Branding

Summary

ビジネスコースの第8週で、マーケティングとブランディングについて学ぶ。マーケティングは販売手法の一環として誤解されるが、製品の顧客への届け方、価格設定、販売促進などを含む広範な概念である。ブランディングは、製品の機能性と企業の価値観を結びつけ、顧客への約束を履行し、信頼と情感を構築する重要な役割を果たす。また、デジタル化によりマーケティング情報の収集と分析が進歩し、顧客の価値観を理解し、製品の市場投入に活かす。ブランディングは、顧客の選択を簡略化し、社会的な地位を向上させるだけでなく、企業自体のストーリーテリングと戦略的選択に寄与する。

Takeaways

• 📈 ブランドは市場での地位を確立し、顧客の選択を簡略化する重要な要素です。
• 🎓 マーケティングは販売手法以上の包括的な概念で、製品の提供から顧客との価値の創造まで幅広く及びます。
• 💡 ブランドは製品の信頼性や品質を保証し、消費者の選択を容易にします。
• 📦 ブランドエクステンションはブランドの価値を損なう可能性があるため、慎重に行う必要があります。
• 🌐 デジタル化は新しいコミュニケーション手段を提供し、マーケティング情報の収集と分析を容易にしています。
• 📝 ブランドストーリーは消費者との共感を築くだけでなく、企業の戦略的選択と実行をガイドします。
• 📉 ブランドの強さは、販売チームやプロモーション戦略の必要性を減少させることができます。
• 💼 ブランドポートフォリオは、市場セグメントの多様性に応えるために企業が取る戦略です。
• 📈 ブランドのポジショニングは、市場セグメントに適応し、総利益を最大化するための鍵です。
• 🛡️ ブランドの保護と管理は、企業の長期的な成功とブランドの持続可能性にとって不可欠です。
• 📖 ブランドの伝達は、文化的背景や顧客の価値観に応じて適応し、効果的にコミュニケーションを行う必要があります。

Q & A

マーケティングとは何ですか？

マーケティングは、製品を販売するための手順や技術だけでなく、顧客との価値を創造、コミュニケーション、提供、交換する一連の活動、組織、プロセスを意味します。また、マーケティングはビジネスの中で非常に広範な概念であり、他のビジネス分野にまで影響を及ぼすほどです。

ブランディングとは何に関係がありますか？

ブランディングはマーケティングと密接に関係しており、製品の販売促進や顧客への届け方だけでなく、製品開発や市場投入のイテレーションプロセス、顧客との共感やブランドアイデンティティの投影に関与します。

デジタル化がマーケティングに与える影響は何ですか？

デジタル化は新しいコミュニケーション手段や販売機会を提供するだけでなく、マーケティング情報の収集と顧客洞察を得るための新たな方法をもたらしました。デジタル手段を通じて特定の消費者の価値観を特定し、売上情報に基づく顧客プロフィールを作成することが可能になりました。

マーケティングの4Pとは何を表しますか？

マーケティングの4Pは、製品（Product）、価格（Price）、場所（Place）、プロモーション（Promotion）を表します。これは製品を市場に投入し、顧客に届ける基本的な戦略要素を意味しています。

ブランディングが社会に与える機能的な役割とは何ですか？

ブランディングは革新を促進し、消費者へのアサーションを提供し、消費者決定を簡素化する役割を果たします。また、ブランディングは社会的進化を促進し、人々を新しい価値観や文化に導くことができます。

ブランドストーリーの伝え方とは何ですか？

ブランドストーリーは、ブランドの起源、文化的背景、創業者について語ることで伝えられます。個人の物語や製品の属性を通じて、消費者がブランドとの情緒的な結びつきやエンゲージメントを形成する可能性が高まります。

広告とマーケティングの関係は何ですか？

広告はマーケティングの一部分であり、製品やブランドの価値を伝える手段です。デジタル広告はターゲットマーケティングを実現し、消費者に対して直接コミュニケーションを取るプロセスを簡素化する役割を果たします。

ブランディングにおける文化的な適応性とは何ですか？

ブランディングの文化的な適応性とは、ブランドが異なる市場や文化に対して適応し、価値観や顧客の期待に応える能力を指します。文化的な適応性はグローバルマーケットで成功するために重要な要素です。

ブランディングのリスクとは何ですか？

ブランディングのリスクには、ブランドの拡張によるブランドアイデンティティの失われ方、不適切なライセンス契約による品質低下、デジタル空間での誤ったステップによるブランドエクイティの低下などがあります。

マーケティング情報とは何ですか？

マーケティング情報は、顧客の価値観、需要、購入行動に関する情報を収集、分析し、製品の価格設定や販売戦略、市場投入に役立てます。デジタル化により、マーケティング情報はより詳細で具体化され、顧客の深層的な洞察を提供できるようになりました。

マーケティング戦略における製品ポジショニングとは何ですか？

製品ポジショニングは、マーケティング戦略の一環として、製品を市場の特定のセグメントに適切に位置づけることです。これにより、総利益を最大化し、競合他社とは差別化された価値提案を提供することができます。

Outlines

00:00

😀 ブランドイントロダクションとマーケティングの基礎

第8週のビジネスコースでブランドについて語り合う。マーケティングは販売手法以上の概念であり、ビジネス実践の中で幅広く適用される。ブランドは市場への製品提供だけでなく、顧客へのメッセージや製品の物理的提示を含む。販売チャンネルは製品の認識と価格に影響し、ディストリビューターに依存する場合、利益率が低下する可能性がある。また、マーケティングは市場調査と情報収集の分野で成長しており、顧客の価値観を理解することが重要だ。

05:00

📈 ブランド拡張とデジタル化の影響

マーケティングフレームワークの4P（製品、価格、場所、プロモーション）とブランドの役割。デジタル化は新しい販売チャンネルを提供し、マーケットインテリジェンスと顧客洞察を通じてビジネスに貢献している。また、ブランドは顧客の選択を簡素化し、信頼性とアイデンティティを提供する。教育機関のブランドは特に重要で、それが開放的な動態をもたらす。

10:02

🛍 ブランドの社会的な役割

ブランドは社会的に重要な役割を果たし、新しさに対抗する障壁を取り除く。ブランドは顧客を新しい経験へと導くことができ、社会的にも進化を促す。また、ブランドは製品の信頼性と品質を保証し、顧客が製品を選ぶ際の決定を簡略化する。

15:03

🎓 ブランドと製品の個性

製品の個々の部品やパーツがブランド化されている例と、それが製品の価値を伝える手段となっていること。ブランドは製品の機能性を超えた価値を提供し、顧客が製品を選ぶ際の決定を簡略化する。また、ブランドは顧客の地位を向上させ、人々がブランドを通じて自己表現を行う方法となっている。

20:04

📈 ブランド Narrationと市場へのアプローチ

ブランドは企業の物語を伝え、市場での地位を定める。企業は市場で価値提案を見つけ、それを顧客に伝える必要がある。また、企業は市場での自己定位を明確にし、競合他社とは異なる価値を提供する必要がある。製品の外観やデザインは、企業の独自性を見せる手段であり、顧客が製品を選ぶ際の決定を影響する。

25:04

🛒 ブランド拡張とそのリスク

ブランド拡張は魅力的だが、ブランドのイメージを損なう可能性がある。企業はGREEDを抑え、ブランドの価値を守る必要がある。また、ブランドは市場に投入されると制御不能になるため、拡張は慎重に計画される必要がある。さらに、広告とマーケティングはブランドの認識を向上させるための重要な手段であり、デジタルプラットフォームを通じてターゲットされた広告が行われている。

30:06

🌐 ブランドのデジタル世界的での管理

デジタル空間でのブランド管理は個人にとっても重要であり、ソーシャルメディアで個人は自分自身のブランドを形成している。オンラインでの情報は長期にわたって検索可能であり、個人のブランドイメージを損なう行為を避けなければならない。

Keywords

💡ブランディング

ブランディングとは、企業や製品のイメージや価値を市場に伝えるプロセスを指します。ビデオでは、ブランディングが消費者への本物性と感情的なエンゲージメントを投影する方法として重要であると説明されています。たとえば、ビデオでは、ブランドが顧客の信頼を獲得し、製品の価値を伝える役割を持つと述べています。

💡マーケティング

マーケティングは、製品やサービスを市場に提供し、販売することであり、顧客との間に価値を創造、伝達、配布するプロセスです。ビデオでは、マーケティングが販売だけでなく、マーケティングインテリジェンスや顧客理解を含む包括的な概念であることが強調されています。

💡デジタル化

デジタル化は、ビジネスプロセスやコミュニケーションをデジタル技術によって変革するプロセスを指します。ビデオでは、デジタル化が新しいコミュニケーションの機会や販売チャンスを提供するだけでなく、マーケティング情報や顧客洞察を得るための手段にもなっていると説明されています。

💡製品拡張

製品拡張とは、既存のブランド名を使用して新しい製品カテゴリーに進出することを指します。ビデオでは、ブランド拡張がブランドイメージを損なう可能性があるため、慎重に行う必要があると警告しています。たとえば、ドルチェ＆ガッバーナがベルトバックルなどのエントリーレベル製品にブランド拡張し、ブランドイメージに否定的な連想をもたらしたと述べています。

💡マーケティングミックスの4P

マーケティングミックスの4Pは、製品（Product）、価格（Price）、場所（Place）、プロモーション（Promotion）の4つの要素を意味します。ビデオでは、これらの要素がどのようにブランド構築に寄与し、市場への製品提供戦略を決定する上で重要な役割を果たすかが説明されています。

💡ブランドポートフォリオ

ブランドポートフォリオは、一つの企業が所有する複数のブランドを指します。ビデオでは、ルクソティカグループが多くのファッション ブランドのライセンスを持ち、eyedotやモスクワなどの独自のブランドを持っており、これにより市場セグメントに応じた製品を提供できると説明されています。

💡セグメント戦略

セグメント戦略とは、市場を細分化し、それぞれのセグメントに対して異なる製品やブランドを提供することで、顧客の多様性に対応する戦略です。ビデオでは、ユニクロやムジなどの基本的な製品と、個性的でSIGNATUREなデザインピースを組み合わせることで、顧客の個性や好みを表現することができると述べています。

💡広告

広告は、製品やサービスを宣伝し、市場に知らしめるためのコミュニケーション手段です。ビデオでは、デジタル広告がターゲット顧客への直接的なコミュニケーションを可能にし、マーケティングの的確さを高める方法となり、また、影響者マーケティングなど新たな広告手法が登場したと説明されています。

💡企業社会责任（CSR）

企業社会责任は、企業が社会的に責任を持つ行動をとり、環境や社会の持続可能性に貢献することを意味します。ビデオでは、CSRについて、企業が利益追求だけでなく、社会的価値を創造することが重要であり、利益と社会的責任のバランスを取ることが求められていると述べています。

💡パーソナルブランド

パーソナルブランドは、個人が所有するブランドであり、自己プロモーションやイメージ構築を通じて形作られます。ビデオでは、デジタルプロフィールを持つ人々が自分自身をブランド化し、ソーシャルメディア上でブランドとして振る舞う必要があると強調されています。

Highlights

Branding is about projecting authenticity and emotional engagement to consumers.

Marketing is a comprehensive notion, often criticized as just a set of selling tricks.

The importance of understanding consumer's perception of a product's value proposition for strategic pricing.

The role of marketing intelligence in turning information into actionable knowledge.

Digitization presents new opportunities for market intelligence and customer insight.

The classic marketing framework of the four Ps: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.

Branding's role in product development and the iterative process of market resonance.

The challenge of aligning a firm's practice with its self-narrative and product.

Brands offer assurance and identity, simplifying consumer decisions.

The psychological function of brands and their value to society.

Brands can lead to innovation by overcoming audience resistance.

The importance of a brand's story being easily communicable and relatable.

Strong brands have pulling power and can create demand for products.

The strategic choice between standardized goods at lower prices or product differentiation at higher prices.

The concept of brand portfolios and the benefits of multiple brands owned by one company.

Segmentation strategy in identifying and responding to differences within a general market.

The risks of brand extension and the potential loss of brand control.

The importance of a brand's digital presence, starting with domain name availability.

The impact of digital communications on advertising and the promise of targeted marketing.

Transcripts

so this week in week 8

of the introduction to business course

here in sills in

wasser university we're talking about

branding and

this presentation provides an overview

and there are also

several supplementary presentations that

i will be

giving on particular issues such as

brand extension

and talking about particular artifacts

of effective branding

that will give some insight into how one

can project authenticity and

emotional engagement to consumers

so

the first thing we ought to do is

actually give some consideration to what

we actually mean by marketing because

marketing

is uh often criticized it's often seen

often seen as just a

set of tricky endeavors to try and sell

a product to people who

may not buy it otherwise or may not want

to pay the price that you would like

people to pay

but let's engage with what's really

understood by marketing because it's a

far more comprehensive notion

in fact it's become such

an expansive notion in business that to

some degree it's it's

eating into cannibalizing even other

uh disciplinary areas within business

practice

and then we'll see also there are

fundamental questions about what is the

the relationship between our

understanding of branding which is our

topic

and marketing

so we can think of marketing in the

narrow sense first of all the popular

but rather too limited sense

as just a bunch of tools and techniques

for selling or as people would cynically

say sometimes

upselling but actually the selling

component is very important for

businesses too

and any successful business going must

have this sorted out

you have to think about well first of

all how you're actually going to get

your product to the customer in the

first place

put it in front of your customer either

in terms of its of the messaging or the

physical presentation of the product the

actual

getting the product to the consumer uh

before a sale is made or after a sale if

you've engaged the customers online and

then you need to

to distribute that's the easy bit

fundamentally

when you have to put your product

through various distribution channels

and those distribution channels can have

an impact on the very perception of the

product and

therefore consumers preparedness to pay

a certain price

then these are some pretty important

strategic

issues also of course if you're

dependent

upon third parties to distribute your

product typically

the you know the shopkeeper or

wholesalers

a whole bunch of people can be involved

in the the chain of distribution of a

product

then your profitability is going to be

diminished because everyone of course

wants

their margin as well for handling your

product

and so direct selling is the ideal if

you actu actually can do it if you can

get people to commit to selling online

and then just pay a small cost for

direct shipping

but then of course it opens up so many

other challenges of getting consumers to

find your product

in the first place so the communications

function

the distribution function and uh

actually getting people to commit to the

product quite aside from the persuasive

elements of that

the most fundamental issues of getting

your pricing right

one has to price with a view to your

competition

but also a view very much to how

customers perceive

the the total value of your own product

and so understanding the consumer's

sense

of the value proposition that you

represent to them not just to

strategically

try and enhance that but to try and

optimize the pricing so that in a sense

you don't leave money on the table

that if consumers are prepared to pay

more you get them to

to pay more is a significant part of

marketing and of course a lot of that

involves research

it involves understanding your customers

and your potential customers

and so a significant component of what

we understand is the growing field of

marketing is around marketing

intelligence

so we're talking about fundamentally

information and making sense of

information

turning it into knowledge actionable

knowledge

gaining insight into the customer their

values

and that will therefore inform both

tactical decisions short term about

what your pricing should be for example

and where you should sell your product

and then longer term strategic decisions

about what actual kinds of products you

should be putting in the market

uh what potential customer segments

should be

should you be chasing and we'll talk

further about that in a moment

of course the process of digitization

presents new communications

opportunities new selling opportunities

but it also presents very significant

informational opportunities too

we have unprecedented capability

to identify particular consumers values

through the messages they send the

things they like for example through

social media

through information they may choose to

share themselves

and so much information at hand in

digital form

about our own sales you know the most

elementary things for example in the

supermarket of

what things are brought together at what

time and ideally if you can get people

to sign up to

a loyalty card for example where they

give you some information about

themselves

and then the the details of their

payment and even linking it to their

uh a particular kind of payment identity

as well

allows the possibility to create

uh profiles of customers and get deep

insights

uh into consumer behavior and that

could potentially grow your customer

base or even if the

the customer base stays constant to get

better pricing for example so

digitization

and the wealth of information that's out

there

has led to a huge array

of new ventures new applications

uh to try and gain market intelligence

and customer insight

through digital means and everyone

involved

in processes of selling in

business services and uh

advertising and whatnot are all talking

the language of digital and digital

transformation

now the classic marketing framework uh

is much broader obviously

than just this notion of selling

and as i've just said selling of course

is very important

but it does start with this basic

premise well what actually are we going

to sell particularly to what particular

customers so one way of getting at this

in classic marketing framework was the

notion of the four ps

product what are they going to sell

price for how much place where you

where are you going to sell it and

promotion you know how are you going to

how are you going to sell it how are you

going to promote it getting it to the

customer in the first place

so branding is obviously a key part and

the consequence of this decision set

um it's about promotion but it's more

than that

product development and the ongoing

iterative dynamics of this of putting

products in the marketplace of finding

what resonates with customers what

doesn't

what aspects of your own

[Music]

character origins as a company

more likely to engage customers in the

first place

in short what is your own dna as it were

as a

as a business where are you coming from

and how is that valued or not valued by

customers all of these things will feed

into

the development projection of your own

brand uh identity

so when we think about marketing

uh we can see that obviously a lot of uh

professionals and uh academic

stakeholders as well such as the

american marketing association

uh have given a lot of thought to how we

actually define marketing

and we've got a couple of definitions

here as well they can become

very expensive you know for example the

american marketing association here

speaks of the activity

set of institutions and processes for

creating

communicating delivering and exchanging

offerings

that have value for customers clients

partners and society at large

now that's a very expensive definition

when we start to talk about the set of

institutions

that's all the the firm and all the

stakeholders whether it's advertising

agencies

market researchers everyone involved in

effectively developing

products as well too so the designers

and whatnot as well

so uh it's probably too broad a

definition an academic academic

field obviously likes to have expensive

horizons that's understandable

so we're going to stay a little bit more

focused on branding and a subset of the

issues with

marketing here but we also

need to note too that branding branding

can seem rather

narrow but branding can seem even more

comprehensive

even larger

and particularly when we start to think

of it as a managerial

challenge if we look at these slides

here the

third point i've got where we say

brandon can become very wide in scope if

it includes the managerial challenge

of aligning a firm or organization's

practice

with its own self-narrative and product

that is becoming what you say you are

okay

so you make claims about your product

and your

and your company uh to to

project value uh and to try and drive

customer emotional engagement

attachment to your brand um and then to

make sure you actually deliver on that

promise

you know that uh the functional products

uh promises of the products which means

that there's a lot of

a lot of technical engineering design

obligations to be continuing innovating

your product to make sure that delivers

as you

as you promise and a lot of basic

production quality

quality control requirement issues there

but then also that your your

values and presumably we are projecting

some decent values if we want people to

engage with us emotionally as a company

that those values are not undermined by

poor conduct or just mismanagement of

the enterprise itself

so being what you say you are is

actually

quite a challenge for an enterprise just

like it's a challenge for us

as individuals so i don't think we want

to

fall into a too expansive notion um

of course we you know under the rubric

of uh or the rationale of branding to

talk about

you know constantly remaking a company

for example uh

that that means that we can succumb to

some fuzzy thinking

um but at the same time uh i think it is

very worthwhile to

to focus on what i say here in this

final highlighted point

that managers must make sure that the

firm is

true to its brand story in all aspects

of what it does so this becomes a good

decision

rule when companies might be tempted to

cut costs in wrong ways to to take

shortcuts for example

uh that would be inconsistent with at

odds with the kind of values

uh they're communicating to customers

so let's step back and talk more

generally about the royal brands okay

how do brands actually function how they

function psychologically what kind of

value do they add to society

because that that um notion of marketing

as

uh just some kind of what cheeky or

irresponsible

way of just upselling things to people

and there's been a narrative about this

you know that the branding society

is all about creating artificial wants

and trapping people in an endless cycle

of desires

consume consume consume we've heard all

these narratives sometimes this comes

from

environmental activists sometimes it

comes from anti-capitalist

critics for example you know people like

famous

writers in the past like naomi klein for

example were

asserting that

brands effectively were giving people

what false or needless desires

trapping them in this in this culture of

consumption

now even if there's some truth in this

it's easy to

overlook the very important roles

functional roles that brands represent

in society and indeed the the way that

actually brands

can help society evolve in interesting

ways

one of the critical things that a brand

does if we think about the role

of an individual say artists or

designers

name or a writer's name for example that

effectively functions as a brand

what what the brand does there is it

very often

allows innovation one of the biggest

barriers to innovation is actually just

audience resistance an artist wants to

do something new

a designer has a completely different

approach for example

maybe there's some new materiality new

technical solutions available

but we tend to be cautious in general

consumers

audiences particularly in say the

cultural industries are very cautious

um so we you know we're we're

comfortable with the familiar

but for example the realm of the arts

and designers is often to confront us

with new solutions to old problems or to

bring new problems

to our attention so

if we develop a certain faith in the

vision of a designer or an

artist or a company or whatever then

that brand that they represent us can

lead us to another place

okay to a positive place

the writer for example he won a lot of

new fans with his

um book norwegian wood and then that led

uh them to read other things by him they

went to a place

where they probably wouldn't have gone

otherwise in terms of literature because

some of his work is

is much more challenging much less

approachable for example

um tom ford uh it's been said that tom

ford made

uh when he was creative director at

gucci

you know that he made brown fashionable

again um

because he could did some did some

innovative things in terms of

the visual language of gucci and

shifted the culture um the more

suitcases for example

um it's precisely because limu had such

a strong reputation for literally strong

robust luggage that

they could be a pioneer in introducing

lightweight polycarbonate suitcases with

zips for example

and the very fact that their brand was

associated with reliability

effectively allowed consumers

to move to embrace a new technology that

they might not have considered otherwise

and so what's happening brands are

offering assurance they're offering

assurance and they're offering identity

and both of those things are

very important fundamentally too brands

also just simplify

consumer decisions okay if you're in a

hurry to buy something

if money is less scarce for you than

time is

and that's very often the case if you

have to make a decision quickly

you'll grab the product from the brand

that you already know

that you have a significant degree of

trust in

okay and of course uh universities

benefit enormously from this

you know wasser university its brand is

absolutely

critical to all we do it is enabling uh

a benefit for me in being a faculty

member at wasser is it helps me to get

through doors

to talk to people um that i wouldn't do

otherwise uh

i can bask to some degree in the

reflected glory of the

the wacita brand and one hopes then that

the university is selective

in who they allow to be associated with

that brand and so it actually

strengthens the brand

and then it becomes a mutually

reinforcing dynamic

so in in normal consumer markets what

happens is it effectively brands help to

reduce

search costs and decision types and the

more

complex the product the more this is the

case

psychologically what also happens here

is that brands are shifting

responsibility from the consumers in

some sense

as i say here you know you buy a toyota

because you placed a premium on a

reliable car

and this is where i grew up in australia

great distances out in the country for

example

a reliable car is a fundamental thing

when you're 100 kilometers away from the

next town

in the days before mobile phones 200

kilometers away from a public phone

the last thing you want to do is break

down okay

so toyota became the best-selling car

for people in remote areas particularly

the

seemingly indestructible toyota hilux

for example is still the

go-to vehicle for example in the mining

industry

because it is just so fundamentally

associated with uh reliability

so people

not being able to ascertain before they

buy the product is this a reliable

car or not the toyota brand will give

them

very significant assurance okay

we all understand of course that brands

can enhance your status

that's what so much lux is about a lot

of people who consume

luxury products that make a

make a big display of their own

brandedness

okay because there are some that are not

there are some lux products that

they're very discreet and only the truly

truly discerning can

can recognize them and the real selling

proposition is maybe not a stylistic

factor but maybe they're

um profoundly high quality so people

might discern high quality but they're

not quite sure what the brand is

that's that's separate for many brands

they literally shout what they are

okay um and brands that even if they

were very storied in terms of their

creativity have often been reduced now

to

the brand in itself as a sign of status

there's a lot of people getting around

with valencia

you know uh baseball caps with just the

white font

uh on the black black background for

example or supreme

supreme is kind of like famous for being

famous fundamental fundamentally

and stickers that you can put on

everything

so supremely kind of everywhere okay so

brands are enhancing the status of their

customers in this sense

but of course that only works for other

with uh other people who value that

brand

uh there may be some people who have uh

supreme allergy you know they see

supreme everywhere and so they're

they're kind of not supreme

in a snowboarding industry for example

there is the anything but burton effect

uh because burton has been

so prominent in the snowboarding

industry that there are lots of people

who

you know don't want to be seeing gunners

head to toe burton even if the product

is good

so they're very often contrarian just as

there are some people who

are quite contrarian and don't want to

have an apple phone for example

precisely because so many people have

you know have an iphone

but we know that everything is branded

is well almost everything is branded

these days okay

uh you'll find them in so many places

components are increasingly branded uh

this is a

skateboard okay and so the the wheels

are branded the

uh the mountings are branded you look at

a snowboard you know your

your bindings are set your bindings are

bought separately so they're separately

branded for example

and um even various parts of a product

you might buy

are separately branded or they might

embody several several distinctive

brands

you may buy outdoor wear for example

which is

co-branded with gore-tex or ykk or

some other brand which speaks to

attributes

robust zips and the waterproofness of

the fabric that's used for example

as well as the brand of the the product

itself

so brands very much

embody and express values and more and

more

companies try and explicitly develop

narratives around the origins of their

brands

try and project certain values they

don't try and be everything to everybody

they want a clear value proposition

that hopefully uh our proportion of the

market will

deeply engage with for example in the

car industry

uh to have five percent uh

market share is to be a very successful

car company

if you were to nudge up to say eight

percent

market share uh you would be one of the

uh the most successful car companies in

the world

so it's not that everyone has to uh

want your product um love your product

uh you want a uh only you know maybe one

in ten people

to desire to own your car uh your

your particular brand and one in eight

to actually go through with the purchase

and to feel very positive about it and

to share their positivity with others

so that you can keep eight percent of

the market for example

so one of the things we we can think

about is

when we're looking about jumping into a

market or making sense of an existing

market

um one of the things we have to do is to

engage with what all the existing brands

in the market stand for in terms of

values

and to and to then ask ourselves are

there other customers in the market

who value potentially uh other things

that are not being currently served so

to some degree you can think of your

positioning in the market in terms

of your relative values positioning as

much as anything else

of course some markers characterize

purely by functionality

and and so values don't particularly

matter at all

but i think another thing that people

tend to overlook

is that brands are not just speaking to

immediate customers

brands are as much a story about

yourself what you do and what you don't

do

okay what you won't compromise on

and to remind you to stay

focused okay to not get distracted

because one of the challenges is when

you're out there

uh in markets

you'll often get lots of new business

leads you'll see new potential you could

you could

chase so many different business

opportunities and the great danger is

you dissipate your energies

i think every student knows this you

know there are

so many things you can be doing with

your time as a student there are so many

clubs you can join

there are so many people who want to

hire you in part-time jobs for example

one of the great dangers having a

part-time job as a student

is you'll probably be a very valuable

employee and they'll be wanting to give

you more and more hours and even try and

turn you into a

uh you know a kind of a part-time

manager for example of where you're

working at the

you know yakinis yakiniku restaurant or

whatever

and so you actually have to be able to

guard yourself and to say no my primary

endeavor here is

is to be a hard studying focused

motivated

student okay

so it's a lot of messaging to yourself

narrative about what are we in this

business

for what are our key goals what's our

strategy

what do we do what don't we do and so

brands are telling stories to customers

to the manager of the firms to all

employees to suppliers

so the guide strategic choice and

implementation

of strategy so brands are called firm

resources

okay and obviously uh

reputation is built slowly

and often expensively but also damaged

very easily

so another part of brands in terms of

building it is

ultimately brands function better if

they have

stories uh that are easily communicable

uh that people can internalize that

people can associate with

human beings are natural storytellers

you know before

uh humankind uh developed

the capability of codifying text

and and all the rest of it they were

oral storytellers

and so so much of transmission of

knowledge from one generation to another

on really basic things like sources of

food and how to treat them

and various dangers in communities and

whatnot

were part of oral storytelling you know

human beings their brains have evolved

in this kind of way

to be easily drawn into stories

and to recall stories and to tell

stories you know this is

sort of why you get caught up binge

watching

streaming television okay netflix

or or amazon prime or whatever um

even if you know it's rubbish even if

you know it's kind of cheap if it's not

really a thing you know you really want

to find who killed the

uh you know who did it okay um we are

naturally

inclined to be drawn into

stories if they're persuasive stories so

what kind of stories well

tales of origins place cultural milieu

out of which they come about the founder

too few companies actually um

personalize their uh their brand story

uh

but actually naturally of course human

beings are evolved from living in

small-scale communities

and so forming an emotional affiliation

or attachment

um to individuals and their individual

story in terms of founding the british

business and maybe how then it meant

when it it manifests in attributes of

the product for example

the service makes you more likely to be

engaged with that

company more likely to spend money on

them one of the clever things that

app designers do if they're selling

their apps is to make their story very

clear

so that you know hey you know this this

particular app which serves some good

functional purposes and is well reviewed

is also done made by this really

interesting solo program and dude in

zurich

and he's living by this and he's got a

cat and

a kid and um seems like it seems like a

nice

guy and so yeah yeah why not all

i'll buy is that okay um it's uh you

know that in a sense there is a digital

artisanal kind of element there

um brand stats are able to

show the process of their making and get

people engaged with it

whether projecting artisanal or crafted

properties

have a huge advantage here okay but very

often they

forget to tell their story because one

of the critical things is that the

better made product

the better the product is the better

made it is

the more refined it is um often the

simpler it looks like so many things

it's like a good swimmer makes look

swimming it makes swimming look easily

okay

easy um when a product is very well done

we don't see the signs of the struggle

okay so actually revealing through

for example digital media the nature in

the making of the product

allows a greater sense of customers

appreciation of what goes into making it

literally you know what goes into this

effort-wise materiality

and all the rest of it and therefore

preparedness to pay a higher price

so of course the product attributes

themselves must mirror those story okay

it has it has to have the resolution

that you're trying to show to customers

so the material the form the function

the aesthetics all must cohere

so brand narratives are really powerful

resource

for consumer engagement they're

generally not accidental

good products really sell themselves

unfortunately

because they're not readily

understandable

even if they function well the effort

that's gone on

into them is not readily understandable

so of course you have to get out there

and communicate value and each culture

it's

going to be a little bit different how

you do this so it's partly about

communicating functionality product

partly about giving a message

to an audience in a way that it will

respond well to this is actually

an advertisement here for a peugeot or

french car

it's a few years old now but i sent this

picture in in italy

and um it's a small car with sliding

doors

now in small towns in italy uh

where the old streets of these medieval

towns and cities are very very narrow

sliding doors are hugely convenient okay

like in japan japanese car parks

uh we we know this opening doors are

really difficult to get in and out

and so there's a very clear value

proposition there but they've gone

further they're obviously pitching it

largely to women

and uh the italian there which is

somewhat obscured um translates as a

simple car for a complicated woman

okay and you know italian women enjoy

being complicated

okay that has implications in japanese

like kimozugashi

and uh no

no yeah difficult to kind of deal with

um that's fine okay in the in the in the

italian context

so you know you can be a prima donna and

whatnot

um but you want to have you know you you

want to

have your passage through your day

finessed

okay while you're also being elegant as

well so

strong brands i think we all understand

have have pulling power okay they create

demand for product

okay so consumers will demand renown

products from retailers

if you go along to bik yodabashi fully

intending to buy an apple computer

you're very unlikely to be persuaded by

a salesperson to buy a windows pc

instead

okay this is also why apple

scarcely discounts their products at all

to their retailers in fact they don't um

so that if you go to bic and you buy an

apple device

they will give you only say two percent

points

unlike most products where the brands

are not strong we say bic will give you

10

points just simply because apple will

not discount um to their through their

retail channels even large volume retail

channels because their brand is just so

incredibly strong

okay um apple will make you wait

because you will wait okay um it's very

clear that the quickest way to get an

apple product

um is to go to the apple store online

and buy it

even the face-to-face apple store is

kind of limited and after time you go in

there and you're directed to the

to the store online so they have taken

complete control of the distribution

and they can do that because their brand

is incredibly strong

okay so this is massively empowers the

brand owner

you don't need expensive sale teams or

product placement strategies

brands that are not very strong

often have expensive sales teams who are

pounding the pavement

going out there begging retailers for

example to

stock their product so in terms

of tales of origin and place you know we

see this often with lux

you know cartier you know jewel is here

since 1847.

okay this gives a very firm it gives a

focus to the firm

and communicates value to the customers

but anyway so brands have a very clear

strategic uh

choice they companies can with their

product

uh they either tend to go for

standardized goods at lower prices in

large volumes

or they go from for product

differentiation and that depends on

product attributes

product stories being different and

selling in smaller volumes typically and

the implication here is you normally

have to get customers

to pay a higher price for that because

you don't have the economies of scale

it is difficult to achieve both

a quick point to note is in traditional

industries the firm's name

um uh was the brand and

um it was

clearly embodied obviously symbolically

as well traditionally in japan in

japanese

traditional industries and it uh

very often then grew from that from the

company name

uh to be a uh a product brand as well

in a whole range of cases but at the

same time we see brand portfolios this

is multiple brands owned by one company

sometimes this is organic they create

new products new brands sometimes they

do this some through acquisition

sometimes it's a bit of both

exotic are the largest glasses

frame manufacturing well these are not

looks all together um

these are moscow which is very distinct

um family-owned business

but so many brands that you recognize

that were once independent companies

have been

brought into the exotica group because

luxottica's great strength is in their

manufacturing their quality control

their sales

their distribution and so they do

so many brand extension products

under license as a list here top fashion

brands

that when they move into sunglasses the

accessory business extending their brand

they go to exotica and do a licensing

arrangement

a company that has been very much a

commodity based on

a producer

that had effectively a pricing strategy

fast retailing which owns unicode

have also gone for at the same time

uh certain premium brands as well that

they've picked up through

acquisition primarily um thinking that

some synergies between the two

so for example fast retailing owns

theory and helmut lang

effectively what we see is a

segmentation strategy

that firms identify and respond to

differences within a general market

there are some people who will pay 30

thousand yen for a pair of jeans

uh there are lots of people who don't

wanna pay more than three thousand in

for a pair of jeans

okay um and as a

consequence there are different segments

in the market

different levels of price sensitiveness

orientation to quality

for example and sometimes even if the

quality is kind of close

people just want something that's

differentiated they just want something

that's

although functionally may be the same

design wise stylistically they want

something that is unusual they want

a signature piece okay a point of

differentiation

and of course customers are often mixing

and matching there's a lot of people who

who buy their basics at muji at unicrow

and then mix them with um signature

design pieces

as well that express their own character

their own tastes

and another important point is that you

can have exactly the same product

exactly the same brand but the different

people in the market will

put different values on that uh what

that means

is that some people will be so keen to

have it when when for example a new

update comes out

other people are prepared to wait

because they're they're less committed

to it

and so they're prepared to wait for the

product to be

um on a sale or even second hand

for example so this leads to various

tactics by companies to

bring out different versions to respond

to the different price points to try and

maximize revenue

you see this for example really hardcore

fans of a band

buying merchandise bundled in with say

the release of

some new music

and maybe the concert experience

you know often through things like fan

club practices

and whatnot you can create premium

versions

that the really committed customers will

pay a

higher price for so

effectively what we need is what we call

product positioning

you need to target each segment

appropriately

to maximize total profitability this

often means

that it makes sense for companies to not

compete in some segments

okay now reasons for that there might be

intense competition

low profit margins maybe technological

prowess they're not particularly strong

in a certain segment

and so they don't want to risk their

brand by

not being able to deliver on the say the

quality of the brand experience

that one might hope so in this

fundamental sense

strategy becomes what you choose

not to do i think many of you will

understand this okay

you have this yourselves okay you're

making hard-headed decisions about

where you will direct your energies or

not direct your energies

so the goal is is so often

in business to think about your usp your

unique selling proposition

okay you need to understand your market

position or your potential market

position

and find a segment in which you can

offer a distinctive value proposition

this is the goal

ideally find a category to be number one

in okay

sometimes this is about discovering a

latent category

uh finding an area where you can add

more value than competitors in the

market

but then actually going through a bit of

a process of educating customers

to the to the value that that is

in a sense expanding customers horizons

expanding the range of what they value

telling a story about what you do and

why customers

uh should value it for example becoming

people more um

helping customers to become more design

centered

um functional attributes of the product

i would say or

of a toyota might be extraordinarily

persuasive relative to your own product

but you may have the uh the edge in

design

so perhaps this is about to some degree

nudging consumers toward a great

appreciation of the aesthetics of

of of the product category don't just

buy a car based on functionality hey all

cars are pretty reliable these days but

if you're going to in tokyo you're going

to be in tokyo where you're never

ever far away from help if the car

breaks down anyway um

looking good may be a far more important

thing

and you know think twice don't buy an

ugly car okay

okay reliable car is good but do you

want reliable and ugly

okay get reliable and attractive

oh and we're more attractive okay if in

fact that is where you

think you have a distinctive competence

okay

uh and there's a very important point

here it's really difficult to convince

people that they've been wrong

people don't want to be told that

they've got it wrong because it's not

just that they got it wrong about

something

their self-confidence about their

ability to act

wisely in their own interests

this is a kind of belief that's always a

little bit fragile

because we're making decisions all the

time for ourselves no one wants to feel

like they're a sucker no

you know that you you've been a fool

because this is a generalizable

set of implications so it's not just hey

you bought the wrong car

yeah you're a dumb ass and something so

fundamentally you got wrong so if you

got that

wrong maybe maybe you married the wrong

person maybe you bought the wrong house

maybe you went to the wrong university

um

maybe that shirt you're wearing you

think it's you think it's good but

actually it's ugly you know

so it becomes very corrosive a lack of

self-confidence in your own judgment

so trying to tell people they've got

things wrong um

is not the way to encourage an emotional

engagement with your product or your

brand

or just to get people listening to you

people tend to get very very defensive

so the implication here is instead

that what you want to do is expand the

horizons

of customers concern

get them to expand in a sense the the

things that they care about add that

extra thing that you can do better than

the others

better than the supplier of whatever

product they bought last time rather

than yours

and moreover not just add that concern

but

but lead them to value that concern

over what was the unique selling

proposition

of your competitor that won their

attention

last time round so

one of the biggest dilemmas is when you

do have a strong brand

uh you've got to preserve it and one of

the biggest dangers

in terms of preserving your brand is

yourself and getting greedy

because if people like your product

you're very tempted to

particularly if it's a brand a kind of a

lux brand for example to start putting

on a lot of things

to engage in what we call brand

extension and i've made a separate

video where i'm kind of kind of playing

with ideas of what wasser could do in

terms of brand extension

okay um there is a there is a case here

dolce gabbana d

g uh quite an exclusive italian

fashion brand it was a bit edgy um and

with brand extension they

they did a lot of belt buckles for

example and a lot of people who couldn't

buy most of the dolce gabbana product

uh bought the entry level kind of

products you know the belt buckles

and to be blunt um it took on

sort of negative associations in some

markets such as france and whatnot

uh you know in fact you know people

people would quit in some context

um if you see a dng buckle you see a

drug dealer

you know that's just not the way you

want your brand to be associated

so this is a fundamental problem you you

can lose control

of your brand and its brand identity if

you just kind of put it out there and

you are putting it out there because you

you can't just decide who you're going

to sell this to or not sell this to

um you know universities are in this

interesting position when we make a

decision

when we're in a privileged position when

we can choose about who we admit and who

we don't admit

so part of it is well do we kind of want

this person representing us

okay well with blind entrance exams in

the interests of fairness we actually

don't do that um but in institutions

that have had submission

admission interviews for example that

has been part of the part of the thing

you know do we do we want this person

representing us

this is an issue when you when you're

hiring people well when you put your

brand out in the market you lack you can

lose control of it um price

can be uh one

filter but

sometimes there are some wealthy people

out there who

may be don't bring the necessary dignity

or

gravity associated with the with your

brand

so this is a problem with lux brands in

general you know that

um gangsters um the

footballers wives and girlfriends

pejorative kind of reference you know

that people who have money but don't

necessarily

have you know the class you would like

your brand to be associated with

can present you very significant

branding challenges

okay um so

we can see so many brand examples um

i talked about them in a video for

example an itzka tiger very famous for

shoes and i've extended it to some other

products in a limited way

todd's extended into handbags again very

famous for shoes it makes sense

if you go too far then

people may just get simply sick of

seeing the brand and i would suggest

that

this has been the problem with supreme

that they

very much developed a business model

where they created constant buzz by

dropping new products regularly

under the supreme brand but eventually

what has supreme

become supreme has become stickers that

you can kind of brand extend anything

with okay

um to a remarkable number of university

students

you know have a supreme sticker on their

uh apple laptop for example which is on

the one hand very clever

for supreme it gives them a lot of brand

profile

uh but there is the problem that people

may get sick of seeing it it may become

a cliche so you certainly don't

see louis vuitton selling stickers for

example

okay and you don't see them discounting

and the ceo of lvmh

has been very very clear on this that

you won't see our product on a sale

so very selective also about their

distribution channels

when you start licensing your product

and whatnot this presents even more

complexities

because the the licensees might do

things with your brand

that you wouldn't choose to do yourself

diminishing the quality of it

so licensing arrangements are normally

wrapped in

very tight legal

uh restrictions about what can and can't

be done

with the brand now if you're in a

process of creating a brand

you know do do start off optimistic

okay when you're making decisions about

things like naming and whatnot

um there is lock-in the worst thing you

can do is to create a brand for example

with the naming that either culturally

doesn't carry across very well like this

one

i'm not even going to get into why this

is not a good one in english um

but really really basic things like if

you can't get the dot-com

or the you know the relevant url um if

you can't

actually get the trademark protection

that you you want in

other countries because the brand has

been being

associated already with with other

businesses

then you've got a serious problem my

very firm advice is before you create a

brand

um just get on a domain name

registration website any of them

register.com

or one i oneidadirectnic.com there's so

many of them

and just go looking um my own view is if

you

can't get the dot-com or some other you

know catchy take

on your brand around the dot-com don't

do

it you know you you must be able to have

the most

basic digital presence there because in

many ways whether you can get the domain

name is a good proxy

good proxy measure for whether other

people sort of have already

thought of using this name you know

anywhere in the world

can register the the domain name

and so you would think that if someone's

already gone and started to build a

brand

presence then they would have also gone

after the dot dot-com

so use that as a starting point and if

you

come up with a clever name and the

dot-com is available

it's kind of like winning the lottery

these days

so a little bit on on advertising um

of course digital communications has

dramatically changed the landscape

okay there's so many more ways in which

you can

target consumers directly through still

paid paid media

okay um effectively what you're doing is

you're buying attention now tradition

has been analog whether it's billboards

or places in newspapers or you know

spot advertisements or whatever more and

more that's that's obviously digital

platforms

okay um now historically before you

could target customers

in as you can digitally uh effectively

it was very much

broad broad-based communication a

television commercial of course was

for for everybody and so there are lots

of businesses which never paid for

television

advertising you know this is this is an

interesting thing you go into a country

town and you see tractors advertised

you don't see tractors advertised in the

city okay the advertising is too

expensive

in the country town the advertising is

cheaper and there's also more people

likely to buy a tractor so that might

actually

you know make sense okay so

digital advertising leads to

the promise of more targeted marketing

more targeted advertising directly

communicating to people

um and so that's the that's the the

promise

there uh we s uh

see very often that there is

bought attention paid digital promotions

that may like

may not look like advertisements

um but nonetheless is

uh bought media or at least bought

attention paying influences for example

to endorse products is

a classic example and of course it's a

simple transaction based on the number

of

followers someone has and then the

question of the market fit between the

brand and the

and the followers of the particular

influencer for example

so of course it's much bigger than paid

promotions and the holy grail

really for branding is to not have to go

out

and buy attention at all okay

that you can earn attention and elon

musk

and his persona what he's done with with

tesla

is a very substantial example of this

you know tesla doesn't need to

go out there and heavily advertise for a

very simple reason that um

elon musk has just you know got the

brand so much attention in the first

place

now of course you still have to tell

people you're out there and where they

can find you and

you can do a whole bunch of interesting

things to do this one things that many

companies are trying to do now

is more viral branding okay so

to get consumers to share stories

about your business your brand your

products

so the product has to be right in the

first place you have to have some

customers that really engage with you

find value and prepared to do this okay

because they're

effectively mixing their own reputation

with yours

so that becomes a critical

planning parameter do you want to

project your brand in such a way that

other people really

feel that their own stature is enhanced

by being associated with

recommending it rather than the risk of

it being diminished for example

now the public relations function for

companies is

is very much about promoting the firm in

addition to the brands

and sometimes only that it may be

directly communicating to investors so

it becomes investor relations

it may be relating to a problem with the

company maybe dealing with journalists

media again potentially investors

government government regulators for

example

so this can be excuse me crisis

communications dealing day-to-day with

governments this is very significant in

some industries

so dealing with regulators dealing with

policy makers if you're in the airline

business for example

you're constantly having to get

permissions and of course it's not just

safety issues and what not in the

japanese case

airlines flights they have to be

regulated and even technically prices

have to be i think that's being now

somewhat deregulated

but prices have been put in the market

were technically subject

to um approval by authorities

so more and more there's also about a

lot of concern about corporate social

responsibility so

communicating to a lot of other

stakeholders activists mpos

and then mpos that actually provide

ratings

there are a whole bunch of rating

agencies out there

or providing assessments reports on

companies

about how environmentally sustainable

their businesses practices are

for example or many aspects of corporate

social responsibility

and a critical thing of course is that

when you're in a world of um earned

attention

pretty much everything is in competition

uh

with you it's um not just a rival car

company for example if your toyota or

nissan or honda releases something new

yes in the

um the auto media

uh and amongst immediate car buyers then

yeah there will be some competition for

attention there

but if you've got a planned event and

you want to build you know boost the

profile of the company

and then something overshadows that some

other big development

then that's the that's the problem

sometimes uh companies make very

strategic investments in for example

being sponsors of events olympic

sponsors

and then circumstances overtake them and

one of the dilemmas for for example of

companies that have been sponsors of the

olympics in the olympics was deferred

and there's widespread doubt about the

wisdom of hosting the olympics in the

middle of the covert pandemic

was this notion that maybe

it's not actually such a good thing to

be

associated as a sponsor with the

olympics we're paying all of this money

um and if a lot of people think the

olympics

shouldn't be going ahead maybe there is

not a positive reputation or

advantage to the firm for this

so there are a lot of things that can

mess up with

the the calculus of attention whether

it's bought attention

um or earned attention so

in a nutshell we live in a era

of ubiquitous branding brands patent now

urban and virtual space

tokyo of course has you know been like

this for decades

but digitally you know the

we are constantly bombarded uh by this

as well it's everywhere

um and of course people reflect brands

um partly reference the fact that you

know the brand's reflected here in the

car passing by

um but people become brands on social

media

uh your digital profile you are

effectively a brand and so

you have to be alert to your own brand

positioning

okay your brand equity how it can be

diminished

through you know a faux pas a false step

in digital space so you you need to be

very careful

in in managing your own brand

particularly because things that are out

there digital

uh not necessarily eternal but

very long-lived very searchable okay

so uh we all need to be um

brand managers if for nobody um other

than

ourselves