Russia: Competitive branding
Dmitry Shimanov, General Director of MAR Consult Research Agency
The present day consumer market is so developed that the choice of products and services is often predetermined by brand power. Many Russian producers offer better goods than international companies, but tend to pay little attention to brand positioning, which results in decrease in sales.
So what is brand weight determined by? By brand image and brand awareness among consumers, in the first place. This is why manufacturer of a certain product, willing to create a successful brand, will have to handle several tasks: understand what brand attributes are important to consumers and find out how information necessary to build an attractive brand might be obtained.
First of all, it is necessary to gather comprehensive information on target audience characteristics and evaluation of product qualitative features. Thus, we will be able to understand positioning advantages. To solve these tasks the following aspects should be determined:
- Age groups the target audience is comprised of,
- Social statuses of target audience members,
- Lifestyle, values and attitudes of various groups within the target audience,
- Perception of products by the target audience.
Another set of tasks implies finding out consumers' attitude to the existing brand image and brand awareness among the target audience. Successful completion of these tasks will allow to optimize brand positioning strategy on the market. It is necessary to take into consideration the following aspects:
- Brand distinctive attributes,
- Brand perception by consumers within a competitive environment,
- Brand competitive advantages,
- Brand awareness among consumers within a competitive environment,
- Brand confidence,
- Brand loyalty.
In order to ensure efficient consumers impact, it is recommended to determine communication channels preferred by the target audience.
Comprehensive information to handle the listed tasks may be obtained through a set of quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and analysis.
This type of research is becoming increasingly more popular among Russia's major manufacturers, willing to occupy larger market shares, improve consumer loyalty and minimize expenses for creating competitive brands.
After the necessary preliminary information is collected, we may pass on to creating a brand. Thus, we should create long-term preferences for the product through a complex impact on consumers. It might be produced by corporate identity, product and advertising concepts based on a single idea distinguishing the product among competitors.
A strong brand should comprise the following set of attributes:
- Brand Essence,
- Brand Attributes,
- Brand Image,
- Brand Name,
- Brand Identity,
- Brand Power,
- Brand Value,
- Brand Development Index.
Modern branding is based on certain techniques to bring the developed product to customers and create company and product images in their mind. These techniques include: various PR events, advertising actions, BTL activities, etc.
Strong brand helps consumers expedite the product selection process. Extended product range and awareness of products' common unique properties, introduced through a complex image, ensure better profit obtained by producers. By using a strong brand, producers may better understand demands of consumers at which their products are aimed, and forecast development of the market situation.
Brand management at all stages of its lifecycle is one of the most important activities of present day companies. It implies permanent evaluation of brand development, brand awareness and consumer loyalty. Thus, producers will be able to promptly adjust their brand development strategies depending on market needs and improve brand viability in competitive environment.
Contributing Company:
MAR Consult Research Agency. Moscow, Russia.
Contact: Dmitry Shimanov. info@marconsult.ru +7 (495) 660-82-20.
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