Hello, and welcome from wherever in the world you are. I hope you're having a wonderful day. Today, we'll discuss one of my favorite topics ever, branding. We will explore what a brand is, and how branding works. We'll also discuss what makes for a strong brand. Then, we will discuss the concept of brand equity, and we'll end with an examination of brand extensions. We all had favorite brands growing up. I'm sure that there's some brands have come on the market in the last decade or two that are now on your favorites list. I still think fondly of my first pair of Nike running shoes that my aunt June bought for me when I was 14 years old, or my mum, and sister using cutex, that's a brand name, C-U-T-E-X, cutex nail polish. This brand became so popular in Trinidad and Tobago that nail polish was simply called Cutex for many years regardless of the brand, what some of your favorite brands growing up, and why? What came to mind when you thought about these brands? Brands play a significant role in how we evaluate products and the impact of purchase decisions. The value of brands lie in the ability to generate multiple associations, especially if those associations are strong, and positive. Let's examine this, what do you think when you see this brand? When you see Swatch, you might think affordable, fashionable, or creative. This brand was created as a second watch in 1983. The one you could weigh as a casual everyday watch. Since it was first designed, hundreds of millions have been sold. In a very short space of time Swatches become one of the most famous brands in the world, all the world remaining true to its brand image. What do you think of when you see this brand? Omega. Innovation, precision, classy yet sporty, Omega is a watch brand synonymous with excellence, little known fact, an Omega watches be worn on every NASA man space mission since 1965. A time when precision is really key when you're going up in space. Also, no brand is more actively involved in sports time keeping, in addition to partnerships, and golf, sailing, athletics, and swimming, Omega served as your official timekeeper of the Olympic games since 1932. Two great brands, coincidentally, both of these brands, Swatch, and Omega, belong to the Swatch group, house of brands. What do you think of when you see the following? These different brands all generated different thoughts and reactions. One power that a brand has is to have differentiated product from the competition. Brands add value. Without a brand, a product is just another product. Brands add dimensions that differentiate products from other similar products that might satisfy the same need. In the case of Southwest, we may think that using their services would result in a more fun experience let's say than using another airline. What is a brand? A brand is a name or symbol that identifies a product offered by a seller, and differentiates the product from those sold by competitors. The term branding really originated from the practice of branding cattle with a mark or identification to claim ownership, and to differentiate your livestock even back then. Can we be thought of as being of different quality based on the brand? The result would be different quality meets. Brand play an important role in the modern marketplace. What is it that brands really do? Let's see, brands help consumers identify the manufacturer of a product. Providing these consumers with assurance regarding their experience if they did use the product. This in a way, assign some responsibility for the branded product to the manufacturer, for the consumers experience. If Nike manufactures a pair of shoes, since you could clearly identify the maker, Nike would want to deliver the desired benefit to the consumer, meet the expectations. Brands offer legal protection, for the manufacturer, the brand provides legal protection for unique features or aspects of the product that help provide a competitive advantage to the company. A brand becomes known for manufacturing products that possess a specific type of attribute. This enables the brand to more easily protect brand integrity. When customers are loyal to a brand, this helps the organization to retain the existing customers when diversifying from one line of products to another. It provides security of demand, and creates barriers for the manufacturers to easily tap into your existing customers. For instance, Kellogg's Corn Flakes would usually costs about 4,000.94 cents for this size box, but the private label Essential Everyday, Corn Flakes, would retail for $2.77. The Kellogg's brand is almost 40 percent more expensive than the Essential Everyday, brands do help secure price premiums. Let's sample these, see how they taste. The thing is, they taste just about the same, go figure. All of the previous discussion leads us to the inevitable conclusion, brands are important promises value. They signify what the product is supposed to mean to you, what benefits that specific product provides to the consumer. They shed light on potential choices. For example, what do I get when I buy this product as compared to that product?
