Answer
A brand in a customer’s mind is a complex network of associations. Biel proposes that these associations can be of two types: hard and soft. And brand image has three components: image of provider, image of user and image of the product.
- Hard Associations: Hard associations refer to the perception of tangible/functional attributes of a brand.
Example: Hard associations in case of a car brand may revolve around speed, price, fuel economy per litre of petrol and colour.
- Soft Associations: The soft associations are more emotional. A car brand can be visualized as exciting, vibrant and youthful.
Example: Maruti is attempting to associate its ‘Alto’ cars with youthfulness, excitement, attractiveness. The soft association can be negative.
For instance, the public air carrier – Indian Airlines – is associated with inefficiency, dull, old, unchanging and cold.
A brand’s image is a composite concept. It carries with it other sub images. The three contributing sub images in a brand are: the image of product or service provider (corporate image); the image of the user and the image of the product or service.
- Image of the Company: Every brand carries an invisible shadow of its manufacturer. Like brands, companies also live in customers’ minds as a network of associations.
Example: What does the name ‘DCM’ spell in mind? Nothing much would get connected with DCM. It suggests DCM to be a weak node in memory. At the same time, many terms like: old, cloth, conventional, unchanging, vegetable oils, Rath, dull, unexciting, etc., might surface. Contrast it with a company like WIPRO. The associations surrounding WIPRO node may be leader, technology savvy, modern, innovations, cash rich, diversified, growth, etc. An inappropriate corporate image may act as a burden on an otherwise good product. It is capable of providing both strength and weakness to a brand. It is for this reason that good companies always keep track of their image in the public eye. As and when the need arises, they perform a marketing communication exercise to keep it relevant so that it provides a lift to the company’s
brands rather than becoming a burden on them.
- Image of the User: What comes to mind when one thinks of Pepsi? It clearly spells a profile of the user. The brand has an unambiguous definition of its users. The brand user profile may contain signals about a user’s sex, age, occupation, life style, activities, mindset, etc. The user image in case of ‘Pepsi’ is embodied in its slogan ‘choice of the new generation’ or ‘Generation Next’. Similarly, the user image of P&G brand ‘Whisper’ is clearly spelt out. The brand connects with young, educated, urban, upwardly mobile and confident users.
- Product Image: A brand’s image is also determined by the image of the product it carries. All products have dimensions like functionality and emotionality, technology intensiveness, old and young, inherent to them.
Caution Products like perfumes, chocolates, champagne, whiskey, high end clothing tend to be associated with emotions and a lot of symbolism.
On the other hand, products like house cleaners, headache remedies, dishwashing liquids and domestic insecticides tend to be driven by functionality and reason. The brand image, therefore, has to take shape within the boundaries of structural limits imposed by the product image. This is not to suggest, however, that a brand image would always have to fall in line with the product image.
The user component of a brand translates into brand personality. Customers tend to ascribe various personality–like traits to brands.
Caution A brand may be taken as feminine. This gender based classification may even operate at a product level.
For instance, beer, car, cigarettes, coffee, credit card, hair cut, legal services, sneakers, scotch, toothpaste were found to be masculine products in a study. Products which were perceived to be feminine included bath soaps, clothes dryers, dishwashing liquid, shampoo, dishwasher, and facial tissue. Brands acquire personality characteristics by the way they are promoted. The importance of brand personality lies in its capacity to influence buyer behaviour. “Brands are bought for who they are as well as what they are”. Customers are seekers of consistency. Accordingly, they are attracted towards brands which implicitly possess personality which is in sync with the user.
Besides personality, brands also tend to possess visual components: images or symbols that spring up in the mind once a cue about the brand is confronted. Most of the world’s strong brands have strong visual imagery associated with them. Sometimes, these images are taken directly from the visuals that are promoted in the brand’s communication. For instance, Marlboro’s unchanging continuous campaign showing a cowboy has so strongly got connected with the brand that the name and visual are inseparable from one another in a prospect’s mind. In the Indian marketing scene, ‘Amul’ has a very powerful symbol in the form of the ‘Amul girl’.
Brands also become symbols. They begin to stand for something which is much more than what the product is and what it does. Brands often transcend the meaning that is denoted by their product class. Brands acquire character and meaning which is not directly associated with the actual product. It is often the key to customer franchise. Rolls-Royce, Brooks Brothers, Ferrari, Mont Blanc, do not mean what is generally conveyed by the product they are built on. Their real worth lies behind the product; it requires decoding to get to their real meanings. People buy brands not only for what they can do, but also for what they signify. Brands are powerful signifiers of meanings. “In this sense, all commercial objects have symbolic characters, and making a purchase involves an assessment – implicit or explicit – of this symbolism, to decide whether or not it fits”. Consumers would sacrifice money and other efforts on brands when they are perceived to be appropriate symbols, otherwise these would be denied.
Brand equity, as discussed earlier, is the financial side of the brand. It signifies the value addition that a brand makes. Brand equity is determined by customer behaviour. The key driving force of customer behaviour is the image. That is how the brand is perceived. Accordingly, the challenge for the brand manager is to assess brand image on an ongoing basis so that brand equity is maintained and enhanced. Figure 8.2 depicts the relationship between brand image components and brand equity.
