll hear people say branding is giving a product a name or an identity via recognizable elements like logo, colors and packaging. My dear friends, may I announce to you this morning that differentiation is a dangerous venture for a bad product or a brand that can’t live up to its promise. Differentiation is not synonymous to branding. Being different offers the privilege of identification or recognition. When you’re different as a product on a shelf or otherwise, I recognize you. No matter how lovely and fantastic and beautiful your differentiation is and no matter how poor and inferior the differentiation of your competition is, all differentiation offers me is the ability to recognize your brand and at best be drawn to it. True branding however is absolutely about the character of the product, my experience with the product and its ability to meet or match my expectations by fulfilling its promise to meet this need the way I expect it to. No matter the beauty of your logo, the colors of your envelopes and letter heads, the appearance and good looks of your business premises and employees, and even the excitement of your commercials, if my experience with your offering is disappointing, what your differentiation will do is to help me recognize and avoid your product the next time I go shopping for a product in your category. The character of your brand will help me form an opinion about it after an experience with your brand. When I try and it’s good then I love and prefer it, when I get attracted by packaging and I try and it’s bad, then I permanently avoid it. Differentiation empowers the customer to recognize you so as to either buy you or avoid you. Differentiation is not branding, differentiation is recognition, branding is an experience. Brand promise is the solution your product carries or the need its meant to satisfy, brand character however is the way and manner this need is satisfied. Brand promise to an extent is generic, all similar products will ultimately make the same promise in different ways, but the experience is what makes the difference, the experience of how well, how efficiently and how excitingly this promise is delivered. The experience in effect is what forms the opinion of the customer and determines if the customer would be back or will go to competition seeking the same promise but with a superior delivery experience. Dear friends, business success and profitability this year will be predicated on not just the beauty and class of your brand differentiation or even presentation, your ability to deliver the promise indeed in more superior and affordable ways than competition is the master key to market share expansion and revenue generation. Much like you my friend, your ability to deliver on your role, tasks and responsibility would go a long way in determining your empowerment, promotion and reward in this new season. This is beyond your nice suits, ties, skirts, shoes, hair, make up and good looks, it’s beyond the ability to speak well and confidently, in fact it goes beyond charisma and popularity. At the end of the period, it is a matter of your objectives and appraisal. Were you able to deliver your objectives for the year? How well did you deliver these objectives; poorly, as expected, or exceeding expectations? Would your delivery style be referenced as excellent? Do not be deceived, no matter how well differentiated you are or a product is, reward and acceptability is absolutely tied to the ability to meet needs, satisfy needs in the most exciting and affordable manner than competition. Branding is purely the ability to be different and better than competition, it’s not just for recognition and identification; it’s for the product promise, product character and consumer experience. Dear friends, brand yourself right!
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 12:01:38 +0000
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