Business-to-Business Marketing Branding Concepts – Term Paper

BBM, NMP Term III

Group 4Argha Ray - 15 Chakra Dhar Kundu - 22 Khushal Malik - 28 Sanjay Kumar Prasad – 45

Branding as a Concept:• “A name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies

one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. The legal term for brand is trademark. A brand may identify one item, a family of items, or all items of that seller. If used for the firm as a whole, the preferred term is trade name.”

American Marketing Association

• Consistency of presentation that becomes the identity of a company. (Paul Hague)

• Cultural Uniformity.

• More than a symbol or logo; but an imagery and association.

• Personality beyond the product.

Branding in Industrial Markets:• Concept not well developed in B2B.

• Shorthand for product quality, reliability of delivery and value for money.

• Often linked with Corporate Brand as a whole.

• Experienced but not acknowledged.

• Brand essence as centerpiece of differentiation.

• Brand Essence : The core characteristics that defines a brand e.g. “Nike is Inspirational”.

Bull’s Eye of Brand Essence:

B2B Branding Ladder:Gradual change in focus that brands undergo over a period of time, in order to achieve a better connect with the customers. (Kevin Lane Keller)

Brands drive B2B Markets:

Kevin Randall lists reasons on why brands bring a distinctive value proposition in business markets.

Cut through Clutter: Morass of MarketTap emotional drivers: Powerful Irrational ImpulseDeliver promise: Unified, Consistent and Satisfying Experience

Building Blocks of Brands: Conceptual Model of Esch, Langner, Schmitt and Geus for B2C.

A few Definitions: • Brand Awareness: It refers to customers' ability to recall and

recognize the brand under different conditions and link to the brand name e.g. Photocopying reminds of Xerox.

• Brand Image: It is a symbolic construct created within the minds of people e.g. Mercedes is an image of luxury.

• Brand Satisfaction: Exchange relationship with brand depending on utilitarian benefits e.g. Worth the money to spend an year at MDI.

• Brand Trust: It is the intrinsic 'believability' that any entity evokes converting simple awareness to strong commitment e.g. MDI will assist in placements.

• Brand Attachment: Long lasting bond and interdependence between brand and customer e.g. James Bond always drives a Aston Martin.

Hypothesis and Correlations:

Model:

The cross symbols above signifies hypothesis rejection

Brand Awareness in B2B:

Homburg, Klarmann and Schmitt extend the branding concepts by studying the particular concept of Brand Awareness in B2B.

Hypothesis and Correlations:

Strong Industrial Brands:

• “No One Ever Got Fired for Buying IBM”

• “Intel Inside”

• “GE’s imagination at work”

• “Caterpillar’s One Voice”

Conclusion:

• Branding as applicable to B2C can also be extrapolated into B2B.

• The extrapolation has to be nuanced and shaded with inherent intricacies that characterize industrial markets on the paradigms of organizational risks and personal risks of buyers.