IMPACT OF BRAND EXTENSION AND REBRANDING ON INFORMATION PROCESSING AND PRODUCT EVALUATION.

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1 IMPACT OF BRAND EXTENSION AND REBRANDING ON INFORMATION PROCESSING AND PRODUCT EVALUATION. RASHMI SUD CHAUDHRY ASSISTANT PROFESSOR JAYPEEUNIVERSITY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Dr.Y.MEDURY HEAD (EDUCATION) TIMESOF INDIA GROUP Dr.VANDANA AHUJA ASSISTANT PROFESSOR(MARKETIG) INTRODUCTION A well thought brand strategy is a key contribution to corporate success in today s dynamic markets. Brands enable consumers to efficiently encode their functional and emotional values in their minds (Franken and Bouwman, 2001).The competitive landscape in the most markets is fairly differentiated, but product or technology based advantages are difficult to maintain. Products are becoming more alike and intangible attributes take the reign. As technology evolved, the market has gradually shifted from a sellers playground to a consumer dominated turf. Consumer is the king has become a reality taking commercial competition to the next level. Consumer insights become crucial in the design of efficient branding programs. Customer preferences and changing preferences shaped many markets over the last decade, dictating many times the success or failure of companies. The key to success in this marketing context is to make the intangible tangible(berry 1986) The key to success in this marketing context is to make the intangible tangible(berry 1986 and branding is a powerful tool capable of selling experiences. The multitude of definitions and appearances make the concept of branding and its relevance to customers difficult to investigate the role of brands and brand building strategies determining consumer purchase making decisions is widely discussed and require further investigation CONCEPT OF BRAND In simple words a brand is a distinguishing name or symbol (logo, trademark, or package design) intended to identify the origin of goods or services (Keller 2003) and to differentiate those goods and services from those of competitors.it is the name associated with one or more items in the product line that s is used to identify the source of character of the item (Kotler2001). Brand becomes an important strategic asset that can become a competitive factor for the firms(wong and Merrilees,2008).Firms should shift from brand strategy to brand based strategy 141

2 that play a critical role in selecting and maintaining a strategic direction for a company(mosmans and van Der Vorst,1998).(Aekar and Joachimsthaler,2000) mention that within the traditional branding model the goal was to build the brand image,a tactical element that drives short term results. The brand served to identify a product and distinguish it from the competition The challenge today is to create a strong and distinctive image (Kohli and Thakur 1997).Thus a brand can be defined as a name,term, sign symbol or design or a combination of these, that is intended to identify the goods and services of one business or group of business and to differentiate them from those of competitors (Bennet 1995). BRANDS AND BRANDING According to Kotler and Keller (2006; 275) a brand is a perceptual identity that is rooted in reality but reflects perception of customers. Branding is endowing products and services with brand equity and is about creating differences among other brands. Branding involves creating mental structures by helping consumers organize their knowledge about products in a way that clarifies their decision making and providing value to the organization.hislpo,2001 provides a clear distinction between the concepts brand and branding by stating that to brand a product it is necessary to give meaning to that brand. Brands differentiate a product, presell a product and guarantee the product. Branding is making it relevant to the target market and giving it life and personality to build brand equity (Coomber 2002) BRAND EXTENSION Brand extension is the use of an established brand name to enter a new product category (Aaker & Keller, 1990, p. 27). Leveraging existing brand equity into new product categories attempts to avoid the risk associated with establishing a new brand, through convincing consumers that the positive attributes associated with the original brand are relevant to the new product and/or simply benefiting from the awareness of the original brand. Buying behaviors of potential customers and their perception of the parent products or extended products represent the starting point in the strategy and decision-making process. Knowledge of consumer behavior is then indispensable for branding management. Kapferer (1997), adds that awareness, image, trust and reputation could promise future success for the brand. A brand is not a name, a position or a marketing statement. Instead, it is a promise made by a company to its customers and supported by the same company. Organizations by increasing their strength, their customer base and their long term viability. In a study performed in U.S. for professional sport teams, Apostolopoulou (2002) found six keys to successful brand extension: the strength of the parent brand the perceived fit between the parent brand and the extended product the promotional support and positioning of the extended brand the quality of the extension product the distribution strategy 142

3 the management of the extension REBRANDING There are extensive discussions on rebranding in different forms and natures in the related literature. Keller (1999) describes rebranding strategies as parts of repositioning without destroying existing brand loyalty. Daly and Moloney (2004) suggest rebranding can be viewed as a continuum which refers to three change categories with respective change formats Minor Changes (Aesthetics), Intermediate Changes (Reposition) and Complete Change (Rebranding). Besides, Stuart and Muzellec (2004) state that rebranding can be achieved with the changes of brand identity, which can be categorized into three main types: Name, logo and slogan changes. In contrast, Muzellec and Lambkin (2006) believe that both changes of marketing aesthetics and repositioning can be rebranding approaches. They suggest that minor and intermediate changes on logos and slogans can be classified as evolutionary rebranding; whereas complete changes symbolized by creating new names can be described as revolutionary rebranding. Information processing and Product evaluation Customer decision making process provides an important insight into customer behavior. Customer behavior is an important input to strategy makers for providing brands and propositions that give value to both the customers and the providers. Information processing and product evaluation are two important stages of customer behavior. Impact of brand extension and rebranding can be studied by comparing the new product (after brand extension and rebranding) with parent brand. Aim of the study is to identify and analyze the role of brand building strategies on information processing and product evaluation that leads to customer decision making. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES: The main focus of the research is to analyze the relation between the branding strategies (Brand extension and rebranding) and customer decision making process (Information processing and product evaluation) in the presence of three intervening factors: a location, gender, and involvement of online medium. Factors for studying Information processing among customers: 1. Reputation/goodwill of parent brand 2. Feedback from the friends/ reference groups 3. Perception about the parent brand 4. Brand awareness 5. Knowledge about the new brand 6. Peer influence 7. Resistance to change 8. Curiosity to know about new brands 143

4 9. Similarity between the original and new brand 10. promotion of new brand Product evaluation variables for study are : 1. Past experience of using the parent brand 2. Knowledge about the new brand 3. fitness of product with customer need 4. price advantage 5. Promotion uniqueness 6. Easy accessibility 7. Greater consumer innovativeness 8. Brand loyalty 9.Relationship with the seller 10.Feedback of the new brand/product Information processing and product evaluation is further studied in relation to following intervening factors: 1 Influence of geographic location: to study these differences comparative analysis will be conducted among three cities: Delhi, Chandigarh & Shimla. 2 Influence of gender differences in customer information processing and product evaluation for brand extension and rebranding. 3. Influence of online medium on customer behavior The main focus of the study is analyze the effect of: I. Brand Extension on Information processing of customers in presence of : Location Online Medium II. Rebranding on Information processing of customers in presence of: Location Online medium III. Brand Extension on Product Evaluation in presence of: Location Online medium 144

5 IV. Rebranding on product evaluation in presence of: Location Online medium Further the impact of Brand growth strategies( Brand extension and rebranding ) on the value of core brand is studied as one main out come.it can be studied whether these growth strategies will lead to dilution on the core brand or it will enhance the brand value. 145

6 METHODOLOGY Research is based on both the primary and secondary data. Brands are selected from the brands trust report 2013 of India. Data will be collected through self administered questionnaire collected from random sample comprised from three cities of Delhi, Chandigarh & Shimla. Appropriate statistical tools and analysis will be applied to the data. BRAND EXTENSION INFORMATION PROCESSING REBRANDING LOCATION GENDER ONLINE MEDIUM PRODUCT EVALUATION INTERVENING FACTORS BRANDING STRATEGIES CUSTOMER DECISION MAKING PROCESS Impact of branding strategies on customer decision making process References: Clifton, R and Maughan, E. (2000) The Future of Brands. London: Macmillan Press. Dawar, N. (2004) What Are Brands Good For? MIT Sloan Management Review, Vol. 46, No.1, pp

7 De Chernatony, L. and Dall Olmo Riley, F. (1998a) Defining a Brand: Beyond the Literature with Experts Interpretations. Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 14, No.5, pp Hubbard, R.; Armstrong, J.S. (1994) Replications and Extensions in Marketing: Rarely Published But Quite Contrary, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Vol. 11, No.3,pp Leone, R.P.; Schultz, R.L. (1980) A Study of Marketing Generalisations, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 44, No. 1, pp Sunde, L.; Brodie, R.J. (1993) Consumer Evaluations of Brand Extensions: Further Empirical Results, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp