Brand Management and Identity (Essay Sample)

BRAND MANAGEMENT AND IDENTITY
TASK 1
Jaguar as a brand epitomises British heritage and workmanship. Instantly identifiable by its logo which is a leaping silver jaguar, hence the apt name of “The Leaping Jaguar”. Jaguar sits on the pinnacle of luxury performance car brands. Jaguar has managed to carve out a niche for itself in the competitive automotive market with a combination of good marketing and even better branding. Over the years, Jaguar was sidelined by other car brands, but in 2014 Jaguar took a bold decision to run a marketing campaign called “Good to be Bad”. The idea behind it was that the best Hollywood villains are played by British actors. The campaign made Jaguar the villain and urged people to embrace the dark side, stating that it is more fun to be bad. The marketing campaign was instantly a hit with people, and it served to re-introduce Jaguar to the masses. This was a bold move that painted Jaguar as a cool and risk-taking brand. It also served to capture a whole segment of the market who were younger. Overnight, Jaguar transformed its brand identity while at the same time sticking to its original ethos of grace, space and pace. Jaguar is a luxury brand and nothing captures that more than its design language. Often heralded as the makers of some of the best looking cars of all time, Jaguar has carved out a niche for itself. Every car comes with the promise of a sleek design. This has helped to elevate Jaguar's status. At its heart, Jaguar is a high-performance car brand that is constantly leveraging technology to produce better cars. Case in point, Jaguar is famous for its lightweight aluminium chassis. The 21st century has seen the adoption of electric cars. Not one to be left behind, Jaguar has a fleet of electric cars. This is a clear indication of their ability to adapt to an ever-changing market. This shows their dedication to innovation and constantly bettering their products. Jaguar has distinguished itself from other car manufacturers by consistently delivering on performance. A key selling point of luxury brands is exclusivity. Jaguar has managed to remain exclusive through its pricing model. Often targeting high earning individuals, Jaguar has managed to remain exclusive over the years. Another selling point of its exclusivity is the rich heritage Jaguar enjoys. Often touted as a hallmark of British excellence, the carmaker has set itself aside from other manufacturers. As a performance carmaker, Jaguar was part of the Formula One racing scene before their exit from the competition in 2004. Despite not winning any Formula One titles, the mere fact that they were able to compete in the challenging competition was a testament to their engineering prowess. This prowess has carried over to their current production cars over the years. This ties in with their tagline of "The Art of Performance". Jaguar has managed to overcome the test of time and cement its place in the automotive industry as a serious contender.
TASK 2
Kevin Keller’s CBBE pyramid is functional in measuring a brand’s success and impact on the market. Keller is a well-known Professor of Marketing. He published the CBBE in his book Strategic Brand Management. It is a model tool used to establish, grow and evaluate a brand.
The pyramid is built on the following levels:
Level 1: Salience
This refers to the identity of a brand. The ability of a brand to be recognized and recalled is mainly influenced by its name, logo, slogan and tagline. These elements determine how an audience looks and distinguishes a brand from others.
It is considered the most important level of the pyramid since it serves as the foundation.
Level 2: Meaning
This level establishes the value of a brand and its uniqueness. This is gauged using the performance of a brand and its imagery.
Performance refers to how the product meets the needs of its users. This is where brands describe and demonstrate the usability and efficiency a product provides. It also shows a product’s affordability and customer satisfaction.
Imagery on the other hand examines how a brand is emotionally and psychologically perceived by the market. Imagery adds personality to the brand. For example, a brand may be perceived as sophisticated and exclusive to those in the financial upper class while another brand may be perceived as warm and affordable to an audience.
Level 3: Response
On this level of Keller's model, it tries to establish how an audience perceives a brand and how they respond to it. This however varies from one consumer to another. For example, one may view a brand as overpriced while another may appreciate a brand's exclusivity and luxury.
Judgement and feelings are the forms of response. When an audience judges a brand, it considers factors such as the brand's quality, credibility and superiority.
Feelings on the other hand guide the emotions a brand evokes. It could range from warmth to excitement to self-respect and social approval.
Brands need to consider and effectively respond to different kinds of views to establish positive public relations.
Level 4: Relationships
This level describes how a brand resonates with its audience and how loyal they are to it. It focuses on the connection created between a brand and its audience. This connection leads to consistent purchasing of the product by its consumers, the formation of communities affiliated with the brand and attitudinal attachment. The Jaguar Land Rover brand can be equally evaluated using Keller's pyramid by critiquing it through each level.
TASK 4
Celebrity endorsement often serves as a tool used by brands to further reach a larger audience. Celebrities are often in the limelight and thus any interactions they have been seen by the public eye. This wide reach is what attracts celebrities to brands. Endorsements often involve the celebrity effectively becoming the brand's spokesperson. In a society characterised by people's love and interest for celebrities, endorsements are quickly becoming an effective source of brand communication. Celebrity endorsements have been found to have a positive impact on a brand's perception in the public eye. This is why companies often have a lineup of celebrities who can enhance their image and in return increase uptake of their products. Certain aspects have to be considered when selecting a celebrity to represent the brand(de Mooij, 2021, 12). The factors include the celebrity's physical appearance. They are arguments to be made that better-looking celebrities will impact a brand's image more positively. Such celebrities carry more influence among the people, and their perceived attractiveness will often serve to enhance the brand's stock. Another factor to be considered is the celebrity's credibility. Credibility refers to how much a celebrity is trusted by the public. Any damage to the chosen celebrity's credibility will only serve to hinder the ability of the brand to better market itself. Thus, the chosen celebrity should have a track record of avoiding scandals in the public eye. Another important factor to consider is celebrity-brand congruence(Thakur, 2020, 8). The celebrity in mind should be compatible with the brand image. Their values should align and complement each other to derive maximum benefit from the endorsement. One main issue of celebrity endorsements is the fear that the celebrity might overshadow the brand, since the consumer's focus may skew towards the celebrity. This often happens when the celebrity endorses multiple companies. The celebrity chosen to represent the brand should not be involved with multiple brands, yet they should have enough star power to attract the public. Celebrity endorsements have been popularised because of how quickly a brand can enhance its credibility purely by association. With all these factors in mind, the most suitable celebrity to represent Jaguar's brand image would be Keanu Reeves. Often termed as the coolest guy on the internet, Keanu Reeves has had a long and illustrious acting career. Adored by many, his brand is scandal-free and would only serve to lift the image of any brand associated with him.
Jaguar as a brand carries an air of sophistication and elegance that are clearly in line with Keanu's image. Jaguar needs to capture the younger generation to build a market base for the future, and nobody would be better suited to spearhead such a campaign than Keanu Reeves. His stock is high among the younger generation, and his kind nature would only serve to boost Jaguar's appeal among the youth. Jaguar has cemented itself as a brand that takes risks by carrying out some of the most daring stunts, such as carrying out a barrel roll in 2017. As a result, they are viewed to be a fun and daring brand. Keanu Reeves is often reported as carrying out his stunts in movies. Furthermore, he is a mainstay in some of the highest-grossing Hollywood action films. This perfectly positions him to be the face of Jaguar, as they are in perfect synchrony with each other. Jaguar's previous marketing campaigns have often involved marketing themselves as villains. Despite not playing any traditional roles as a villain, Keanu Reeves has a slew of anti-hero roles under his belt. This further serves to enhance the celebrity-brand congruence. When it comes to credibility, Keanu Reeves has a good record in the public eye. His association with Jaguar would only serve to enhance Jaguar's brand image. His brand is also widely recognizable all over the globe, thus he would bring a large fan base to Jaguar which will only serve to drive up sales. Jaguar's status as a high-performance luxury brand will not compete with Keanu's image. On the contrary, the two will co...