Reading 1

Unit 2-Reading 1

Page 18

The Power Of Branding

Let’s say your company has been making athletic shoes for 50 or 60 years. They are good shoes. Nevertheless, other companies have sped past you in the race for fame and the revenue that goes with it. Products with the logos of the other companies are status symbols. Products with your logo make people think of basketball stars from the l980s. To turn things around, you have to convert your product’s old-fashioned image into something new, and make sure consumers get the message. They must equate your product with some larger idea that has nothing to do with’ shoes—beauty, wealth, or even world peace. In other words, you have to build a brand.

FROM THE RANCH TO ROLLS-ROYCE

The term brand comes from the practice of using a hot iron to burn a distinctive mark into the skin of a cow or a horse. For example, the owner of the Double Jay Ranch might brand a ‘JJ” mark on his or her stock. This brand helps the rancher distinguish his or her animals from others. The brand is a kind of label, a device for creating recognition. Branding of products is also all about recognition.

People equate the name Rolls-Royce, for example, with classic luxury. The recognition value of this brand is enormous. It even registers with people who have never seen one of the company’s cars. When the German Company BMW bought the Rolls company in 1998, they were careful to change nothing. They continued to build cars in Greenwood, England, because Rolls-Royce is thought of as British. Not even BMW—a powerful brand itself has the same aristocratic image. Rolls-Royce turned 100 years old in 2004, and the brand continues to use the themes of integrity, dependability, and even Britishness in its advertising.

ROLLS-ROYCE DRIVERS AND NASCAR

As the story of Rolls-Royce shows, an extremely successful brand may become a lasting part of a culture. When that happens to a brand with a worldwide presence, the company may get contradictory results. In its home culture, the brand may benefit from being a sort of national treasure; however, it may suffer overseas from being a symbol of foreignness. The McDonald’s restaurant franchise offers just one prominent case of a corporation fighting to guide its brand through these difficult situations.

Subcultures can form around a certain brand. NASCAR (the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) is in business to organize auto races and sell related products, but its brand is about much more than that. NASCAR was founded in the late 1940s and originally built its image around beachside racing in Daytona, Florida. It revised its brand through the 1980s and 1990s to appeal to a broader audience. Nearly 75 million Americans now consider themselves part of a NASCAR subculture.

Because NASCAR has a connection to such a large segment of the population, it is a medium in itself. It can finance many of itsoperations by, for instance, allowing its name to appear on products and selling advertising space alongside its racetracks.

MY BRAND, MYSELF

Among some strong brands, the line between promotional and personal image is unclear. Some customers may adopt a brand’s image as their own image. The ads for Nike shoes show no nonsense athletes. A customer might buy Nike shoes because she considers herself a no-nonsense athlete-and she wants others to presume this, too.

Biker subculture in the United States owes a great deal to the branding success of the HarleyDavidson motorcycle company. Its American manufactured motorbikes are promoted as a symbol of patriotism. Harley has also managed to turn its motorcycles into symbols of opposition to mainstream cultural values. In a radio interview, Harley-Davidson’s CEO, Jim Ziemer, points out one way his brand and its black-and-orange logo-has become very personal. Interviewer: When business school students study branding, one of the names that’s always at the top of that list is HarleyDavidson. I’d like you to tell me, first of all, in your mind, what is it that makes a brand? Ziemer: A brand is made when a person really feels a connection with that brand. I mean, we’ve taken it to the ultimate, where a lot of our customers have a (Harley-Davidson) tattoo on their body so they really feel very special and connected with the brand. The origins of branding, the hot irons and the Double Jay, seem not so far away.