You are on page 1of 15

BRAND

MANAGEMENT AND
STRATEGY
Dr. Michael Marck

Course: MBM- Business


School
Name: Shanu Garg
Registration No.: 2014

QUESTION 2: Discuss strategies global brands can use to


minimize consumer ethnocentrism when entering new,
foreign markets. Use examples in your response.
ANSWER:
Consumer ethnocentrism is one of the most important tool for
domestic firms to compete with the foreign companies however it
can vary in different industries, culture and demographics. Hence in
the modern era it is very important for foreign firms to understand
various potential obstacles that consumer ethnocentrism can create
and deploy appropiate straegies to counter its effect, as in modern
era a company cannot grow unless and it has a diverse portfolio and
competes in different markets.
Ethnocentric Consumer thinks that buying a foreign product hurt the
national economy and employement and believes that it is
immoral/unpatriotic to do so. Ethnocentric consumers also believe
that domestic product provide a better value and quality compared
to the foreign product. Such consumer will only purchase a foreign
brand if they see that there is no local brand to satisfy their needs.
The table below shows various groups and helps us find out which
groups could be more ethnocentric. Respondants having high
CETSCALE greater than low CETSCALE(in Shimp and Sharma (1987)
CETSCALE) are highly ethnocentric.

From the above table it could be seen that ethnocentrisim varies


with demographics and particularly Female consumers, old
consumers, less educated consumers and consumers with low
income were seen to be highly ethnocentric.
As different products/brands targets different consumer groups
hence it makes very important for companies entering a foreign
market to learn more about consumer ethnocentrism of the
consumers from a specific country and need to be very cautious and
strategic when penetrating a new market.
GLOCAL STRATEGY:
As the name suggests this is the hybrid of global and local. It means
a company should have global backstage activites such as
organisation, producition and technology which will help them
exploit economics of simplicity and help them save cost and time.
While organisations need to be very sure that the product features,
marketing and distribution is done in accordance with local needs
and wants of the consumers. Glocalisation helps brands to make a
connection with their customers which was kind of missing in the
early time of gloabalization as companies were just focusing on
standardization of products to cut the cost. Also it forces companies
to think global act local(Osemecreate.blogspot.co.uk).
It can also provide company with competetive adbantage such as

Consumer can feel the brand relevance


Increase in market share of the company
Better balance between different level of marketing strategies

Example: When we talk about the hybrid of global and local


strategy, McDonalds is one of the company which has been fairly
successful in implementing it. It operates in more than 117
countries and is one of the top ten most important brand in the
world, to achieve this kind of success a companies strategy needs to
be dynamic and spot on. From products to advertisement campaign
to market segmentation every thing differs form country to country,
as in USA McDonalds offer large meals whereas in Japan they offer
small meal whereas in India they do not use beef instead introduced
new vegetarian products that were highly successful. Though their
products may differ in different countries but their core values and
backstage activities remain the same and hence McDonalds use
Glocal strategy in the best possible way.
LEAVING THE HUBRISTIC APPROACH BEHIND:
When entering the new market the most common mistake
commited by companies is following their hubristic approach.
Especially companies need to dig in more while entering a market
with different traditions, as in western companies need to dig in
more about asian market and vice versa. And hence companies
need to localize their business models and strategies.
Example:Let us take an example of best buy. The company was
trying to enter chinese market and opened their first outlet in
Shanghai(a highly populated city), but their approach was based on
their success back in America. They opened huge store in downtown
Shanghai. The store had a large number of products and consumers
had to walk few floors to reach the store entrance. Local stores were
quick to assess the opportunity and came up with small stores near
best buy, selling only high margin and products with high demand.
In China, revenue and profit per square feet of retail space is too low
(CNBC) hence it doesnt make sense for big stores to sell products
with low margins,this is what wnet wrong for best buy. Companies
entering markets like China should either alter their traditional
model to fit the market conditions or should completely drop the
idea of entering such a market.Another example of not aligning the
strategy with the local need would be wallmart who again followed
strategies that were successful in america and opened big stores
and hence lost the competetion to the local distributors especially in
the fruit and meat market.
LANGUAGE AND CULTURE:

A company needs to consider culture as a very important factor. We


all know it is very important to understand the culture of the market
but what companies might overlook is that it is equally important to
build internal culture of the company so that they can successfully
cater the cultural needs of the market. This could be done by hiring
local work force and hiring local people at important strategic roles.
This would further help company to overcome language problem
and avoid doing mistakes as done by chevrolet when they launched
their nova model in Mexico, where "no va" stands for "it doesn't go"
(Small Business - Chron.com) which was certainly not a good name
for a car.
There can be huge cultural differences seen in different countries
which makes it a need for a company to be dynamic.A colour or
symbol in some country could carry a different meaning and could
mean something entirely different in other, that is why a company
needs to be sure that there is no way they could end up harming
cultural sentiments or cultural belief. And hence communication
plays a very important role, as it is the only way brand can interact
with the customers via various means such as advertising, social
media, newspaper etc.
Example: Back in 1994 when kellogs entered Indian market, the
company wanted people to switch from their traditional habits(hot
breakfast) to start having cereals as it was a healthier breakfast
option. But the way in which company communicated with the
consumers failed miserable as in their initial advertisement kellogs
demonstrated that Indians were not having healthier breakfast
which negatively impacted the sentiments of indian women, whi
have been serving traditional breakfast since ages. And also Indians
were used to having warm milk in breakfast whereas cereals were
rather used with cold milk hence the crispiness of cereals eroded.
And this how company didnt understood another Indian consumer
cultural aspect. Although after initial problems the company came
back strongly in the Indian market and became the market leader.
OFFERING BETTER VALUE TO CONSUMERS:
A brand offering better value to the consumers is destined to face
less consumer ethinocentrism in a new market. Better value could
be providing consumers with latest technology or unparralled
quality or superior brand that there domestic brands cannot
compete with. Providing a better value should be accompanied by
constant innovation if a brand is planning to aquire a good amount
of market share for a long term otherwise companies could face
same consequences as faced by Nokia.

Example: Lets discuss about nokia in accordance to Indian market.


Nokia were the market leaders in India in 2008 with around 38%
market share. Since then the introduction of the android platform
revolutionised the mobile phone market to which nokia were not
able to respond and consumers started shifting to brands like
Samsung and Micromax(domestic Indian company) as they provided
more value to the customers compared to Nokia. Nokia were not
able to induce innovation in their products and now their market
share is around mere 10%. So yes it is very important to understand
customer needs and introduce innovative product to keep your
consumers engaged.

Question 3: A firm selling cement to businesses (B2B) has


asked you to compose a social media promotion to build
their brand equity and brand identity. List and discuss six
key factors you would include for the cement firms B2B
social media branding promotion.
ANSWER:
Brand management was considered to be a very important element
(Casper et al., 2002) and it has become more important than ever ,
it could be directly related to image and values of the company and
the trust it has in comsumers and suppliers, Buyers can benefit
from trusting their suppliers, experiencing less stress from the
confidence, comfort and warmth they hold with a branded
supplier(Hague and Jackson, 1994)
.
Brand equity can be defined as a set of assets (and liabilities)
linked to a brands name and symbol that adds to (or subtracts
from) the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or
that firms customers (Aaker, 1996). Building positive brand equity
is very important as it increases the value of the brand. Brand
equity has four dimensions brand loyalty, brand awareness, brand
associations, and perceived quality(Aaker) and they all add up to
the value of the firm in a number of ways. So to build brand equity a
company needs to focus upon all the dimensions and effective
communication plays a important role to do the same.
Social media has become the best platform to engage with the
customer. Companys want to take the best out of the social media
platforms as, A customer knowledge of brand is built through
awareness and image(Keller 1993) and social media is the best
match for companys to create awareness and build a positive
image.B2B social media marketing is very different from B2C social
media marketing and is really a tricky one. In B2C you can influence

consumers by providing various deals but as B2B is more vertically


structed the strategies need to be different as according to an
analysis of inerbrands list of top 100 brands worldwide, only two
could be considered to be B2B brands, Reuters and
Boeing(Kochan,1996).
The key factors that are needed to be looked upon when trying to
build brand equity and brand image via social media marketing are
CONTENT BASED MARKETING :
The first and one of the important factor is content itself. It is the
fundamental step of social marketing and we need to be very sure
how do we want customers to see us also the content we say or
share passes the message to the audience.
Content is the fuel needed to power effective social media
campaigns that serve to inform, educate, entertain, persuade,
engage and endure.(Rene Power) so yes meaningful content is very
important. Content can be of three types: written,video and visual.
By written content which is easy to manipulate we will share
information about our company(where are our manufacturing plants
located, insights, and information about cement industry) while
through video and visuals, the aim would be to try and engage with
consumers
MOBILE APPLICATION:
In the era of smartphones, it has almost become necessary for a
company to launch mobile app for their brand. One one hand it
helps the company to pass a messeage that we are evolving with
the changing time while on the other hand it makes the job easy for
the consumer.
Though using mobile app for a cement industry might seem to be
new idea, but it could be a good one, it could prove to be a great
success and we can include features like
Calculate: With this feature the consumer would be easily
able to calculate the quantity of cement required after
providing some easy inputs, and hence it could make
consumers work really easy.
Order: With one click they will be able to place their orders
and a systematic delivery date or more information can be
provided
Payment: Built in and hassle free payment can be also made
available to the consumers.
Many more interesting features can be included in the app to make
it better and further help to build brand equity.

CREATING THOUGHT LEADERSHIP :


Under this strategy the main aim would be to focus on
differentiation. With the help of various social media platforms a
clear message will be passed what makes our product or service
better than the other players.
But we need to be vary of the fact that to create thought leadership
social media platforms arent enough, we will need to connect with
promienent social media influencers who have bigger audiences
following them. Because when someone else talks about the brand,
it is than it catches the eyes of the consumers, infact they could be
anyone: our customers or industry experts. And further we can post
their blogs and tweets to our social media platform to communicate
their words to even larger audiences.
SUCCESS STORIES:
When promoting a brand on social media platforms, sharing
companys success story works out to be a very good plan. Under
this, stories related to companys success (new project, acquiring
new technology) as well stories of how a specific product has helped
customers in the past will be shared on Facebook page or even on
other platforms. This induces the sense of trust towards company in
new and existing customers and even might help company to
exploit emotional selling advantage, which is still scarcely used in
B2B marketing. As we are talking about B2B marketing the
emphasis would be how the firms efficiency helped our client to
make delivery on time when the order was placed on a short notice
or stories similar and how satisfied they are working with us.
Thereby helping us develop a positive brand identity.
CONSUMER INTERACTION :
How do we interact with the consumer is also very important as
there could be negative as well as positive response from the
consumers. Generally handling positive comments from the
consumer are easy but we need to be very active when it comes to
the negative one as it could hurt the image of our brand and reduce
trust amongst other consumers as well. All complaints should be
handeled responsibly and respectfully, and further the full story
should be made available to other customers, stating: what went
wrong, how did we react or if there was any miscommunication
between the two. To er is human nature and we are no different, but

what needs to be taken care of is reaction as things can go viral


very easily on social media.
Apart from this continuous post from the company are very
important. At the beginning due to lack of original data we can
follow a simple strategy that could be posting a mix of industry
related post, reposts or retweets and posting our own company
news.
PERFORMANCE:
Planning and execution are completely two different stages and both
are very important. A good plan is nothing without a good execution,
execution can be measured by tracking the performance of the
company on various social media platforms or success of various
campaign.
It could be usefull to track what were the particular campaign or
instances that were fairly successful or went viral or connected woth
consumers sentiment and will further help to formulate strategies
for future campaign. Tracking performance also gives a clear
indication whether the company is on the right track to achieve the
set benchmark or not.

QUESTION 4: Using theories and concepts from the class,


discuss the impact of the following tag line and graphic for
Patek Phillippe brand.
You never actually own a Patek Phillippe. You merely look after it
for the next generation (Patek Phillipe, luxury Swiss watch maker,
founded in 1839)
ANSWER:
You never actually own a Patek Phillippe. You merely look
after it for the next generation
Brand like Patek Phillipe have been very successful in using
Nostalgia as an important branding and marketing tool. To discuss
the above mentioned tag line first we need to discuss more about
how nostalgia helps various brands to differentiate their brands and
command a price premium from their customers. And also why
nostalgia is such an important branding tool in the current era.
NOSTALGIA:

Earlier nostalgia was viewed as ilness but then it was introduced


as a quest for lost time(Proust) and now according to current
oxford dictionary nostalgia is defined as a sentimental longing for
the past.
Generally the term nostalgia remains is hugely associated and
confined to comsumer pshycology and advertising, further
researches have presented how various product styles that were
popular in the past(persons youth) can alter the individuals life long
preferences. Nostalgia pertains to a personally experienced past,
but not all past experience evokes nostalgia(www.wildschut.me:
Nostalgia:
Content,Triggers,Functions.N.p.,
2015.
Web.29
Apr.2015.)
NOSTALGIA AND MARKETING:
Nostalgia has become a very important tool in the contempary
marketing. The main function of Nostalgia is to induce a memory of
an experience which is generally done with the help of cues in
music, taglines or the visual representation of the product, this
proves to be a very good strategy to create a emotional link
between consumer and the brand.Currently we are surrounded by
Nostalgia from the Mini Cooper, Volks Wagen Beetle, remix music,
revamped movies, everything consist a tinch of nostalgia.

WHY COMPANIES ARE PAYING EMPHASIS ON NOSTALGIA AS


MARKETING TOOL:
The most common things about successful company is that they
understand their customers needs and wants. And what could be
better than connecting with customers via the means of emotions
hence we can say that,in todays market, positive memories that
generate nostalgic feelings are an exploitable asset and all the
brands want to take the best out of this situation.Moreover Nostalgia
tends to increase the value of the company as it gives sense of
reliablity, durability and good quality to the customers.
Segmentation issues can also be countered by using nostagic
themes which help them to expand their target market and also to
create a link between generations.
The rise of Social networking(Facebook, twitter) has been a very
good platform for various brands to connect with customers, also
they try to reflect their companies belief and values via social
media. Even sense of nostalgia can be passed via the help of this
platform. Brands like BMW continuosly post stories from the past
and the use of hashtags such as #tbt and #throwbackthursdays can
be widely seen.

Not only brands but social networking sites also uses nostalgia to
offer their users something new for example recently twitter started
the campaign your first tweet and facebook also segments various
activities according to months so that older posts could be easily
accessible. They also started personalised Fb movies which a person
could share it with their friends showing their journey with facebook
till now.

PATEK PHILIPPE :
Patek Philipe is the one of the oldest watch maker company known
for making elegant and innovative watches since 1839. Patek
phillipe watches arent meant to last for a decade or two instead
they are created with the quality and precision to last for
generations.
Patek Phillippe is the perfect example of a brand providing its
customer the blend of modern technology and tradition. And they
have used nostalgia as the main tool for their advertisement. They
aim at the trans generational nostalgic group
Patek Philipe and nostalgia can be associated very closely, their
advertisement, website all reflect the sweet memories of the past.
While on their website they boast about their unparralled quality,
technology, heritage, value and other things but the feel they
provide on their website is very traditional and seems as if there is
some heritage linked with it.
Back in 1996 patek phillippe launched the generation campaign with
the thought: begin your own tradition . Their advertisements
showed an image of a father and a son which depicted the
emotional bond between the two and also conveyed a message that
a Patek Philippe is to man what jewellery is to woman that is a man
could pass patek phillipe from generation to generation as woman
could pass on their most precious jewellery from one generation to
other.
But later on the advertisement campaign were introduced with the
tagline You never really own a Patek Philippe. You merely
look after it for the next generation which really caught the
customers imagination and is been used by the company ever since.
This tagline perfectly captures the core value of the company that
is, the watch is meant to last for generations which further adds to
the value of the watch as it not only has the monetary value but the
emotional value as well. Imagine an excellent piece of watch being
passed on from your grandfather to your father and than to you,
priceless. That is what Patek philippe conveys from their tagline.

This advertisement campaign has fetched the company many


positive results such as
Patek Philippe was the 2013 M&M global luxury brand of the

year.

Consistently ranks as the most desired watch brand globally.


94% brand awareness (Economist and Newsweek Brand
Tracking).(earlier brand awareness was comparitively low)
89% advertising awareness (Economist and Newsweek Brand
Tracking).
16% brand aspiration (highest in competitive set vs
ownership).
(Creativebrief.com)

The picture clearly passes two clear messages to the consumer that
are Patek Philippe watches are created with such a good quality that
it can run for generations which they second by providing lifetime
service in other words the timelessness of watch and also
Something truly precious holds its value forever. Just like the
relationship between parent and child, a Patek Philippe watch
gets better and becomes more appreciated with time
(Crownandcaliber.com)
Patek philippe as discussed is not some another brand instead is a
one of the most expensive brand and company has been successful
in justifying the price of the brand by providing equivalent value to
its customer. The prestige of owning a patek phillipe makes it a
possession for the customer, something that a persons buys once in
a lifetime and passes on to future generation. In the contempary era
where people have become more brand concious than ever known
patek phillipe proves to be a status symbol that only elite can own.
And yes to own a patek phillipe a person needs to apply with their
personal information and might also have to wait fro few years to
aquire this unparralled machine.

Hence we can conclude by saying that patek philippe uses nostalgia


in the best way so that it could be easily associated with notion of
inheritance, discerning taste and aspiration to own.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Osemecreate.blogspot.co.uk,. 'The Glocal Strategy Of Global


Brands | Oseme Creative'. N.p., 2015. Web. 30 Apr. 2015.
CNBC,. 'Rein: Why Global Brands Fail In China'. N.p., 2012.
Web. 30 Apr. 2015.
Alsughayir, A. (2013). Consumer Ethnocentrism. International
Journal of Business and Management Invention, [online] 2(5),
pp.50-54. Available at:
http://www.ijbmi.org/papers/Vol(2)5/version-2/H255054.pdf
[Accessed 23 Apr. 2015].
Small Business - Chron.com,. 'The Pros & Cons Of Going Global
With A Business'. N.p., 2015. Web. 30 Apr. 2015.

Bruhn, M., Schoenmueller, V. and Schfer, D. (2012). Are


social media replacing traditional media in terms of brand
equity creation?. Management Research Review, 35(9),
pp.770-790.
Creativebrief.com,. 'Patek Philippe Case Study By Leagas
Delaney London On Creativebrief.Com'. N.p., 2015. Web. 30
Apr. 2015.
Crownandcaliber.com,. 'Patek Philippe Ads - Vintage Patek
Philippe Advertisements | Crown & Caliber'. N.p., 2015. Web.
30 Apr. 2015.
Cattaneo, E. and Guerini, C. (2012). Assessing the revival
potential of brands from the past: How relevant is nostalgia in
retro branding strategies?. J Brand Manag, 19(8), pp.680-687.
Prophet.com,. 'What Is Brand Equity And Why Is It Valuable? |
Aaker On Brands | Prophet'. N.p., 2015. Web. 1 May 2015.
Watches-of-switzerland.co.uk,. 'GET UP CLOSE WITH PATEK
PHILIPPE AND IWC / Watches Of Switzerland'. N.p., 2015. Web.
1 May 2015.
www.wildschut.me,. 'Nostalgia: Content, Triggers, Functions'.
N.p., 2015. Web. 29 Apr. 2015.
Kessous, Aurelie. 'Using Nostalgia For An Improved Brand
Communication Strategy Read More:
Http://Forbesindia.Com/Article/Special/Using-Nostalgia-For-AnImproved-Brand-CommunicationStrategy/37307/0#Ixzz3yr3cnt4z'. forbesindia. N.p., 2015.
Web. 1 May 2015.
Kotler, P. (2000). Marketing management. Upper Saddle River,
N.J.: Prentice Hall.
Fischer, David. 'Patek Philippe - Good Advertising Or Bad
Advertising | Selectism'. Selectism. N.p., 2009. Web. 1 May
2015.
SA, Patek. 'PATEK PHILIPPE SA - Values'. Patek.com. N.p., 2015.
Web. 1 May 2015.
Pearson, D. (2004). Brand failures: The truth about the 100
biggest branding mistakes of all time. J Brand Manag, 11(3),
pp.253-254.
Smart Insights,. 'Creating A Social Media Strategy For B2B
Audiences, Products And Services - Smart Insights Digital
Marketing Advice'. N.p., 2014. Web. 1 May 2015.
Fluency Media,. '5 Must Do B2B Social Media Marketing
Strategies - Fluency Media'. N.p., 2011. Web. 1 May 2015.
Leggat, Steve. 'Lafarge Communication Manager Explains
"Social Media" In The Cement World'. Aggregateresearch.com.
N.p., 2015. Web. 1 May 2015.
Watson, John J. Consumer Ethnocentrism And Attitudes Toward
Domestic And Foreign Products. 1st ed. 1999. Print.

You might also like