Choosing Brand Elements

to build Brand Equity

Criteria
1. Memorabiltiy
2. Meaningfulness
3. Likability
4. Transferability
5. Adaptability
6. Protectability
Criteria
Memorable
 Easily recognized

 Easily recalled

Meaningful
 Descriptive

 Persuasive
Criteria
Likable
 Fun & Interesting

 Rich visual & verbal imagery

 Aesthetically pleasing
Criteria

Transferable
 Within & across product boundaries

 Across geographic boundaries & cultures

Criteria
Adaptable
 Flexible

 Updateable
Criteria
Protectable
 Legally – registered trade mark

 Competitively
Brand Elements
 Brand Names & URLs
 Logos & Symbols
 Characters
 Slogans & Jingles
 Packaging & Signage
Brand Linguistics
 Phonics
 alliteration (Coca-Cola)
 Orthographic
 spelling (Kool); abbreviation (7 Up, IBM)
 Morphologic
 compound (Janitor-in-a-drum)
 Semantic
 Metaphor (Arrid)
Brand Names & URLs
Useful for Brand Awareness & Brand Associations –
Compaq, Yahoo, Tide, Dove

 Descriptive – Singapore Airlines, Hit, Gati, Ivory

 Suggestive – suggests a benefit or function –
Colorstay lipsticks, Head & Shoulders, Mop & Glo,
Aquaguard, Eveready, Sugar Free, Low Cal
 Classical – based on Greek, Latin or Sanskrit words
 Arbitrary – no relationship with the
company/Product – Apple Computers, Camel
Brand Names
 Compound
 Fanciful (imaginative
words)
 RedHat
 Vodafone
 PriceWaterhouse
 Wochardt
Coopers
 Arbitary (real words
without direct connection)
 Classical  Apple
 Vedanta  Orange
 Balaji Telefilms  Mango
URLs

 Keep it as simple as possible

 Avoid Clichés
 Avoid the .com
 Brand v/s description – helps only short term
 Unique personality
 Unexpected combination (motley fool)
 Reinvent a real word
 Make new words
Logos & Symbols
1. Corporate names & Trademarks – Coca-Cola,
Nestle, Tata, Maruti, Johnson & Johnson
2. Abstract or non-word mark logos are also known as
symbols- Mercedes star, Rolex crown, Nike
swoosh, Olympic rings
3. Many logos fall between these 2 extremes – Ralph
Lauren’s polo player, Playboy’s Bunny,
McDonald’s Golden Arch, Apple Logo
Benefits
 Visual nature of logos & symbols – easy
recognition & recall
 Versatile- can be updated transferred across
cultures
 Can be appropriate for a range of product
categories-Surf, Dettol, Lux
Characters
A symbol that takes on human or real life characteristics
 McDonald’s Ronald
 Disney Characters –
 Asian Paints – Gattu
 Pillsbury Doughboy
 Kellogg's Bear
 Frosted Flakes -Tony the Tiger
 Duracell Bunnies
 Hush Puppies
Benefits
 Enhance brand personality & build
relationship with customers – Disney for kids
 Valuable Licensing properties – Barbie dolls,
Spiderman, Superman etc., All Disney
Characters
 Can be updated to suit the changing times
Slogans
 Short phrases that contain descriptive or persuasive
information
 Adds verbal reinforcement
 Design of slogans
 TO build awareness and image
 Product sense and beyond (zindagi ke saath bhi .. Ke baad bhi)
 Updation of slogans
 Find out contribution of existing slogan
 Find out what more you wish to enhance
 Retain good qualities of earlier slogan and build up on that
Slogans
 Just Do it
 When it absolutely positively has to be there
overnite
 No more tears
 Diamonds are forever
 We try harder
 On time every time
Benefits
 Often rich and colorful – attention getting and
help in creating brand awareness
 Help Brands in breaking through the “clutter”
in the market
 Communicate a key product benefit –
reliability, speed – Sprint telecom
Jingles
 Musical – easy recall - Airtel
 Reinforce brand positioning and enhance
POD’s or POP’s
 Useful when designing Ad campaigns
 “Desert rose” – jaguar
 The axe song
 Helps in repetitive reminding
Packaging
 Identify the brand – strong brand association
with packaging style of company
 Convey descriptive & persuasive information
 Facilitate product transportation & protection
& storage
 Assist at-home storage (bottles and refill)
Packaging
 Aid Product consumption (screw-on cap in
soft drink)
 “Color vocabulary” (product and category)
 Innovations can boost sales – Soft drink cans,
2 litre bottles, chocolates in smaller packs,
shampoos and hair oils in sachets – enhance
product usage & consumption
Packaging
 Heineken beer – green bottle
 Cadbury- purple
 Kit-Kat – red
 Kodak films – yellow
 Pepsi - blue
Packaging Essentials
 Know your consumer
 Take the big-picture approach
 Aesthetics + Function
 Know your distribution channels
 Educate Management