THE STRATEGIC ROLE OF BRANDING IN BUSINESS SUCCESS How Brand Identity Can Be Developed

Essay by berlindudeUniversity, Master'sA-, April 2005

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Abstract

This coursework seeks to demonstrate how branding fits into a company overall business activities, and how its strategic importance has not only remoulded the very concept of brand but also creating brand identity and brand equity. Within the confine of the Urde's Brand Orientation model, the author uses the car brand- Jaguar to elucidate how brand identity is developed.

BRANDING

Whether we are willing to admit it or not, brands help us define who we are. We choose the car we drive, the restaurant we go to, the clothes we wear or even the company we work for because they represent something we believe in or something we aspire to be. Simply put, a brand is a distinguishing name and/or symbol (logo, trademark, or package design) intended to identify the origin of the goods or services (Keller 2003; NetMBA 2005) -- and to differentiate those goods or services from those of competitors .

It is "the name, associated with one or more items in the product line that is used to identify the source of character of the item" (Kotler 2000, p. 396).

The foregoing definitions are indicative of a brand being an identifier; a name bestowed to a product. Nonetheless, in recent years the focus on brand being a mere identifier has shifted towards being a vehicle that delivers a promise to the consumer because of repetitive use. A brand is more than name recognition, a colour scheme, a logo, and a slogan (Williams 2004; Bergvall 2004); it is about creating an emotional experience (Wentworth 2003). Webster (2002) lends weight to this premise stating a brand is a promise, an expectation waiting to be fulfilled. However, the promise of the brand is not always fulfilled the moment the product is purchased; fulfilment of the promise can take time.