BRANDS AND BRANDING BUSINESS VOCABULARY IN USE (ADVANCED)

 

BUSINESS VOCABULARY IN USE (ADVANCED) 26. BRANDS AND BRANDING

 

A Brand equity A brand is a name given to a product or group of products so that it can be easily recognized. ‘The most distinctive power of professional marketers is their ability to create, maintain, protect and enhance (strengthen the power of) brands,’ says Philip Kotler1. This is reflected in the value that companies put on their brands. For example, BMW paid $60 million for the Rolls Royce name alone, not including any material assets such as manufacturing plant. ‘Brand’ often occurs in these combinations: B Brand positioning and differentiation A firm can position a brand by emphasizing its characteristics and benefits in relation to other brands – this is brand positioning, which can be represented on a positioning map. Here is an example of a positioning map for different brands or breakfast food. Differentiation is when a company designs a product in a way that distinguishes it from competitors’ brands and communicates the comparative benefits to customers in its sales documentation, advertising etc. For example, a UK mobile phone company ran a campaign addressed to the ‘hard-nosed businessman1. This was an effort to differentiate its: C Brand stretching A flagship brand is the most important one owed by an organization – for example ‘Coke’ is the most famous of the many soft drinks brands owned by Coca-Cola. A generic brand is one used on a variety of different products. For example, the brand name ‘Nestle’ is used on all the food products the company owns, even if another brand name is also used on some of the products. EXERCISES 26.1 Complete the article with expressions from A and B opposite, choosing the correct alternative. DEATH OF THE SALESMEN: THE END OF DOOR TO DOOR SELLING LEAVES FINANCIAL BRANDS WITH AN IDENTITY CRISIS As the men from the Pru, Britannic Assurance and Sun Life of Canada hang up their hats and make their last house calls, companies with financial (1) brands/ branding/ brand positioning built on friendly face-to-face contact are re-evaluating the way they market their brands. The death of the life assurance salesmen mirrors a move across the financial industry to shun direct customer contact in favour of ‘remote’ communication via the telephone and the Internet. 26.2 Complete the statements with appropriate forms of words from the article above. 1. Two types of communication are mentioned: ___________- ___________- ___________ and ___________. The first type of communication refers to salesmen making ___________ ___________. This human interaction gave the brands of financial services companies a ___________ feel. 26.3 Look at the article again and answer the questions. 1. Find an example of a) face-to-face contact and b) remote contact. 2. What two things happen when a company changes the way it deals with customers, for example by taking away the ‘personal touch’? 26.4 Look at B and C opposite. What are these situations examples of? 1. A marketer of cat food called Miaow attempts to persuade cat owners that the product is nutritious, tastes good and makes cats’ fur healthy and shiny. 2. The marketer of Miaow starts to use the same name for dog food. (2 espressions)

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