This week in one of my graduate courses, we learned about
online branding. What is branding, you may ask? According to Geoffrey O.
Simmons, branding is “the process of creating value through the provision of a
compelling and consistent offer and customer experience that will satisfy
customers and keep them coming back” (Simmons, 2007, p. 544). Why is branding
important? While thinking about the discussion topic for this week, I kept
thinking about the effects of having a good reputation and a bad reputation. Just
as it is important to have a solid and generally favorable reputation, so is
having the right branding strategy, but proper strategic communication is key.
Think of all of the different brands of products out there. Everywhere
we look we see ads from popular companies like Coca-Cola, Aflac, AT&T, Lexus,
McDonald’s, and Wells Fargo promoting their products. In these numerous ads,
each company claims that their products are far better than their competitors’
offerings, and we believe them. Why do we believe in the products these
companies offer? Take Allstate Insurance Company, for instance. Their recent television
commercials feature “Mayhem,” who offers us viewers different scenarios in
which having insurance is indispensable. For example, Mayhem has portrayed
heavy snow on a roof, a faulty water heater, a test driver who crashes a person’s
motorcycle, and a maid who fell down her client’s staircase while on the job. After
each scenario, the commercials always end with their signature slogan, “With
Allstate, you’re in good hands.” (Here is a link to a video featuring a
majority of all of Allstate’s Mayhem commercials: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw9hQNdXYbI.
Enjoy!) Mayhem presents each scenario in a comical way, and maybe this is why I
and many other viewers love watching Allstate’s commercials so much. Mayhem
shows viewers how it is important to have the best insurance available on the
market, which he believes is Allstate. Through comedy, Allstate has found a way
to draw customers in to research their products and give them a try. Allstate
has figured out a great strategy for branding itself as the go-to insurance
company for worst-case scenarios.
Branding, specifically effective branding, is important to
every business and to every professional individual that wants to have a solid
foundation in the economy and in the digital world. Without the proper communication
strategies, businesses will fail to reach their targeted audiences. In recent
news, Guido Barilla, the head of the Barilla pasta brand, stated that his
company will not feature any gay actors in its commercials, a controversial
statement which set off several LGBTQ activists in Italy and elsewhere. He made
the following statement:
We have a slightly different
culture," Barilla said, per a Huffington Post translation of the
interview. "For us, the 'sacral family' remains one of the company’s core
values. Our family is a traditional family. If gays like our pasta and our
advertisings, they will eat our pasta; if they don’t like that, they will eat
someone else’s pasta. You can’t always please everyone not to displease anyone.
I would not do a commercial with a homosexual family, not for lack of respect
toward homosexuals – who have the right to do whatever they want without
disturbing others – but because I don’t agree with them, and I think we want to
talk to traditional families. The women are crucial in this. (Sieczkowski,
2013, “Barilla”)
Despite Barilla explaining his reasons for stating this and
affirmed that he respects all people despite their sexual orientation,
activists have called for a worldwide boycott of the pasta brand, “which is the
world's largest pasta producer, according to Italy's Gazzetta del Sud” (Sieczkowski,
2013, “Barilla”). A similar controversy surrounded Dan Cathy, the president and
CEO of Chik-Fil-A, who stated, “We are very much supportive of the family --
the biblical definition of the family unit” (HuffPost Gay Voices, 2012, “Dan
Cathy”). Barilla and Cathy’s statements prove how the proper communication can
make or break a company. Despite the predictable backlash and drop in sales
Barilla will have, I’m sure the brand will still remain popular, because it
produces quality products that people and restaurants have come to rely on in
their kitchens.
Branding is everywhere, whether it is good branding or bad.
Our discussion question for this week asked us how can we help Troy University,
our school, improve its branding. Troy has a myriad of phrases that define what
the school stands for and believes in. Everywhere I go in Montgomery, AL, I see
some symbol or slogan for Troy, especially the closer I get to the downtown area.
I recommended that Professor Donna Schubert, Troy University's Associate Vice
Chancellor for Marketing and Communication, increase the radio and television output
of Troy’s brand to accommodate for the changes in media and for the transition
from traditional media platforms to digital ones. I also recommended that Troy
use only one of its many slogans: “In class, online, within reach.”
I stated that this was the best slogan because Troy truly is
a university that is within reach to any student that is willing to reach out
and grab on to what Troy has to offer. When prospective students see this
slogan, they know that Troy is a university that they can gain access to from
anywhere in the world. In addition, for those prospective students who are
considering a college or university but cannot attend in the traditional sense,
Troy offers online degree programs in different fields that will appeal to any
prospective student. In my academic career, I have found that I can take Troy
with me wherever I go. When I am not on the Montgomery campus, I can still
access Troy through my laptop, cell phone, and/or tablet. It is because of this
wide accessibility that I chose Troy as the place to grow as a student and as a
person.
How are companies like Chik-Fil-A and Barilla able to
survive controversies and the subsequent backlashes from the controversies? How
do we as consumers become loyal customers to particular brands, schools, artists,
etc.? Larry Chiagouris and Brant Wansley argue that this is possible because of
four key stages that consumers go through when building a consumer-producer
relationship with the businesses they frequent: awareness, familiarity, trust,
and commitment (Chiagouris & Wansley, 2000, p. 1).
Consumers become aware of the companies and their products
and services, and they develop a familiarity by “acquiring an appreciation of the
products or services offered” (Chiagouris & Wansley, 2000, p. 2). They
begin to trust the company and its brand “because of the perceived benefits
derived from particular features,” and they commit to the brands through “transaction[s]
that consummate the relationship[s]” these companies have with their customers
(Chiagouris & Wansley, 2000, p. 2). Through these four stages, consumers
develop loyalties to brands, and as long as companies continue to deliver
quality products, consumers will remain faithful. But how can companies transfer
the relationships they have with their customers in the traditional market online?
The answer is simple: these companies must be able to offer
the same products and services online in a convenient, user-friendly way that
will not require too much effort or time on the consumers’ parts. Consumers
want to be able to follow their favorite brands wherever they go, including
online. As technology and media continue to transition to digital formats,
companies must be able to maintain the same levels of service they offer in the
traditional markets. Chiagouris and Wansley argue that brands must “capture the
attention” of consumers and “build [customer] awareness” of their products by making
sure that the consumers’ “Internet experience is being branded, not the product”
(Chiagouris & Wansley, 2000, p. 4). They state that “companies that grasp
the power of the Internet and its relationship building capability will
discover an accelerated path to prosperity” (Chiagouris & Wansley, 2000, p.
5).
When customers fail to transition through all four stages of
brand bonding, companies lose their credibility and eventually fall by the
wayside. To ensure their places as “the best” of what they have to offer,
companies must learn how to communicate strategically and effectively to
improve and maintain their respective customer bases. This includes being able
to navigate both the digital and traditional markets, and being able to utilize
the resources that current and emerging media have to offer.
References
Chiagouris, Larry
& Brant Wansley. (2000, January 1). “Branding on the internet.” Cleary University. Retrieved from ftp.cleary.edu/mkt/mkt415/mkt_415_m2_branding_on_the_internet.doc
HuffPost Gay
Voices. (2012, July 26). “Dan Cathy, Chick-Fil-A president, on anti-gay stance:
‘Guilty as charged.’” TheHuffingtonPost.com.
Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/17/dan-cathy-chick-fil-a-president-anti-gay_n_1680984.html
Sieczkowski, Cavan.
(2013, September 26). “Barilla pasta won't feature gay families in ads, says
critics can 'Eat another brand of pasta.’” TheHuffingtonPost.com.
Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/26/barilla-pasta-anti-gay_n_3995679.html
Simmons, Geoffrey
O. (2007, June). “i-Branding”: Developing the internet as a branding tool.” Marketing Intelligence & Planning 25(6):
544-562. DOI: 10.1108/02634500710819932
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