Terminal Examination for Business English Reading of
2015~2016(Ⅱ) The importance of Brand building in today’s global market
1. Abstract
With the guidance of Mr. Qian we have successfully finished the study of Business reading course. This course is set to improve students? comprehensive ability, it has not only improved my English reading ability but also richen my business knowledge. In this term, Mr. Qian has led us learned four units of the text book. Among them, unit 8 ?Brand and branding? makes me interested most which is about the global market power of American brands and strategies behind their dominance. It is obvious that brand is important in today?s global market; therefore in this essay I will mainly talk about why brand building is important in today?s global market. 2. Summary
With the tides of globalization, numerous products flood into global market. Customers have multiple choices when they purchase goods as well as services. The market becomes more and more competitive and capricious. In such background brands are more important now than at any time in the past 100 years. In this essay, first I will demonstrate the features of today?s global market and then I will introduce the definition of a brand, at last, I will talk about the importance of building a brand in terms of customers, new markets, product cycle and the company value. 3. Today’s global market
In many ways, today?s business environment has changed qualitatively since the late 1980s. The end of the Cold War radically altered the very nature of the world?s politics and economics. In just a few short years, globalization has started a variety of trends with profound consequences: the opening of markets, true global competition, widespread deregulation of industry, and an abundance of accessible capital.
At the same time, we have fully entered the Information Age; Starting breakthroughs in information technology have irreversibly altered the ability to conduct business unconstrained by the traditional limitations of time or space. Today, it?s almost impossible to imagine a world without intranets, e-mail, and portable computers. We are rapidly shifting from an economy based on manufacturing and commodities to one that places the greatest value on information, services, support, and distribution. That shift, in turn, places an unprecedented premium on “knowledge workers,” a new class of wealthy, educated, and mobile people who view themselves as free agents in a seller?s market.
Another major trend has been the fragmentation of consumer and business markets. There?s a growing appreciation that superficially similar groups of customers may have very different preferences in terms of what they want to buy and how they want to buy it. 4. The definition of a brand
According to Wikipedia, a brand is a set of marketing and communication methods that help to distinguish a company from competitors and create a lasting impression in the minds of customers. The key components that form a brand?s toolbox include a brand?s identity, brand communication (such as by logos and trademarks), brand awareness, brand loyalty, and various branding (brand management) strategies. Brand equity is the measurable totality of a brand?s worth and is validated by assessing the effectiveness of these branding components. In a fleeting market where traditional linear models of business are being replaced by more radical interconnected models, brand equity is one marketing technique that remains firmly rooted in prosperity. To reach such an invaluable brand prestige requires a commitment to a particular way of doing business. A corporation who exhibits a strong brand culture is dedicated on producing intangible outputs such as customer satisfaction, reduced price sensitivity and customer loyalty. A brand is in essence a promise to its customers that they can expect long-term security, a competitive frame of reference and consistent delivery of functional as well as
emotional benefits. When a customer is familiar with a brand or favors it incomparably to its competitors, this is when a corporation has reached a high level of brand equity.
To sum up a brand is a set of marketing and communication methods that help to distinguish a company from competitors and create a lasting impression in the minds of customers. The key components that form a brand?s toolbox include a brand?s identity, brand communication (such as by logos and trademarks), brand awareness, brand loyalty, and various branding (brand management) strategies. A brand (or marque for car model) is a name, term, design, symbol or other feature that distinguishes one seller's product from those of others. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising. 5. The importance of building a brand in todays’ global market 5.1 winning customers’ loyalty
Consumers tend to favor and develop a high degree of loyalty to brands they know they can trust. This requires establishing and communicating a brand promise and building a customer experience that upholds the promise consistently at every stage of the purchase cycle.
Trust comes with confidence in the underlies that define the brand: quality, responsiveness, experience, credibility and innovation. It?s not just personal experience that shapes the consumer?s trust and expectations that a brand will deliver. Strong brands create evangelists who are not shy about sharing their stories. Those types of peer endorsements are extremely powerful ways of virally building a brand?s trust factor.
When people are familiar with brands, they are more inclined to favor them – provided there are positive associations inherent to that familiarity. The visual representations are important. The look and feel that distinguish the brand, from colors to logo to the name of the brand itself, need to be consistent and easily recognized. This creates a comfort and confidence in the product or
service that the brand represents. It can also help differentiate the brand from the increasing number of competitors in a crowded marketplace. 5.2 winning new market
The world has come online and there are many new markets and a growing middle class in places like India, China, Brazil, Russia, South Africa, Nigeria, Indonesia and in many more places. These consumers buy brands. They buy premium brands. The best branding today is based on a strong idea. The best brands have remarkable creativity in advertising to help them break through people?s wall of indifference to create brand heat and product lust. Case in point the recent turn around of Chrysler and it?s reliance on marketing and advertising. Or look at the reinvention of Levis. And a final example is this campaign by my own agency which has helped reenergize one of America?s great iconic brands Jim Beam. 5.3 Outliving product cycles
Brands are psychology and science brought together as a promise mark as opposed to a trademark. Products have life cycles. Brands outlive products. Brands convey a uniform quality, credibility and experience.
Nowadays if you want to create new brands at New York City advertising agency StrawberryFrog, you have fewer brand names to choose from. The Pharmaceutical Industry has patented everything under the sun for new medications. This makes existing brands, with their strong, well-known names and credibility more valuable. It also means creating a new vibrant brand is a challenge which requires a sophisticated strategy. It is not just about a product and a name, it?s about a lot more.
The sophisticated strategy is a cultural movement strategy. I believe that building brands now requires a cultural movement strategy as opposed to simply a brand building strategy. A cultural movement strategy can accelerate your brand?s rise to dominance. Once you have cultural movement, you can do anything in a fragmenting media environment, maximizing the power of
social media and technology. The world has changed. We are now living in the age of uprisings and movements. Now building brands has become a lot less expensive and smart brands can take advantage of new tools and rocket up there globally, very fast.
In the face of the current economic challenges, it?s worth noting that brands do better in tough times compared to unbranded products. Brands outlive product cycles. And in these challenging times, there are still great brands being built. Brand owners still recognise opportunity and their brands will thrive in the years ahead. Brands such as H&M of Sweden, or Tesla a great new car brand, as well as new names such as Tom?s Shoes, Honest Tea, and a rising brand from Florida called European Wax Center which Inc. Magazine named a company to watch.
5.4 Adding the value of a company
Brands are valuable. Many companies put the value of their brand on their balance sheet.
When Tata Motors of India bought Jaguar and Range Rover from Ford, what did they buy? Factories? Raw Materials? Employees? No Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley helped Ford sell the brands to Tata for $2.56 billion, and the brands were worth more than all other ingredients combined.
Likewise, when Kraft bought Cadbury for $19.5 Billion what did they buy? The chocolate? The factories? The recipes? The candy makers? No they bought the brands.
And when Four Seasons Hotels, Inc., a Canadian-based international luxury, five-star hotel management company, sold itself to Bill Gates and and Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia for $3.8 billion what did they buy? Locations ? Restaurants? Staff ? Beach front property? No they bought the brand.
The list goes on with many examples such as InBev acquiring Budweiser to add to their house of brands that includes Stella, Becks and Labatt. Or Geeley
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