Branding, Packaging and Labeling as Labeling as Strategies to Face Stiff Market Competition Today

According to Holt (2004), a brand can be defined as a term, name or a design that distinguishes product or service of one manufacturer from others. Brands are normally utilized in advertising, business and marketing. In accounting terms, brand is an intangible asset which is present within every organization. It is most valuable asset that is outlined in the balance sheet of a company. Brands owners need to effectively manage their brands in order to enhance shareholder value. Brand valuation is an important technique that associates money with a brand. Effective branding often results into high sales volumes of a particular product. A customer who prefers a brand is more likely to choose other products which are offered by the same brand. Brand can be stated as a personality that facilitates identification of a company, product or service. It even encompasses relation with other constituents like customers, partners, investors, staff, etc. Individuals distinguish psychological aspect of a brand from experimental

When consumers hear the word personal branding, they will automatically associated personal branding with corporate branding (Gail (2010), When a company has established a good reputation and have endurance longevity, customers will keep that company on their mind and not concern with a particular product.  For

Brand competitors and the diversity of choice that is available to consumers, puts brands under pressure to offer high quality products and service, excellent value and a wide availability (Clifton et al., 2009). Brands must differentiate themselves from the competition and create an unforgettable impression.

What position does branding hold in the minds of the customers compared with competition? Branding is a strategy used by marketers to differentiate products and companies in order to build economic value particularly for the consumer and the brand owner. A strong brand in most cases inspires customer loyalty that leads to high sales of products. Given that, Microsoft that represents a series of owns Xbox One video games has introduced the strategy of branding in order to remain viable in the market.

According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), a brand is 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 competition”. However, as Keller highlights, a brand is also “something that has actually created a certain amount of awareness, reputation, prominence, and so on in the marketplace”. Therefore, a brand is an identity created to differentiate itself from the competitors and to be remembered in consumer’s mind.

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.

There are some good examples of ingredient branding of durable goods on the market, such as Shimano as a component supplier of cycles, and Intel in the computer industry. Intel, for instance, “positioned itself to be the heart and soul of personal computers. The strategy was to create a brand, and it worked – for PCs” (Karolefski, 2001). In other industries that produce industrial goods, like the car industry, ingredient branding has not been a common strategy. The primary question that guides us through this paper is: Is it possible for industrial goods industry like the automotive industry to adopt an ingredient brand when ingredient branding is not a common phenomenon?

Basically, branding is a philosophical expression of the human condition. It is about belonging/attachment. Belonging to a tribe, to a religion, to a family and to a product. The Branding establishes a sense of attachment. It has this function for both the people who are part of the same group and also for the people who don’t belong. The origins of branding are basically related to the nature of the human condition. A tribe is a brand—religion is a brand. When it shows itself in a modern, fashionable form, you are expected statingbranding that began in the 19th century. It was basically affiliation with fast-moving consumer goods. But that is a distortion of what branding is. That type of branding is a manifestation of differentiation. It’s a differentiation of onefast-moving consumer product from another. Brands are a direct consequence of the strategy of market segmentation and differentiation.

Importance of Branding: It is becoming increasingly more important for companies to brand themselves so that they stand out to the customer. This has more recently become more difficult to do as the internet becomes flooded with more and more content daily. The average consumer can be captivated by one viral article or video one day but forget about it tomorrow.

Brand preferences and customer loyalty: the process of establishing brand recognition and building customer loyalty are slow and costly.

The purpose of this report is to use a variety of research techniques aimed at understanding the role that knowledge and group influences have on a consumer’s decision-making process. Additionally, the report will advise a range of recommendations that an inert brand can adopt to guarantee its inclusion in the consumer’s consideration set of brands.

Customers can make different judgements as regards a brand. Customers put together imagery and the different brand performance to make the judgement (Lane Keller, 2011).

Branding is a term we toss around, and especially in the age of technology. Everything is at the peoples finger tips. Where people are finding and forming opoions and impressions of new products within seconds on their phones at any given whim. We find ourselves limiting new cannabis brands to just a single mark. While the logo mark is extremely important, branding more refers to the entire process of creating a unique and lasting visual for your company. Everything that leaves an impression or desire in your customer 's mind 's eye. What results is a cohesive and competitive brand people can stand behind.

In recent times, branding has played a pivotal role in some brands’ success. This has been made possible through the ability of some marketers to capture the essence and minds of people (consumers), and put the trends and characteristics into the personality of a brand. Customers have always found ways to identify themselves with certain products, and on several occasions, branding campaigns

However, these tend to increase the supply in the market thus putting more stress on the price. In a capital intensive industry like steel, the cost of idling of assets is high and hence the problem is further compounded. There is a common perception that steel is a commodity product and therefore, choices are very limited for the marketer. In this situation, price becomes the only differentiator resulting in prices decline to lower levels. Therefore, industries like steel face an uphill task to return the value to the shareholder causing lack of investments in this sector, reduction in research and development budget leading to less innovation and progress. On the other hand, the consumer marketing companies have found a way to overcome similar problems by differentiating their product offerings from competitors and thus escape from a direct price war like competition within commodity products. Customers attach a different value to different brands or differentiated product offerings and thus are prepared to pay according to the perceived value of that brand or product. In spite of this knowledge being available to marketing executives, the role of differentiation and branding has been limited in the B2B marketing of commodity products.