The Role of Brand and Brand Communication Strategy in Full-

Service Restaurant Industry. Case of Hard Rock Cafe

Thesis

by

Aida Ramazanova

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirements for the Degree of

Bachelor of Science

In

Business Administration

State University of New York

Empire State College

2016

Reader: Tanweer Ali

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank my family for the patience and the dedicated support they have always given me throughout my academic career. I am grateful for my parents for upbringing me as a spiritual, intelligent and independent individual in the first place, and as a strong woman in the second place. I would like to emphasize the role of my sister in my life path. She has never doubted my abilities and always cheered me in difficult times.

I also would like to express my gratitude to the friends I have acquired during my university years. They have always been a great support to me, and I cannot imagine this stage of my life without them.

Similarly, I am thankful to my Senior Thesis Project mentor Professor Tanweer Ali.

Throughout my studies in University of New York in Prague he was always very kind and helpful to me. Thank you for your wise advises, care and valuable guidance.

Table of Content

1. Introduction ...... 5 2. Service Marketing ...... 7 2.1. Primary marketing concepts ...... 7 2.2. Service marketing concepts ...... 11 2.3. Consumer behavior ...... 15 3. Brand and Brand Communications ...... 19 3.1.Brand and Brand Components ...... 20 3.1.1. Brand Core ...... 20 3.1.2. Brand Meaning ...... 21 3.1.3. Brand Equity ...... 22 3.2. Brand Image and Brand Identity ...... 30 3.3. Branding in service marketing ...... 35 3.3.1. Internal branding ...... 36 3.3.2. External branding ...... 38 3.4. Brand and Brand Communication Strategies of Services ...... 39 4. Restaurant Industry ...... 40 4.1. Worldwide restaurant industry performance ...... 41 4.2. Categories of restaurants ...... 43 4.3. Branding strategies in full-service restaurants ...... 44 4.4. Brand communication strategies used in full-service restaurants ...... 47 5. Case of Hard Rock Cafe ...... 51 5.1. Hard Rock Cafe Overview ...... 52 5.2. Hard Rock Cafe Brand ...... 54 5.2.1. Brand Equity Pyramid: Hard Rock Cafe ...... 54 5.2.2. Kapferer Brand Identity Prism: Hard Rock Cafe ...... 56 5.3. Marketing and Brand Communications of Hard Rock Cafe ...... 58 6. Conclusion ...... 60 7. References ...... 66 8. Appendix ...... 70

Abstract

To date the success of a restaurant depends not only on the quality of food, incredible culinary innovations, and a unique interior, but also on how a restaurant manages its communication strategy and delivers the value to its pubic. The purpose of a restaurant is to make a consumer react to its message and develop a two-way conversation with the restaurant, and this conversation occurs not between an entity and a person, but among a brand and consumer. Before a deeper investigation into the concept of brand and its implementation within the scope of restaurant industry, this paper provides introduction to the primary specifics of service marketing. Furthermore, this paper analyzes the role of the implemented brand and brand communication strategy with the emphasis on the restaurant industry, illustrated on the example of Hard Rock Café. An analysis of the Hard Rock Café based on several theoretical models is provided for the purpose of emphasizing the performance of the restaurant chain brand and its brand communication activities. The paper identifies key components of its success and proposes an effective improvements and adjustments for the brand.

5

1. Introduction

The history of the modern type of restaurants goes back to France mid-eighteenth century with the opening of the restaurant “Bouillion”. During this period, this facility offered different features such as serving healthy food, specifically meat broths offered in a clean atmosphere. Before this invention, people were mostly dining at inns and taverns, which were characterized by joint tables, enormous portions of cheap and ‘junk-food’, and subject to the incredibly noisy atmosphere. Originally, the concept of restaurants was intended to serve people with digestive problems, and bouillons, or “restorative broths” were served to restore their digestive system. Later, the idea of worthy dining, quality food, intimate atmosphere and proper services attracted the market for people of different social statuses, more noticeably the elites. In the course of time, meat broths disappeared from the menus, instead, the counterparts of the initial “Bouillion” restaurant have appeared on the streets, and the phrase “going to the bullion” started to be used in a daily fashion (Spang, 2000).

The opening of the “Bouillion” was not only the invention of a restaurant as a new dining experience but also the first manifestation of the branding of a restaurant. The restaurant served healthy food, and at the same time showed its uniqueness by providing a quality service, distinctive atmosphere and a sense of individually unique approach to its customers.

These qualities are all the essential elements of restaurant branding. These uncommon practices offered a different approach to the business and allowed restaurants to obtain their own clientele and made people talk about the brand and use it as a comparative benchmark.

Even now, a passerby can discover the remnants of the “Bouillion” on French streets.

To date, the success of a restaurant depends not only on the quality of food, incredible culinary innovations, and unique interior but also, on how a specific restaurant positions itself 6 and communicates its message to its target segment. The purpose of a restaurant is to make a consumer react to its message and develop a two-way conversation with the restaurant, and this conversation occurs not between an entity and a person, but between a brand and consumer. The modern public will not be surprised simply by the presence of individual tables and hand-written menus in the restaurants. Firstly, in order to attract consumers, a restaurant should offer a unique value and position their brand in such way that potential customers will be willing to attend the restaurant repeatedly. The concept of branding has been modified throughout its existence, and obtained an important position in the service marketing strategies and this includes the restaurant business as well.

The goal of this thesis is to explain the role branding plays in the restaurant business, analyze restaurants’ brand strategies, and evaluate the effect of a consumer perception and reaction to a restaurant’s brand and their attitude towards it as a testament to its performance. The research completed on this paper is concentrated primarily in the full-service restaurant industry. The research question that the paper will answer is “How should a full restaurant approach branding in order to acquire consumers, create strong brand equity, gain brand loyalty, and improve its performance?” Additionally, this thesis presents the conducted research on the specific full-service restaurant brand, Hard Rock Cafe. Based on this research, results and theoretical applications, observations on the branding strategies and brand communications will be thoroughly and effectively constructed in order to create an effective guideline for possible future implementation by full-service restaurants.

For the purpose of providing a clear understanding of the communication activities of full- service restaurants, including the ones related to branding, this thesis will firstly deliver the theoretical grounds of the topic. The first part of the theory presented in the thesis will consist 7 of an explanation of the service marketing concepts, consumer behavior, and the elements of market segmentation. As my thesis is mostly structured and aimed at the branding, and brand related activities, the following theoretical part will be concentrated on the idea of a brand, brand equity, consumer perception of a brand’s image, and the branding approach in service marketing. Besides the theoretical part, the paper will provide an overview of the food and beverage sector, specifically the restaurant industry. This thesis will be concluded with an illustration of the theoretical grounds of the topic with the example of a full-service restaurant brand, Hard Rock Cafe. To summarize this paper, the conclusion on the role of brand and brand communication strategies in full-service restaurants and the recommendations on the improvement of the full-service restaurant brand Hard Rock Cafe as a benchmark for successful brand performance will be given.

2. Service Marketing

The service sector contributes to a substantial portion of economic activity in the global economy. The amount of value added or the percentage of GDP that was generated by the service economy accounts for 71 percent as to the year of 2010. Additionally, the service sector is responsible for about 44 percent of the world employment rate (Unctad.org). The service division of the economy is expanding rapidly, creating new service opportunities and offers in its sphere. With the development of service sector, the necessity of addressing the value of a service with the use of essential marketing means is increasing alongside.

2.1. Primary Marketing Principles

Before elaborating on the concept of service marketing, the primary marketing principles are presented in this part of the chapter in order to create a basis for understanding further analysis. Phillip Kotler, one of the progenitor of the modern marketing, gives a definition to 8 the idea of marketing in his book Principles of Marketing as “a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others” (Kotler, 2002, p. 5). Furthermore, in his book the author determined the five main marketing concepts, which are mutually interrelated and are defined as follows: needs, wants, and demands; products; value, satisfaction, and quality; exchange, transactions and relationships; and markets (Kotler, p. 5).

For the purpose of achieving organizational aims, a company should identify its target’s needs, wants and demands. The needs of a human are diverse and complex in their nature.

The needs of a person are built up from their basic physiological needs, which include food, shelter, warmth, clothing, and safety; social needs in spiritual intimacy, influence and affection; and personal needs rest, education, self-expression, and entertainment (Kotler, p.6).

If the need is dissatisfied, the person feels unfulfilled and seeks to find any object capable of satisfying the needs or try to suppress it. The wants of a person are modified by one’s culture, surrounding and personality needs. The wants of people are practically limitless, but a person gets only those goods that gave him the greatest satisfaction within their financial capabilities. The demands of a person are desires for certain products, which will bring one the most value and satisfaction, and expressed by the ability to purchase those products

(Kotler, p.6).

For the satisfaction of one’s wants and needs a variety of products are provided to the market.

A product is identified as “anything that can be offered to a market” in order to “satisfy a want or need” (Kotler, p. 394). Products can be both tangible goods, such as gadgets, and intangible, which include services. Products, whether they are tangible or not, are offered with a purpose of consumer satisfaction. The offered product has to fulfill a consumer’s 9 purpose of purchase and provide the solution to their reason for obtaining the offered product.

Consumers are looking for offers that would deliver the most benefits and values. The customer value hierarchy analyzes the basic product levels that attribute to the consumer satisfaction with the obtained offer. The fundamental element of the product levels is the core benefit, which lays at the heart of consumer value hierarchy. The core benefit that represents the actual good is actually the act of buying as to satisfy hunger when visiting a restaurant or knowledge when buying a book. At the next level of the hierarchy, there is a basic product, which adds up to the core benefit, and a knowledge of book as a core benefit turns into an actual product with the carton cover and the title of the book inked on it. Besides the actual or basic product, a marketer accumulates a level of expected product, which a consumer awaits when obtaining a product. An example of such product is the presence of tableware and waiters in a restaurant. The fourth level of consumer values hierarchy is augmented product, which goes beyond a consumer expectation. An augmented product provides a consumer with extra benefits that will please them in their act of purchase such as a stunning ambiance in a restaurant. The last level of the product is presented by possible modifications or variations of the offering that can be achieved in the future. However, with the consumer consumption growth, the levels of the hierarchy descend, and what was before an augmented product is now seen as an expected one. To date, the battle for consumers is taking place at the stage of augmented product, yet ingenious markets tend to lure targeted public with the help of sales marketing and a well-formed message (Kotler, p.395).

When looking for a product a consumer considers two major elements, which are the gained benefits and the costs of the purchase and the ratio of the first and the second element creates a consumer value whether it is negative or positive? Often consumers do not evaluate the 10 value of a product objectively, and act on so-called “perceived value” (Kotler, and et., 2002, p.8). Consumers perceive a product as something valuable to them, and this perception is affected by the personal opinion based on their set of mind and identity, or the societal influence. For instance, a woman can perceive a Dior handbag as a piece of high quality and style, therefore, is paying an enormous sum for it. Although the quality of Dior products is not doubted, companies attribute to the quality check and improvement to provide the qualitative goods or service for better customer satisfaction.

The further main core element of marketing concepts is an interaction between the product providers and the target market, which takes a form of an exchange and a transaction. The main goal of an exchange is to obtain a product desired by one party in return for something valuable from another party. In order to perform an exchange both parties have to comply with a number of conditions as to be able to communicate, to offer value in return, properly deliver the value, to have the free will of declining or accepting a deal, and to be certain in the desire to cooperate with each other in the process of an exchange (Kotler, 2000, p. 12).

The transaction, in its term, has a similar and at the same time a different character of actions.

A transaction is usually a commercial act and also involves at least two parties and value- relevant objects to trade. There also has to be included place, conditions for the agreement, and time of a deal (Kotler, 2000, p. 12). In marketing, both exchange and transaction concepts represent a response from the consumer to the desire of acquiring an object of value.

For companies, the response does not necessarily have to be a monetary transaction. To date, modern marketers seeking for the long-term result are trying to gain a continuous value in the form of lasting relationships with the market, strong product position on the market, and brand awareness. 11

To achieve the desired response, companies have to address the public that will find offered product most beneficial and valuable to them. For this purpose, an identification and a research on the potential target market is necessary for the creation of a proper marketing strategy. Marketers use market segmentation to study the market in order to see whom their product will be most suitable for and learn the behavior of the targeted segment in order to adapt the message it will react to.

2.2. Service Marketing Concepts

As it was previously noted products vary in their form, and can appear as to be both tangible and intangible. Intangible products usually come in a form of services, yet the latter ones often include a tangible element as well. The term “service” is defined as, “an act or performance that one party can offer to another” deprived of transfer of possession (Kotler,

2000, p. 428). Most services presented on the market are typically a combination of a tangible good with the intangible act such as food service. However, there are also purely intangible services available to public use, which involve solitary a human factor. The relationship ratio between the tangible and intangible aspects of a service are categorized as a service mix.

There are five categories of good-to-service kinds of service mixes. The first one is a “pure tangible good”, that represent a solely material product with no service involved (e.g. a lamp). The second good-to-service mix is a “tangible good with accompanying services”, which is a tangible product with an additional service performed (e.g. car service, warranty).

The next category of a service-mix is “hybrid goods”. This type of goods is an equal proportion of both services and tangible products such as restaurants. Another category involves a “major service offering with accompanying minor goods and services” such as 12 theater with printed programs or air travel with offered food and beverages. The last, but not the least, is “pure service” such as consulting.

With all its variety, the concept of service has four main characteristics that have a significant impact on the development of marketing programs and are intangibility, inseparability, variability, and perishability (Woodrooffe, 1995, p. 19). These characteristics highly influence service communication strategy and are required for consideration before implementing a marketing plan.

The intangibility of a service is manifested in its elusive nature. The intangibility of services means that it is impossible to demonstrate, see, taste, transport, store, package or learn before obtaining these services. This character of a service product results in a hesitation about committing to an offer. In this regard, service consumers are quite sensitive to the presence of tangible elements in order to help assess the potential quality of the service. These elements are the appearance of the office of a company, interior design, communications systems, the appearance of the heads of the company and its employees, contingent of customers already using the services of this company. The aim of a marketer is to adjust the intangible elements to give the consumers ability of “touching” a service.

Services are also characterized as inseparable, as they cannot be separated from the provider of the service. At the inextricable link between production and consumption of services, the degree of contact between buyer and seller can be different. Some services can be provided without an actual presence of a buyer (e.g. cleaning services). Another require a direct contact between the service provider and acceptor (e.g. massage). This aspect of service has a great impact on the end result as it depends on the relationship between the seller and a 13 buyer. For instance, a professor (service provider) will not deliver knowledge (service) if his students (buyer) will not wish to accept it. Thus, it can be said that the marketing strategy created by a company depends on the degree of participation of a consumer in services provision.

One of the main characteristics of the services is that its quality can vary greatly, depending on who, when, where and how it is provided. If the same pizza were ordered on the last visit to a restaurant, it would not be an exact copy of the one ordered today, or a waitress will not have the same hairstyle as she had during the last visit. This manner of a service is called variability and it controversial in its character. For a constructive maintenance of uniformity in a service, a company has to properly train its personnel and frequently conduct quality checks.

Perishability of a service means that the service cannot be stored for greater periods of length for the purpose of extended future sale or use. An example of service perishability is a missed reservation of table in a restaurant, which a person cannot re-use. In order to overcome the problems associated with the perishable nature of services and the possible fluctuations in demand for them, a company should pay special attention to demand forecasting and planning of the services they offer.

Based on the four main listed characteristics of services, it could be concluded that the constant maintenance of service quality is necessarily in service providing companies. In order to assure continuous consumer retention, a company should manage the performance of all the service related concepts that are delivered to a consumer. The aim of the incessant performance and quality management is to exceed the consumers’ expectations and 14 consequently develop durable relationships with current and potential consumers. The service quality consists of five main dimensions, which firstly were designed by marketing enthusiasts Valerie Zeithaml, A. Parasuraman and Leonard Berry in their book “Delivering quality service”. Originally there were presented in their model called SERQUAL, and comprised 10 elements of service quality, which are competence, courtesy, credibility, security, access, communication, knowing the consumer, tangibles, reliability, and responsiveness. Later on, this model was modified into in shorter version called RATER, which included only five key dimensions that are known and used in modern service quality assessment. These five dimensions include such aspects as reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy, and responsiveness. Following these dimensions in the service quality management results in high service excellence and consumer loyalty.

The first dimension of the RATER model is “reliability”, which is the capability of service providers to perform the service dependably and precisely. The second dimension, assurance, represents the ability of a service company to acknowledge the abilities of the company representatives who are involved in providing the service to evoke the feeling of trust and confidence in the obtained service. The dimension called tangibles characterizes the ability of a service to visualize the service, and give the opportunity to “touch” the intangible. It could be seen in the ambiance of a restaurant, in a business card of a consultant, or in an appearance of a fitness trainer. Continuing with the next dimension of the RATER model, which is empathy, the authors proposed that services that are highly consumer-oriented are the most successful is providing high quality. These services are usually having an interpersonal and compassionate approach towards each client. The last dimension of the

RATER model is responsiveness, which implies the capability of a service provider to deliver the service in willingly and timely manner (Czaplewski, et al., 2002). 15

The success of a company will follow if one will consider occurring challenges related to the service marketing characteristics and implement a strategy of quality maintenance and frequent monitoring of consumer preferences and behavior of the targeted market. For this purpose, a firm should regulate its standards and evaluate services performance. At the end, a service provider performance is directly tied to the customer satisfaction.

2.3. Consumer behavior

The main goal of service marketing is to address its target market, inform and bring the value to a consumer. In order to acknowledge the values, a study on the consumer’s behavior in the marketed environment has to be conducted. According to Michael Solomon (2013, p. 3), the author of the book “Consumer Behavior”, the term consumer behavior is defined as “the study of the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy needs and desires”. The main reason of consumer purchasing decision lays in one’s perception on the value of a product. This decision is based on the factors that come from within an individuality of a person and the environment surrounding him. The aspects that have the strongest effect on consumer behavior and one’s decision process are cultural, social, personal and psychological (Kotler, et al., 2002, p. 191).

Culture is the main root cause of determination a human’s wants and needs and the overall human behavior. Culture is what creates the values, perceptions, norms and traits of behavior.

Each culture has its distinctive traits such as Middle Eastern countries value respect, religion, honor and family belonging. Whereas, European countries lean towards freedom, capitalism, and equality. Only by comparing the cultures of different countries and eras, it can be seen 16 that the forms of consumption, seeming "self-evident" in one country or at a given time, become strange and even ridiculous in another country in a different time.

One of the sub-division of culture is sub-culture, which includes a specific set of interaction- based commonalities in any social group. Such groups can be based on ethnic, religious, national, or demographical bonds; or can be simply based on common interests, similar tastes, and hobbies.

Social classes can be also identified as a subdivision of culture. Social classes are defined as

“relatively permanent and ordered divisions in a society whose members share similar values, interests, and behaviors”. Social classes are usually determined by similar characteristics such as income levels, education, values, occupation, etc. Usually, people from the same class have common behavioral traits and try to stick together.

Consumer purchasing behavior is also influenced by society a person lives in, and specifically groups, family, social roles and statuses (Kotler, 2000, p. 163). Social factors, as well as the aforementioned cultural affection, plays an influential role in forming purchasing decision. To determine an effective communication strategy, organizations must consider them during market research phase of planning.

The groups, in their turn, are divided into membership groups (primary and secondary), reference groups, and aspirational groups. The memberships groups are directly influencing an individual such as family, relatives, and friends, who are included in the primary group and colleagues, a church acquaintance, who belong to the secondary group. The reference groups, who directly influence the behavior of individual, who can persuade one’s changes in 17 lifestyle, interests, or brand preferences. The aspirational groups also have such power over an individual, but mostly to the desire of one to join a group (Kotler, 2002, p.196).

An additional factor that is affecting an individual is his position in the society, one’s role, and status. The desire of maintaining or upgrading one’s role and status in the surrounding environment can encourage to make one or another purchasing decision. As obtaining an expensive watches or visiting high-class restaurant will increase one’s status in their respective cultures.

Personal factors are a natural catalyst in a consumer buying behavior. Personal factors include an individual’s age, job, economic situation, character, interests, lifestyle, marital status, and so on (Kotler, 2002, p. 203). The choice in consumer buying behavior is mostly affected by a person’s opinion and views on life. Personal factors allow a consumer to act as a separate unit to a society whilst maintaining their individual preferences.

The last part that influences consumer behavior is a psychological factor. The psychological factor includes “motivation, perception, learning, beliefs, and attitudes” (Kotler, 2002, p.

205). The psychological factors can help to build a relationship between a brand and a consumer if a company deliver a trustworthy message to influence a customer.

Additionally, to the influential factors, there are stages of consumer decision process, which influence one’s behavior towards a product and the purchasing methodology. These stages produce decision-making process, which includes five steps, which are “need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternative products, purchasing decisions, and post purchase behavior” (Kotler, et al., 2002, p.214). As the end-decision is only affected by the 18 reasons of one’s cultural, social, psychological and personal backgrounds, it is hard to clearly understand the motives of a consumer’s choice. However, if a company learns how a certain segment comes to the end-decision, it can locate brand message at the right stage of the decision process.

The first stage of a buyer’s decision-making process starts with the acknowledgment of a problem, or in other words at the “need recognition”. The need recognition is commonly occurring when affected by internal or external stimuli. Internal stimuli are the needs that are natural to a human being and include the needs for food, water, sex or shelter. The external stimuli are the ones affected by internal factors such as a purchase of a popular mobile device or the new trend of dining experience.

When a need is identified, a consumer moves to the second stage of the decision-making process, which is the search for information. Generally, this stage is applied to purchases that require higher consideration than just buying a water when thirsty. At the stage of information search, a consumer is learning about the products and brands presented on the market. The aim of a marketer is to identify the sources of information and make sure that promoted product is clearly represented.

The next step in the decision-making process is an evaluation of alternatives. During this stage, a consumer is seeking for possible options of the same category of products and narrow them down based on the benefits, characteristics of products and purposes of a purchase. The criteria of an evaluation are highly subjective and varies depending on the expected value. The influence of brand preference means that a company should create a 19 brand image and effectively communicate that brand in order for consumers to associate the brand with the offered product.

The actual purchasing decision comes at the fourth stage in the consuming decision-making process. At this point, a consumer is certain about the choice of a brand and their readiness to obtain that particular product. However, at the same stage, a fear of risk possibility occurs in a consumer’s mind. In order to eliminate this fear, a company should provide an assurance by positioning itself as trusted brand and providing an extensive information about its products.

Last, but not the least, the step of the consumer buying decision process line is affirming the point of the consumer-brand relationships. When a purchase is performed, a consumer evaluates whether the product confirmed one’s expectations or disappointed them.

Occasionally, a disappointment is caused not just by a bad quality or a low performance of a bought product, which would be understood, but also by hesitation. This post purchase hesitation is usually associated with cognitive dissonance, which is a discomfort a consumer experience with the loss of other opportunities. To eliminate such hesitation, usually a company provides a consumer with post-purchase benefits such as loyalty programs, add-ons, discount, or simply warranty. This is an important element, because on this stage of a consumer decision process a brand builds strong ties with a consumer, and generates consumer satisfaction and brand loyalty.

3. Brand and Brand Communications

In the growing consuming culture and the constantly increasing variation of offered products, it is becoming more difficult for companies to distinguish oneself and be memorable to certain consumers. In order to obtain a loyal and retainable public, the company must be 20 identifiable, or in other words to have its face, its identity- something that makes a company unique. The identity of a company comes in a form of brand, which can come in various shapes, sounds, colors, tastes, feelings, values and so on. The main aim of a product’s brand design is to develop an emotional connection between an offered brand and the potential consumer’s contemplation of how strong, long-standing that relationship is, and further creating a good reputation.

3.1. Brand and Brand Components

The word “brand” is usually associated with a word “name” and is referred to the identification of a product. Philip Kotler in his book Principles of Marketing defines brand as

“a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of these, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors” (Kotler, 2000, p. 469). However, to date, the understanding of the concept of a

“brand” has expanded to a certain extent and stands for more meaning than just classical interpretation proposed by Phillip Kotler.

Before looking at all visible characteristics of a brand, there is a deeper element; which contains the main idea that a brand stands for- the brand core. The brand core is referred to the set of values that a company wants to be associated with. The core of a brand can also be perceived as the soul of a company, a great story that a company wants to tell to its audience, a position that differentiates a brand from its competitors. When a person thinks of Wendy’s restaurant one associates it with family unity, fun, and optimism; consumers of Lufthansa choose that particular airline because their brand proposes safety, comfort, and reliability.

Likewise, readers of The Independent believe that this company, and its brand, represents transparency, honesty, and objectivity. Generally, the core of a brand is a company’s essence 21 described in several words and usually reflects the corporate values as well. Before the start of the brand, building and brand statement journey a company should clearly position its brand core and thus differentiate itself from the existing competitors on the market.

It is incorrect to consider a brand as just a symbolic identification of a company protected by trademark laws. A brand has broader meanings, than just a memorable logo or a name, which are extracted from its brand core and are decisive when it comes to a consumer brand choice decision. These meanings are presented by at a four-level structure in the Principles of

Marketing book and are the following: Attributes, Benefits, Values, and Personality (Kotler

2000, p.469). Under the first level meanings goes the parameter, which is mentioned as

“Attributes” and is referred to specifications an offered product possesses. It could be such characteristics as “reliable”, “long-lasting”, “fast”, “tasty”, “solid”, and so on. As consumers are seeking not specifically for the “attributes” a company advertise its product with, but more of the benefits they can receive from it, a company must transfer these “attributes” into

“functional and emotional benefits”. As an example of a functional benefit, Emporio Armani cafe positions itself as “high-quality” and “best standard”, which means that a quest of the restaurant can expect quality service and high standard dishes. With the same example, a visitor of Armani cafe can expect the emotional benefit that reflects high-class level of lifestyle. At the third level of brand meaning comes the “Values”, which are same as the corporate values such as “heritage, integrity, and nature” of Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants. At this level of brand meaning, the main task of a company is to propose the values that are corresponding to the values of its target audience. The last level of the brand meaning is “Personality”, which implies the ability of a brand to be presented as a person.

When a person is willing to purchase a product, he or she is willing to obtain one that is same or similar their personality. If a restaurant brand Wendy’s would be presented as a person, it 22 would be a middle-aged family man, whereas a brand McDonalds could be a fun-loving kid.

All these complex levels of a brand prove that the perception of brand as just a label or simply identification is improper. Additionally, these four levels are essential in brand building, though each company can add more elements in order to differentiate themselves from their competitors and create more value for their consumers. Nevertheless, it is important to understand the complexity of brand creation and its positioning on the market, meaning that a company should not chose one or two levels as an area of its focus, but rather perceive all its elements as whole, building on the brand core and ending on its externalities.

Before building a brand, first and foremost, it should be understood that a brand is one of the most important assets of a company, and its further progress depends on the constant communication of a brand essence, its integrity, value and uniqueness. The most powerful brands, or, as it was mentioned before, the most powerful assets, develop brad equity, which is “the value of a brand, based on the extent to which it has high brand loyalty, name awareness, perceived quality, strong brand associations, and other assets such as patents, trademarks and channel relationships”. Moreover, the values of a successful brand is measured through the level of listed aspects. (Kotler, 2000, p. 470). Companies with strong brand equity can expect stable revenues as devoted consumers would go for a chosen brand rather than switch to a more profitable substitute. Such consumer decisions are defined by the attachments a consumer has towards a brand and are described in the Kevin Lane Keller’s pyramid of brand equity.

At the base of the Keller’s brand equity pyramid lays an awareness for the brand, its identity or the “brand salience” and answers the question “Who are you?” and “What feelings and associations does a brand evoke?” Essentially, brand salience plays three major roles. Firstly, 23 it strengthens the brand associations that stems from the brand image and its perception.

Secondly, it identifies the categories of products and the needs satisfied by an offered product, and assures that a product is included in the possible choice range of a consumer.

Thirdly, it assures that consumers that are lacking the information about a brand or proposed benefits of a product, in other words consumers that have “low-involvement” with a brand, make a buying decision precisely on the base of brand awareness (i.e. consumers have heard about the product and associate it with a need it satisfies). Further brand salience implements some criteria, which incudes two factors: brand depth, easiness of a brand recognition, and brand breadth, frequency of states when a product of an offered brand suggests itself (Keller,

2001, p.8).

Further up the Keller’s brand equity pyramid comes the meaning of a brand, which includes two indicators: brand imagery and brand performance. The meaning of a brand answers a question “What are you?” Usually, when a consumer makes decisions whether to choose one brand over another it relies on one’s perception of a brand, on the associations it evokes.

Typically, this perception or associations are build either on personal experience of a consumer or from brand’s marketing activities (i.e. word-of-mouth, advertising, guerilla marketing). For instance, a brand Mr. Muscles evokes strong associations with cleaning products due to its memorable advertisements with its Mr. Clean mascot. Still, even if a company invest huge amounts of time and money to create outstanding advertisements and promotions, the advertised product should keep promises it makes in promotional actions. A product, which a brand stands for should carry out its main purpose and meet the expectations of the benefits it offers.

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Brand performance is build on the the functional benefits it fulfills, and if a brand is known for its qualitative performance, i.e. it meets consumer’s needs and even exceeds them. Along with the generic needs a branded product should fulfill such as Mr. Muscle cleansing spray should clean and McDonalds should feed, consumer have a set of qualities that should undergo under a brand performance. Good performance of brands has to accomplish its primary purpose at a high level of quality, with a pitch of complementing secondary elements

(i.e. Starbucks coffee not only offers a caffeine boost, but also pleases the gustatory needs).

Also consumers expect a product to be reliable, its constantly good performance, durable, to be perform during same amount of time at each purchase, and serviceable, which refers to ability to perform an after-purchase conduct if needed (Keller, 2001, p.10). Factors of brand performance that is essential as to the purpose of this paper and to consumers of service- providing companies’ consumers is service effectiveness, its efficiency and empathy (Keller,

2001, p.10) Service effectiveness is responsible for the ability of service to completeness of benefits offered by a brand. The ability of a brand to provide quick, complete, and responsive service reflects the service efficiency. The extent to which service-providing company is willing to care and prioritize its clients show the empathy towards a specific brand (Keller,

2001, p.10). Such elements of a branded product as style, package, colors, shapes, design are also significant in a consumers’ decision-making. As consumer behavior in choosing a certain product is also depending on the five main human senses, which are sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell, sensory components are important in designing a brand. For instance, many generic products that are present is supermarkets and do not possess and attractive features, but the price have less chances on being noticed and further bought than a product in stylish and interesting package. In a today’s high consuming era companies are competing not only on the variety, volume, and quality of an offered product, but also on the the place of price range a company’s product is falling under. If it could be said that products are 25 compromised into three classes, which are low-price, medium-price, high-class, then each brand is willing to be the first in mind in a consumer’s choice under each price class. Some companies are trying to expand its products to fit consumers of each class. The last quality in brand performance is price. In the context of brand performance, it refers to categorization of a brand to a certain class and the association that this class evoke in a consumer’s mind, as well as the ability of brand to adjust and flex in its pricing strategy (Kotler, 2001, p.11).

Hence, brand performance is compromised from this set of qualities, however not all brands can perform at its best in each of the above attributes. The task of a brand building is to be able to assemble a puzzle from each of the qualities, and it its does mean that each element of the puzzle has to be same size. Different brands of dissimilar categories are competing with one another on quality, and a brand that takes a wining position in this competition often possesses a quality that is considered unique.

Additional part of the brand meaning is brand imagery, which is referred to an abstract perception of the brand rather than consumer reaction to physical features of a brand.

Typically, brand imagery is built on several intangible characteristics, from which four categories are playing the most influential role. These four categories include brand user profile, purchase and usage situations, personality and values, and history, heritage, and experiences (Keller, 2001, p. 12). User profile is based on a consumer’s understanding on what kind of a person would purchase or use a particular brand based on demographics and psychographics of potential or ideal users. Some companies are using people’s desire for a better lifestyle and are hiring celebrities and opinion leaders to use their products in order to advertise them. As an instance, seeing a Serena Williams, famous tennis player, wearing Nike sneakers in her daily life makes people build a user profile of a brand, and in this case make the brand Nike seen as an ideal sportswear brand and choice for professional athletes. People 26 tend to choose a brand that is considered popular and used by the majority (Keller, 2001, p.11). Another influential factor of brand imagery is situations in which a product of brand could be purchased and used. For some consumers an indicator of a good brand is its availability since it would mean that there are as many distribution channel as possible. For others it could be the authenticity of brand and importantly, the store’s interior. Lastly, others are just looking for convenience of a purchase. Likewise, in building an imagery of brand a consumer is affected by the possible situations in which a usage of one can be applicable. It could be timing of a brand use (eg. Drinking Starbucks coffee in the morning), or place of usage (e.g. Body Shop scrub in own bathroom), or the actual situation itself (e.g. Nike sneakers while running). As it was already mentioned, consumers possess a tendency to purchase a brand that is somehow similar or related to their own personality. If a consumer considers oneself to be a “hip”, energetic, sporty and a modern person, who is interested in techno music and summer festivals he might feel close to brand of energetic drinks like Red

Bull, because he or she shares same “values and personality” as the brand positions itself to be. Thus, an important element for a consumer is personality and values that a brand has in common with a consumer (Keller, 2001, p. 12). Kevin Keller in his pyramid of brand equity highlights five most important dimensions in a personality of a brand, and they are sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, and ruggedness (Keller, 2001, p.12). The sincerity of a brand can be seen in its honesty, ideology, consistency or its emotional positioning. An excitement of a brand is arising from spiritual enthusiasm and lifestyle. The competence of a brand is responsible for its reliability, consistent value delivery, and progress. The sophistication of brand relates to the experience of firstly, its character and even class orientation. Ruggedness of brand is described as it would be an out-going, rude, or maybe glamorous person. In other words, in order for a brand to obtain its brand personality it should make it possible for a consumer to imagine a brand as a real person. Just like a person, 27 a brand shapes its personality and values based on its history, heritage, and experience. To date, we can observe many brands on the market performing with respect to its long-time traditions and heritage, but at the same time, are trying to adjust to the trends of the modern market. An example of such could be seen in the brand imagery of McDonald’s fast food restaurants, in which it was built on the idea of quick and fun experience for dining, and which it still implements with some new adaptations. However, it is not necessarily that the brand imagery is created from a history or heritage of a company itself. Same principles could be applied to an experience a consumer has with a brand. For instance, it could be a person’s memory from childhood in which one’s mother was using only Nestle chocolate chips while while making chocolate chip cookies or it was first “Happy Meal” on a birthday party, which associated a brand with fun first experience. Besides, the four types associations of brand imagery, Kevin Lane Keller, in his publication Building Customer-Based Brand

Equity: A Blue Print for Creating Strong Brand has noted three main dimensions without which all the listed associations of brand meaning would be pointless. To these dimensions he related the strength of brand associations with a certain brand, favorability, or importance, of brand associations to a consumer, and the last dimension is uniqueness, or to what extent the brand associations a consumer has are distinct in one’s mind. Additionally, the compliance with the order of these dimensions is essential to brand positioning and its meaning. Inasmuch as the uniqueness of a brand will not matter if they are not important to a consumer, they will not strongly retain it in their minds. For a brand manager and marketer in order to build a strong, favorable, and unique associations with a brand this particular information is crucial in order to generate positive brand response and further on a consumer loyalty.

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Once a brand meaning has been built and the message of brand has been sent in advertisements or any other marketing stimulations, a company is expecting its return in a form of consumer responses. These consumer responses are divided in two major categories in a Keller’s brand equity pyramid, which are brand judgments and brand feelings (Keller,

2001, p.13). Brand judgments are based on consumer’s personal experience with a brand.

This experience can be affected by an opinion of a consumer on the brand quality, which reflects the opinion of product quality offered by a certain brand. Brand credibility, which is referred to the ability of a company rather than just a brand to be proficient, trustworthy, and attractive. Brand consideration, which signifies the possibility of brand to be included in the list of potential brand choices of a consumer. Finally, brand superiority, which shows the superior position of a brand in the eyes of a consumer based on the brand image and its perception in comparison with other brands (Keller, 2001, p 14). Consumers’ response towards a brand can be also received through brand feelings. Brand feelings show how a consumer emotionally react to a brand’s marketing activities, past emotional bounds and experiences one’s had with a brand, feelings towards a person recommending a certain brand and so on. The main feelings the are affecting a consumer response towards a brand in terms of emotions include six subcategories which are warmth (peaceful), fun (joyful), excitement

(energetic), security (safe), social approval (confident), self-respect (proud) (Keller, 2001, p.

14). As well as the second level of brand equity pyramid, brand meaning, brand responses are a set of associations a consumer recalls when thinking about a brand. In case of affecting possible consumer feelings towards a brand, a marketer must ensure to bring up more positive attitudes and energy though marketing activities that further affect a brand image.

When building up a brand equity pyramid, a company should consider its final goal as to the relationships between a brand and a consumer. The main tasks in building relationships 29 between a brand and a consumer is to identify which kind of bonds or attachments a consumer has with a brand and to which extent these bonds or attachments are reflecting a consumer behavior. On this level of brand equity pyramid, marketers are building psychological and demographic portraits of a brand’s attractiveness on consumers. The character of the relationship between a brand and a consumer is defined as brand resonance, and is fundamental in building customer loyalty. Kevin Keller is emphasizing four major categories of brand resonance: behavioral loyalty, attitudinal attachment, sense of community, and active engagement. Behavioral loyalty stands for the purchase frequency and volume of purchases performed by a consumer. Marketers aiming only for profit resulting relationships with a consumer have the tendency to build their marketing and brand communication strategy on this category. It could be an effective step in the generation of sales volume, however for a more long-lasting relationships with a consumer, a marketer should consider an attitudinal attachment towards a brand, which is defined as “personal attachment” (Keller, 2001, p.15). Michael Solomon and his colleagues, in his book

Marketing: Real People, Real Choices has analyzed the types of personal attachments a consumer has towards a brand within the concept of brand equity pyramid. The author has concluded that these attachments can include: “self-concept attachment”, in which a person is relating oneself towards a brand’s identity, “nostalgic attachment” that evokes feelings from the past, “interdependence”, without which a consumer cannot bypass, and simply “love” towards a certain product or a brand as a whole (Solomon, et al., 2008, p.288). Furthermore, brand resonance includes sense of community, which suggests the social aspect influencing consumers’ relationship towards a brand such as willingness to be a part the group. People purchasing products at the Island Naturals food store in Hawaii are willing to be a part of pro- organic food lovers group, or that is how they stand against huge volumes of GMO production brought to their markets. In both cases, their relationship towards the Island 30

Naturals food store brand is unified under the eagerness to be a part of community. The last category of brand resonance is active engagement, which is referred to as the willingness for a consumer to keep close relationship with a brand and engage with all possible activities a brand proposes. A consumer who is actively engaged with a brand tries to follow all the news related to it, purchase new products, participate in marketing activities such as contests or guerilla marketing, be a part of loyalty programs and use proposed discounts (Keller, 2001, p.15). In other words, a consumer is being at the peak of brand loyalty, and intentionally or not is playing a role of brand ambassador.

3.2. Brand Image and Brand Identity

On the assumption of the value of brand equity to a company, and taking into account the fact that a brand is an asset of a company it can be said that brand equity is an investment of a company. In any company assets are typically invested in in order to further convert it into revenue, however huge investments in brand development and brand managements does not necessary mean higher returns. The main factor of a company’s high return on brand investments is the ability to demonstrate the market the uniqueness and distinctiveness of brand, as well as its consistency and reliability. Once a brand has obtained a brand power, a company can be confident on receiving a stable revenue and obtaining a certain market share, not fearing to be defeated by competitors. Operations in any brand communication and marketing activities, which are performed by a firm, are affecting the way a brand is perceived by the public, whether it is a targeted market or not. Therefore, the duty of a marketing or brand manager of a company is to manage and monitor the consistency of sent message, which reflects a brand identity, with the perceived brand image. According to

Kotler and Keller (2007) brand image is a perception of a brand by a consumer, one’s association with it and with the message it sends. Brand image reflects the reputation it has 31 among its potential and actual users and therefore is exposed by consumers’ contacts with a brand, and brand identity is what a company wants its consumers to experience with their brand. The success of a brand depends on the relation between the consistency of brand identity, or in other words sender, with a brand image, the receiver. This relation can be described using Kapferer Identity Prism.

The Kapferer Brand identity prism consist of six main traits: personality, physique, culture, relationship, reflection, self-image, which in their turn are divided two dimensions. These dimensions are picture of sender and picture of receiver and externalization and internalization (Kapferer, 2012, pp. 158-159). The gist of Kapferer brand identity prism is to show accordance between the perceived images of a brand with the projected identity. The concept of picture of sender is referred to the perception of a brand as a person, its personality and physique, whereas the concept of picture of receiver illustrates a brand as if it is a user of one, or its reflection and self-image. The externalization in the brand identity prism reflects the position concerning the external aspects of a brand (physique, relationship, and reflection). The internalization is showing the inner aspects of a brand (personality, culture, and self-image). As it can be understood from its name, the physique of a brand corresponds to the recognizable attributes of a brand; however, they are not necessary tangible such as the interior of Starbucks coffee shops. The trait personality is explained as a

“brand’s character” as if a brand was and actual person. Sometimes companies are hiring opinion leaders, who reflect their brand’s personality and brand imagery in the best manner

(Kapferer, 2012, p.159). An example of representation of a brand’s personality in a face of an opinion leader include such characters as an American rap performer Sean Diddy for Burger

King fast food restaurant chain, showing that a personality of the brand is a modern, trendy, and hip person. The link between a company and its brand is usually reflected in the culture, 32 which is not only the culture implemented within a company but also the culture a brand was in in, the heritage tied with the place of origin. Thus a quick service restaurant brand KFC is transforming its Kentucky state heritage known for farming, southern character, and organic foods into the culture of their production, and as a result into a brand. Relationships in the brand identity prism explains type and method of building relations between a brand and a consumer. In order to maintain good relationships with its consumers a brand should provide consistency and reliability of a product. Building and maintaining positive relationships with consumers is essential, especially for service brands (Kapferer, 2012, p.159). The reflection of a brand is presented as an image of a target user. Supposably, a new brand of skincare wants to be reflected as a young girl aged from 15 to 22 who is smart, sporty, out-going and fun, then a brand should appeal to its target as such user. Self-image explains how a consumer see oneself as oppose to the brand, or in other words if a user can similarly reflect a brand personality. The Kapferer’s brand identity prism helps to identify a brands strength and weaknesses and understand how to manage a brand in order to receive positive brand perception.

Consumer perception of a brand is built upon several factors, including associations evoked in a consumer, one’s personal experience, brand globalness, advertised values and benefits, positioning of a brand, and its messages, means of communication and so on. Despite the fact that factors influencing one’s perception of a brand are mostly external, the concluding interpretation a consumer forms about a brand is subjective as the external factors are processed through a consumer’s personal attitudes towards a brand. Each consumer has its own attitudes and experience with a brand and can look at a brand differently than someone else. The attitudes about a brand a consumer is building through the prism of one’s 33 emotional, cognitive or behavioral relation towards a brand. The emotional element represents all the feelings a consumer might have experienced in contact with a brand; the cognitive part reflects one’s opinion about a brand built on gathered information; and the behavioral component of consumer’s attitude towards a brand is referred to the actions taken by a consumer towards a brand. An important factor in formation of a consumer’s perception of brand is the correspondence of consumer’s perception of oneself with the brand personality. People tend to perceive not just other brands, but also people more positively if they have many commonalities. The main task of the brand and marketing managers is to constantly monitor the concurrence of the desired brand perception with an actual one. In order to achieve the harmony between a sent message and a received one there should be as little gap as possible in promised values and benefits of a brand and a consumer experience.

Although the inner perception of a brand is significant to construction of essential brand image, but sensory elements a brand cannot be evoked in a mind of a consumer. These elements correspond to the identification of a brand, which can be a brand’s name, logo, symbol, slogan, distinctive sound, packaging or a mascot. Each of these elements should be coherent, unique, and most importantly, they should appeal to the target audience, distinguish a brand from its competitors, and deliver consistent brand message.

First of all, a brand should possess a brand name as it the most recognizable element of a product. Michael Solomon in his book Marketing: Real People, Real Choices highlights the most important steps in creating a brand name. Before starting a creation of a brand name marketers have to keep in mind that this brand must arise positive association and create a certain image on consumers’ minds. For this reason, a company has to follow the following 34 instructions. A good brand should pass a test of “4 E’s”, which is “easy to say, easy to spell, easy to read, and easy to remember” and fit the rule of “4 F’s”, which means a good brand name “fit the target market, fit the product’s benefits, fit the customer’s culture, and fit legal requirements” (Solomon, 2008, p.287). Considering the visual and audio elements, they also carry the element of easiness and fit in the target audience in order to be remembered. These external elements of a brand are taking a significant part in brand equity and bring more value to a product of a brand. Not the least of the factors within the external elements of brand perception is the packaging that reflects a brands personality. A consumer cannot judge about qualities of a product before purchasing it in a store, but one can suppose the potential benefits of a brand based on packaging. The packaging of service product takes form of the ambience of the service providing facility, the appearance of the employees, the design of the service related materials. As an example of interpretation of brand personality and benefits offered by a brand can be observed in the packaging of Hooters full-service restaurant chain.

The personnel obtain similar appearance features that represents the brand. The personnel of a Hooters restaurant are young women “packaged” in same uniform showing the main selling proposition of the brand, which is the beauty of women.

All of a brand’s external and internal methods of communication attribute to the consumer perception of a brand and the creation of brand image. A consumer creates certain attitude and relationships with a brand based on one’s sensation, experience, feelings, association a brand arises in consumer’s mind, whether it was based on tangible or intangible elements.

The list of the factors that are affecting consumer final sentence in the case of brand’s place in a consumer’s life can be endless and vary from people, situations, and timing. The main 35 task of a company is deliver to its consumer brand’s promise, benefits it advertise and values a brand personality carries.

3.3. Branding in Service Marketing

As well as service marketing, branding of services has its own specifics and differences in creation and management. At its core the branding serves similar functions for both tangible and intangibles products. However, some marketers tend to think that branding strategies that work efficiently for tangible goods will work as well for the services too. However, the idea

“one size fits all” when it comes to the concept of branding within service sector. Purchasing a certain brand of a tangible good a consumer can be confident in the benefits and quality of the product based on previous experience or contact with this brand. When it comes to services, service products are characterized as variable and thus, even if obtained from the same service provider, it can result in a different manner. Hereby, the acquisition of loyal and retainable customers depends on the construction of a strong brand image and brand equity in service industry. One of the reason why it is specifically important for a service provider to implement branding strategies is because it should protect its brand name, which for consumers is same as company name. So what exactly a service providing company focus on in order to transform their brands into the most valuable asset?

In case of tangible goods, the evaluation of a brand is much easier as it can be seen prior to purchase. Due to services characteristics, which are intangibility, inseparability, variability, and perishability, the quality of a service can only be judged based on its price and the environment if exists. Thus the role of a brand for a service providing company is twice as important for service products as for tangible goods, because it assures consumers about the quality of a service. Consumers cannot evaluate the quality of service prior to purchase, that 36 is why a strong brand name of a service plays a role of risk reducer for a purchaser and a safety ground in case of possible failures for the service provider (Davis, 2007). Additionally, in the relationship between a consumer and a brand of a tangible good there is only a two- way connection: a consumer and a product. In case of service brands the perception of a brand relies on minimum three players, which are a consumer (e.g. Hilton hotel visitor), a service providing employee (e.g. Hilton hotel receptionist), and a service providing company

(e.g. Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Inc.). If a mediator, or service providing fail to deliver brand values, then a consumer will not be willing to return or recommend a company. It could be stated that if a brand perception of tangible good is based on relationship between people and product, then a perception of a service brand is all about people. Thus, the key mission of the service providing company is to make their employees believe in the values a company proposes, be a part of it, be so-called “brand ambassadors”. After all, these “brand ambassadors” are the ones who keep brand promise through consistency in delivering qualitative and consistent service.

For the purpose of achieving coherence in delivering certain external brand message, a service providing company must build a team, which believe in this message itself. Today, many companies, especially in a service sector, are implementing internal branding tools in order to achieve this coherence. The goals of internal branding have many similarities with the goals of organizational culture of a company. It can be stated that the concept of internal branding, besides being an integral part of internal marketing, is closely related to such aspects of business as human resources, management and organizational behavior. The authors of the article “The Brand Inside: The Factors of Failure and Success in Internal

Branding” refers to the concepts as to “the activities employed by a company to ensure intellectual and emotional staff buy-in into not the corporate culture, but also the specific 37 brand personality invoked within this culture” (Mahnert and Torres, 2007). The activities described in the article are united with idea of maintaining and delivering an intelligible brand promise to both employees and consumers. The activities that are essential to internal branding are consistent inter-departmental and multi-directional communication, coherency with external branding, encouragement of brand commitment and brand championship

(Mahnert and Torres, 2007). In the service industry, people can be the most efficient as well as the most vulnerable asset due to their distinctive personalities and heterogeneous nature. In order to create an “army” of brand representatives, a company must create an environment, in which the values of brand are easily and naturally permeated through internal communications (IC). Some studies suggest that one of the most effective methods of creating suitable IC for both consumer-contacting employees and managers is to involve the previous ones in formations of IC means and IC attributes. Internal communications within an organization are assisting employees in absorbing the values a brand proposes and adapt the characteristics of brand behavior. Internal communications can take a form of job description in job offer advertisement or training from a start of employee penetration to a certain brand and ending with the pension funds with a “Thank you for being our part!” note at the finale of employee relationships with a brand. It is important to understand that both internal and external communications have to send the same or similar message and come in timely manner. Aside from effectively communicating to employees, a company should be able to encourage them, as they are the couriers of the brand’s promise. As an instance of employee encouragement, in the times of the Soviet Union, workers who exceeded the norms of production volume were granted with vouchers for traveling or representatives of so-called intelligentsia were granted with apartments. It might sound arguable, as back in USSR, employees were working not for private companies, but for communist party. Nevertheless, just like a communist party a brand has its ideology, its personality, its values, and followers 38 of the brand, whether it’s the consumers or employees, commitment has to be rewarded.

However, even in cases of perfectly constructed internal communication and fair reward system, brand values do not match the set of mind of employees, which is why some experts recommend to start the process of internal branding from HR department and recruitment of the “fit”. However, even in this case it might result in imperfections, as the concentration on employee’s skills prevails one’s personality traits. The ability to hire people in first place and specialists in second differentiates a strong service brand from a service commodity, especially when it comes to experience-focused services. For instance, a consumer would not be willing to buy a Starbucks special pumpkin spice latte every morning if Starbucks barista would not add an extra whip of whipped cream with the same smile and delight as this consumer likes. These exact moments show how internal branding affect the external one and create a strong brand image. Some aspects of external branding have already been discussed in this paper such as quality, visual elements of a brand, brand message, and so on. Though there are specifics of external branding that are only relative to the service sector. The external branding is a picture that a service providing company wants a consumer to have in mind when thinking about a brand. When a person thinks about Starbucks he thinks of green aprons of baristas, scent of freshly ground coffee, authentic coffee cup sleeves, quick service and the question “Would like an extra flavor to your latte?” In other words, a consumer imagines this cuddling aura of care, and this is exactly what Starbucks is aiming for in their external branding activities. External branding of a service providing company is directly contacting with a consumer either through people attitudes and even the manner of speech, as well as with all possible tangibles; it could be as little as a business card of a financial consultant. The purpose of service brand is to give a consumer as many cues that would create positive associations with a brand as possible to further create brand awareness and brand retention. 39

3.4. Brand and Brand Communication Strategies of Services

The concept of branding has been around for more than 100 years (Rooney, 1995). Before, if having a brand strategy meant just labeling it with the last name of company owner, today implementation of brand and brand communication strategy have evolved and varied in its nature and applications. Though the methods of brand strategies have multiplied in shapes and forms, the main goal of them remained the same- to increase brand awareness, create a certain brand image, differentiate a brand from its competitors, and assure that a brand is the first in mind as a product choice.

In developing brand strategies for services, the concept of a brand, which was earlier defined as “a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of these, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors” (Kotler, 2000, p. 469), is extended. Service is not simply a product, service is a process, which involves constant interaction with consumers and therefore makes one a “co- creator” of a service (Skaalsvik, 2014). In case of developing branding strategies, the role of a consumer is inevitable as they are the one a branding message through communication means is sent, and they are the ones a service wants to react on this message. Strong service brands, despite having unchangeable set of values, are working on a consumer, and therefore have to adapt their values on the changing nature of a consumer. In other words, in order to be competitive on the market a service has to adjust to new trends. In a rapidly moving consumer market, products that once has been considered as hip and innovative, can be seen as old-fashioned and out-of-date today. Especially the innovations in consumer brand equity have to be observed in attributes of a brand that are directly contacting a consumer such as external branding communications. In his paper “Service branding: suggesting an interactive model of service brand development”, Hugo Skaalsvik proposes a three-dimensional model, 40 which explains the roles of three main players in developing a strong service brand: consumers, leaders or managers, and consumer-facing employees (2014). As it was previously mentioned consumers of a service are also so-creators of this service. In this model the role of a consumer emphasizes the three components that compose a base for creating effective branding communications, which include “understanding the customer, selecting appropriate marketing communication and engaging in ongoing interactions with customers” (Skaalsvik, 2014). Based on this, it can be concluded that development of a strong brand requires high concentration on both delivering high quality service and being highly consumer-oriented. The role of leadership in this model is observed from the perspective of power managers of a company possess and can authorize with. Namely, a company’s leaders are the one who create and further modify branding strategy in order to stay competitive. In the discussion of internal branding, the role of employees in creating a strong brand image was analyzed from perspective of employees’ ability to fit. This model adds on the importance of employee’s ability to deliver the brand promise and be a part of brand communication’s process. Each of the players of this interactive model is essential, and that is why the process on developing a strong service brand can start at any point, as they are interdependent.

4. Restaurant Industry

The restaurant business is different from all other kinds of other industries within the service sector. This is an enterprise, which combines art and traditions, operation mechanisms and experience in marketing, service philosophy and the concept of the formation of the potential audience. Each year restaurant industry is facing a rapid growth with the opening of increasing number of restaurants and therefore causing a more intensive competition. These 41 factors encourage restaurant owners, restaurant marketers and top managers develop not just basic strategy and style of running restaurant operations, but also think through the details, which will add uniqueness and eccentricity of the enterprise. The restaurant industry is all about people: satisfying people, entertaining people, socializing with people. Meeting the physiological need of customer as satisfying one’s hunger gives ground to a more important social function a customer seeks in his visit to a restaurant.

Modern trends in the restaurant business are largely elusive - this type of activity is rapidly developing and changing, acquires the unique features. Restaurants as we see them now have evolved from rice and noodles eateries of ancient China and taverns in Roman Empire to such restaurant trends as “blind dining”, clean eating and mixology, in which restaurateurs offer to try incompatibles. Restaurants are one of the few places where a person’s senses are working to generate a general feeling of satisfaction. Taste, sight, smell, tactile sensations are combined in evaluating the dishes, service and restaurant atmosphere. In such a competing environment, restaurants must learn to surprise all of the senses of a client. In a struggle under its “place under the sun”, a restaurant should start from creating a unique concept, or in the context of this paper, its distinctive brand identity, to controlling the efficient functioning of a restaurant.

4.1. Worldwide Restaurant Industry Performance

In today’s fast-moving service economy, the restaurant industry holds an essential position, generating the revenue of more than two trillion US dollars globally (King, 2013). The restaurant industry has had its declines, especially in the times of economic recessions such as the financial crisis of 2009 and the political uncertainty due to the situations in the Middle 42

East in 2011 (King, 2013). However, the restaurant industry has always been in place due to a simple reason of persistent people’s desire to eat and to socialize. Due to the hectic nature of today’s society, there is a little time for the people to spend time on preparing food, that is why eating out in restaurants has become popular.

As the restaurant industry can be applied to both food and beverages, and entertainment industry, it can extract the benefits from both of them. Only in the US, the restaurant industry represents almost a half of share in food and beverage sector. This was affected by the change of people’s lifestyles and dining out has become a casual and affordable practice. The factors that have influenced the restaurant industry in today’s world are urbanization, innovation, globalization, and digitalization.

More and more people are moving to cities for different reasons as work, friends, relationship, school, or opportunities they seek for. This evokes a demand in more and more places for the people to dine and socialize. The opening of new restaurants is also beneficial due to the creation of new job opportunities and therefore decreases the unemployment rate.

However, one proceeds from another. The additional reason for the restaurant boom is globalization. Globalization has provided the restaurant industry with vast opportunities.

Now we can observe cuisines from all around the world presented in one market, and there are not just divided to Mexican or Italian restaurant. Today, we can observe a trend of mixing all cultures and cuisines in one place: taco sushi, curry pasta, garlic bread steak. Thus, it can be said that globalization is certainly has a positive effect on the restaurant industry. With the rise of technology, many entertainment industries have declined due to digitalization. Fewer people are buying music albums or renting a movie. However, digitalization worked in favor of restaurant industry mainly because people will always demand food and personal 43 socialization. Many restaurants now implementing its information systems (e.g. digital menus, interactive dining tables) and creating its websites and social media pages for the purpose of communication. Thus, it can be concluded that the main and unchangeable indicators restaurant industry of the restaurant industry is basic physiological and physiological needs of a human to eat and socialize, and dining at a restaurant fulfills both of them.

4.2. Categories of restaurants

The restaurant industry is evolving rapidly. More and more methods, concepts and cuisines can be observed on the market today. However, all of these concepts and restaurant types are falling under two major categories of the restaurants, which are limited service and full- service restaurants.

The limited-service restaurant is referred to the category of a restaurant in which a visitor is purchasing food at the cashier desk, and proceed to the seats, if such are present in a restaurant, by himself. Usually, limited-service restaurants are categorized by fast service, low prices, and minimum service. The limited-service category includes such types of restaurants as fast food (KFC, food trucks), fast-casuals (Chipotle), quick-service restaurant and cafés (Starbucks), buffets and etc.

Full-service category of restaurants is defined as a restaurant, in which a customer is greeted, accompanied to the table, and fully served. A full-service restaurant can be characterized as higher quality service, customer, and service orientation, higher prices, and full dining experience. The full-service category includes such types of restaurants as casual-dining

(Olive Garden), fine-dining (Maze), or family-dining (Denny’s). 44

4.3. Branding strategies in full-service restaurants

In comparison with tangible goods, the implementation of branding strategies has been signified relatively recently in the service industry. Many restaurants are still making mistakes thinking that branding is just design and decoration with a logo and a name of the restaurant. Restaurant brand is a much broader concept, which consists not only of its visual and verbal attributes. In fact, it is an image of a restaurant, its representation, impression, which is formed after visiting a restaurant. Integrity, uniqueness, awareness, impression - these are the main components of a strong brand. The image of the brand is formed not only by name, signboard, and interior, which are only the details, though far not the secondary ones. There is an endless list of elements, which form a distinctive brand image such as the history of a restaurant, it location, traditions, values, culture, quality of food and service, methods of serving, visitors of a restaurant, music played in a restaurant and so on. The most important branding task of the full-service restaurant is to take all possible steps for the brand image indented by a restaurant owner eventually coincided with what visitor’s thinks of his restaurant. Also, turning accidentally entering visitors into loyal and regular customers - the goal of any restaurateur, the cornerstone of success in the restaurant business. Loyalty, in this case, not just price satisfaction, quality of food and speed of service; it is referred to the loyalty to a particular restaurant. In other words, a sustainable preference of one restaurant to all other competitor brands.

The first step of creating a restaurant brand, whether it is a taco truck or a full-service restaurant, is defining how a restaurant brand wants to be positioned, which means stating core of a brand, its vision, and mission. The next point in developing a strong restaurant brand is the formation of the fundamental brand values and revealing the concept of promises that a restaurant will carry out to the guests. The formation of brand values has to be based 45 not only on the preferences of the owner but also on the wants and needs of the public, which a restaurateur want to satisfy. After all, the success of a restaurant depends on the customers’ satisfaction and the ability of a restaurant to exceed expectations. A restaurant has to know its customer and understands what methods of delivering brand values are the most effective, if they are relevant, or if they correspond to the identity of a consumer. Thus, when developing the concept of a restaurant brand, a restaurant has to form a portrait of its target audience through market research: finding who they are, what they like, how old are your potential guests, what trends they are following and what music they listen to. This will allow a restaurant to create a brand message and find means through which this message will be sent, as well as to draw a more precise brand personality that would feel closer to a consumer.

Once a restaurant analyzed the market and defined its brand positioning, values it wants to be associated with, and the audience it wants these values to be delivered to, a restaurant must proceed to design the concept of brand.

To date, with the abundance of different dining options, it is hard to differentiate one restaurant brand to another. Many new restaurant brands are making the mistakes of trying to fit into current restaurant trends and are copying what has already been proposed to the market. That is why a customer with little knowledge would not tell the differences between one Italian restaurants apart from another one, and thus one will choose randomly as he will think that he will be served same pasta in a similar atmosphere. The problem that many market enterers is that they are trying to be trendy, instead of creating these trends. Same is applied to the current restaurants, as they not taking an innovative approach. It can be said that for the current restaurant the change in brand concept is damaging and risky, however, the concept of a brand is static and adding new elements that a brand’s consumer will appreciate is even necessary. It can be as little as occasionally holding events that will reflect 46 a restaurant brand personality. At the end of the day, to keep even a loyal customer entertained and willing to return a restaurant must constantly give him a feeling of “delight”.

As for creating a new restaurant brand concept, one should offer a unique selling proposition

(USP), which is defined as “the factor or consideration presented by a seller as the reason that one product or service is different from and better than that of the competition”

(Entrepreneur.com). Excellent examples of full-service restaurant brands with well-created

USPs are TGI Friday’s with its American culture history environment, Hooters with its beautiful waitresses, or Hard Rock Cafe with its distinctive rock music memorial.

When a restaurant stated its values, obtained clearing positioning, defined its target audience, and created its concept it should start developing and communicating certain cues that will develop brand associations and build an image, which has to be coherent with ones a restaurant initially is aiming for. These cues include tangible and intangible elements of a restaurant brand. For the tangible cues, a restaurant communicates its brand identity through affecting the sensory perception of a customer. It can be the physical environment, the uniform of employees, colors of the logo on the tables, or a unique entrance. In order to create intangible cues, a restaurant must deliver its brand promise through a quality service; deliver the unforgettable and pleasant experience, creating positive feelings and memories about the brand. The coherence and consistency of both tangible and intangible cues are a brand image that a consumer has in one’s mind.

Protection of a brand image is significant to the full restaurant industry and the ability to constantly delivering quality, value, and satisfaction to a restaurant customer is assisting in improving brand performance and shielding brand reputation. As it was already mentioned, a visit to a restaurant is an experience; an experience that further builds a perception of a brand 47 of this restaurant. If a restaurant fails to deliver promised experience or does not meet expectations of a customer- it fails to keep its brand promise. If a restaurant fails to deliver its brand promise, it fails the brand and loses the game. Restaurants with strong brand equity and a good reputation can survive one or two of such failures as their previous merits prevail to the matters of a chance. However, if a bad service delivery happens systematically, all earned brand reputation crumbles in a short time and millions spent on extensive advertising and marketing efforts will only worsen the situation.

4.4. Brand communication strategies used in full-service restaurants

Building a restaurant brand means delivering brand promise through the experience offered in a restaurant. However, in order to persuade a potential consumer to choose a specific restaurant among hundreds of other offered alternatives requires certain methods of communication. Even if the newly opened restaurant offers absolutely innovative cuisine with a unique interior and entertaining program, a customer will not about it if a message will not be sent. Thus, after developing a brand, a restaurant should start creating communication messages and channels via which this message will be sent. On this stage, an “older brother” of branding, marketing, comes to aid. The content of a message used in communication channels is clearly based on a restaurant values is essentially a brand promise of it. The means of communication varies depending on how and more importantly who this message is addressed to. The goal of using marketing communication channels is to increase brand awareness, create a response and strengthen the association a consumer has with a restaurant.

Today, one of the popular methods of communication used by restaurants is an advertisement. This type of brand communication can take the form of radio ads, TV ads, print media, or outdoor advertisement, etc. Each of the methods has it benefits such as print 48 advertisement allows a restaurant communicate both its visual elements (e.g. logo, colors, physical environment or food), and its intangible ones (e.g. slogan, motto). Print advertisement can also include sales promotion in its content such as special offers and discounts. Although in today’s digital era, television gives its ground to the internet and fewer people are affected by TV commercials, some restaurants are still using them as they allow to communicate both through audio and visual attributes and provides more essence of the brand. However, the use of TV advertisement is more efficient on the local level. One of the most efficient methods of promotion is outdoor advertising as it gives more flexibility to a restaurant in terms of affordability and placement, as well as having more chances to be noticed if well created and placed.

Another method of brand communication is sales promotion, which takes the form of special offers, discounts, coupons, gift cards or free sampling. Sales promotions are convenient to a restaurant as the efficiency of implementing ones can be measured. In this means of communication, all means are aimed to boost sales in a short-term, which is it is less efficient for the purpose of creating long-term bonds with customers and increasing brand awareness.

Public Relations as a mean of increasing brand awareness is one of the most important promotional activities for long-run. PR is communicating directly to a consumer through mass media, special events, sponsorships or mentions of a restaurant in popular magazines or public person. A good example of PR promotions for a restaurant is participation in local food festivals. On the global arena, famous restaurants are sponsoring music festival, charity events or football games. The negative side of PR is that a restaurant cannot predict its possible outcome.

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In today’s information era, great importance is given to social media. It can be said that it is the most influential means of brand communication, which is not limited in its techniques and affordability. The use of social media by brands is more of a necessity than a just choice.

There a vast of opportunities that can be used in order to increase brand awareness and engage with the public such as online sharing, social media contests, use of hashtags and location tagging. Another advantage of Social Media is its affordability as for some restaurant owners the only cost is time.

Besides stated promotion practices that are useful for both attracting new customers as well as communicating with the current ones, restaurateurs are often using direct marketing techniques to approach to current customers. Direct marketing is defined as “advertising activity, which creates and exploits the direct relationship between you and your prospect or customer as an individual” (Mullin, 2002, p.1). If before the use of direct marketing was mostly taking a form of direct mail, newsletters, mail coupons, or catalogs, today direct marketing has been digitalized and takes a form of emails, text messages, or online newsletters. In order to avoid a spamming nature of direct marketing, a restaurant must obtain a clear customer database, which would be positively affected by direct marketing activities and, as a result, drives consumer flow to a restaurant.

In order to obtain loyal customers, a restaurant must take a more personalized approach. A restaurant must take its consumer as it is their only one they have. In contemplation of achieving such an approach, many restaurants are implementing loyalty programs. These loyalty programs are giving a customer a feeling of uniqueness along with some benefits such as a discount or a free meal. Some of the loyalty programs are using a point system, in which a customer is earning points with each purchase one makes. After obtaining a certain amount 50 of points, one can use it as in restaurant to order a meal. It can be compared to the airline mileage cards. Additionally, restaurants can create a membership program, which serves a similar purpose. It can be easier purchased, or given to the most loyal customers. In a full- service restaurant Pizza Coliseum in Prague, a restaurant offers these cards for a certain fee, which allows a restaurant to gain a short-term profit as well as acquiring customers, who will certainly return to use these cards. From a consumer point of view, these cards both functional and emotional benefit, as it gives a feeling of exclusivity as well as small discounts on each purchase.

Despite all the benefits of the stated brand communication activities, the most beneficial out of all is the word of mouth. The best promoters a restaurant might have is its own customers, and to make them work for a restaurant requires just providing them with an enjoyable experience. Word of mouth is seen by consumers as more trustworthy ways of brand communication as people perceive it as a source of information coming from “people like me” (Allsop, 2007, p. 398). If for tangible goods Word of Mouth can be generated artificially through PR (e.g. paid articles or mentions of a celebrity), for service it is hard to persuade a customer in an actual value of a brand, if it has not a strong brand reputation, or have not been experienced by an expert (e.g. food critics) or credible source (e.g. friend or family).

The problem of Word of Mouth can consist in its uncontrollable nature. Even if a restaurant brand has a great reputation of pleasing the vast majority of its guests and is consistently keeping its brand promise, one review of the unsatisfied customer on Yelp can affect the path of Word of Mouth. In such cases, a restaurant should try to compensate the unsatisfactory experience by reaching out to this customer and offering him a free meal or a voucher for free visits for a month. It can be said that such approach is financially ineffective; however, namely such approach will turn an unsatisfied customer into a loyal one, who will eventually 51 turn out to be a restaurant’s brand ambassador. Additionally, if the word of mouth literally a decade ago took place in a form of “My friends told me”, today people are appealing to a broader public’s opinion on social media. Due the effect of social buzz, such networks as

Tripadvisor or Yelp take an influential role in generating Word-of-Mouth. Restaurants are racing for Tripadvisor stars as hardly as for Michelin stars because customers perceive restaurants with the networks recommendation sticker as more trustworthy and qualitative.

No matter of which brand communication activity a restaurant uses, one must implement consistent brand message within it. One of the mistakes a restaurant can make is exaggerating the brand promise within its communication means. By exaggeration of the brand promise in its marketing activities, a restaurant increases a chance of creating a large gap between customer expectations gained from the advertisement and an actual restaurant brand identity.

For instance, an Indian restaurant can use the image of Indian food festival with elephants and Indian Bollywood stars in its advertisement, but in reality, be a small, by the authentic family-owned restaurant.

5. Case of Hard Rock Cafe

For the purpose of illustrating the importance of brand and brand communication strategy of full-service restaurants, this paper analyzes the practice implemented by a famous full-service restaurant chain- Hard Rock Cafe. This analysis will include a general overview of Hard

Rock Cafe, its product, its brand building strategy, as well as brand and marketing communication activities. Moreover, based on the theoretical research of this paper, the brand equity of Hard Rock Cafe will be illustrated with respect to the Keller’s brand equity pyramid. Furthermore, in order to illustrate the brand identity of Hard Rock Cafe, this paper provides a reader a graphical diagram of Kapferer brand prism. This paper also presents the 52 consumer perception of Hard Rock Cafe in order to emphasize the ability of a brand to be consistent with a perceived brand image. To summarize this case study, personal observations and recommendation of the further practice of Hard Rock Cafe brand development are given.

5.1. Hard Rock Cafe Overview

Hard Rock Cafe, even though being an American restaurant was founded in London in 1971 by two American youngsters Peter Morton and Isaac Tigrett. The idea of opening an

American restaurant in London came to mind of these two American expats in the “search for a good burger” as it was absent from the London market (Hard Rock Cafe Official Site).

Isaac Tigrett was the son of a rich financier originally coming from Tennessee, and his partner Peter; coming from a family owning a restaurant in Chicago. Thus, despite their young age, they both had initial investment and experience in the restaurant business. More importantly, they had a great unique concept and love for rock music and burgers. As a result, the success of the restaurant did not take a long. Within few years, the restaurant has become one of the most popular spots to visit not only for the regular customers but also for the celebrities.

Hard Rock Cafe started positioning itself as a heart of American food and Rock’n’Roll music by creating its unique thematic atmosphere. The cafe has acquired it first piece of rock museum collection in 1979, presented by its regular visitor rock musician Eric Clapton. This was a Red Fender guitar given to the restaurant by a singer in order to mark it set in London.

In response to this act, Pete Townshend presented one of his guitars to the restaurant saying,

“Mine’s as good as his!” (referenceforbusiness.com). Further, Hard Rock Cafe started increasing its collection by purchasing rock music related pieces along with being gifted by 53 famous artists. Hereby, Hard Rock Cafe has become hyper-themed rock memorabilia attracting both regular customers and celebrities with a unique experience.

Hard Rock Cafe was one of the first representatives of “eatertainment” style restaurants, which is a combination of dining and entertainment (Oxford Dictionary). Hard Rock Cafe as we perceive it now has evolved from several strategic steps that have not included major changes in dining part of Hard Rock “eatertainment”. As an instance of such strategic moves was the decision of starting to play loud music at the London restaurant, which was driven by an intention of increasing customer turnover in the restaurant. Now, when thinking about the atmosphere in Hard Rock Cafe a person cannot imagine with either loudly played rock hits or the attributes of rock history. Another example, of their timely implemented strategic move, was starting to sell items with a Hard Rock Cafe brand symbols.

After about ten years after opening in London, with the exception of one branch in Toronto in

1978, Hard Rock Cafe started to expand internationally. One of the main reasons of expansion was not only the success of the restaurant, but also the disputes that arose between the founders. In 1982, partners have divided their rights on Hard Rock Cafe and separated the territories of expansion among each other setting Mississippi river as a boundary. Since then

Morton took control of Hard Rock America over the territories from the west of Mississippi, and Tigrett led the Hard Rock Cafe International to the east of Mississippi (Ajami and Bear,

2007, p.144). Further, the restaurant was acquired by the leisure company Rank Group, which has been leading a company till 2007 when Hard Rock International was purchased by native American Seminole Tribe managing Hard Rock Cafe worldwide till today.

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As a restaurant, which is a service product, Hard Rock Cafe provides its customers with core product of the restaurant food, which was the initial idea of the founders. However, the main task of Hard Rock Cafe is focusing on delivering the actual, basic, augmented, and potential level of product, which is combined inexperience offered by the restaurant. Hard Rock Cafe is taking the approach of delivering its product through its mission “To spread the spirit of

Rock’n’Roll by creating authentic experiences that rock” (Hard Rock Cafe Official Site).

5.2. Hard Rock Cafe Brand

Hard Rock Cafe brand was starting from the vision of two 22 years old American expats dreaming for a place where they can hang out, listen to Rock’n’Roll and eat a juicy Texas burger. As a result of that dream, Morton, and Tigrett, has created a distinctive brand that is known worldwide. The core of the Hard Rock brand is based on the love of rock music, which was further applied to the Hard Rock extensions such as Hard Rock Hotel, Hard Rock

Casinos, or its television series Hard Rock Live. In the essence of a brand, as described in the theoretical part of the paper, lies four main meanings that reflect a brand: attributes, benefits, values, and personality. If considering the attributes of Hard Rock Cafe brand, a customer is expecting to receive a basic restaurant service, which can be described as “delicious food” or

“good music”. The functional benefits of Hard Rock Cafe brand include “quality service” and

“customer-orientation”, whereas for the emotional benefit of the brand it involves “fun experience” and “rocking”. The values of Hard Rock Cafe brand can be observed both in its corporate culture, which is “authentic, passionate, and entertaining”. As for the personality of

Hard Rock Cafe a visitor can imagine a fun person with a spirit of Rock’n’Rolla.

Hard Rock Cafe throughout its existence has already positioned itself as a company with strong brand equity. No matter where a person is, either in London or Beijing, one will 55 always recognize Hard Rock Cafe from its bright logo or loud music coming from the restaurant. Hard Rock Cafe has developed its brand equity since 1971 as the founders had a clear vision of the restaurant’s identity, its meaning, expected responses and relationship it wants from the public. Analyzing the brand equity of Hard Rock Cafe through the Keller brand equity pyramid it can be summarized that Hard Rock Cafe obtains a strong brand salience, which is referred to brand associations and brand awareness of the restaurant itself and the category it represents. A tourist coming to Budapest is aware of the presence of the restaurant in the city and knows what kind of service he is supposed to receive (full-service,

American dining, Rock’n’Roll ambiance). Evaluating the meaning of Hard Rock Cafe brand, brand performance within the scope of brand meaning reflects the following characteristics:

Hard Rock Cafe is meeting customers’ expectations, deliver quality and timely service; it has proved to deliver its brand promise through complete, friendly, caring and responsive service experience within a consistently designed environment for reasonable prices. The brand imagery of Hard Rock Cafe is seen as having a range of a range of user profiles (initially, it was rock lovers, and it is more of tourist), having a certain brand personality with explicit values (Cool and fun Rock’n’Rolla), offering unforgettable experience of rock music history and entertainment. The combination of brand performance and brand imagery Hard Rock

Cafe shows it strong brand meaning, which evokes strong, favorable and unique associations in a customer’s mind. In the Hard Rock Cafe brand equity pyramid, the responses are based on consumers’ judgments of the brand and its feelings towards it. The judgments that are associated with the brand include delivering quality and fun service, being credible in terms of trustworthiness, superior against other competitors within full-service restaurants, and being in the top among considered places to visit. The restaurant is also created a strongly associated set of feelings a customer has when thinking about a brand. These feelings are confidence, energy, fun, festive, excitement, uniqueness, and exclusivity. The strongest part 56 of Hard Rock Cafe brand equity is its brand resonance, which is seen in the ability to create a brand that is among destination goals in the city. By having a strong brand, the restaurant managed to create a loyal army of patrons, who are hunting for the new Hard Rock Cafe t- shirt at new destinations. The brand gives it customers the sense of community by proposing its Hard Rock Cafe merchandise.

An illustration of brand equity pyramid can be found in the Appendices section of this paper.

Hard Rock Cafe is trying to eliminate the gap between the brand identity and brand image through its communication activities. Using Kapferer’s brand identity prism that was already described in the theoretical part of this paper, I will analyze the coherence of the brand image and actual brand identity of Hard Rock Cafe. Kapferer’s identity prism allows looking at the brand both as it perceived by a customer (brand image) and designed by the restaurant (brand identity). To remind the Kapferer’s brand identity prism to consist of six parts (personality, physique, culture, relationship, reflection, self-image), which are divided into two perpendicular dimensions (picture of sender and picture of the receiver; externalization and internalization) (Kapferer, 2012, pp.158-159). From the perspective of a sender, Hard Rock

Cafe reveals its personality through its character: it is audacious, classy, hip, fun, different, inviting, it is a Rock’n’Rolla. The brand reflects its physique through unique ambiance,

Rock’n’Roll memorabilia, even though unusual tattoos or hairstyle of its waitresses. The part of internalization dimension, culture of the brand can be seen it its slogans such as “All is one”, “Take time to be kind”, or “Love all. Serve all”, the latest one was created by Isaac

Tigrett, when he converted to the Hindu religion (referencesforbusiness.com). However, these slogans are reflecting more of the corporate philosophy, the values the founders originally relate their business to have evolved from “Rock it!” to “Love it!” as it was demanded by time. The externalization part, relationship, is seen in the type of relationship 57

Hard Rock Cafe has with its customers. Hard Rock relates to its customer with respective, friendly, and responsive attitude. The reflection of the brand is included in both externalization and the picture of receiver dimensions. The reflection of Hard Rock Cafe is seen in an image of its typical guests: hip, trendy, fun-seeking admirers of rock music.

Moreover, the last part in receiver dimension is self-image of Hard Rock Cafe, which is how a customer of Hard Rock Cafe sees oneself as being part of a brand. In this case, it is a caring, outgoing, and fun-loving person, who is “ready to rock”.

For the purpose of illustration, I have created Hard Rock Cafe brand identity prism, which is presented in the Appendices section of this paper.

In order to influence a positive brand perception, Hard Rock Cafe has created external branding components, which help to recall a brand through its sensory elements. These elements include its distinctive name, logo, its slogans and motto, its unique packaging, its unforgettable ambiance, music, or its brand ambassador. All of these elements should be consistent in carrying the brand message.

The name of Hard Rock Cafe was created based on the love of the rock music. The founders of the cafe Peter Morton and Isaac Tigrett did not deliberate the rule of 4 E’s as a primary rule, but took into consideration the values their name must represent. However, the name ended up to be easy to say, easy to read, easy to spell and easy to remember, as well as delivered the brand values and fitted the customer’s culture.

The Hard Rock Cafe logo was created by a famous artist Alan Aldridge, who was working with such artists and bands as The Beatles and Elton John (Ajami and Bear, 2007, p.147). 58

The logo was indented to represent the American culture with a rocky feeling to it. The logo as it can be seen today was inspired by the design of the hood of American car Chevrolet.

The logo was originally created in three colors red, yellow, and white, however the colors variety has widened due to the Hard Rock International expansion to hotel, casino, and TV businesses. The logo is of Hard Rock Cafe is used on variety of elements in the restaurant, starting from the entrance signboard ending with coasters.

Slogans, or the mottos, of Hard Rock Cafe include “Love All. Serve All”, “Rock This!”,

“Take Time to be Kind”, “All is One”, “Save the Planet”, which show that Hard Rock Cafe values are care, love, and kindness. These slogans are used in its promotional activities, as well as within the wall of the restaurant.

The packaging of Hard Rock Cafe brand is it physical environment, uniforms of its employees, or style of serving. Every restaurant of Hard Rock Cafe is a kind of rock music museum. The consistency of colors, uniforms of employees, music, lightening shows the brand identity it wants customers to be associated with. Even though the ambiance in Hard

Rock Cafe locations is not exactly the same, it certainly follows a similar pattern.

5.3. Marketing and Brand Communication of Hard Rock Cafe

Hard Rock Cafe brand communication starts from internal branding techniques a restaurant practices within its all 104 restaurants around the world. Hard Rock Cafe starts its internal branding from hiring not just people, but personalities with values that are close to the brand.

In the article “Employee Branding that Rocks”, the author, who is the senior director of training and development in Hard Rock Cafe, specified the methods used by the brand

(Knight). Firstly, Hard Rock is looking for individuals; they must be interesting personalities 59 with a unique story behind their back. Hard Rock hiring agents are looking for musicians, tattoo masters, street artists, bartenders, sellers at the music shop, and ravers at the concerts.

The criteria that a potential Hard Rock Cafe must fit is the following: they have to be individuals, visual learners, have short attention spans, be technologically well informed, and socially conscious. Hard Rock is using a motto “For those about to rock, we recruit you!” in its job offers, which is part of the internal communication of the brand.

Hard Rock Cafe is using the illustrative material in training programs fro their new employees, which reflects the brand identity of the restaurant. This illustrative material for the purpose of coherency is branded with the Hard Rock Cafe visuals. The mission of the employees is to deliver “kick-ass service” and “experiences that rock”, and that is why the brand highlights the importance of the restaurants Rock style nature (Knight).

Hard Rock Cafe execute a Five M’s strategy of brand executions, which are Menu, Music,

Merchandise, Memorabilia, and Monuments. The Menu stands for the quality and variety of food and beverages it serves, Music is referred to the importance of rock music in lives of

Hard Rockers, which they can enjoy in the restaurant and at Hard Rock Cafe special events and concerts. Merchandise referred to the goods a visitor can obtain in the Hard Rock Shop by the restaurant. The goods that are sold in shops are branded and served as a promotional tool (word of mouth) and create an unforgettable experience, as well as create emotional bonds with the brand. Besides, about a half of the café profit comes from merchandise.

Memorabilia represents the rock collection the restaurant has at all facilities. To date, the collection of Hard Rock Cafe estimates about 70 thousand items of rock history (Hard Rock

Cafe Official Site). Monuments are the actual places where the Hard Rock Cafe is present, which means the distinctive design of its buildings (Knight). 60

Hard Rock Cafe have been regularly using such means of communication as an advertisement, PR, sponsorships, special events, festivals, sales promotion, and etc. However, for a long period of time, the first restaurant has not used any artificial methods to affect brand awareness. People were willing the restaurant for its uniqueness and the word has spread by itself. Hard Rock Cafe started implementing its brand communication strategy through marketing means in 1999 when the restaurant has used it entertaining advertising campaign with headlines “relieve those moments you can’t remember” and “green hair, nose rings, tattoos (and that’s just the waitress)”. This advertisement was created as the brand perception was shifting from the brand identity the restaurant was aiming for (Ajami and

Bear, 2007, p.152). Since then, the brand has been using advertising as its communication means. The most memorable were the rocking fork and rocking baby (images contained in the Appendices section). Once the brand started to be recognizable, Hard Rock Cafe created a rock music festival, which takes place every year in London. Besides, Hard Rock Cafe brand created a VH1 TV series with the name Hard Rock Live! Which was broadcasted weekly

(Ajami and Bear, 2007, p.154). However, as in any other restaurant, the most useful tool of brand communication is Word of Mouth. Hard Rock Cafe brand is succeeding in generating positive word of mouth by delivering a joyful experience and quality service as well as by distributing its merchandise. To date, obtaining a Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt can be compared to a collection of old postcards in times of our grandparents.

6. Conclusion

The research of the role of brand and brand communication strategies in the full-service restaurant industry has started with the question “How should a full restaurant approach branding in order to acquire consumers, create strong brand equity, gain brand loyalty, and improve it's performance?” In order to answer this question, a research based on an 61 investigation of service marketing, brand and brand communication concepts, the restaurant industry and restaurant branding specifications and illustrative example of full-service restaurant brand Hard Rock Cafe was constructed.

In order to understand the nature of the service marketing, the research addressed it a parental concept, marketing, in the first section of the paper. In this section, it was acknowledged that marketing is “a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others” (Kotler, p.5). By studying into the main principles of marketing the base of service marketing was identified, which is the creation of value of a product (tangible or intangible), though satisfaction of specific group needs and wants in return for a transaction that can take the form of long-term relationship with a product. Then a deeper approach to understanding the characteristics of services and service marketing was taken. From the theoretical research of services, it was defined that the full-service restaurant industry, which is the concentration service industry that is essential to the context of this paper, is categorized as a hybrid good, in which marketing of both tangible and intangible elements is equally important. Further, the paper recognizes the nature of the services in four major characteristics as intangibility, inseparability, variability, and perishability and highlights the importance of constant evaluation and monitoring of service quality and value through the proposed models. At the end of the first section, this paper proposes the factors of consumer decision-making and purchase behavior that are essential to the marketer in order to create a communication path, which will lead a consumer to select a certain product. To summarize the relevance of the first chapter to the research question, before developing a certain brand a marketer should understand the specifics of service marketing and the behavior of a customer in choosing a specific service product. 62

When creating a brand for a restaurant, one must understand that the brand will not just be a name written at the entrance and used in financial statements. A restaurant must understand what its brand stands for: what attributes it offers, what benefits it can propose to a customer, values, and personality it represents. A restaurant’s brand is an asset; it is its created brand equity, which can further bring financial and emotional value to the owner. Building a strong brand requires having some costs, if a restaurant’s brand is unique and distinctive enough and provides great value to its customer, the costs are minimized and the return will be greater than the costs. The main task of a restaurant is creating a strong brand image, which has to be coherent with the identity of the restaurant. This can be done through affecting customer’s perception of the brand by providing him with essential information, positive feelings, creating strong behavioral ties. Additionally, sensory perception of the brand is playing an important role in the customer perception and building a strong brand image. Although the tangible elements are secondary in building a strong brand, a restaurant has to approach the creation of its physique such as it ambiance and logo with respect to what its brand wants to represent. In its communication activities, a restaurant must firstly take an approach of developing a strong brand commitment using techniques of internal branding in order for the qualitative and enjoyable experience to be delivered to its customers by the restaurant employees. This paper proposes several approaches of brand communication strategies that can be used by a full-service restaurant in order to enhance in brand equity.

In the third section of this paper, Restaurant Industry, the concept of the full-service restaurant and its distinguishing features are identified in order to emphasize how the branding of full-service category can be different from the limited-service one. This chapter identifies certain steps in formation of the full-service restaurant brand core, its values, and 63 brand concept, identifying its target audience, drawing a brand personality and delivering a brand promise through communication means.

To illustrate the importance of developing a strong brand and implementing brand communication strategy, this paper is giving an analysis of full-service restaurant brand-

Hard Rock Cafe. Hard Rock Cafe brand is a benchmark for full-service restaurant branding, and the fact they are known around the world proves taking a brand-oriented rather than profit-oriented approach is more beneficial in the long run for the full-service restaurant.

During its existence, Hard Rock Cafe brand has faced its difficulties. The restaurant overall performance can be set as a benchmark of successful use of branding and creating incredible brand awareness. Nowadays, when visiting a new city, anyone can distinguish unique exterior of the restaurant and are familiar with the product they can expect to be offered. The restaurant has differentiated itself from its competitors by creating a Unique Selling

Proposition-a hyper-themed Rock’n’Roll memorabilia. Later this concept was copied by such restaurant as Planet Hollywood, Fashion Cafe, Forest Cafe, and etc. The restaurant throughout its existence was dedicated to its values, even under the pressure of competition and long-time disputes among the owners; it managed to continuously deliver it brand promise to the customers.

Hard Rock Cafe is an eatertainment restaurant, which offers a central activity, which is dining, and peripheral activity, which is the atmosphere and entertainment program. There is a possibility of cases when a service provider concentrates more on the “entertainment” part of the restaurant concept, forgetting to provide a qualitative central activity, which is the

“eat” part of eatertainment. No matter how good are the actual and augmented levels of 64 products are, its provider has to remember to satisfy the core need of its customer. Since the boost of Hard Rock International expansions in the form of hotel, casinos, park, the level of concentration of Hard Rock Cafe has decreased. In addition, Hard Rock Cafe brand is continually emphasizing its Rock’n’Roll-ness and promoting its values as they were originally invented by the founders in 1971. Nevertheless, as the concept of the brand is static and is evolving over time, its communication must also change. The inability of the brand to send a message that clearly corresponds to the actual value will result in a gap between perceived brand image and its identity. Hard Rock Cafe was a place of hangout for the true rockers, people have seen it typical user as a rebel with a Mohawk. Today a typical user has changed, mostly one is a tourist. However, the personality of the restaurant brand has remained the same, which is a loud and audacious Rock’n’Rolla. If initially, the brand was communicating to the public as a Rock’n’Rolla to a Rock’n’ Rolla, today the brand must communicate as a Rock stars to its fans. After all, one of the restaurant's mottoes is “Others have customers, we have fans” (Hard Rock Cafe Official Website).

The recommendations for the Hard Rock Cafe brand would be to stay focused delivering a quality dining along with quality service, rather than entertainment to generate customer retention. A person, who watched a play in the theater will not return to watch it again next week, but a person who was served with a perfectly cooked steak by a cool waitress will certainly consider a visit in the closest time. Another recommendation would be to concentrate on delivering value to the local public, rather than a tourist, as they are the one who can become loyal to the restaurant rather than just a brand. Hard Rock Cafe is doing a great job in brand expansions (casinos, hotels, music festivals). However, it should lose a focus on its main entities, which is the restaurants. There is a reason why the peak of the restaurant popularity was the first decade of its existence: the brand was building upon its 65 value, not its volume. Moreover, the last personal recommendation to the brand communication strategy of the restaurant keeps consistently eliminating the gap between the brand promise and its fulfillment. In other words, to create coherency between the brand image and its actual identity.

Concluding this paper, it can be said the brands has become an integral part of consuming era we live in. With the abundance of all possible alternatives, it is hard to differentiate one product from another one. In such cases, only the brand image and the associations it evokes in a customer’s mind can assist both the business and the customer to obtain its value. The role of brand development and implementation in the restaurant industry is intensifying with every year. Restaurants that have already positioned their brands are enjoying the work that their brands do, which is steady revenues and weak competition. Thus, based on the research of this paper it can be stated that brand and brand communication strategy are essential are necessary steps in creating a successful full-service restaurant.

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Appendix

1. Hard Rock Cafe Brand Equity Pyramid

Source: author

2. Hard Rock Cafe logo

Source: Hard Rock Official Website

71

3. Hard Rock Cafe Brand Identity Prism

Source: author

4. Hard Rock Cafe Physical Environment

Source: Hard Rock Cafe Official Website

72

5. Hard Rock Cafe Physical Environment

Source: Prague.eu

6. Hard Rock Cafe Founders: Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton

Source: Hard Rock Cafe Official Website 73

7. Hard Rock Cafe Promotion

Source: Creative-marketingads.com

74

8. Hard Rock Cafe Employees

Source: Hard Rock Cafe Official Website

9. Hard Rock Cafe Memorabilia

Source: Hard Rock Official Website