BRANDING IN COOPERATIVE UNDERTAKING

BY JONES TINDYEBWA KALESHU

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page TITLE PAGE .....................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................... ii Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 1 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Branding (External): What is it and what is not? ........................................................ 1 Objectives of Branding ............................................................................................... 3 The Expanded Role of branding ................................................................................. 3 Approaches to branding ............................................................................................. 3 Internal Branding: What is it....................................................................................... 5 Objectives of internal branding ................................................................................... 5 Issues that should be taken in Building the Internal Brand ........................................ 6 The perspective of cooperative branding .................................................................... 6 Internal branding and the future of cooperatives ........................................................ 7

10. External Vs internal Branding: Concluding remarks .................................................. 8

ii

BRANDING IN COOPERATIVE UNDERTAKING BY JONES TINDYEBWA KALESHU1

Abstract
Branding encompasses not only the identification of a firm but also the emotions of the customers towards the firm. Internal branding aligns individual objectives with institutional goals. Internal branding involves employees who are required to understand their organizational attributes, its approaches and its expectations so as to work together to ensure the firms reputation, image and identity are aligned to customer expectation in order to raise their attachments to the firm and its products and services. The paper argues for building of internal branding in cooperatives in Africa. 1. Branding (External): What is it and what is not?

A brand is a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. Marketing associations define a brand as a "name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers. Branding came in as way of identifying a product from another. Cattles owned by one person were hot iron stamped with a specific mark that was distinct from those owned by someone else. The practice is still common in Africa. In manufacturing industry, cars, beer, clothes, watches and most wearing apparel have different marks to differentiate them. Marks lead to differentiation attributes. One product even in the same category bears a different mark. Good examples include the differences in cars and in alcoholic beverages. In the commercial world branding started some 10,000 years ago and India is cited as country in which it was applied widely in its herbal sector. The industrial revolution ushered in mass production which called for expansion of their markets and thus a need for identification arose. Today, branding is more than just identification of products. It is recognized that appropriate branding leads to increase in sales but also that a brand could make other products by the same producer could benefit from it. Brands have now become psychological aspects. For example ardent customers of coca cola brand may tend to go for another coca cola product in the absence of the coca cola drink. A brand thus creates royalty to the manufacturers and thus enlarging the sale of their range of products.
1

Jones Tindyebwa Kaleshu is senior lecturer in the department of Banking and Finance, Faculty of Business and Information Sciences at the Moshi University College of Cooperative and Business Studies (MUCCoBS) Tanzania

Customers awareness of a brand is the key to success. Brand awareness is now an aspect that firms cannot ignore as it is a reference to customers ability to recall and recognize the brand under different conditions and link it to the brand name, logo etc. Brand awareness helps customers to understand to which particular service or product category that belongs to a certain brand name. Brand awareness transcends all brand attributes if its level of recognition and may be referred to be Top-of-Mind awareness where a brand name is the first thing a customer feels and recalls whenever a product comes across. Questions that arose in the customers mind are, Is this product similar to A? Does it have the same touch as A? Is it definitely an A product? Brands thus could lead to a persons attachment to a product. That is why a brand is not a logo. A Logo does not cause people to become loyal to it! Everything else does2. A brand has to have every impression that an individual has about an organization. Everything they see, touch, feel, hear and even smell is what makes a brand! Great branding is akin to mature love which is depicted from ones action that can lead to the other partys intuitive trust. Branding is a dance in which those who dance believe in the tune! They move with it. Branding creates opportunities that show the difference between a firm and others3. In simple terms, branding creates customers who are emotionally attached to the firm. This description entails that in branding one has to focus on the whole institution so as to create an allegiance with its customers and the public at large. It is also a reference to the interaction between a firm and the public. Corporate responsibility is nowadays noted to be part of branding. If a firm is attached to the community, the community will view it as one of them rather when it is aloof. What do we do to make communities believe in us and therefore our products? Firms have to therefore create brand trust. Brand trust is the intrinsic 'believability' that any entity evokes. In the commercial world, the intangible aspect of Brand trust impacts the behavior and performance of its business stakeholders in many intriguing ways. It creates the foundation of a strong brand connected with all stakeholders, converting simple awareness to strong commitment. This, in turn, metamorphoses normal people who have an indirect or direct stake in the organization into devoted ambassadors,

Quoted from http://www.creditunions.com/six-key-branding-concepts/#ixzz28t398nkU

See also remarks by Asacker and Cleveland at http://www.creditunions.com/six-key-brandingconcepts/#ixzz28t398nkU

leading to associated advantages like easier acceptability of brand extensions, perception of premium, and acceptance of temporary quality deficiencies.

2.

Objectives of Branding

Branding is not just about customers choosing a firms product from its competitors, but it is about getting the prospects to see the firm as the only one that provides a solution to their problem. A good brand would accordingly achieve amongst others the following: The objectives that a good brand achieves include4:

Delivering of the message clearly Confirming the firms credibility Connecting a firms target prospects emotionally Motivating the buyer Concretizing User Loyalty The Expanded Role of branding

3.

Given the current focus that views branding as prophesy of the whole firm within and without it, branding has taken an expanded role. It has moved from just being an activity of identifying and differentiating a product easier to include providing the benefit of letting the name sell a second rate product. Brands embrace a performance or benefit promise, for the product, certainly, but eventually also for the company behind the brand. Branding is now recognized and co-opted as a powerful symbol in larger debates about economics, social issues, and politics. The power of brands to communicate a complex message quickly and with emotional impact and the ability of brands to attract media attention, make them ideal tools in business competitiveness and even in fostering a specific agenda in a society or nation. 4. Approaches to branding Three major approaches are practiced individually but in most cases firms tend to undertake them holistically. The approaches include the firm or company or cooperative name, individual branding and attitude branding or iconic branding.

At http://marketing.about.com/cs/brandmktg/a/whatisbranding.htm

What is Branding and How Important is it to Your Marketing Strategy? By Laura Lake, About.com Guide

The name of the firm matters a lot. It may promote the company and its activities or it may deter others from accessing the services offered. In Africa some years back, funeral services were a taboo! Having a company name that had a direct reference was a problem. Think of this Kuzika Company as opposed to The Future Company or even the normal human names like Chuki or Shida or Matatizo. Names are powerful tools for customer attraction. Individual branding is a reference to an individual product. Coca-cola, Sprite, Fanta, Pepsi-cola, Mirinda, seven-up, Tusker, Castle, Heineken, Safari, Ndovu, Kilimanjro are some of brands that just relate to an individual product. Each individual brand has its own attractiveness. Attitude branding is the choice to represent a larger feeling, which is not necessarily connected with the product or consumption of the product at all. Marketing labeled as attitude branding include that of Nike, Starbucks and Apple Inc. Attitude branding is also described by some as "fetish strategy"5 or obsession strategy. The colors of some brands such as Coca-cola attract followers. Even names could also be described as attitudinal. Names like Rudisha, Messi, Ronaldo make one feel to be like them and tends to make others to want to be like them. Iconic brands are defined as having aspects that contribute to consumer's selfexpression and personal identity. Brands whose value to consumers comes primarily from having identity value are said to be "identity brands". Some of these brands have such a strong identity that they become more or less cultural icons which makes them "iconic brands". Examples are: Apple, Bata and Nike. Many iconic brands include almost ritual-like behavior in purchasing or consuming the products.

There are four key elements to creating iconic brands (Holt 2004): 1. "Necessary conditions" - The performance of the product must at least be acceptable, preferably with a reputation of having good quality. 2. "Myth-making" - A meaningful storytelling fabricated by cultural insiders. These must be seen as legitimate and respected by consumers for stories to be accepted.

Naomi Klein describes attitude branding as a "fetish strategy".

3. "Cultural contradictions" - Some kind of mismatch between prevailing ideology and emergent undercurrents in society. In other words a difference with the way consumers are and how they wish they were. 4. "The cultural brand management process" - Actively engaging in the mythmaking process in making sure the brand maintains its position as an icon. Branding is thus part of human beings lives and so the businesses. Firms cannot ignore it. 5. Internal Branding: What is it

Internal branding is coming of age and it is now being treated as part of institutional culture. Despite its wide acclamation different people describe it differently. It however acknowledged as a shift from the past. It embraces the current role of branding. It is based on the fact that employees like consumers get bombard by information from various sources. It is thus imperative that they are part of the process of ensuring the firm is able to tell what the brand stands for, what image is created by it and how does it aspire the customers and employees. Internal branding is a cultural shift within an organization, where the employees become more customer and business focused. Internal branding links the organization culture and values to an individuals values in ways that enable both the individual and organization to achieve their goals 6. Objectives of internal branding Internal branding desires to achieve the following: a) Nurturing an organizational identity It helps reinforce what the organization is, what it is doing and what is its future. Every person in the organization is made to understand their institution, its goals, its belief, its practices and what is it all about. b) Internal branding serves as a platform for pushing change within the organization. Institutional transformation is part of internal branding. Transformations become successful where employees are part of the process and are committed to it and the ensuing products. c) Internal branding is the communication shorthand for getting the message out. Messages tied to brand come with the employee who is predisposed to receiving them. Internal branding leads to organizational clarity. It makes leadership to set priorities and ensure the whole firm participates in their attainment.

7.

Issues that should be taken in Building the Internal Brand6

Issues to take into account in building an internal brand include: a) Build the brand on the firms mission: The starting point for any brand is what the organization stands for. Its mission and vision, backed by culture and values, are what the brand means to the employees. Any deviation from mission and culture will strike a false note. b) Make leadership the brand driver: The brand needs senior management support in order to survive. They should walk the talk that is lead by example. Leaders need link their goals to organizational goals -- a powerful way to do this is through branding. c) Nurture the brand through communications: A brand without communication is like an unlabeled item or can on a shelf by itself, an unlabelled item is unknown even by the shopkeeper! There should be communication between the leadership and the employees through meetings, sharing workshops, emailing etc. d) Inject a sense of fun into the brand: Avoid boredom and dullness. Institutions should be lively and cherish able places to work. Branding activities in the organization must be accompanied by less formal nature functions such as corporate outings, off site activities, sports, end of week visitations to orphanages, hospitals. In this way, the brand becomes a unifier and reinforces organizational culture. e) Grow the brand: Organizations either grow or they die. Brands do also grow, mature and die. The brand must be inclusive and by that, it must embrace new initiatives that arise with regularity. 8. The perspective of cooperative branding The cooperative brand is probably the most resilient brand in history of socio-economic undertaking. Cooperatives are legendary in their associative action approach of doing things. SACCOS for example are known for their philosophy of "not for profit, not for charity, but for service" and cooperate with each other instead of compete. The early practitioners like the Rochdale Pioneers, Raiffeisen, Desjardins and Hermann SchulzeDelitzsch relied on the slogan people helping people. The cooperative process creates an emotional attachment that is reflected in people working together for a common goal. Cooperative processes are people centered, member centered and community centered. It is now acknowledged in the UK that consumers who buy cooperative products do so because of the integrity of the cooperative. They believe in their mission whose slogans include the Green revolution, we sell what we grow, the Cooperatives are good for everyone and
6

Quoted from: Creating the Internal Brand by John Baldoni jbaldoni@LC21.com 6

we are proud to serve you for 165 years. The UKs cooperative brand is echoed in the Netherlands, Finland, Canada, France, Germany, the USA, Costa Rica, Mexico, Japan and Spain. In some countries like Denmark the number of members in some localities is higher than the number individuals as most are members of more than one cooperative in different undertakings. The cooperative brand is however faced with challenges particularly in Africa where people are made to believe in individualism approaches to economic emancipation, where governance in cooperative is often egoistic instead of being for members, where governments more than often seek to control their affairs, where savings are not treated as mother of development instead borrowing supersede them, where development agencies ignore them and treat them with disdain. Despite the challenges, there positivities in cooperative undertaking in Africa as reflected through financial, agricultural, dairy, transport, housing and industrial cooperatives. The cooperative brand is however not as appealing as it should be. The major setback for African cooperatives has been lack of internal branding. 9. Internal branding and the future of cooperatives

Cooperative internal structures are tripartite in nature the members, the members of the board of directors and the employees. As opposed to investor owned firms, cooperative members do not merely trade with their cooperatives but participate in its operations as suppliers, processors and some cases buyers of its product. In SACCOs for example, members supply loanable funds in form of deposits and borrow from the same institution. Members should therefore be part of internal branding process because they are the fabric of the cooperatives operations and successes. If for example a cooperative is a diary society members would be expected to supply the acceptable quality of milk of the right quantity. If members are not part of the process that defines the vision and mission and sets the objectives they may view it as another institution and feel no obligation to ensure its products are of the best quality. Similarly members of a SACCO may have to ensure they serve and access its services. It is a common practice for most SACCO members to save with a commercial bank the bulk of their money and leave a small portion in their society- just enough to allow them to borrow. Members must be part of the branding process. Employees are certainly another part that has to be part of cooperative internal branding process. They have to be emotionally attached to the cooperative. They are the ones that have to ensure members benefit in the cooperative is higher than the level of benefit they would be getting if they were not members of the cooperative. For instance if an agricultural cooperative deals in extension of farm inputs, common processing activities and common marketing, employees have a duty to see to it that the services are undertaken professionally, efficiently, effectively and timely. They 7

should work towards extension of services at optimal cost so as to maximize benefits that accrue to members. It is a prerequisite that employees should be part of internal branding so as to ensure they profess the same attitude and goals with the members. The board of directors is expected to lead the process. They should walk the walk and walk the talk at the same time. They the ones that must ensure the cooperative attains the mile after the extra one! They should see to it that there is branding and rebranding. 10. External Vs internal Branding: Concluding remarks

Cooperatives should start by building appropriate organizational cultures and attitudes within themselves before focusing on externalities. Build a strong sense of belongingness amongst the members, the employees and the board of directors. Build a culture of a quality assurance that indeed focuses on better performance, is member centered and customer oriented. Once the internal functionaries are oriented to market and there is uniformity in thinking and acting, the external branding will be the resultant.