Brand: name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers
Legal name of a brand is a trade mark
May identify one item, a family of items, or all items of that seller
Powerful they have value and status
Brand Equity: the dollar amount attributed to the value of the brand, based on all the intangible qualities that create that value
People may be willing to pay more for the brand
Brand strength can be measured along four consumer perception dimensions: 1) differentiation (what makes the brand stand out), relevance (how consumers feel it meets their needs), knowledge (how much consumers know about the brand), and esteem (how highly consumers regard and respect the brand)
Brand Attributes: qualities associated with a brand
Brands often positioned based off of attributes
Brands must be positioned as a part of a marketing strategy, so the brand can exist in the minds of consumers
Businesses can be based off of product attributes, however, this creates difficulty when trying to create unrelated products
Ex: Coca-Cola’s attributes are tradition and family, Pepsi is young and energetic
Brands can be positioned on benefits they provide: Nike is about performance, Volvo is about safety
Great brands absolutely require a good, strong, memorable name
Ex: after Google was created, users did not have to say name twice
Companies often resurrect brand names (Buick Regal)
When creating a new brand name, the following should be considered
1. It should suggest something about the type of products it will brand, such as Curves, Craftsman, Snuggie.
2. It should be easy to pronounce, recognize, and remember, such as Tide, Yahoo!, Crest.
3. It should be unique, such as Google, Lexus, Zappos.
4. It should be extendable, that is, not tied to closely to one product, such as Nike, Amazon.com.
5. It should be pronounceable in many languages (and not have derogatory