BRANDING AND PACKAGING FOR SUSTAINABLE ADVANTAGE By UDEME UFOT GROUP MANAGING DIRECTOR

1. BRANDING AND PACKAGING FOR SUSTAINABLE ADVANTAGE By UDEME UFOT GROUP MANAGING DIRECTOR SO&U SAATCHI & SAATCHI November 2012

2. INTRODUCTION In a world where technology has become widely available across industries and borders, and where products have become standardized, almost commoditized, it becomes imperative for marketers to differentiate their products if they must secure a competitive advantage in the market place. In many instances, differentiation is critical for survival. Through strategic investments in products improvement, consumer understanding and marketing communications, manufacturers are able to create and sustain images of their products in the minds of consumers. Such imagery helps to differentiate one brand from another and create space in the minds of consumers for these products.

3. Quality is Abundant

4. In the world of consumer goods mass marketing, product proliferation creates so many choices that it diminishes our ability to differentiate or to choose what we truly value. Brands help in making choices and serve as invaluable tools that help us break through clutter to make choices based on our experience of and satisfaction with products or services.

5. Commoditisation SO&U SAATCHI & SAATCHI

6. In a world of brands, products and services are no longer bundles of functional characteristics but rather means to provide and enhance customer experiences.

7. BRANDSThe brand is the fundamental differentiating device for all products and services. It is that combination of name, words, symbols or design that identifies the product and its source and distinguishes it from competing products.

8. Brandsprotectanidentity.

9. BRANDS (cont’d)According to Kenneth Romans and Jane Maas in their book How to Advertise, “A brand is more distinctive than a product. It is first of all a name, a means of identification. Secondly, it is a set of added values which offer both functional and psychological benefits to the consumer: performance in use, price, packaging, colour, taste and smell, shape and form, associations and the brand’s advertising.”Robert Blanchard, a former P&G executive says “A brand is the ‘personification’ of a product, service, or an entire company”

10. BRANDS (cont’d)

11. BRANDS HAVE CHARACTER

12. BRANDS (cont’d)A brand has a physical ‘body’ – the product and /or services it provides. Also like a person, a brand has a name, a personality, character and a reputation. You can respect, like and even love a brand. You can think of it as a deep personal friend or merely an acquaintance. You can view it as dependable or undependable, principled or opportunistic, caring or capricious. Just as you like to be around certain people and not others, so also do you like to be with certain brands and not others.

13. BRANDS (cont’d)Brands have life cycles. Like a person, they mature and change over time. But its character and core beliefs should not change. Neither should its fundamental personality and outlook in life.A brand is an intangible asset that resides in the people’s hearts and minds. It is defined by the expectations people have about tangible and intangible benefits that are developed over time by communications, and more importantly, by actions.

14. BRANDS HAVE LIFE CYCLES

15. CREATING A BRANDThe most basic element in creating a brand is to offer a product that delivers on consumer expectations. That is the starting point. A brand –to-be that fails to deliver on what it says it will do is dead on arrival. Building a successful brand requires meeting the following four expectations:1. Make a promise2. Communicate the promise3. Keep the promise4. Strengthen the promise.

16. The PromiseA promise is a contract that defines what the product will deliver to the consumer and what the consumer has a right to expect from the product. This is the tangible part of the brand and sometimes has to do with its utilitarian value. No matter what added or emotional benefits you derive from owning a Mercedes, it must in the first instance be able to transport you from point A to B. Beyond this, you need to state clearly what the consumer can expect to experience when he uses your product, and be prepared to be held to this contract.

17. Communicate the PromiseThe best route to building brands is through advertising. Creative copy strategies are deployed to communicate the tangible and emotional benefits that the brand confers on its consumers in the most engaging manner. Unique selling propositions, or emotional selling propositions are articulated and strategically campaigned in a way that resonates with the target consumers. Messages are repeated with a consistency and frequency that ingrains the character of the brand in the subconscious of the consumer. At every interaction with the brand, the brand promise is brought to life, reinforced by more advertising, and supported by consistent brand performance. Through brand performance, the consumer is given reason to believe the communication.Communication and performance are mutually re-enforcing.

18. Communicate the Promise cont’d The promise should become an intrinsic part of a company’s brand marketing message. In order to own it, it must be communicated strategically and creatively across a broad media mix. The elements of the communication should include:- The look and feel of your office, lecture halls, stationeries etc- Your community reputation- The attitude of your sales and customer service people- The way you handle customer requests/complaints- The way and manner products and services are marketed /the way they are delivered.- Creative advertising messages, press reports, telephone manners and customer relationship management.

19. Keep the PromiseTo be able to keep the promise, you will need to focus on five things:1. Accept responsibility for quality: quality is the measure by which you exceed expectations. Quality is all about standards. Keep it simple, set your sights high, then work to exceed them.2. Nurture integrity: Do what you say, and say what you do. The integrity of your people, your products, your services, your financial statements, etc3. Never pull back on service: Service is where transactions are turned into relationships. It is the first moment of truth. Word of mouth is very powerful. Satisfied customers tell others, just as unhappy customers will. All these add to or detract from your brand image and add to or devalue your brand equity.

20. Keep the Promise (cont’d)4. Do not underestimate value: Not just real monetary value but the perception of value. Only when people perceive the value they are getting as higher than the cost will they respect the deal you offer.5. Earn the trust of your customers: They want to trust you and want you to remain true to the ideals and aspirations you share with them.

21. Strengthen the PromiseInitiating and implementing a sustainable strategy to manage and grow the brand in the long term is critical to continued success of the brand. This requires investments in consumer research, products development and innovation, and astute brand management.Brand management is a process that takes control of everything the brand does and says, managing the way in which it is perceived by others.It involves identifying clearly what the brand stands for, and how to position it so that it appears different and better than competing brands.It requires constant tracking of the brand and its competitors, the integration of all communications, and the management of each contact point a consumer may have with the brand.The overall aim is to increase the value of the brand over time.

22. Built to last • Pursue innovation • Continuous improvement for the benefit of the customer. Every business today is expected to innovate–and to innovate meaningfully while creating value. Built to change We need to build in an ‘anticipation for change’

23. LOYALTY BEYOND REASONThe ultimate objective of brand building is to secure brand loyalty. High loyalty offers the marketer price inelasticity and long term profits. It makes the brand more resilient against competitive activity and more able to weather any crisis. According to Kevin Roberts, Worldwide CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, the early origins of brands was trade marks. This evolved to trustmarks and on to brands. He believes that the ultimate stage of brand evolution is Lovemarks. A state in which the brand is not only trusted and respected, but also loved. Respect must be earned and can only be based on performance, trust and reputation. When a brand commands high respect and high love, it can command loyalty beyond reason. That is when it becomes a lovemark. Examples of Lovemarks abound: Guinness, Apple, Harley Davison, Toyota, Nike, Coca-Cola, Nelson Mandela, etc.

24. LOYALTY BEYOND REASON (cont’d)According to Kevin, “For the consumers, as their choices grew wider, their loyalty to brands that didn’t touch them in any personal way was shaky.”

25. “I've learned that peoplewill forget what you said,people will forgetwhat you did, but people will never forgethow you made them feel.” Maya Angelou

26. PACKAGINGPackaging is a strategic branding tool. It serves to differentiate the brand by providing identification. It also provides containment, protection, convenience, customer appeal and economy. It is sometimes the marketers last chance to communicate at the point of sale, hence it is described as the Silent Salesman. It does this by bringing the brand to customers attention, highlighting its unique selling proposition, and giving friendly tips on usage. Packaging can offer a competitive advantage in its ability to keep products fresher for longer periods, ease of handling or transportation, ease of product usage or ease of storage. Packaging can also be an assurance of safety as well as a cost saving device. An effective Store Keeping Units (SKU) strategy has been critical to some brands ability to win over the consumer and upstage the competition

27. PACKAGING(cont’d)As the brand is refreshed and updated, the packaging cannot afford to be static. Designs must be updated to align with current market trends, technology or the mood of consumers. Packaging needs to be distinctive and align with the personality of the brand. Packaging decisions must be an integral part of the brand building process. It should start with establishing the “packaging concept” which defines what the package should be or do for the brand.

28. PACKAGING(cont’d)In 1910, part of the packaging design brief for the now famous Coca-Cola bottle was as follows:“We need a bottle – distinctive package that will help us fight substitution… we need a bottle which a person will recognize as a Coca-Cola bottle even when he feels it in the dark. The Coca-Cola bottle should be so shaped that even if broken, a person could tell what it was…”

30. PACKAGING(cont’d)Shapes, colours and sizes deliver different messages to consumers in terms of product benefit, environmental friendliness, freshness or affordability.The use of bar codes on packaging enhances in-store security, stock management and Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS) processing.

31. PACKAGING (cont’d)According to PR Smith in his book Marketing Communications, the communication function of packages includes:1. Grab the attention of the passing shopper2. Persuade and convince the viewer that the contents match the promise made by the advertising or the pack itself. The pack should say ‘buy me.’3. Build brand personality and forge links with the buyer 4. Build loyalty with a pack that: a. Looks nicer on the table b. Is easy to find in the garden shed or the warehouse. c. Is distinctive and easily recognizable in a shop carrying 9,000 separate items; d. Is easier to use than the competition’s.5. Instruct the user about how to use the product to optimum benefit.6. Inform the user of mandatory requirements such as warnings, source of manufacture or ingredients, etc.

32. IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION IN PACKAGING “Decisions must be made on package designs that cover specific elements such as size, shape, materials, colour, text and brand mark. These elements must work together to support the overall brand positioning and marketing strategy and be consistent with the brand advertising, pricing and distribution” Philip Kotler

33. CONCLUSIONCompanies exist and thrive on the strength of their brands. the brands a company owns may be its most valuable capital asset. The value of some brands far exceed the value of the companies who own them.

34. The Most Valuable Global Brands 2012 MILWARD BROWN

35. As the world looks towards African markets for growth, Nigerian manufacturers must strive to build brands that can cross borders and take full advantage of the opportunities across borders in other African markets. Our financial institutions have set the pace in this direction. South African brands are not only dominant in Africa, but are also holding their own in the Middle East and Europe.The alternative is for us to play second fiddle and be eventually wiped out as foreign brands scramble for the hearts and minds of Africa’s consumers.