Re: Branding

From: Linda Alexander <lalexander_at_write2thepointcom.com>
Date: Mon 03 Mar 2003 11:13:35 -0600

Rob Frankel <rob_at_robfrankel.com> wrote:

>The question is how you measure a brand's effectiveness. Are Coke
>drinkers as evangelical about Coke they way Mac users are about Macs?
>Would you pay a premium for Coca Cola if you could buy another cola
>for half the price?

So you're thinking that brand LOYALTY makes a brand successful? Hey,
whatever happened to us Gen X-ers who don't have brand loyalty.
Actually, I'm a health nut myself, but when I drink soda, I prefer Coke
over anything, incl. Pepsi.

>>People go to restaurants and ask for a coke. Or sprite or diet
>>coke. Ever hear of a rum and pepsi? In the south, they ask for
>>'coke' as a substitute for 'soft drink'.
>>
>
>Right. And whenever I go to Atlanta, I always brace myself for the
>Coke diehards. Elsewhere in the world, though, if the server tells
>the patron, "We don't have Coke, we have Pepsi," most (not all) go
>right ahead and order the Pepsi. In fact, the vast majority of folks
>don't display a preference of cola by name.

Ordering a Pepsi instead of a Coke doesn't mean Coke is an unsuccessful
BRAND. Why else would it be such a household word? Why would so many
people ask for it by name? That we use words like Coke, Band-Aid, Xerox
and Kleenex as generic words for the products they represent suggests
their names carry a promise. And that's what a brand is -- a promise.

Regards,

Linda Alexander
http://www.write2thepointcom.com







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From: "Marco Janeczek" <info_at_mazata.com>
To: online-ads_at_o-a.com
Subject: Re: Branding
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Date: Mon 03 Mar 2003 11:21:20 -0600

>The lowest cost of anything is a sales pitch, no matter how you look
>at it

When a product comes from China (usually) its not defined of being a
high quality product (everybody knows that). It comes from China
because of low labor cost. But at the same time lets look at a product
that comes from Italy/France. The example here is Clothing / Perfumes,
etc ... If you are trying to sell perfumes and they are cheap, they
will not sell. If they perfume is made in China, will it sell ?

When you build a brand, you build Quality. Walmart is a brand, but
their strategy is different. They sell quality brands for cheap prices
(bulk). That is why even if there are hundreds of people and the line
ups are tremendous on Saturdays, buying from a Walmart store is usually
a smart thing to do. To tell you the truth, here in Canada we also have
WalMarts. I went only a few times to Walmart because the price DID made
me shop there. But the line ups became just too big. And what did I do?
I switched to Online. Sometimes I do pay more, but I avoid the line
ups. By converting Time=Money, some people tend to base their decision
on that.

For example, a box of LEGOs is much more expensive somewhere else than
in Walmart. Toys'R'Us sells the same box for a higher price (I
presume). So Why Toys'R'Us? Is it because they disovered a marketniche,
toys/kids ?

Examples in various industries can be seen. For example HugoBoss Suits.
You can buy them for lets say $1000. HugoBoss can put them up for sale
up to $500/each. If they cannot sell even for that amount, will they
lower their prices to $200 ? I do not think so. Its the brand that
counts. I think recently Harley-Davidson illustrated their brand buy
advertising "Only a few can own it", something like that... It did
raise the brand image, because people do tend to build their hopes on
owning a higher brand, and they will pay for it.

Back to AdNetworks. Poland, has been successfully growing online
traffic to its portals (Onet.pl, WP.PL). These two portals represent
most of the population. If you see their advertising, it is actually
not of the dotcoms, but rather advertising from Banks, Detergents,
Sweepstakes etc... Something that works. If a Bank sees that having
online Banking (virtual banking) works, they will introduce that brand
and get the customers.

Poland has also low wages, but if you take a look at the internet
growth and cellular phones growth, its one of the leading nations in
Europe. Is it because it is necessary to have a cellphone and an
internet connection, or is it because everyone else has it ?

Online Advertising Works.


Marco Janeczek
Internet Presence Developer
Mazata.com





Received on Mon Mar 03 2003 - 11:13:35 CST