An Investigation on the Importance of Brand Names to Consumers

Since an increasing number of people focus on brand names instead of product, brands become important elements for customers to choose products (Carroll, 2008). When customers trust the brand, the benefits for the manufactures are generated. In the first place, brands can be used by products as the tool to identify and differentiate themselves from various products. Secondly, brands are helpful for companies to build a competitive advantage (Bick, 2009). Therefore, organisations take more attention to branding.

Brand attitude has been widely used as a construct to exam consumers’ behaviours in fashion industry studies ( James, 2001). Attitude can define as a person’s psychological adaptation consists with 3 components: personal feeling, intention and beliefs (Kahle & Timmer, 1983) which regarding to a person’s knowledge, beliefs towards the product ( Sehutte, 1999) and previous experience ( O’ Cass & Choy, 2008).

Nowadays people have a lifestyle which is demanding. They do not have time for a moment

In the contemporary business scenario and the stiff market competition, ‘brands’ are inevitably gaining importance in business perspective as the most valuable assets that can be possessed by a firm. The markets in the past were closed but now with the forces of globalization and liberalization taking over the ride, the competition prevailing in the market has boosted up significantly and hence there is a herd of marketers that are constantly yearning for portraying their product as a unique product proposition delivering most satisfaction and hence to accomplish this objective they come up with a brand. The present study explores the various facets of business activity involved with ‘branding’.

A brand is not only a combination of names, slogans, logos, packaging, advertising and marketing that together give a particular product or service a physical, recognisable form, brands have a cerebral dimension, which is the reputation they a consumer’s mind. Brands must engender trust and loyalty if they are ultimately to be purchased. (Williams 2000). Therefore, what would be considered a successful brand is one that signifies the relationship between the company and the customer and requires intelligent, strategic and coordinated decisions in many areas of marketing (D et al. 2008). A brand identity serves as a way to communicate the values of a company or service to people and for this reason, is a vital part of any business. (Markovich 2016)

Although brands do not solely refer to businesses and their products or services (e.g. charities, countries, celebrities), this essay will discuss their relevance to profits with regards to business operations unless specified. Where most companies must at some point make a decision (consciously or unconsciously) whether to brand their company or not, that question is often rhetorical. Brands are established whether the marketing manager says they should or not. The decision really is whether to implement conscious brand management within the business or not. That is the difference between a strong brands and weak brands. Where

The topic of interest is how branding drives a consumer to purchase the products that they purchase as well as understanding what branding is. The reason this topic is so interesting is because it aids in the understanding of how various companies who sell similar products have a variance in the responses received from consumers. This topic fills a research gap within a larger body of research because understanding what branding is empowers one to gain a better understanding of how and why consumers react the way they do when companies introduce new products into the market, as well as why consumers reactions vary for different companies who sell similar products.

According to Aaker (1991), Kapferer (2004) and Keller (2003), “Building strong brands is one of the most important goals of product and brand management. Strong brands result in higher revenue streams, both short term and long term”. “Therefore, the stated goal of strategic brand management is to build brands that last for decades and can be leveraged in different product categories and markets” Aaker (1996). To understand how branding effects the purchasing decision of consumers, many theories emerged in which according to Aaker (1991) has framed a model called Brand equity model and Keller (1993) has identified a model called the customer based brand equity model. Both the frameworks have profoundly focused on how consumers recognize and appraise brands by studying certain information structures (Keller, 1993; Aaker, 1991, 1997).

Since the early time, the conception of brand has marked a turning point in business whether it regards as brand identity, brand equity, or brand loyalty (Hart and Murphy, 1998). The brand now

Brands make customer esteem on the grounds that they decrease both the risk of buying things and the effort, and subsequently give suppliers a motivating force to put resources into quality and advancement. Branding can upgrade the customer ‘s experience psychologically and aesthetically (Clifton 2009).

There are two ways of evaluating brand strategies. The first is a research-based evaluation. The aim of this approach is to put a financial value on the brand measured by customer’s behaviours and attitudes towards the brand itself. Components of the measurement are: awareness, knowledge, familiarity, relevance, satisfaction, and recommendation (Robert Vitale). Second approach is financially driven. This time brand valuation is used to approximate the value of the brand and it is based on subjective judgments of people within the organization in question. The earnings stream is estimated then divided by those attributable to the brand, to the fixed assets, and to other intangible assets. Next there’s an estimation of value for the brand in the market (Robert Vitale). These tools are so important because without checking up on ones brand image, it could possible take a turn down a path in the minds of the market in a direction the company does not want to go.

Rouse and Parcanschi describe a brand as ‘a product, service, or concept that is publicly distinguished from other products, services, or concepts so that it can be easily communicated and usually marketed.’ (Rouse and Parcanschi, 2015). However, Ogilvy states that a brand is ‘the intangible sum of a product 's attributes:

When someone goes shopping at Morrison for example, strong brand names make it easier for the customer to locate and identify the suitable product needed. It promises and delivers high level of assurance to consumers. Branding may also enhance the customer’s experience aesthetically and psychologically (Melissa Davis, 2005); through branding, consumers can form some sort of attitudes and feelings towards the product. This builds brand loyalty towards the brand by the consumer, which assists decision making by building trust, familiarity and assurance of a certain standard. It is the way of expression of individual’s personality and what they stand for. To some extent it meets the aspirations of customers as well. That is why people regularly ask for a ‘Coke’ rather than a cola. Furthermore, Branding increases the innovation potential of manufacturers, and leading to more variety and consumer choice.

The establishment of a unique brand is the target of any given business. A successful brand is that which customers can easily relate to, an aspect that enables a brand to be capable of gaining competitiveness in the market. The creation of a brand that a large percentage of customers can relate to and easily identify with translates to a large consumer base. Branding is primarily directed towards creating a positive perception in the minds of the consumers, an aspect that makes the customers to understand what they would expect from a business. The development of a brand by a business is primarily processual, and ensuring that there is an effective strategy in brand development helps ensure the emotional connectivity and appeal of the brand to the customers (Powers, 341-360).

Branding more or less for centuries has been a mean to distinguish goods of one producer from those of other. Brand can be contemplated from two frames of references one from companies perspective and other from consumers’ perspective. Reference proposes the definition of branding as an avowal of the bundles of peculiarities that someone purchases and provides reparation. The peculiarities that make up a brand may be substantive or fallacious, cognitive or emotional, tangible or invisible.