Welcome to the segment, what is a brand? In this segment we will learn about what a brand is. I will explain the inter relatedness of branding to the important concept of perceptual mapping. And we will then learn about the role played by brands in Noon Nopi, which we learned in an earlier segment, is the essence of marketing. So let's get started. Okay, what is a brand? I'm not one for long definitions, but this one I actually like. And it captures for the broad nature of branding, but it also gets at the role of branding as well. If we look at a brand like Starbucks. We know that it has a name, which is Starbucks. Well we also know that it has other executional elements such as the familiar Siren logo. So that's what branding is like. There are many things that eventually sort of create a brand and its image. But more fundamental to that is of course why we brand. And this definition developed by the AMA and referenced by many textbooks, including that of Keller, point to two key roles. One is to identify and the other is to differentiate. The role of identifying a product is actually the actual origin of the word brand. And f you're like me you may have seen many Western movies where you have this scene where cowboys brand their cattle. And that is to again, identify which cattle belongs to whom. And that role still holds true today. Where brands signify ownership. Because companies want you to own the brand. They want you to live and die by the brand. But of course see the role of brands have evolved beyond that. And I like to think of brands as being a big vessel. A ship. Let's say a large bow. Where companies can load and imprint many positive associations in the minds of consumers. In the minds of consumers. That's what I said. And that is why brands act like locations in the perceptual maps of people. So it's like a map and even though it's not sort of physical space. We locate these brands. But in through the mental space we can still do the same thing. And on the note about maps. There is this famous legend about La Isla De California, which in Spanish means the Island of California. And legend has it that when Spanish explorers first discovered California, they had to cross what they thought was this vast ocean. It turns out that it was actually the Gulf of Mexico. But they did perceive that that gulf is being actually an ocean, and therefore called it the Island of California. What's even more surprising is that that's first false impression stuck for many hundreds of years. And that is the power of a brand. It can help you, but it can hurt you. And as a company, it behooves you to make the right first impression. Okay, so why are brands so important? We learned that a brand is more than just a name. And that becomes for this locus or focus for creating preferential demand for your product. That's what people ultimately remember. And if done well, you can develop actually a sort of a person like personality for your brand. And have a long-lasting relationship again through the brand. And finally, a brand can become very, very valuable for a company. Whereby a company like Coca-Cola or Apple are worth tens of billions of dollars. And more and more, we see Asian companies getting into that very elite list. Companies like Samsung. So as we see with Samsung, brands here in Asia are changing. They actually started having no brands. Where in the 60s and 70s they were subcontractors for a famous brand in the West. Brands like Nike and General Electric. But they clearly saw the light and realized that they had to create a sort of a name which had meaning, which had identity. And a name which ultimately could become more valuable. And more and more, companies are realizing, that a brand can be the focus for formulating long term and global marketing strategy. Okay, so, in the international context. What are some of the key questions that you can ask in terms of branding? Well, you can, of course, ask whether that brand concept is transferable to other markets. And if not, well, then that Noon Nopi has to be matched. And as we learned a brand especially in terms of its executional format can be very varied. So that Noon Nopi can be achieved through various branding elements. And let's think about that in the context of Starbucks. And I'm sure many of you know that the brand concept of Starbucks is a third place. And what that means is Starbucks is not work, it's not home. It's some place where you can escape to and just relax. Does that work outside of, let's say, the US? Of course it does. Also in Asia. So that doesn't have to be changed. But in terms of the various branding elements. Do some of them have to be localized? And the answer again is yes. Where in Asia Starbucks has gone so far as to localizing not only the store interior, which is part of the branding, but also the store exterior. Such as the signage in terms of localizing it into the local language. That I think is very good branding. Wrapping up, we learned in the segment that brand is beyond just a name. That the goal of brand is essential to marketing, because it helps us to differentiate. We also learned that Asia's relatively new to brands. But, they're catching up very fast. So brand management through Europe and Asia is devolving and modernizing. And lastly we learned that through brands, companies can adjust their Noon Nopi. Either in terms of the concept, or in terms of its element to new markets.
