Brand Legitimacy

This short article is about establishing how to make your brands more successful – by moving them from good performers, right up towards the top of the brand pyramid – by establishing brand legitimacy, not only with the target market, but by making it acceptable and welcome to anti brand folk.  So you become the good guys

 

Branding has grown into far more than a marketing buzzword, as an increasing number of organisations recognize and value their brands as strategic assets that are built through deeds, not merely words or images.

When we are talking about brands, what are the key points? 

• the enduring emotional association one has with a particular company or product...its lasting impression.
• branding consists of the strategies and tactics used to deliver a brand's distinction, and brand development is the discovery process used to find that distinction. A good definition of a brand is "A claim of distinction."

 A brand’s image reflects all the associations consumers have for a brand in memory. The strength, favorability and uniqueness of the associations affect the response consumers will have to the brand and to its supporting marketing activities. Associations can be about attributes and benefits of the brand, or attitudes toward it. Attributes, which are descriptive features of a brand, can relate to the actual physical components and ingredients of a brand (product-related) or to such things as the price, imagery, feelings and experiences, and personality associated with the brand (non-product-related).

Benefits derived from a brand may relate to the functional advantages it provides, the symbolic information it conveys, or the experiential feelings it produces. Attitudes, which represent the highest level of brand associations, reflect consumers’ overall evaluations of a brand and, consequently, often determine their behavior toward it.

The strength of associations depends upon the relevance of information consumers encounter about the brand and the consistency with which the information is presented over time. Favourability is a function of the desirability or value of the associations in attitude formation and decision-making, and of their deliverability or performance probability.

Brand Legitimacy gives longer survival, greater ability to withstand attack  

 

With the glut of products (both goods and services) out there, many of which have no discernable differences, sometimes the only way a company or product can stand out is by creating a unique emotional connection with the consumer.

 Creating a brand requires the consistent display of a given set of values over a period of time.

 Building a strong brand involves a series of logical steps: 

1) establishing the proper brand identity, 

2) creating the appropriate brand meaning, 

3) eliciting the right brand responses, and 

4) forging appropriate brand relationships with customers. 

Specifically, according to this model, building a strong brand involves: 

1) establishing breadth and depth of brand awareness; 

2) creating strong, favorable, and unique brand associations; 

3) eliciting positive, accessible brand responses; and 

4) forging intense, active brand relationships. 

Achieving these four steps, in turn, involves establishing six brand building blocks 

• brand salience, 

• brand performance, 

• brand imagery, 

• brand judgments, 

• brand feelings, and 

• brand resonance.

 The value of branding

 The top brands is the one the target market will defend against attack

What do we need to do to establish successful brands?

Types of legitimacy

Simple Legitimacy – functional/legal (not pirated)

Referred legitimacy

Target Market Legitimacy

Structural legitimacy

 “structural moral legitimacy” – whereby the firm becomes a “repository of public confidence”

We all want something to believe in.  Todays sceptical world.  So when we can believe, it becomes more important.

 Can they really trust you/your brand?  Its not a case of “If you can fake sincerity you can fake anything”

Creating a morally legitimate brand identity doesn’t happen by chance. It requires a process, or “road map.” We’ve developed a proprietary process built on best practices and years of experience. Our four-stage process of “absorption, analysis, action, and alliance” provides the structure to actualize and maintain effective brand programs.