Introduction
Studying branding in the context of a particular company is exciting as it allows seeing how branding concepts and tools can be applied in the real world. The present proposal will outline the context of the individual report by explaining the importance of branding for organizations and consumers and the relationship between Marcom tools and brand equity. The proposal will also identify the selected sector and brand that will be the subject of the report.
Importance of Branding for Organisations and Consumers
The benefits of branding to organizations are generally obvious. Branding has a direct influence on sales because it contributes to brand recognition and brand recall, eventually helping the brand to reach the Top of Mind (TOMA) position in the consumers’ minds (Aaker, 1991). As explained by Andrews and Shims (2018), brands with excellent brand equity usually have larger market shares and brand loyalty and have more opportunities to grow their revenues, such as by premium pricing.
This means that branding impacts organizations’ profitability and revenue by increasing sales and market share. When it comes to customers, branding can also be beneficial by improving decision-making and contributing to customer satisfaction. For instance, branding is often focused on developing brand image associations pertaining to product attributes and perceived benefits (Keller, 1993). Hence, when a customer wants to purchase a particular product, branding makes the process of choosing easier, and the customer does not have to spend days looking for what they need.
Marcom Tools and Brand Equity
Marketing communication provides opportunities for brands to improve their image and presence, thus contributing to brand equity. Research in marketing communication provided businesses with new ways to interact with their customers and the target market. In the contemporary environment, Marcom tools vary greatly in their focus, purpose, and use, thus allowing businesses to tailor their communications to the needs of the brand. For example, marketing communication through social media proved to increase brand equity, brand loyalty and perceived brand quality (Schivinski and Dabrowski, 2015). As a result, many large companies use social media to promote products, interact with consumers, and promote their brands.
Integrated marketing communications have an even more profound effect on brand equity due to the alignment of multiple Marcom tools (Anabila, 2020). A comprehensive IMC plan can include digital advertising and social media use, as well as traditional TV or poster advertising. This allows brands to reach a larger share of the target market and influence potential consumers by enhancing brand recall and loyalty. Therefore, brands that use Marcom tools are likely to benefit from higher levels of brand equity in the contemporary environment.
Sector and Brand Choice
The clothing retail industry is particularly interesting from the perspective of marketing communications and branding because it is highly competitive, and the success of a brand in this sector largely depends on its reputation. With more and more people becoming socially and environmentally conscious, successful retailers are required to have an excellent reputation in order to yield the benefits of high brand equity. For the individual report, researching branding and marketing communication in Adidas would be particularly interesting. Adidas is among the most famous sports apparel brands in the world, but its market global market share continues to be lower than that of Nike (‘Leading athletic apparel’, 2019).
Researching the branding and marketing communications of Adidas could help to understand the problem and examine how Marcom tools could be used more effectively in the chosen context. Hence, Adidas was chosen as the focus of the report.
Reference List
Aaker, D. (1991) Managing brand equity: capitalizing on the value of a brand name. New York, NY: The Free Press.
Anabila, P. (2020) ‘Integrated marketing communications, brand equity, and business performance in micro-finance institutions: an emerging market perspective’, Journal of Marketing Communications, 26(3), pp. 229-242.
Andrews, J. C. and Shimp, T. A. (2018) Advertising, promotion, and other aspects of integrated marketing communications. 10th edn. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Keller, K. L. (1993) ‘Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity’, Journal of Marketing, 57(1), pp. 1-22.
Leading athletic apparel, accessories and footwear companies worldwide in 2019, by sales (2019). Web.
Schivinski, B. and Dabrowski, D. (2015) ‘The impact of brand communication on brand equity through Facebook’, Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 9(1), pp. 31-53.