essay

“What is the relationship between branding and The Consumer Self (Ewen)”

Branding what is it? The origin of the term brand comes from brandr, the Norse word for fire. It means to burn the mark of the producer onto the product that they made. (Mark Ritson on branding: Norse fire smokes out bland brands Marketing Magazine 11.01.2006)

The Oxford English Dictionary provides a more modern version “A particular identity or image regarded as an asset” (Oxford University Press 2015)

The Business Directory (WebFinance Inc 2015), informs us it is ‘a process involved in creating a unique name and image for a product in the consumers' mind, mainly through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme. Branding aims to establish a significant and differentiated presence in the market that attracts and retains loyal customers’.

A famous advertising copywriter and ad agency founder David Ogilvy's definition of a brand “The intangible sum of a product's attributes: its name, packaging, and price, its history, its reputation, and the way it's advertised”.

(whatis.com, brand. Margaret Rouse. updated in June 2010)

To get to an answer of what a brand is I believe we should try to understand what a brand isn’t. A brand is not your logo, most people think it is but just look at OXO, a well known brand of food products owned by Premier Foods but it is also the kitchen tools maker OXO owned by Helen of Troy both use OXO as a trade name. There are a number of companies who do not have a logo in a pictorial sense such as ‘The White Company’.

Most companies today have a web presence but may do not have a visual identity system that can be attributed to a single company or brand. Intel Corporation produces semiconductors just one component in a personal computer. However, any PC manufacturer advert has the Intel Logo, the strap line Intel inside and the Intel sound bite at the end of their advert. They use all social media platforms to interface with their customers and their customers, customers. Apple use ARM Holdings semiconductors, no such adverts or claims are made, it is unlikely most people have heard of ARM yet everyone with an Apple product has at least one.

If a brand isn’t what a company says it is, it has to be what customers say or feel it is. Brands can mean different things to different people it is only when enough people have that same feeling, a brand is created. David Ogilvy the Business Directory and I agree it is not just a logo, or a slogan, or any singular part of a product it is a holistic thing with its own identity and experience.  

This can be put to the test, lets use cars; manufacturers of cars have, over time, sought to develop their brand to have its own identity. BMW has developed this across a range of executive cars each with its own series number rising up through the range. During the 1990’s a sales person or executive could be positioned in the companies hierarchy by the car marque they drove. VOLVO are regarded a  ‘safe’ car, over the years Volvo has led on safety feature development and has used this prominently in their marketing campaigns. FORD, viewed as the family car, economic and reliable. However, during the 1980’s when Margaret Thatcher came to power, the tory party developed what is know as ‘Mondeo Man’ seen as the new face of the aspiring new British man and his family and focused their successful election campaign on him.

Companies are protective of their brand from use or copyright theft by securing a trademark or service mark from an authorized agency, usually a government agency. (Gov.uk Trade marks: protect your brand, updated 23 feb). This can be a slogan Just Do It (Nike) or name Disney's Animal Kingdom® (Walt Disney) or a logo ‘Google’. All are registered and vigorously protected by their owners against piracy or theft. If misused the brand can suffer damage both publically and financially.

It takes time and a great deal of investment, both financial and creative to develop and nurture a brand identity in the public conscious. Most successful brands are those that have history or have achieved a cult status.

There are numerous examples of brands that have developed and grown over time to a position where it is trusted by its audience. Disney is a good example founded in the 1920’s creating short black and white cartoons today a multi-national corporation with a value of $150bn as reported in January 2015.

Cult status where through either product or personality a brand matures quickly in the public mind. Apple founded in 1976, had both the brand and the personality. Seen from their out set as the alternative PC manufacturer with a charismatic leader in Steve Jobs it has attracted more of the artistic rather than the business market the Apple corporation with a market value of $741bn as reported in March 2015.

(Google. NASDAQ:AAPL)

Each company needs to understand its audience and markets, all brands exist through customer loyalty, so companies need to give their customers what they need or desire. Using focus groups with targeted market research to develop the brand strategy and maintain the brand experience.

However, internal branding within an organization is important especially where there are interactions with its customers. Brand loyalty can be lost with poor customer care or inferior product quality and service. A large amount of companies received bad press or directly lost customers through poor customer care and lack of quality by not understanding the brand and the customer need from the brand.

Today’s market requires companies who include ethical claims to their products and brands to reflect this in their business ethics and shown to deliver on their claims.  Some companies market their products based on the ethical policies, such as Fair Trade, Not Tested on Animals, etc. Having an ethical policy can in markets like beauty can be an advantage, the ‘Body Shop’ founded their brand on its ethical values. However, investigative journalism has uncovered a number of companies who have not ensured their ethical policy is applied, normally in the supply chain; this has created the wrong type of publicity that has impacted their brand.

The communications published the wording of contact centers all should represent the brand and to use a political term ‘be on message’. In all interaction with the customer brand guidelines must be maintained, this can be both spoken, published and attire of the company employees. Some companies hold refreshers for their employees to reinforce the brand with them as every customer interaction is and opportunity to reinforce the brand.

Over time a brand must develop and grow with the business. A company will need to reevaluate it brand strategy with its customers. Which takes us back to focus groups and market research to understand what is working and what is not working for the customer.

Consumerism, what is it? The Business Directory gives 3 options:

1.Organized-efforts by individuals, groups, and governments to help protect consumers from policies and practices that infringe consumer rights to fair business practices.

2.Doctrine that ever-increasing consumption of goods and services forms the basis of a sound economy.

3.Continual expansion of one's wants and needs for goods and services. (businessdictionary.com. Consumerism 2015 WebFinance, In)

However, it was in a 1955 speech, John Bugas (number two at Ford Motor Company) coined the term "consumerism" as a substitute for "capitalism" to better describe the American economy: “The term "consumerism" would pin the tag where it actually belongs—on Mr. Consumer, the real boss and beneficiary of the American system. It would pull the rug right out from under our unfriendly critics who have blasted away so long and loud at capitalism. Somehow, I just can't picture them shouting: "Down with the consumers!” (what-is-this. Consumerist)

So I believe Consumerism can have different definitions, both positive and negative.  There is the Consumerism applies to mass consumption by the consumer or customer. Or it can be Consumerism that can be a term allocated to a group of customers or legal organizations that have evolved to protect consumer or customer rights.

The consumer society emerged in the late seventeenth century and established itself during the eighteenth century. Possibly maintained by a growing middle-class who sought to emulate their new status by embracing ideas about luxury goods included sugar, tobacco, tea and coffee and fashion. As demand steadily rose during the course of the 18th century fueled by rising prosperity and the industrial revolution. This led to mass-production of products, which ultimately led to mass consumption.

By the early 1970’s consumerism is linked with words such as concept, informed decision makers, marketplace, consumer protection, social movement, social justice and self-regulating. The counter or negative view invited words such as selfish, materialism, globalization and destroys individuality.

Mass production had led to inferior products being over promised in their marketing and poorly manufactured, sold on the market with no recourse to the manufacturers. Pressure groups formed and the first consumer legislation was founded in the late 1970’s but culminated in the Consumer Protection Act 1987, which consolidate the numerous UK Acts but for the first time included the European Community Product Liability Directive.

With dominant consumer pressure groups, consumer legislation and consumer watchdogs in place, companies had to change the way they interacted with the customer over poor quality and poor service. Brands were under pressure for possibly the first time, a slick advert and over stated claims were no longer the route to market.

So how does Branding and Consumerism work together? In the free markets, to understand their function we must look at Maslow’s ‘hierarchy of needs’ (simplypsychology.org Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs published 2007). In 1943 Abraham Maslow published a paper "A Theory of Human Motivation", in which Maslow used the terms "physiological", "safety", "belongingness" and "love", "esteem" and  "self-actualization" to describe the pattern that human motivations generally move through.

Often portrayed in the shape of a pyramid, which has become the de facto way to represent the hierarchy, the largest, most fundamental levels of human need at its base and the need for self-actualization at the top. Over time people aspired to move up the pyramid, however, this was generally a generation a step and at some point they would reach a ceiling in their social grouping a divide that could or would be to costly to cross.

Fast-forward to the 1990’s and the rise of materialism and celebrity icons, copying becomes a core component of consumerism. While the wealthy are still a key target market, celebrity endorsement of a brand or product is evidence of the desire of modern consumers to copy their celebrity icons that are themselves a brand personality.

With easy credit the not so wealthy consumers can imitate celebrities getting instant gratification purchasing an expensive item to improve social status within their social circle. Unfortunately as with all instant gratification it is short lived as celebrity’s fade and new version or upgrade of the product is launched.

The Fashion industry is a great example of Branding and Consumerism working together.

Fashion is an annual and seasonal merry-go-round with new lines coming out every 6 months. Designers sponsored by known brands or fashion houses as clothing brands prefer to be called, create clothing, which fit the needs of each season to encourage stores and customers to purchase the produces.

Once a fashion house such as Prada or Channel has assembled a collection it then goes to trials that take place on the catwalks all over the world in the major fashion cities London, New York, Milan and Paris holding Bi-annual shows. Widely publicised they run for a week with major press and TV coverage delivering free publicity and the magazine coverage, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, etc. I use the term trials as that is what they are they are a pitch to the major sales companies or department stores like John Lewis, Selfridges or Bloomingdales. (theguardian.com, Fashion: how the global market is changing seasonal collections.  Published Tuesday 1 January 2013 07.00 GMT)

Following the catwalk shows the key brands or fashion houses select the items they desire to retain as high end products that are not for mass production. A new season is like ringing the money bell for fashion companies and they begin to place the new season in shops, magazines, online, adverts and even on television show like Made in Chelsea. Adverting is key in fashion especially with celebrity because they know the customers want the new outfit a celebrity is wearing, and if the companies can conform to the customer what outfit they wearing they know they will sell that item.

The department stores have their new collection amended to enable manufacture at reasonable cost. Sales are both in stores and online providing easy access to their customer base.

A very well know online company Asos have both markets, Asos has one of the biggest own brand online fashion collections as well as high end fashion products from companies like Ralph Lauren and Lactose, who go direct to Asos and providing product direct. This has two effects, one, additional sales and two, reducing the need for Asos to produce cheap versions of well known branded products.

This also gives the chance for the big mass marketing and manufacturing companies to copy and remake their own versions and sell cheap look alike produced by them.

The fashion industry is not the only example the same can be applied to the electronics industry where upgrades to technology happens at a minimum annually and perfectly operable product become redundant.

The majority of low cost mass-produced fashion products are manufactured in some of the poorest countries of the world. Low wages, underage workers and poor working conditions were used to deliver high profit margins and discountable products for the sales season. Recent disasters in Bangladesh where a garment factory in Savar collapsed killing around 1,127 workers, news paper exposés on Nike (dailymail. Nike workers 'kicked, slapped and verbally abused' at factories making Converse. Updated 13th July 2011)

and Primark (dailymail Exposed: Primark's fashion sweatshops that pay children just 60p a day. Updated 23rd June 2008)

caused negative impact on their brand value which in-turn has forced social change and the creation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). (Wikipedia, Corporate social responsibility. 3 May 2015)

The United Nations defines CSR as; ... a management concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and interactions with their stakeholders (unido.org. What is CSR?). Companies use CSR to appeal to their loyal customers based on ethical values while other used it as a tactic to gain support for their presence in developing countries, leveraging their social contributions as another form of advertising. e.g. Body Shop one of the founders of the Community or Fair Trade market in 1990.

My View

Consumerism is not a bad thing, brands grow bigger and bigger each year, creating jobs for people in their shops or factories all over the world even in the poorest countries. This allows people to make money and help the countries economy to improve its infrastructure with hospitals, roads, education and much more. This aids not only the development of the country but also its people moving them up Maslow’s hierarchy.

However, there will always be those countries and companies that have no respect for the people and exploit distance and language to mask their abuse of the workers. CSR is there to protect the workers granting rights under the UN, these are not always given; it is here the informed consumer can punish the brands that abuse.

Most people buy things because of label, from clothes, cars, technology and also even food we all do it sometimes without knowing. Most people go for the branding they think are the best because they think its going to look the best or taste the best to other people to notice you. People buy the most expensive car or clothing because they believe it will work better for longer or look superior then other branding people are wearing. 

Everything in todays world is a moving advert for brands. BMW along with other car manufactures know people will see their cars and want one, boosting their sales. Clothing brands like Obey, Stussy and Levis have just their logo or name visible on the clothing; customers will buy them, someone else will recognise the clothing and make a purchase. Most young adults or teenagers will copy their friends, so brands knowing this will have a logo or name so that can be easily recognized by their peers.

Companies own brands for the sole reason of making money and delivering shareholder value, unless they are a charity. A brand only exists because it has a following that generates revenue via consumer sales to warrant its support by the company. 

Apple, possibly the top computing brand, by being different and having charismatic leadership it has grown to possibly one of the most recognisable brands on the planet by consumer loyalty. Consumers are loyal enough to spend £600 every other year on the latest upgraded phone and discarding a perfectly good operational mobile phone.

Conclusion –

So what is a brand? It is the totality of the whole company as viewed by its customers, not just the products that will develop and fade over time. The brand is what the customer believes or feels it is to them, nurtured through the communications written or spoken, media neutral, that represents the brand and connects with its customer base.

A brand helps the customer understand who you are and what you as a company are doing. Without branding you are just another product on the shelf but one with a limited shelf life.

Is branding and consumerism linked? Yes it is, a brand had developed its own culture and following. It is a vehicle to grow and develop the company driving profit and shareholder value.  Managed correctly a brand creates wealth and wellbeing to those working in and around the world; developing and manufacturing products in some of the poorer regions of the world.

Viewed through Fashion industry, which has an annual and seasonal cycle, specifically designed to deliver continuous change without advancement. Or the technology industry it is just a virtuous circle of obsolesce driven by a throw away society led by brand marketing campaigns designed to drive needs of the consumer.

Branding is complex, working on many levels to promote the company and is hard work to maintain and grow. However, as quoted widely by numerous people ‘your brand is the single most valuable asset you can cultivate in business’.