McDonald's Brand History

McDonald's is a huge multi-national restaurant chain. There are restaurants all over the world that are willing to sell you a Big Mac and fries. Indeed, you would probably be hard-pushed to find a country that does not contain a few McDonald's restaurants somewhere within its borders. The company is now so big that you could be forgiven for thinking that it has always existed. But it hasn't. It was started in the first half of the 20th Century by two brothers - neither of whom was named Ronald.

The First Burger
Reports differ about when Richard and Maurice McDonald opened their first restaurant. Some would state that the Airdrome in Arcadia, California was the very first, opened in 1937. Others claim that it all began in 1940 with the McDonald's Barbecue restaurant in San Bernardino, California1. What is not in dispute, however, is that both of the above were false starts. They were both the kind of American restaurant where cars park around a central hub (where the food is prepared) and it is delivered to the waiting customers by 'car hops'.
In 1948 the brothers became disaffected by this style of restaurant, the pressures of a full menu, and the hassle of managing staff, and so decided to scale down the operation. They developed the idea of an 'assembly line' whereby a reduced menu (consisting only of hamburgers, cheeseburgers, french fries and drinks) could be cooked cheaper and quicker, which would hopefully lead to a higher turnover of customers. And so it was, on 12 December, 1948, that the new revamped McDonald's Restaurant opened, and Richard McDonald cooked the first McDonald's hamburger.
During the next few years, the restaurant went from strength to strength, and the building had a slight redesign. The brothers had a slender yellow arch built at each end of the building, looping over it but not yet joined together to make the now famous 'M'.

The First Franchise
In 1954 Ray Kroc was a salesman for a company that made milkshake mixers. He noticed that the McDonald brothers had bought eight of the company's mixers for their restaurant. Believing that, if he could persuade the McDonalds to open more restaurants, he would be able put eight mixers in each of them, he paid them a visit. Again, reports differ about what happened when he talked to the McDonalds. Some believe that he presented the idea of franchises to Dick and Mac, others argue that franchises already existed, and that Kroc merely managed to talk his way into running the franchising operation. Whichever was the case, the end result was the same, and Ray Kroc managed the franchising of the McDonalds' restaurant concept.
The organisation of the franchise was this: anyone who wanted to open a McDonald's restaurant would pay Kroc around a thousand dollars for the honour of doing so, and then 1.9% from the annual takings of the restaurant. He would then pass 0.5% of the takings onto the McDonald brothers, keeping the other 1.4%. Kroc opened his first franchise in Des Plaines, Illinois in 1955. Whether or not this was the first franchise of the McDonald's restaurant, it was definitely the first opening of the McDonald's Corporation.

The Buy Out
By 1961 Ray Kroc was running the whole show. The only thing the McDonald brothers did was run their one restaurant, and receive their 0.5% from the larger company. The greater expansion of the McDonald's brand was not something they were really interested in. Ray Kroc, on the other hand, was. He wanted to put a McDonald's restaurant in every state in America - which he would eventually do, and much more. He wanted to created a Hamburger University where potential restaurant managers could be taught how to manage a McDonald's restaurant2. He measured every product, weighed all the ingredients, and tasted burgers in every outlet to ensure that precisely the same food was served in every McDonald's restaurant. But Dick and Mac McDonald were happy as they were, and had no concern for the company Kroc had formed from their restaurant. So Kroc offered to buy them out, which he did at a cost of 2.7 million dollars. It is estimated that if the McDonald's had continued to receive their 0.5% it would have been worth around two hundred million dollars by the year 2000.

The Clown
In the early 1960s, Kroc decided that the chain could make more money if it appealed to children, and so the company sponsored a kids' TV show called Bozo the Clown. When that show got cancelled in 1963, the actor that played Bozo, Willard Scott, was hired to appear in three adverts as the McDonald's restaurants new mascot: Ronald McDonald. Though the adverts were a success, Willard was less so, and appeared in no more adverts after the first three. But the character was established, and many other actors have donned the wig since.

The Expansion
The McDonald's chain continued to grow. The Big Mac was created in 1968. Having covered the States, the franchise expanded overseas, with the first restaurant opening in Australia in 1971. The Egg McMuffin (the first breakfast product from McDonald's) was invented in 1973. The three thousandth restaurant of the chain, the first in Britain, was opened in London in 1974. 1979 saw the creation of the Happy Meal, which continues to sell well to children, and adults who want the promotional toys, to this day. A restaurant was opened in Russia, and hailed as an emblem of the new friendship between the two superpowers, in 1990.

The Charity
The McDonald's Corporation's charitable efforts started in 1974, when the first Ronald McDonald House was opened in Philadelphia. It was originally the brainchild of Fred Hill, a member of the Philadelphia Eagles American football team. The house is a place for parents of severely ill children, who have had to travel a distance, to stay while their child is being treated at the nearby hospital. Since then, Ronald McDonald Houses have been established in several countries, and the Ronald McDonald Houses Charity has funded efforts to help children around the globe. It also provides scholarships for under-privileged students from ethnic minorities.

The Problems
The McDonald's chain has not been without its problems. There was the famous McLibel case - the longest running libel case in British legal history. And Jose Bove dismantled a restaurant in France, in order to make a point about globalisation, of which McDonald's has become a prominent symbol. Also the discovery that some beef products were used in the preparation of their french fries, which resulted in the company paying compensation of 10 million dollars to Hindus, sikhs, and vegetarians. There have been various criticisms of the McDonald's Corporation, ranging from the source of their meat, to the treatment of workers in the restaurants, the fact the RMHC scholarships are not available to Native Americans, and some concerns about the healthiness of their food. There is also the occasional accusation that in order to keep all the cattle for the hamburgers, McDonald's has to tear down vast chunks of rain forest; however, McDonald's insist that all their produce is sourced locally, and that there is not a single massive herd that would require the removal of rainforests.

The Future
McDonald's has, so far, weathered all of these problems, and continued to expand into more and more countries. No doubt, barring any major set-backs, the McDonald's Corporation will continue to grow, finding ever more remote locations to place franchises. Only time will tell if they continue to adhere to Ray Kroc's four guiding principles of quality, service, cleanliness and value.

Nokia Brand

The world of parity has hit the mobile phone market just as it has many other technology product categories. The products range from the simple to the complex, but every manufacturer offers, of course, the latest features. Leapfrogging in sales between brands frequently occurs based on design. But overall the market is predictable, with Nokia, Motorola, and Ericsson fighting it out at the top and several less successful brands like Samsung, Philips, Siemensand Panasonic trying hard to make inroads into their top competitors' market share. So what makes the difference between the most successful and less successful brands? It certainly is not what product features are offered. How, then, do consumers choose? The answer seems to be what the brand names mean to them.

Nokia Group the Finland-based manufacturer of mobile phones, has been steadily working on its corporate brand name and the management of consumer perceptions over the last few years. Its efforts have paid off, because it is now the number one brand in many markets around the world, effectively dislodging Motorola from that position. The brand has been built using the principles described above, and has been consistently well managed across all markets. Nokia has succeeded in lending personality to its products, without even giving them names. In other words, it has not created any sub-brands but has concentrated on the corporate brand, giving individual products a generic brand personality. Only numeric descriptors are used for the products, which do not even appear on the product themselves. Such is the strength of the corporate brand.
Nokia has suceeded where other big brand names have so far failed, chiefly by putting across the human face technology-taking and dominating the emotional high ground. It has done so in the following way.

Nokia Brand Personality
Nokia has detailed many personality characteristics for its brand, but employees do not have to remember every characteristic. They do, however, have to remember the overall impression of the list of attributes, as you would when thinking about someone you have met. As the focus is on customer relationships, the Nokia personality is like a trusted friend. Building friendship and trust is at the heart of the Nokia brand. And the human dimension created by the brand personality carries over into the positioning strategy for the brand.

Nokia Positioning
When Nokia positions its brand in the crowded mobile phone marketplace, its message must clearly bring together the technology and human side of its offer in a powerful way. The specific message that is conveyed to consumers in every advertisement and market communication (though not necessarily in these words) is "Only Nokia Human Technolgy enables you to get more out of life"
In many cases, this is represented by the tag line, "We call this human technology". This gives consumers a sense of trust and consideration by the company, as though to say that Nokia understand what they want in life, and how it can help. And it knows that technology is really only an enabler so that you-the customer-can enjoy a better life. Nokia thus uses a combination of aspirational, benefit-based, emotional features, and competition-driven positioning strategies. It owns the "human" dimension of mobile communications, leaving its competitors wondering what to own (or how to position themselves), having taken the best position for itself.

Nokia Product Design
Nokia is a great brand because it knows that the essence of the brand needs to be reflected in everything the company does, especially those that impact the consumer. Product design is clearly critical to the success of the brand, but how does Nokia manage to inject personality into product design? The answer is that it gives a great deal of thought to how the user of its phones will experience the brand, and how it can make that experience reflect its brand character. The large display screen, for example, is the "face" of the phone. Nokia designers describe it as the "eye into the soul of the product". The shape of phones is curvy and easy to hold. The faceplates and their different colors can be changed to fit the personality, lifestyle, and mood of the user. The soft key touch pads also add to the feeling of friendliness, expressing the brand personality. Product design focuses on the consumer and his needs, and is summed up in the slogan, "human technology."

Microsoft Brand History

1975–1985: Foundation
Following the launch of the Altair 8800, Bill Gates called the creators of the new microcomputer, Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), offering to demonstrate an implementation of the BASIC programming language for the system. After the demonstration, MITS agreed to distribute Altair BASIC. Gates left Harvard University, moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico where MITS was located, and founded Microsoft there. The company's first international office was founded in 1978, in Japan, entitled "ASCII Microsoft" (now called "Microsoft Japan"). In 1979, the company moved from Albuquerque to a new home in Bellevue, Washington. Steve Ballmer joined the company in 1980, and later succeeded Bill Gates as CEO.

DOS (Disk Operating System) was the operating system that brought the company its first real success. In 1981, after negotiations with Digital Research failed, IBM awarded a contract to Microsoft to provide a version of the CP/M operating system, which was set to be used in the upcoming IBM Personal Computer (PC). For this deal, Microsoft purchased a CP/M clone called 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products, which IBM renamed to PC-DOS. Later, the market saw a flood of IBM PC clones after Columbia Data Products successfully cloned the IBM BIOS, and by aggressively marketing MS-DOS to manufacturers of IBM-PC clones, Microsoft rose from a small player to one of the major software vendors in the home computer industry.

The company expanded into new markets with the release of the Microsoft Mouse in 1983, as well as a publishing division named Microsoft Press.

1985–1995: OS/2 and Windows
In August 1985, Microsoft and IBM partnered in the development of a different operating system called OS/2. In 1985 Microsoft released its first retail version of Microsoft Windows, originally a graphical extension for its MS-DOS operating system. In 1986 the company went public with an IPO, with a starting initial offering price of $21.00 and ending at the first day of trading as at US $28.00. In 1987 Microsoft eventually released their first version of OS/2 to OEMs.
In 1989, Microsoft introduced its flagship office suite, Microsoft Office. This was a bundle of separate office productivity applications, such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. In 1990 Microsoft launched Windows 3.0. The new version of Microsoft's operating system boasted such new features as streamlined user interface graphics and improved protected mode capability for the Intel 386 processor; it sold over 100,000 copies in two weeks. Windows at the time generated more revenue for Microsoft than OS/2, and the company decided to move more resources from OS/2 to Windows. In the ensuing years, the popularity of OS/2 declined, and Windows quickly became the favored PC platform.
During the transition from MS-DOS to Windows, the success of Microsoft's product Microsoft Office allowed the company to gain ground on application-software competitors, such as WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3. According to The Register, Novell, an owner of WordPerfect for a time, alleged that Microsoft used its inside knowledge of the DOS and Windows kernels and of undocumented Application Programming Interface features to make Office perform better than its competitors. Eventually, Microsoft Office became the dominant business suite, with a market share far exceeding that of its competitors.
In 1993, Microsoft released Windows NT 3.1, a business operating system with the Windows 3.1 user interface but an entirely different kernel. In 1995 Microsoft released Windows 95, a new version of the company's flagship operating system which featured a completely new user interface, including a novel start button; more than a million copies of Microsoft Windows 95 were sold in the first four days after its release. The company also released its web browser, Internet Explorer, with the Windows 95 Plus! Pack in August 1995 and subsequent Windows versions.

1995–2005: Internet and legal issues
In the mid-90s, Microsoft began to expand its product line into computer networking and the World Wide Web. In 1995 it launched a major online service, MSN (Microsoft Network), as a direct competitor to AOL. MSN became an umbrella service for Microsoft's online services.

The company continued to branch out into new markets in 1996, starting with a joint venture with NBC to create a new 24/7 cable news station, MSNBC. Microsoft entered the personal digital assistant (PDA) market with Windows CE 1.0, a new built-from-scratch version of their flagship operating system, specifically designed to run on low-memory, low-performance machines, such as handhelds and other small computers. Later in 1997 Internet Explorer 4.0 was released for both Mac OS and Windows, marking the beginning of the takeover of the browser market from rival Netscape. In October, the Justice Department filed a motion in the Federal District Court in which they stated that Microsoft had violated an agreement signed in 1994, and asked the court to stop the bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows.
The year 1998 was significant in Microsoft's history, with Bill Gates appointing Steve Ballmer as president of Microsoft but remaining as Chair and CEO himself. The company released Windows 98, an update to Windows 95 that incorporated a number of Internet-focused features and support for new types of devices. In 2000 a judgment was handed down in the case of United States v. Microsoft, calling the company an "abusive monopoly" and forcing the company to split into two separate units. Part of this ruling was later overturned by a federal appeals court, and eventually settled with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2001.
In 2001, Microsoft released Windows XP, the first version that encompassed the features of both its business and home product lines. XP introduced a new graphical user interface, the first such change since Windows 95. Later, with the release of the Xbox Microsoft entered the multi-billion-dollar game console market dominated by Sony and Nintendo. Microsoft encountered more turmoil in March 2004 when antitrust legal action was brought against it by the European Union for abusing its market dominance (see European Union Microsoft antitrust case), eventually resulting in a judgement to produce new versions of its Windows XP platform—called Windows XP Home Edition N and Windows XP Professional N— that did not include its Windows Media Player.

2006–present: Vista and other transitions
In 2006 Bill Gates announced a two year transition period from his role as Chief Software Architect, which would be taken by Ray Ozzie, and planned to remain the company's chairman, head of the Board of Directors and act as an adviser on key projects. As of December 2007, Windows Vista, released in January 2007, is Microsoft's latest operating system. Microsoft Office 2007 was released at the same time; its "Ribbon" user interface is a significant departure from its predecessors. On 1st February, 2008, Microsoft made an unsolicited bid to purchase the fully diluted outstanding shares of Yahoo for up to $44.6 billion, though this offer was rejected 10 days later.

Coca-Cola Brand History

The History of Coca-Cola Brand

Coca-Cola® originated as a soda fountain beverage in 1886 selling for five cents a glass. Early growth was impressive, but it was only when a strong bottling system developed that Coca-Cola became the world-famous brand it is today.
1894 … A modest start for a bold idea. In a candy store in Vicksburg, Mississippi, brisk sales of the new fountain beverage called Coca-Cola impressed the store's owner, Joseph A. Biedenharn. He began bottling Coca-Cola to sell, using a common glass bottle called a Hutchinson. Biedenharn sent a case to Asa Griggs Candler, who owned the Company. Candler thanked him but took no action. One of his nephews already had urged that Coca-Cola be bottled, but Candler focused on fountain sales.
1899 … The first bottling agreement. Two young attorneys from Chattanooga, Tennessee believed they could build a business around bottling Coca-Cola. In a meeting with Candler, Benjamin F. Thomas and Joseph B. Whitehead obtained exclusive rights to bottle Coca-Cola across most of the United States (specifically excluding Vicksburg) -- for the sum of one dollar. A third Chattanooga lawyer, John T. Lupton, soon joined their venture.
1900-1909 … Rapid growth. The three pioneer bottlers divided the country into territories and sold bottling rights to local entrepreneurs. Their efforts were boosted by major progress in bottling technology, which improved efficiency and product quality. By 1909, nearly 400 Coca-Cola bottling plants were operating, most of them family-owned businesses. Some were open only during hot-weather months when demand was high.
1916 … Birth of the contour bottle. Bottlers worried that the straight-sided bottle for Coca-Cola was easily confused with imitators. A group representing the Company and bottlers asked glass manufacturers to offer ideas for a distinctive bottle. A design from the Root Glass Company of Terre Haute, Indiana won enthusiastic approval in 1915 and was introduced in 1916. The contour bottle became one of the few packages ever granted trademark status by the U.S. Patent Office. Today, it's one of the most recognized icons in the world - even in the dark!
1920s … Bottling overtakes fountain sales. As the 1920s dawned, more than 1,000 Coca-Cola bottlers were operating in the U.S. Their ideas and zeal fueled steady growth. Six-bottle cartons were a huge hit after their 1923 introduction. A few years later, open-top metal coolers became the forerunners of automated vending machines. By the end of the 1920s, bottle sales of Coca-Cola exceeded fountain sales.
1920s and 30s … International expansion. Led by longtime Company leader Robert W. Woodruff, chief executive officer and chairman of the Board, the Company began a major push to establish bottling operations outside the U.S. Plants were opened in France, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Belgium, Italy, Peru, Spain, Australia and South Africa. By the time World War II began, Coca-Cola was being bottled in 44 countries.
1940s … Post-war growth. During the war, 64 bottling plants were set up around the world to supply the troops. This followed an urgent request for bottling equipment and materials from General Eisenhower's base in North Africa. Many of these war-time plants were later converted to civilian use, permanently enlarging the bottling system and accelerating the growth of the Company's worldwide business.
1950s … Packaging innovations. For the first time, consumers had choices of Coca-Cola package size and type -- the traditional 6.5-ounce contour bottle, or larger servings including 10-, 12- and 26-ounce versions. Cans were also introduced, becoming generally available in 1960.
1960s … New brands introduced. Following Fanta® in the 1950s, Sprite®, Minute Maid®, Fresca® and TaB® joined brand Coca-Cola in the 1960s. Mr. Pibb® and Mello Yello® were added in the 1970s. The 1980s brought diet Coke® and Cherry Coke®, followed by POWERADE® and DASANI® in the 1990s. Today hundreds of other brands are offered to meet consumer preferences in local markets around the world.
1970s and 80s … Consolidation to serve customers. As technology led to a global economy, the retailers who sold Coca-Cola merged and evolved into international mega-chains. Such customers required a new approach. In response, many small and medium-size bottlers consolidated to better serve giant international customers. The Company encouraged and invested in a number of bottler consolidations to assure that its largest bottling partners would have capacity to lead the system in working with global retailers.
1990s … New and growing markets. Political and economic changes opened vast markets that were closed or underdeveloped for decades. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Company invested heavily to build plants in Eastern Europe. And as the century closed, more than $1.5 billion was committed to new bottling facilities in Africa.
21st Century … The Coca-Cola bottling system grew up with roots deeply planted in local communities. This heritage serves the Company well today as people seek brands that honor local identity and the distinctiveness of local markets. As was true a century ago, strong locally based relationships between Coca-Cola bottlers, customers and communities are the foundation on which the entire business grows.

Attitude Branding

In today’s economy filled with consumer over-stimulation, people are driven by their feelings and emotions. This has created a new form of branding, known as attitude branding. Attitude branding is where a company chooses to represent a feeling that does not have a direct connection to the product.
Nike Corporation is one of the forefathers of attitude branding, with its billion dollar phrase of “just do it.” The slogan itself is not particularly related to their products; it does not purport any particular details about Nike shoes or athletic gear. Instead, the branding strategy promotes a lifestyle, an emotional connection with the consumer. This is clearly seen in Nike commercials, which rarely highlight the shoe, but instead focuses on people achieving their athletic goals.
Other popular companies that built their corporate empires with attitude branding include Starbucks and The Body Shop. Reflecting upon their branding, their slogans and symbols do not relate to coffee or body products, respectively. Instead, they both attempt to connect with the consumer’s emotions, encouraging customers to enhance their lifestyle through their products.
Attitude branding is one the most effective ways for a company name and product to become known by millions of consumers. This form of branding can take a small business and create a global corporation. Starbucks started out as one small store in Seattle – but through attitude branding that was reflected in its logo and store ambiance, it has become a global phenomenon found in almost every country.
Success and attitude branding go hand-in-hand. When you can tap into a consumer’s emotions and lifestyle desires, you build your company’s foundation to tremendous prosperity.

Factors that Build Brands

(Professor David Jobber identifies seven main factors in building successful brands)

1. Quality
Quality is a vital ingredient of a good brand. Remember the “core benefits” – the things consumers expect. These must be delivered well, consistently. The branded washing machine that leaks, or the training shoe that often falls apart when wet will never develop brand equity.
Research confirms that, statistically, higher quality brands achieve a higher market share and higher profitability that their inferior competitors.

2. Positioning
Positioning is about the position a brand occupies in a market in the minds of consumers. Strong brands have a clear, often unique position in the target market.
Positioning can be achieved through several means, including brand name, image, service standards, product guarantees, packaging and the way in which it is delivered. In fact, successful positioning usually requires a combination of these things.

3. Repositioning
Repositioning occurs when a brand tries to change its market position to reflect a change in consumer’s tastes. This is often required when a brand has become tired, perhaps because its original market has matured or has gone into decline.
The repositioning of the Lucozade brand from a sweet drink for children to a leading sports drink is one example. Another would be the changing styles of entertainers with above-average longevity such as Kylie Minogue and Cliff Richard.

4. Communications
Communications also play a key role in building a successful brand. We suggested that brand positioning is essentially about customer perceptions – with the objective to build a clearly defined position in the minds of the target audience.
All elements of the promotional mix need to be used to develop and sustain customer perceptions. Initially, the challenge is to build awareness, then to develop the brand personality and reinforce the perception.

5. First-mover advantage
Business strategists often talk about first-mover advantage. In terms of brand development, by “first-mover” they mean that it is possible for the first successful brand in a market to create a clear positioning in the minds of target customers before the competition enters the market. There is plenty of evidence to support this.
Think of some leading consumer product brands like Gillette, Coca Cola and Sellotape that, in many ways, defined the markets they operate in and continue to lead. However, being first into a market does not necessarily guarantee long-term success. Competitors – drawn to the high growth and profit potential demonstrated by the “market-mover” – will enter the market and copy the best elements of the leader’s brand (a good example is the way that Body Shop developed the “ethical” personal care market but were soon facing stiff competition from the major high street cosmetics retailers.

6. Long-term perspective
This leads onto another important factor in brand-building: the need to invest in the brand over the long-term. Building customer awareness, communicating the brand’s message and creating customer loyalty takes time. This means that management must “invest” in a brand, perhaps at the expense of short-term profitability.

7. Internal marketing
Finally, management should ensure that the brand is marketed “internally” as well as externally. By this we mean that the whole business should understand the brand values and positioning. This is particularly important in service businesses where a critical part of the brand value is the type and quality of service that a customer receives.
Think of the brands that you value in the restaurant, hotel and retail sectors. It is likely that your favourite brands invest heavily in staff training so that the face-to-face contact that you have with the brand helps secure your loyalty.

Brand Marketing

Brand marketing is the art/science of making the right impression on prospects. It’s the active process of discovering, developing and bringing the right image or identity of your company to the marketplace. Too often, clients are focused on the later stages of the brand identity development process, such as the presentation on a Web site or advertisement in a magazine.
Effective Brand Marketing is a complete process of researching the market and developing an image for your corporate identity, and then engineering its presentation at optimal times and places. Since search engine users are looking for a specific product or service, having your well-constructed brand presented in search engine listings, is perhaps one of the best brand impressions you can make.

What are the elements of brand marketing?

• Target market research: collecting information on prospect needs and preferences.

• Features and benefits: identifying target prospects are interested in and which will move them to purchase.

• Brand presentation: design of ur brand that maximizes the impact and impression of your business.

• Brand experience: creating a Web site or other advertisement that makes the users meeting with your product or service memorable, fun or useful.

Brand

Brand Definition

What is a brand? Too often even marketing professionals don't have an answer, and too many have their 'own' answer. Which makes life very confusing!

Here are some of the best definitions of the word "brand":

The Dictionary of Business and Management defines a brand as:
"a name, sign or symbol used to identify items or services of the seller(s) and to differentiate them from goods of competitors."
Signs and symbols are part of what a brand is, but to us this is a very incomplete definition.

Walter Landor, one of the greats of the advertising industry, said:
"simply put, a brand is a promise. By identifying and authenticating a product or service it delivers a pledge of satisfaction and quality."

In his book, 'Building Strong Brands' David Aaker suggests the brand is a 'mental box' and gives a definition of brand equity as:
"a set of assets (or liabilities) linked to a brand's name and symbol that adds to (or subtracts from) the value provided by a product or service..."
This is an important point, brands are not necessarily positive!

Building from this idea of a 'mental box' a more poetic definition might be:
"A brand is the most valuable real-estate in the world, a corner of the consumer's mind".

These are all great definitions, but I believe the best is this:
"A brand is a collection of perceptions in the mind of the consumer".
Why is it best? Well, first of all it is easy to remember, which is always useful! But it is also best because it works to remind us of some key points:
This definition makes it absolutely clear that a brand is very different from a product or service. A brand is intangible and exists in the mind of the consumer.
This definition helps us understand the idea of brand loyalty and the 'loyalty ladder'. Different people have different perceptions of a product or service, which places them at different points on the loyalty ladder.
This definition helps us to understand how advertising works. Advertising has to sell, and it achieves this by positively influencing people's perceptions of the product or service.

Brand Image

Like brand personality, brand image is not something you have or you don't! A brand is unlikely to have one brand image, but several, though one or two may predominate. The key in brand image research is to identify or develop the most powerful images and reinforce them through subsequent brand communications. The term "brand image" gained popularity as evidence began to grow that the feelings and images associated with a brand were powerful purchase influencers, though brand recognition, recall and brand identity. It is based on the proposition that consumers buy not only a product (commodity), but also the image associations of the product, such as power, wealth, sophistication, and most importantly identification and association with other users of the brand. In a consumer led world, people tend to define themselves and their Jungian "persona" by their possessions. According to Sigmund Freud, the ego and superego control to a large extent the image and personality that people would like others to have of them.
Good brand images are instantly evoked, are positive, and are almost always unique among competitive brands.
Brand image can be reinforced by brand communications such as packaging, advertising, promotion, customer service, word-of-mouth and other aspects of the brand experience.
Brand images are usually evoked by asking consumers the first words/images that come to their mind when a certain brand is mentioned (sometimes called "top of mind"). When responses are highly variable, non-forthcoming, or refer to non-image attributes such as cost, it is an indicator of a weak brand image.

Successful brand

The word brand originally meant anything hot or burning, and for hundreds of years was associated with the process of marking an animal with a unique symbol so that the owner could identify it at a later date. The practice involved heating a branding iron that was fashioned into a symbol, letter or name, in a fire, which would then be pressed against the hide of an animal, burning the hair and skin and leaving a permanent scar on the body.
The term brand now has a wider meaning, and is used to describe a name, logo or slogan associated with a particular company, product or service. Brands came about as a way to identity a companies' products from similar products of rival businesses, but of course branding could also be used to disguise an inferior product as one of higher quality; in ancient China, merchants sometimes used branding to falsely pass off lower grade garden tea as higher grade hill tea, by using names such as "Misty Mountain Tea", or "Garden in the Sky Tea".
A brand is all about how a customer perceives a product or company. A successful brand is recognisable and creates an instant association with a product or service. For example, people see a McDonald's Restaurant, and they know they can get quick and cheap food there. Building a brand can take a long time and is a combination of a having a consistent product, as well as strong advertising and marketing.
The highest level of achievement in the world of branding is to create a brand that is instantly recognisable even without the name of the company present. This takes years of marketing and huge amounts of investment; companies that have achieved this include Nike (with its "swoosh"), McDonald's (with its Golden Arches), Playboy (with the Playboy Bunny) and several car manufacturers such as Mercedes, Jaguar and Mitsubishi.
These days, companies spend thousands of pounds building and promoting their brands, keeping up on the latest media news and advancements. A company's brand is vital to its success and therefore it's imperative that a company monitors its brand image to ensure that it is being perceived in the way it wants to be.
Negative press relating to a particular brand can have extremely detrimental effects and can mean that the public associate a brand with negative aspects, which is obviously bad for business, and a damaged brand can take months or even years to recover, if it ever recovers at all.

Top Global Brands 2007

(according to Interbrand and the BusinessWeek magazine Research)

Coca-Cola, Microsoft, IBM, GE, Nokia...

What do these famous brands have in common?

They all finished last year in the top five of global brands by value, according to Interbrand, which just published its 2007 annual ranking of the Best Global Brands, in cooperation with BusinessWeek Magazine.

The winner, and still champ, is the Coca-Cola brand, with an estimated value of over $65 billion. The global giant is slowing though as the company is spending a lot of time focusing on the healthier beverages that people are continuing to choose over the classic Coke beverage. Microsoft is second with an estimated value of $58 billion, followed closely by IBM at $57 billion and GE at $51 billion. Nokia finished out the top five at $33 billion. The top four positions remained unchanged from last year, while Nokia moved up one spot as the result of a 12 percent increase in value.

The Internet search engine and advertising company Google was the biggest gainer on the global brands list for 2007 with a 44 percent increase in brand value. Google is ranked 20th with a brand value of about $17.8 billion. Last year they had a brand value of $12.3 billion and were ranked 24th.

Business Week spoke with Google's vice-president of marketing David Lawee to ask him about the meteoric rise of the company. Lawee says his job is made easier by the quality of the products that Google releases: "When you have a great story to tell, you just have to tell it. Your job as a marketer is infinitely easier. We have a great story to tell." He also said "The challenge for us is to continue to outdo ourselves. That's a challenge for a lot of brands. Brands aren't static things. They're like people. They grow, they learn, they evolve. Now we're almost 10 years old. We know we have a lot to learn. But we're trying to be our own person. That's a little bit different from the way branding used to be done."

Notable winners for 2007 include the Internet giant Google with a 44% increase in brand value, the Spanish owned clothing brand Zara with 22%, Apple computers with 21%, Nintendo with 18%, and the Starbucks coffee giant with a 17% increase in value.

While the biggest losers list included the American car maker Ford with a drop of 17%, Gap clothing brand dropped 15%, Kodak with 12%, Pizza Hut with 9%, and the mobile phone maker Motorola with a 9% decline in brand value.

Interbrand ranks each brand by calculating the net present value of the earnings that the brand is expected to generate. More than one third of the brand's earnings must be derived from countries other than where they are based and they must be well recognized outside of their main customer base. Their marketing and financial data must also be publicly available which excludes large privately held companies like Visa. Airlines are excluded, as are pharmaceutical brands this year, and insurance companies have been allowed this year for the first time.

When talking about the measuring of brand value, Interbrand's Group Chief Executive Jez Frampton said they have "always placed great emphasis upon the need for a balance between the logical and the creative. Brands, after all, live in our heads and our hearts. But ultimately, brands are value generators for business. Increasingly, we need to understand how brands deliver value and use this information to better inform business decisions."

In a report put out by Interbrand, they said "Leaders plan for their success by creating, managing and implementing strong strategic visions that make businesses stand out and command attention. The successful brands recognize and commit to this as a cycle of activity, prospering while they deliver economic value to the brand and their organization."

What is Branding?

The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as 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 other sellers.
Therefore it makes sense to understand that branding is not about getting your target market to choose you over the competition, but it is about getting your prospects to see you as the only one that provides a solution to their problem.
The objectives that a good brand will achieve include:
- Delivers the message clearly
- Confirms your credibility
- Connects your target prospects emotionally
- Motivates the buyer
- Concretes User Loyalty
To succeed in branding you must understand the needs and wants of your customers and prospects.You do this by integrating your brand strategies through your company at every point of public contact.
Your brand resides within the hearts and minds of customers, clients, and prospects. It is the sum total of their experiences and perceptions, some of which you can influence, and some that you cannot.
A strong brand is invaluable as the battle for customers intensifies day by day. It's important to spend time investing in researching, defining, and building your brand. After all your brand is the source of a promise to your consumer. It's a foundational piece in your marketing communication and one you do not want to be without.

The History of Branding

Branding practices were first practiced in the nineteenth century, when packaged goods were sold to the general public. The first commercial brand registered was Pears Soap. When the items shipped to local merchants, the company would place the brand name and logo on all of the packaging, therefore implementing basic branding practices.
Other companies quickly followed suit, including Aunt Jemima, Quaker Oats and Campbell Soup. Each of these companies is still recognized and known around the world today – with the same branding they used decades or centuries ago. With branding, a consumer is essentially buying a company name, instead of just a product. Branding increases the reputation and respect that is held for a specific company.

The Fundamentals of Branding

A company’s product or service is only as effective as its branding strategies. Even with the best product in the world, a business cannot generate revenue without customer recognition and attraction. The underlying goal of branding is to prompt the consumers to both consciously and subconsciously recognize a certain product brand. Research has demonstrated that the more familiar consumers are with a product or brand, the more likely they will buy.
For example, the top Fortune 500 companies, such as Coca-Cola, Disney, and IBM, are exponentially successful because of their strategic branding practices. Regardless what country you travel to, the image of Coca-Cola, Mickey Mouse, and McDonalds are prevalent and powerful – their branding strategies permeates to consumers, regardless of age, location, or nationality.
Most business experts agree that if a company desires to achieve multimillion revenues, effective branding practices must be implemented. Through proper branding, an unknown corporation can attain celebrity status in consumer households. For example, the strategic branding and placement of the word “Juicy” across derrieres launched fashion line Juicy Couture into international fame. In fact, branding is one of the easiest and fastest ways for a company to develop its market share.