Corporate branding – its presence and importance
Brand equity can be transferred to other products as well. This can be seen in the case of VW buying the Skoda. Before VW took over Skoda’s sales were declining but in recent years Skoda has improved and its sales has gone up as well due VW’s transferred its brand equity to Skoda. G.M motors have also bought different corporate brands such as Daewoo and Volvo and have transferred the brand equity to them brands.
This does not stop here there are so many other benefits an organistaion can have by having a corporate brand. Newman (2001) suggests that success rate of a new product or service can increase by twenty percent if it has a corporate brand behind it. Also costs could be reduced when launching the product or service than if it did not have a corporate brand supporting it.
This is due to the trust and credibility build by the organisations. Consumers prefer to stay with the organisation they have dealt with before. When Mercedes build the 4*4 people have bought the vehicles even though it was the first time Mercedes has launched a 4*4 vehicle. Mercedes has achieved this through due to the string branding and consumer trust on them.
Corporate brand has a longer life as compare to other resources with in the company. For example Coca Cola the brand is much older then the plants and location used to make it. It is also older then the human resources those make the product. Grant (1991) stated that the corporate brand tends to decay slowly, and strong corporate brands can decrease the competition in the market. Products have shorter lifecycle so corporate brands are preferred over just product brand.
A corporate brand is an intangible asset so it is difficult to copy as it is not a product from a production line. Corporate brand represents a logo or a slogan that is protected by laws, which are in place. Slogans or logos are more secure then the product it self as it is easy to copy a product but it is nearly impossible to copy a logo.
Corporate brand helps achieving the economies of scope, which means it is less costly for a firm to produce two separate products than for two specialized firms to produce them separately. For example Nike has a slogan of “Just Do It” across the globe and through its advertising Nike can promote its different products and services.
Due to advancement in technology and in communication world is becoming a small community. Consumers are more knowledgeable then ever. Globalisation is common between all the big organisations. Corporate brand is important for the globalise organisations to show that their core value is same wherever the product is.
Corporate branding is also very useful when organisations want to enter into a new market. This can be seen when Samsung entered into mobile communication market, Samsung did not have much experience in mobile market but their recent mobile model Samsung D500 has outclassed Nokia and Motorola’s models. This is gain mainly through innovation but brand equity played its part as well. Samsung is brand which consumers can trust and is known for a time.
According to Balmer (2001) a corporate brand is seen as a rare entity due to brands unique pattern of development. Companies with corporate brands have competitive advantages over those that do not have corporate brand. The brand name, logo plays a vital role in awareness and it also provides the peace of mind to customers. Olins (2001) classed Manchester United and British Airways as organisations with corporate brands. Reason that these organisations have corporate brands is because that’s how they presented their brands through marketing such as T.V advertising, Billboards and other marketing campaigns. These companies have spend millions of pounds on advertising to have a corporate brand, as organsiations with corporate brand believes that this will give them a competitive advantage. It can be stated by considering Olins statement that corporate brand is important for the organisations.
Davis suggests corporate brands are not required by some companies, for example those that may have a portfolio of brands such as Unilever and Proctor and Gamble, tends to use the branding of products rather than implementing a corporate brand. This issue of importance of having a corporate brand has not been taken by these major organisations in past for example surf is a product by Unilever. Unilever’s general emphasis is on product branding as compare to one corporate brand. But the importance of a corporate brand has been explored on these big companies.