Page 273 - Marketing Management

250 PART 4 BUILDING STRONG BRANDS

2. The product and service and all accompanying marketing activities and sup-
porting marketing programs—Liz Claiborne’s fastest-growing label is Juicy
Couture, whose edgy, contemporary sportswear and accessories have a strong
lifestyle appeal to women, men, and kids. Positioned as an affordable luxury, the
brand creates its exclusive cachet via limited distribution and a somewhat risqué
name and rebellious attitude. 27
3. Other associations indirectly transferred to the brand by linking it to some other
entity (a person, place, or thing)—The brand name of New Zealand vodka 42BE-
LOW refers to both a latitude that runs through New Zealand and the percentage of
its alcohol content.The packaging and other visual cues are designed to leverage the
perceived purity of the country to communicate the positioning for the brand. 28

Choosing Brand Elements

Brand elements are devices, which can be trademarked, that identify and differen-
tiate the brand. Most strong brands employ multiple brand elements. Nike has the
distinctive “swoosh” logo, the empowering “Just Do It” slogan, and the “Nike” name
from the Greek winged goddess of victory.
Marketers should choose brand elements to build as much brand equity as pos-
sible. The test is what consumers would think or feel about the product if the brand
element were all they knew. Based on its name alone, for instance, a consumer
might expect SnackWell’s products to be healthful snack foods and Panasonic
Toughbook laptop computers to be durable and reliable.

BRAND ELEMENT CHOICE CRITERIA There are six criteria for choosing
The brand name 42BELOW has
brand elements. The first three—memorable, meaningful, and likable—are “brand building.” The
both direct product meaning and
latter three—transferable, adaptable, and protectable—are “defensive” and help leverage and
indirect meaning related to its
preserve brand equity against challenges.
New Zealand origins.
1. Memorable—How easily do consumers recall and recognize the brand element, and when—at
both purchase and consumption? Short names such as Tide, Crest, and Puffs are memorable
brand elements.
2. Meaningful—Is the brand element credible? Does it suggest the corresponding category and a
product ingredient or the type of person who might use the brand? Consider the inherent
meaning in names such as DieHard auto batteries, Mop & Glo floor wax, and Lean Cuisine
low-calorie frozen entrees.
3. Likable—How aesthetically appealing is the brand element? A recent trend is for playful names
that also offer a readily available URL, like Flickr photo sharing, Wakoopa social networking,
and Motorola’s ROKR and RAZR cell phones. 29
4. Transferable—Can the brand element introduce new products in the same or different categories?
Does it add to brand equity across geographic boundaries and market segments? Although initially
an online book seller,Amazon.com was smart enough not to call itself“Books ‘R’Us.”The Amazon
is famous as the world’s biggest river,and the name suggests the wide variety of goods that could be
shipped, an important descriptor of the diverse range of products the company now sells.
5. Adaptable—How adaptable and updatable is the brand element? The face of Betty Crocker
has received more than seven makeovers in 87 years, and she doesn’t look a day over 35!
6. Protectable—How legally protectable is the brand element? How competitively protectable?
Names that become synonymous with product categories—such as Kleenex, Kitty Litter, Jell-O,
Scotch Tape,Xerox,and Fiberglass—should retain their trademark rights and not become generic.
DEVELOPING BRAND ELEMENTS Brand elements can play a number of brand-building
roles. 30 If consumers don’t examine much information in making product decisions, brand
elements should be easy to recall and inherently descriptive and persuasive. The likability of brand
elements may also increase awareness and associations. 31 The Keebler elves reinforce home-style
baking quality and a sense of magic and fun for their line of cookies; Michelin’s friendly tire-shaped
Bibendum helps to convey safety for the family.
Often, the less concrete brand benefits are, the more important that brand elements capture
intangible characteristics. Many insurance firms use symbols of strength for their brands (the Rock
of Gibraltar for Prudential and the stag for Hartford), security (the “good hands”of Allstate and the
hard hat of Fireman’s Fund), or some combination (the castle for Fortis).