In today\’s world, brands have very much become iconic cognitive images of a value proposition, which sometimes is reflected in the fact that we do not associate them with specific sectors or industries, but rather with flagship products/services. Hollensen (2016) argues branding decisions to be intricately related to product positioning in the marketing mix and key to raising awareness and promoting products effectively. As shown in Figure 1 (Hollensen, 2016), 4 branding decisions are available to firms which range from non-branded products to manufacturing a single brand in a single market.
And these decisions are important because business performance is linked to consumers\’ perceptions of the brand. The Centrality-Distinctiveness map in Figure 2 (Dawar and Bagga, 2015) highlights brand positions based on how representative they are of their product category (centrality) as well as how differentiated they are in the sector (distinctiveness). Aspirational brands like Heineken and Sam Adams own 62% of the beer market share based on consumer\’s perception. Although this quota varies from industry to industry, many firms such as Uber, Nike and Virgin America focus on the brand-as-relationship concept as opposed to the usual transactional approach with consumers (Bonchek and France, 2016).
Interestingly, when one researches branding, most recent literature focuses on the use of social media and how it may help scale international marketing strategy. The new concept of cultural branding is slowly reshaping the landscape of online branding through the use of crowdcultures and symbols to promote specific ideologies (Holt, 2016). Being into sports, I see this cultural branding in the crossfit crowdculture where members swear by the sport (Zmuda, 2011).
However, Barwise and Meehan (2010) highlight that social media is indeed an effective marketing tool, but that firms must focus on delivering on their promises and constantly innovate to maintain trust levels with consumers.
Can branding create false perceptions and overrated consumer expectations?
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