Jennifer Taylor
I am often asked what I do and when I respond with “I help brand companies,” I am greeted with blank expressions. So, I’ve learned to respond with “I help to personify a product, service, or even entire company.”
To understand why this is so important imagine a scenario where your wine is the most recognized and purchases fly off the shelf. You maintain profitable prices despite the efforts of competitors to undercut you and distributors are knocking at your doors. Your customers completely “get” your wine and understand exactly what you want them to think about it. Well, that’s the power of branding.
While it’s not the magic bullet, it sure can set you up to win the battle!
A brand is a singular idea or concept that your product conjures in the mind of your customer. Typically, it comes in the form of a name, tagline, logo design or a combination of all three and is intended to clearly differentiate your wine from the competition.
It’s the difference between an iPod and an MP3 player or Coca-Cola and a bottle of cola.
A brand is about consumer perception, carefully crafted by you but it is not just a name, logo or tagline. It is the result of years of crafting the image at every touch-point with your customers.
Brand equity is the value of the brand you have created. It correlates to the degree of name recognition, perceived quality, strong mental and emotional connections and other assets such as patents, trademarks and various channel relationships.
Probably the most renowned brand with the highest brand equity would be Coca-Cola. The name and brand mark is recognized globally and is held in high regard for its consistent quality and immense channel power.
Consumers have strong emotional ties to Coca-Cola and are passionate about it. Remember the huge backlash when they changed the formula several years ago? The company was forced to change back to their original recipe and name. That’s powerful brand equity!
High brand equity offers numerous advantages:
- It can help buffer the impact of a sagging economy
- It can create demand for your wine
- It can reduce marketing costs due to increased brand awareness and loyalty
- It offers more trade leverage in bargaining with distributors and retailers
- Strong brand equity facilitates the launch of (new) brand extensions because your brand already carries high credibility
- Strong brand equity can help stave off price battles
Strong brand equity helps achieve larger margins because the consumer becomes less price conscious and expenses go down through more cost effective marketing. This generates revenue through increased sales and higher price margins, while strengthening your brand’s competitive position by building the consumer’s positive perception of your brand.