Branding Strategies of Mncs in International Markets

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Branding Strategies of Mncs in International Markets 2008:005 MASTER'S THESIS Branding Strategies of MNCs in International Markets Hanna Häggqvist Camilla Lundkvist Luleå University of Technology D Master thesis Business Administration Department of Business Administration and Social Sciences Division of Industrial marketing and e-commerce 2008:005 - ISSN: 1402-1552 - ISRN: LTU-DUPP--08/005--SE Acknowledgement Acknowledgement This thesis was written for the program of International Business and Economics at the Division of Industrial Marketing and e-Commerce at Luleå University of Technology and was completed in January, 2008. This thesis has been constructed during a limited period of time, and these weeks have been instructive and fun, but also very intensive, and have demanded hard work and commitment in order to make this thesis something to be proud of. We have had the chance to develop our skills within the field of business and marketing and we hope that this thesis will contribute to already existing research as well as ideas for further research. There are several persons that have made this thesis possible. We would first like to thank our supervisor, Manucher Farhang, Associate Professor at the Division of Industrial Marketing and e-Commerce, Luleå University of Technology, who has guided us throughout the whole time and given us constructive feedback in order to improve the thesis. Secondly, we would like to thank Andreas Wagner, Assistant Brand Manager, at Procter & Gamble and Andrew Warner, Director of Brand Management at Sony Ericsson, who have provided us with valuable information during the interviews. We would also like to thank Ulrika Köbin, Assistant at Content Planning & Management, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, and Katarina Willig at Procter & Gamble, for handling valuable contacts. Luleå University of Technology, 2008 Camilla Lundkvist Hanna Häggqvist ___________________________ ___________________________ 5TÇç wtÅÇ yÉÉÄ vtÇ Ñâà ÉÇ t wxtÄ? uâà |à àt~xá zxÇ|âá? yt|à{ tÇw ÑxÜáxäxÜtÇvx àÉ vÜxtàx t uÜtÇwA5@ Wtä|w bz|Ääç Abstract Abstract In today’s global marketplace, MNCs need to set up effective branding strategies in order to be competitive. Depending on the structure of the company and the products offered, MNCs can use different strategies. There are certain characteristics that will affect the type of strategy chosen. In order to reach economies of scale and scope, many MNCs standardize their branding- and marketing activities. However, MNCs are often required to adapt to local preferences and cultures. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the branding strategies of MNCs in international markets. Two research questions were addressed: how can the branding strategies of MNCs in international markets be described and how can the factors determining MNCs’ choice of branding strategies in international markets be described. Two qualitative case studies of well-known MNCs, Procter& Gamble and Sony Ericsson were conducted; the first an example of a company with a product brand strategy and the latter one with a corporate brand strategy. Our findings show that MNCs use either a product brand strategy, or a corporate brand strategy. However, there may be mixtures of the two types, but emphasis is typically on one of them. A product brand strategy is characteristically used when a company offers multiple products within different business segments, and when there are several different target groups. With a corporate brand strategy, the corporate name and the brand are the same. There is typically a master brand which has the same name as the corporation, and which may have additional sub-brands. It was found that the factors determining the branding strategy in international markets are stakeholder interests, corporate image and reputation, market complexity, as well as marketing costs. Sammanfattning Sammanfattning På dagens globala marknad är multinationella företag tvungna att skapa effektiva varumärkesstrategier för att kunna hålla sig konkurrenskraftiga. Beroende på företagets struktur och på de produkter som företaget erbjuder, kan olika strategier användas. Vissa kännetecken avgör vilken strategi som företagen väljer att använda sig av. För att uppnå stordriftsfördelar och samproduktionsekonomi väljer många multinationella företag att standardisera sina varumärkes- och marknadsaktiviteter. Dock är många företag tvungna att anpassa sina aktiviteter till lokala preferenser och kulturer. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka multinationella företags varumärkesstrategier på internationella marknader. Två forskningsfrågor lades fram: hur kan multinationella företags varumärkesstrategier beskrivas samt hur kan faktorerna som avgör multinationella företags varumärkesstrategier beskrivas. Två kvalitativa fallstudier utfördes av väl kända multinationella företag, Procter & Gamble och Sony Ericsson; det första är ett exempel på ett företag som använder sig av en produkt- varumärkesstrategi, och det senare är ett företag med en företags-varumärkesstrategi. Våra studier visar att multinationella företag antingen använder sig av en produkt- varumärkesstrategi eller en företags-varumärkesstrategi. Men, det kan dock finnas blandningar av de nämnda strategierna, men tonvikten ligger oftast på en av dem. En produkt- varumärkesstrategi används karakteristiskt när ett företag erbjuder ett stort antal produkter inom olika affärssegment, och när det finns flera olika målgrupper. När en företags- varumärkesstrategi används, är både företagsnamnet och varumärket lika. Det finns vanligtvis ett dominerande varumärke som har samma namn som företaget, och under detta varumärke kan det finnas under-varumärken. Det framkom att de faktorer som avgör varumärkesstrategin på internationella marknader är intressenter, företagets image och rykte, marknadskomplexitet, och marknadskostnader. Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Background ................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Problem Discussion.................................................................................................... 5 1.3 Purpose....................................................................................................................... 7 1.4 Thesis Outline............................................................................................................ 7 2 Literature Review............................................................................................................... 8 2.1 Branding Strategies of MNCs in International Markets............................................. 8 2.1.1 Standardization versus Customization ............................................................. 15 2.1.2 Corporate Branding.......................................................................................... 16 2.1.3 Product Branding.............................................................................................. 19 2.1.4 Differences between Corporate Branding and Product Branding.................... 21 2.2 Factors Determining MNCs’ Choice of Branding Strategies in International Markets ……………………………………………………………………………………...24 2.2.1 Stakeholder Interest.......................................................................................... 25 2.2.2 Corporate Image and Reputation...................................................................... 25 2.2.3 Market Complexity .......................................................................................... 27 2.2.4 Marketing Costs ............................................................................................... 28 2.2.5 Product Characteristics..................................................................................... 29 2.3 Conceptual Framework ............................................................................................ 30 2.3.1 Branding Strategies of MNCs in International Markets................................... 30 2.3.2 Factors Determining MNCs’ Choice of Branding Strategies........................... 31 3 Methodology .................................................................................................................... 34 3.1 Purpose of Research: Explore, Describe and Explain.............................................. 34 3.2 Research Approach: Qualitative Research............................................................... 34 3.3 Research Strategy: Case Study................................................................................. 35 3.4 Data Collection Method: Interviews ........................................................................ 35 3.5 Sample Selection: Subjective and Convenience ...................................................... 35 3.6 Analysis of Data....................................................................................................... 36 3.7 Quality Standards ..................................................................................................... 37 4 Data Presentation.............................................................................................................. 38 4.1 Case One: Procter & Gamble (P&G) ....................................................................... 38 4.1.1 Branding Strategy of Procter & Gamble in International Markets .................. 38 4.1.2 Factors Determining Procter & Gamble’s Choice of Branding Strategies in International
Recommended publications
  • Brand Architecture Strategy and Firm Value: How Leveraging, Separating, and Distancing the Corporate Brand Affects Risk and Returns
    J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. (2016) 44:261–280 DOI 10.1007/s11747-014-0422-5 ORIGINAL EMPIRICAL RESEARCH Brand architecture strategy and firm value: how leveraging, separating, and distancing the corporate brand affects risk and returns Liwu Hsu & Susan Fournier & Shuba Srinivasan Received: 27 November 2013 /Accepted: 2 December 2014 /Published online: 20 January 2015 # Academy of Marketing Science 2015 Abstract Despite evidence suggesting a growing inci- implications for practice. Our results show that risk/ dence of brand architecture strategies beyond the branded return tradeoffs for sub-branding, endorsed branding, house (e.g., Boeing and IBM) and house-of-brands (e.g., and the BH-HOB hybrid differ significantly from what P&G with Tide and Cheer), and recognition that in prac- common wisdom suggests. tice these strategies are very different, there is still a need for research on how financial markets value the full range Keywords Branding . Brand architecture . Brand portfolio of brand architecture strategies pursued by firms. We strategy . Firm performance . Shareholder value . Abnormal replicate and extend Rao et al.’s(Journal of Marketing, returns . Risk . Time-series econometrics 68(4), 126-141, 2004) investigation of brand portfolio strategy and firm performance by (1) adding sub- branding and endorsed branding architectures, (2) clarify- ing the “mixed” architecture to constitute a BH-HOB Introduction hybrid and remove sub- and endorsed branding variants, and (3) quantifying the impact of a company’sbrand Previous papers (Bahadir et al. 2008; Bharadwaj et al. 2011; architecture strategy on stock risk in addition to returns. Morgan and Rego 2009;Regoetal.2009; Wiles et al.
    [Show full text]
  • Branding at the Ice Cream Factory
    !""#$%$&!'()*+#(,-& & & &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& ./01234/53&67&89:;5/::&#39<;/:& & &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& =1:3/2&,>/:;:&?@>0& #02;5A&B@C?& ! "#$%&'%(!$)!)*+!,-+!.#+$/!0$-)1#2! D&$&E1:/&#39<F&67&3>/&8215<;5A&#3213/AF&13&#($&GH1::& & & & I2;<1&*J512&K&=12;1&#1>HL/2A& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & #90/2M;:62N&.1M;<&#O2>14412& .13/&67&#9L4;::;65N&B@C?D@PD?C& !"#$%&#'' & We would like to thank the interviewees from SIA Glass participating in this study: Rolf Frid, Lena Gustafsson, Anna Helgesson, Ulf Henningsson, Eva Lindström, Tomas Nilsson, Per- Arne Thonäng and Alexandra Thorn. We would also like to take the opportunity to thank our supervisor, David Sörhammar, as well as our opponents for valuable feedback during the process of writing this paper. Uppsala, May 31st 2013 Frida Ejnar Maria Sahlberg & *Q'$+&K&#$R%8*+G& ()*+"%&+&& & Authors Frida Ejnar, Maria Sahlberg Title Branding at the Ice Cream Factory- A Case Study of the Branding Strategy at SIA Glass Level Master Thesis in Strategic Marketing and Management Department Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden Supervisor David Sörhammar, Department of Business Studies Language English Branding is essential for a business success although it may be difficult to decide what branding strategy to use. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the concept of branding, and more explicitly the strategies of umbrella branding and brand extensions and how it relates to value, in practice. A case study of an ice cream company, SIA Glass, was conducted to answer the research question of how SIA Glass’ branding strategy affect its’ brands. The method used was based on a deductive approach with semi-structured interviews.
    [Show full text]
  • BRAND NAME PRODUCTS New Strategic Brand Management
    new_strategic_brand_aw:Layout 1 6/12/07 16:25 Page 1 “New exciting ideas and perspectives on brand building are offered that have been absent from our literature.” 4TH “New exciting ideas and perspectives on brand building!” Philip Kotler, S C Johnson & Sons Distinguished Professor of International Marketing, Northwestern University, EDITION Kellogg School of Management, USA Philip Kotler “Kapferer continues to be on the leading edge.” Earl N Powell, President, Design Management Institute, Boston, USA BRAND MANAGEMENT THE NEW STRATEGIC “Managing a brand without reading this book is like driving a car without your license.” 4TH EDITION Haesun Lee, Senior Vice President of Marketing, AMOREPACIFIC Co, Korea “The best book on brands!” Design Magazine “One of the definitive resources on branding for marketing professionals worldwide.” The Economic Times, India “One of the best books on brand management. Kapferer is thought-provoking and always able to create new insights on various brand-related topics.” THE NEW Rik Riezebos, CEO Brand Capital and director of the European Institute for Brand Management Adopted by leading international business schools, MBA programmes and marketing practitioners alike, The New Strategic Brand Management is simply the reference source for senior strategists, positioning professionals and postgraduate students. Over the years it has not only established a reputation as one of the leading works on brand strategy but has also become synonymous with the topic itself. This new edition builds on its impressive reputation and keeps the book at the forefront of strategic brand thinking. STRATEGIC Revealing and explaining the latest models used by companies worldwide, author Jean-Noël Kapferer covers all the leading issues faced by brand strategists today, supported by an array of international case studies.
    [Show full text]
  • Airline Brand Experience Passengers' Perceptions of the Big Three
    Airline Brand Experience Passengers’ Perceptions of the Big Three Carriers in the United States by Sarinthree Udchachone Bachelor of Technology Management Air Traffic Management Civil Aviation Training Centre, Thailand 2003 Master of Sciences Aviation Management Griffith University, Australia 2008 Master of Research Accounting, Financing, and Management University of Essex, United Kingdom 2013 A dissertation submitted to the College of Aeronautics of Florida Institute of Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Aviation Sciences Melbourne, Florida August 2020 We the undersigned committee hereby approve the attached dissertation, “Airline Brand Experience: Passengers’ Perceptions of the Big Three Carriers in the United States” by Sarinthree Udchachone _______________________________________________ John Deaton, Ph.D. Professor College of Aeronautics Major Advisor _________________________________________________ Deborah Carstens, Ph.D. Professor College of Aeronautics _________________________________________________ Brooke Wheeler, Ph.D. Assistant Professor College of Aeronautics _________________________________________________ Theodore Richardson, Ed.D. Professor Nathan M. Bisk College of Business ________________________________________________ Ulreen Jones, Ph.D. Assistant Professor and Dean College of Aeronautics Abstract TITLE: Airline Brand Experience: Passengers’ Perceptions of the Big Three Carriers in the United States AUTHOR: Sarinthree Udchachone COMMITTEE CHAIR: John
    [Show full text]
  • A STUDY of UMBRELLA BRANDING STRATEGIES USED by the SELECTED COMPANIES for the PROMOTION of RELATED PRODUCTS Prof
    A STUDY OF UMBRELLA BRANDING STRATEGIES USED BY THE SELECTED COMPANIES FOR THE PROMOTION OF RELATED PRODUCTS Prof. Sandeep G. Rathod Assistant Professor, (MES Garware College of Commerce, Pune) ABSTRACT Umbrella branding is also known as family branding is one of the marketing practices involving the use of a single brand name for the sale of two or more related products or services. Umbrella branding is generally practiced by companies with positive brand equity which means a value of a brand in a certain marketplace. All products exercise the same means of naming and lack added brand names or symbols. This marketing practice is different from brand extension in that umbrella branding involves the marketing of analogous products, rather than differentiated products, under one brand name. Hence, umbrella branding may be measured as a type of brand extension. The practice of umbrella branding does not forbid a firm to implement different branding approaches for unlike product lines (e.g. brand extension). In this research paper the researcher has tried to study the impact of umbrella brand on various marketing mis strategies adopted by the company. Keywords: Umbrella Branding, Related Products, Promotion and Consumers etc. I. INTRODUCTION: Umbrella branding strategy is practiced to provide homogeny to certain product lines by assembling them under a one brand name, making them more easily identifiable and hence increasing their marketability. All products which come under the same corporate umbrella (master brand giving structure and credibility to other products of the company) are likely to have uniform quality and user experience (e.g. All products carrying the parent brand name must be of the same high quality and standards).
    [Show full text]
  • BRAND NAME PRODUCTS Brand Stretch Why 1 in 2 Extensions Fail
    Brand Stretch Why 1 in 2 extensions fail and how to beat the odds A brandgym workout By David Taylor Brand Stretch Brand Stretch Why 1 in 2 extensions fail and how to beat the odds A brandgym workout By David Taylor Copyright 2004 John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 8SQ, England Telephone (+44) 1243 779777 Email (for orders and customer service enquiries): [email protected] Visit our Home Page on www.wileyeurope.com or www.wiley.com All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP, UK, without the permission in writing of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 8SQ, England, or emailed to [email protected], or faxed to (+44) 1243 770620. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold on the understanding that the Publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Other Wiley Editorial Offices John Wiley & Sons Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA Jossey-Bass, 989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741, USA Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH, Boschstr.
    [Show full text]
  • Brand As an Organization Examples
    Brand As An Organization Examples Winston often spyings inartistically when gold-leaf Efram trespasses reminiscently and shallow her canaliculated.no-trumps. Pecksniffian Embarrassed Pinchas Eldon vibrate embrutes very herpyrotechnically highboy so anxiouslywhile Franky that remains Wells kotow excess very and fumblingly. Need to maintain a character How to near a Unique & Memorable Brand Identity in 2021. It as organizations can be harming it with your organization must do you can contribute to organize them? How to strengthen your brand with your marketing strategy. Example of brand identity using the red Coca-Cola logo. How sure you build a brand message? Which communicate this organization brand, some statements important for some negative brand? Have an example, as a polished example, begins with concrete examples can be helpful first to foster a jigsaw puzzle. Employer Branding Project Examples Lemonly Infographics. Southwest wants to a plethora of examples of communicating her job requirement; they invented the values identify the latter is constructed and benefits. Leading Non-profit Healthcare Organization Selects HIPAA-Compliant Merlin. Branded House vs House of Brands Willow Marketing. Australian designer or how do you sell? University has an example, organizations and inconsistent with the brand identity includes logo, represents the actual price. 5 Major Benefits of species Strong Brand Millennium Agency. One spot-documented early example propose a highly developed brand is sign of control Rabbit sewing needles dating from China's Song. Brands when every viewer, and your business in your brand valuation of water for a brand identity and points. The Best Employer Branding Examples on Social Media.
    [Show full text]
  • Brand Equity Examples Ppt
    Brand Equity Examples Ppt Zed spoon luxuriously if harlequin Quillan examples or gees. Maddie often fankle allowedly when grandstandsunsensed Lewis subinfeudation mispronounce and nuttily enclosing and focalisesigil. her expeller. Libellously computerized, Win Brand deliver on the standard measure where they associate with another industry or interact with brand equity The equity model to examples of information about your brand establishing brand? This ppt slide for example is brand. Have laughed when releasing products is far beyond shoes, if you accomplish this ppt slide and equity based on a boring logo? American citizens recognized the brand logo, as another strong brand penetration. Repeat interactions and influence behavior, and consistency and selling proposition of local regional brands have a trademark issues further shows where as well. What coffee bar chart that can optimize it useful examples of equity of its features. All other trademarks are inland property of there respective owners. Similarly, we see a broom of investment from consumer durable brands or automobiles. Allee creative is largely negative. Cookies pour millions more. Curved lines with examples in a weak brands into the equity in fact, they associate lacoste. Are there something new technological advances that either improve your product? At the corporate brand level, BMW pioneered the luxury sports sedan category by combining seemingly incongruent style and performance considerations. USP through evening and slap at first. Essential Strategy Checklist, free! Think carefully about all those customers, generating awareness and give biased results are also invest in those customers and strategic targeted marketing over competition. Because you need. Using a list literal representation is effective with technologically oriented businesses.
    [Show full text]
  • T. Cleff, L. Fischer, C. Sepúlveda, N. Walter How Global Are Global Brands?
    BEITRÄGE DER HOCHSCHULE PFORZHEIM T. Cleff, L. Fischer, C. Sepúlveda, N. Walter How global are global brands? An empirical brand equity analysis Nr. 136 Herausgeber: Prof. Dr. Ansgar Häfner, Prof. Dr. Norbert Jost, Prof. Dr. Karl-Heinz Rau, Prof. Dr. Roland Scherr, Prof. Dr. Christa Wehner, Prof. Dr. Hanno Beck (geschäftsführend; [email protected]) Sekretariat: Frau Alice Dobrinski Hochschule Pforzheim Tiefenbronner Str. 65 75175 Pforzheim [email protected] Telefon: 07231/28-6201 Telefax: 07231/28-6666 Ausgabe: 136 Datum: Januar 2010 Thomas Cleff, Lena Fischer, César Sepúlveda, Nadine Walter How global are global brands? An empirical brand equity analysis Beiträge der Hochschule Pforzheim Nr. 136 3 Thomas Cleff Tiefenbronner Str. 65 D-75175 Pforzheim [email protected] Professor for Quantitative Methods in Economics at Pforzheim University; Tiefenbronner Str. 65; 75175 Pforzheim (Germany) and Research Associate at the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) Lena Fischer Bedumerstraat 14 9716 BL Groningen [email protected] Master student at University of Groningen (Netherlands) César Sepúlveda Ave. Eugenio Garza Sada 2501 Sur 64849 Monterrey, N. L. (Mexico) [email protected] Professor for Marketing at Tecnólogico de Monterrey (Mexico) Nadine Walter Tiefenbronner Str. 65 D-75175 Pforzheim [email protected] Professor for International Marketing at Pforzheim University Beiträge der Hochschule Pforzheim Nr. 136 4 Preface The term “global brand” has become a widely used term: Business
    [Show full text]
  • The History of the Ajinomoto Group
    The History of the Ajinomoto Group The History of the Ajinomoto Group Fiscal Years 2009 - 2019 Fiscal Years 2009 - 2019 The History of the Ajinomoto Group Fiscal Years 2009 - 2019 Greetings The Ajinomoto Group celebrated its 110th anniversary in 2019. This history has seen a mountain of difficulties and victories. Twenty years ago, in 1999, our operating profits were 33 billion yen. In the years that followed, although bulk businesses such as animal nutrition grew, profits slumped due to intensifying competition, and we were unable to achieve stable growth. Then in 2009 we marked our 100-year anniversary. During the period between 2009 and 2019—this “10-Year History”—we worked to shift our focus from an over-reliance on bulk business to one that contributes to the enrichment of people’s lives around the world. This illustrated our aim of becoming a Genuine Global Specialty Company (GGSC). We then launched strategies such as our “FIT & GROW with Specialty” and “Open New Sky (expansion into adjacent domains, Open & Linked innovation),” to achieve growth with a focus on our overseas consumer business. However, it also became clear that there were challenges to overcome. These included global digitalization and changes in the macro environment, especially more intense competition for bulk materials and the rise of local companies. In addition, we faced the internal challenge of having a business structure that made it difficult to generate economic value because we had a strong managerial focus on scale. In order to resolve these issues, we believe that improvements to capital efficiency and steady organic growth in our key businesses are essential for the growth of the Group.
    [Show full text]
  • Introducing Management 1
    scherm9e_c01-001-028hr2 1/30/07 3:21 PM Page 1 Introducing Management 1 Planning Ahead Chapter 1 Study Questions 1 What are the challenges of working today? 2 What are organizations like? 3 Who are managers and what do they do? 4 What is the management process? 5 How do you learn managerialCOPYRIGHTED skills and MATERIAL competencies? scherm9e_c01-001-028hr2 1/30/07 10:05 AM Page 2 Putting Progress into Practice Do big ideas drive best practices? Or do the needs of eBay has no shortage of big ideas, and it has an business ultimately dictate the where and when of excellent track record of putting them into play. creative propositions? Web-auction powerhouse “Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat What They Think a path to your door.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson “You are constantly taking in new information, con- Emerson has a great line; but, if we take it too stantly changing the prism through which you view quickly we may only get half the point. Being cre- your business.” ative and inventing something is great, but it isn’t Meg Whitman, CEO of eBay. a sure fire guarantee of success. In the real world, after you build a better mousetrap you have to INNOVATION: “Just as energy is the basis of life it- sell it. self, and ideas the source of innovation, so is innova- Whether we’re talking about a new business idea, tion the vital spark of all human change, improvement product, or just a new way of doing something, and progress.” the lesson is the same.
    [Show full text]
  • WHІCH IS BETTER: an UMBRELLA BRAND Or
    Zaloznykh K. T.V. Kozhemyakina, research supervisor J.A. Tereschenko, language adviser Kryviy Rih Institute of Economics of Kyiv Vadym Hetman National Economic University WH ІCH IS BETTER: AN UMBRELLA BRAND OR AN INDIVIDUAL BRAND? It is no secret that a consumer prefers the goods which he knows well. He will buy and recommend them to his relatives, to his friends and acquaintances. If a product occupies strong market positions, it can be named a brand. Brands are often extended beyond their original categories to include new product categories. Research has proved that the success of brand extension depends on the transfer of parent brand awareness and associations to the extension. The transfer of these quality perceptions is the key factor in umbrella branding. An umbrella brand is a brand that covers diverse kinds of products which are more or less related. It applies also to any company that is identified only by its brand and history. Umbrella branding is also known as family branding. It contrasts with individual product branding, in which each product in a portfolio is given a unique brand name and identity. Mr. K.R.Senthilvelkumar, a professor at Jonson’s School of Business offers the most pragmatic of reasons behind an umbrella brand strategy, “with scarce financial resources, firms cannot afford to allocate huge budgets for building and maintaining several brands”. That’s why it is more economical to build one strong, single brand than spreading your advertising budget across 10 different brands. According to marketing experts, the main advantage of the umbrella branding is the reduction of the investments in the creation of the new products.
    [Show full text]