BRAND BASED CUSTOMER MODEL:Identify your competitors, Compare your brand with competition

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Brand Management (MKT624)

Lesson 15

BRAND BASED CUSTOMER MODEL

Factor b - Rating buying criteria

Rating is all about drawing comparisons with competition. You compare two to three

brands and compare them across pre-mentioned characteristics. By assigning weight to all

the characteristics, you can arrive at an interesting conclusion where your brand stands in

terms of consumer perceptions1.

Figure 21

Rating Buying Criteria

Buying Criterion

Brand A

Brand B

Brand C

· Price

· Accessibility

· Quality

· Customer service

· Reliability

· Consistent performance

· Price value relationship

By assigning a weight on a scale of 1 5 we can determine levels of preferences in

relation to the criterion that we have in the first column. Brand B tops the list on price and

therefore on price value relationship as well. However, it is poor on availability with a

weight of 2 and seems to marginally sit on the average threshold of 3 on the remaining

attributes. The remaining brands A and C can be assessed on these criteria.

It is difficult to know why customers choose one brand over the other, for the decision

process goes on in the mind of the customer and involves so many psychological factors.

We nonetheless can know through rating of the criteria the status of our brand.

Research must go on to get confidence about our decisions; what researchers have

concluded from various studies about brand perception is2:

1. People perceive the brand as a whole: Psychologically, they form the concept as a

whole, rather than forming impressions and beliefs analytically on the basis of

separate pieces.

2. Perception is selective: Not all the info is absorbed. Info passes through a process of

filtering; and some is absorbed; some is forgotten.

3. Consumers' perception is the reality: A deliveryman (of sandwiches) with unhygienic

upkeep may tarnish the image of a wonderful product. Unhygienic set-up becomes

customer's belief.

4. The magical number seven, plus or minus two: On the basis of a scientific study,

humans cannot cope with more than seven items at a time. In case of low-involvement

items (FMCGs), it may be minus two, which are five. You have to be at least in those

five.

5. The brand has a personality: Consumers can imagine brands that have distinct

personalities, with characteristics they can describe.

6. The more complete and balanced the brand identity, the stronger is the relationship

between the customer and the brand, and the better the customer can describe the

brand.

Brand Management (MKT624)

We can conclude that consumers have a large amount of information from different

sources experience, word of mouth, observations, advertising, and retailers etc. They

can absorb some of it and forget some of it3.

1. They use very little info in routine purchases of low-involvement items.

2. 25 percent spend no time in their decision making.

3. 56 percent spend less than 8 seconds.

4. They cannot cope with a lot many items of info at a time.

5. The implication here is that "brand messages must be simple and focused".

6. That keeps their beliefs and decisions straight forward.

Factor c - who makes buying decisions?

It is important to know for brand managers the people involved in the decision making

process to buy a brand. Managers must know if there are more than one decision maker

and influencer for buying the brand. The objective here is to understand who they are so

that brand managers can smartly involve them in the decision-making process. For so

many consumer goods you see commercials that present the whole family as potential

buyers and hence communicate with all of them.

This understanding enables brand managers to better position their brand and hence

maximize its influence and value in the category.

Question 2

This question requires understanding and clarity of the following areas:

· What brands customers think are our competitors?

· What do our customers believe about our competitors?

· What are the strengths and weaknesses of our competitive brands?

Identify your competitors

The understanding of the first factor (our competitive brands as per customers'

perception) will come in clarity if we consider all our direct and indirect competitors. The

comprehensive industry analysis that you carried out will give you better insights into the

category as a whole.

A company selling juices should consider all thirst quenchers including cola/un-cola

drinks and mineral water as its competitors. Broadening the scope of the category gives

you better insights into the dynamics of competition.

As another example, a manufacturer of safety matches should not ignore all those

manufacturers involved in making disposable lighters, because they cater to the needs of a

major segment of the overall "lights" market.

Compare your brand with competition

This clarifies the last two areas of (customers' belief about our competition) and

(strengths and weaknesses of our competitors). Unless compared against competition

from customers' point of view, we cannot realistically assess our brand. Drawing

comparisons on what benefits and values competitors offer and how our brand stack up

against those offers a level ground from where we can have some startling findings

obscure to us without such a comparison.

Knowing where we realistically stand, we can devise realistic strategies and future

direction.

Brand Management (MKT624)

Bibliography:

1. Scot M. Davis: "Brand Asset Management Driving Profitable Growth through

Your Brands"; Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Imprint (96)

2. Geoffery Randall: "Branding A Practical Guide to Planning Your Strategy";

Kogan Page (45)

3. Geoffery Randall: "Branding A Practical Guide to Planning Your Strategy";

Kogan Page (47)

Suggested readings:

1. Geoffery Randall: "Branding A Practical Guide to Planning Your Strategy";

Kogan Page (39-47)

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