Branding is not crucial for success: do you agree?

Absolutely wrong. Branding is very mcuh crucial for success. Made in Japan itself was promoted vigourously and that in itself is branding. One can brand a product, service, human being, country et al. Sanjeev kappor the famous chef is a brand by himself. Tea made in srilanka was a good branding initiative and so on.

What u mention about Made in Japan was relevant some 20 yrs ago when quality standards were few and far between. Today quality is an integral part of our everyday lives. That is why you see Korean and Taiwan electronics industry beating the japs in their own backyard. Today branding is an integral part of a marketing conundrum for any product /service

Products that havent invested in branding adequately or properly havent survived in the market place.

Hi All,

There seems to be some confusion about the understanding of "Branding". From all the arguments it appears that most of that participants hold a view that branding is an exercise done by the manufacturer. With years of experience and some good ego shattering knocks I can say with some reasonable certainity that nothing can be further from the truth.

Brands are created by the customer. "Made in Japan" itself is a brand, created by those who used Japanese products, found value and spread the word. Possibly the Japanese government did not do any thing to promote the label.

Brands are made by customers irrespective of the manufacturers efforts. We as marketers can only reinforce and spread existing beliefs to a similar set or a new set of customers. However, if the promises are not backed by deliverables there will definitely be a dissonance between what the manufacturer wants and what the customers believe.

As consumers we brand to make life easy - Agra ka Petha, Nashik ke sabji, bikaneri sev, Ghantawala ke mithai - no advertising but yet brands.

A manufacturer spends to satisfy his ambitions and business needs, but he does not create a brand. That is in the hands of the ALMIGHTY CONSUMER.

Vijay Raut

9322266445

Synergy Marketing Advisory Services

It is not about Japan, India, China or US but it is about business.

A brand associated with a product or service has certain qualities or characteristics that make it special or unique. So it is basically a name with some unique characteristics.

For success in any business one needs to produce and sell a good quality product or service. But after production how can one reach the customers? How can customer come to know that this particular product exists? For this we need to market the product. If one is successful in marketing why he should go for Branding?

Brand is a symbolic construct created within the minds of people and consists of all the information and expectations associated with a product or service.  It is not just that but it has emotional touch, trust etc.

Example:

1. Apple: Innovation
2. Woodland : Tough
3. Nike: Sportswear and accessories
4. Jockey: Under Garments 
5. Volvo: Safety
6. Toyota: Quality

There are endless products one can name.

Every brand attracts different pool of customers. Mercedes or Rolls Royce attracts luxury ends where as Suzuki attracts small car segment.

So if one has to go for global success one has to prove his worth in market and create a pool of customers who has faith in his name. Then going for brand awareness and other practices will help achieve success for sure.

Benefits of Global Branding:

In addition to taking advantage of the outstanding growth opportunities, the following drives the increasing interest in taking brands global:

• Economies of scale (production and distribution)
• Lower marketing costs
• Laying the groundwork for future extensions worldwide
• Maintaining consistent brand imagery
• Quicker identification and integration of innovations (discovered worldwide)
• Preempting international competitors from entering domestic markets or locking you out of other geographic markets
• Increasing international media reach (especially with the explosion of the Internet)

If a person wants to keep himself limited in local market then he might not need to go for Branding and can satisfy his business over marketing only. 

Thus, I would conclude that brand is crucial for global success.

Branding is Crucial for success of any product. If we want a testimony to it lets pick it from Purvi's example of Made in Japan. "MADE IN JAPAN" itself acts as a brand for electronic products and components in totality. And this mark only reassures us for the quality, though it is a bit global in nature as the companies are not known to common man. So all companies delivering the quality has created a value which is kind of brand value for every product manufactured in that particular country.

No, branding is very essential for success provided the area or the field in which the branding is being done should have to be specified.

The advantages of branding can't be overestimated to the fact that brand building is a costly process. Umbrella branding can be the solution but one has to be very careful about the quality. Sometimes generic products also do well.

Branding is surely crucial for success of a product. It is only through brand name, a recall value for any product and subsebequent product versions is created for a customer. For instance, Microsoft Windows is a brand. It is easier for a buyer to relate Windows with an computer Operating System developed by a Brand name Microsoft. Subsequently, a buyer can compare it with fresh OS offerings by Microsoft and make effective buying decisions. Similar is the case with other products. Buying loyalty for a particular product or service is built only through the use of brand. As a matter of fact, "Made in Japan" by itself had become a brand owing to its quality. But things change. It is era of continuous improvement in the product quality. Identifying a product or service with a brand helps a consumer to make sagacious buying decisions. 

Branding is a necessity for the very survival of the product/company in today's competitive markets.  I do not agree with the statement that Branding is not required and only quality of the product matters.  Since the markets are now highly competitive (cut throat competition), every company is producing only the quality products.  In the midst of all these quality products, customer is confused.  If the company is trying hard to create the brand awareness in the minds of customers, it is really helping the customer to look for what he is really searching.

Brand as far as my experience as a customer helps in creating an image of the product/company in the minds of the customers.  This is what is usually known in Marketing as Perceptional Posititioning. 

Nitin, it is obvious that this debate was posted by Purvi. As for copyright laws, it is not important in this particular debate. However, branding is crucial for success. From the little I know about marketing(did this subject as a special course) is that the purpose of branding is 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.

Branding is an integral part of marketing and it is very important for companies to succeed

Well, irony of sorts. What China is doing today, Japan used to do it 50 years ago.

Those days (in the 50s and 60s) Japanese companies had to survive the aftermath of the WWII and entered the US market with cheap goods. These were much cheaper compared to the US Products. These products were mainly automobiles and home appliances.

The Japanese concept (Rather they introduced it) was to make low quality products and market it at very low cost. These products used to last for about 5 years and then had to be replaced. But the pricing was so low that the consumer dint mind buying it and replacing it after 5 years. This ensured that the market was on for the Japanese products / companies. For the customer the benefit was that he would be getting a latter model of a product after 5 years, i.e., instead of having a great quality Refrigerator or Car that was made in US or Europe and which would definitely last for 10 to 12 years, the customer got the same Japanese product at 30% to 50% lesser price. The advantage was that he can get better and newer models after 5 years and need not be struck with a great quality product for 10 or 12 years.  This was good for the economy too, since the companies can keep on the manufacturing process as well as the R & D process.

Before the Americans or the Europeans realized this concept, the Japs had established themselves. Once they had ESTABLISHED A BRAND presence in the US and European markets they improved their quality. This BRANDING was not only for the Japanese Companies (Sony, Toyota, Honda, etc.) but for Japan as a whole too. So to say, Made in JAPAN is by itself a BRAND. Well established and entrenched in the minds of people.

Even today it is this concept (low or mid quality) that works. More so because, to compete with the Japanese products the US and European companies had to follow suit and sometime in the 70s and 80s they too compromised on the quality. Hence many companies (barring some hi-quality brands in the West) from US and Europe also started manufacturing low to mid quality products.

Whether you buy a Ford, Fiat or a Toyota today, it would be in good shape only for about 5 to 7  years. Whereas, about a three to four decades the US and European cars used to last much longer. Proof – our own Fiat (Padmini) Cars – one can still see it running in several cities.

It is this Brand Image of JAPAN that is working today.

Hence, Branding is very important and necessary. Properly done, it would ensure continued success.

I do agree with you purvi. branding is very much required ,.....you can not create  brand in single day , its outcome of quality ,reliability and customer satisfaction which makes  your name "A brand "which ultimately shows the confidence of people for the product .. SO I WOULD LIKE TO SAY BRAND NAME IS OUTCOME of all the efforts made by company for its product promotion and business ultimately. ill not speak for very big shots in the industry .. just look for parle g.. now involved in multifarious task....

Purvi,

As the brand evolves, market evolves, number of competitors increase, the product offering gets more or less commoditized. Then the ultimate differentiator is only the element of BRAND POSITIONING.

Example: Coke and Pepsi.  All ingredients used in production are absolutely same, business model is same, target audience is almost same. It’s  only through sheer communication strategies that they differentiate themselves. Similarly look at Telecom; everyone talking about per sec call,  50p/min call etc etc, little bit of differentiated customer support system and major emphasis on branding exercises.

You say with your JAPAN experience that if product is good, it will make inroads in the market on its own. If that is the case, Kellogs Cornflakes would not have bite the dust when it first entered the market. It was brutally thrown out of the market. Because the executives sitting behind the closed doors in air conditioned conference rooms in America did not understood the psyche of Indian consumers, nor any serious effort was put in their branding exercise. It was re-launched, with a different positioning and an aggressive communication strategy. Now, today its one of the leading high end breakfast cereals in India.

Do Valkswagen manufacture  sub quality vehicles?, do LG or Samsung have less quality products than Sony?,  is TCS not as great place to work as Infosys?...surely NOT…but you need some differentiating factor which helps to create some space in already cluttered mind of a TG. And that’s where the role of Branding starts. Creativity doesn’t have boundaries, where as technology has.

So bottom line is having good product is a prerequisite for success. But without a strategically devised communication plan and branding exercise, one cannot achieve success in today’s market environment.

Branding definitely helps to start a new product, in case the product belongs to an already successful organization. It requires a lot of effort and time to convince the consumer about the quality of product, because almost all manufacturers praise their product's quality and there are a large number of brands of the same product

Branding is very crucial even when we are speaking of branding for Japanese cos there the brand is Japan and not the companies hence Brand Japan sells.

Meena as a brand / product Manager you carry a very closed view!! Sorry for being blunt.

I think it is necessary to keep the communication going. If you want to strategically remove your rounds on the electronic media then there should be an on ground presence for recall in terms of a promotional activity or an online competition!! Engaging the customer is most important.

Lets take the example of Indian brands of yesterday, Topaz!! , The only blade in the country that was seen on walls, theatres and also heard on Radio. Successful. What is the scene today??

Take another example of Hindustan Motors Am bassador car!! Iconic and successful. Where is it today?? BRANDING IS MOST CRUCIAL!!

I disagree...Acc to me, to achive something small or do things at smaller level (start up) might not require branding, but once your feet are set in the market and to break into the big leage, branding is the most important part.

From Personal experience, if you are running a business and delivering excellent work, probably better than the "best well known" in the market, you still do not get deserving credit for your work. One example. If aTier3 Software Services company is competing with Tier1 Software Services MNC  for some project, though the client could be convinced that Tier3 will deliver better than Tier1, they might stil prefer either Tier1 or hire Tier 3 at a much lesser money than they would have paid to Tier1. It happened majrly because This Tier3 company did not do much of marketing . Thats where your branding comes into the picture to take you into the big leage and make you able to compete with the biggies.

This actually helps you to achive success much much faster.

Not able to support...because Purvi and Meena confused me....let me know who wrote first.... and/ or copy others statement...is there any COPY RIGHTS???

Branding is the last stage when we established our product in all respect...JAPAN itself a brand .... so quality is more important to achieve brand name for a product..