| Summary: An article that looks at brand marketing as if the brand were a social entity --- a multi-dimensional individual with which consumers interact and that they experience on a basic level. Article:
How do brands become embedded in the hearts and minds of people? Why is it that “behaving like a brand” occurs? How does a brand become a social reference? The notion of branding has been overused, over-discussed, and over-studied. Little effort, however, has been made to relate the notion of branding to the field of social psychology. After all, a brand is a social entity. A brand acquires a life of its own in the minds of consumers. One can: - Interact with a brand: as with Disney
- Behave like a brand: like Armani
- Aspire to be like a brand: wanting to be a Nike user
- Admire a brand: Ben & Jerry’s
- Trust a brand: Visa
- Become part of a brand: the Sony family
Experience branding is the overall gamut of brand representations in the different domains of expression. Thus, a brand lives in products, packages, electronic media, print media, digital media, POP, endorsements and in many other symbolic forms. How does a brand becomes worthy of imitation?
This is a crucial question. Humans imitate others who are significant and worthy to them. What are the conditions under which a brand, as a social entity, becomes a source of learning? The ultimate payoff of branding is and has always been to differentiate itself and to establish an emotional link with the consumer. If a brand becomes a role model it must have achieved its objective. It must have etched an emotional niche in the mind of the consumer. Social Learning Theory (see Social Learning Theory by Albert Bandura, Prentice Hall, 1977) stipulates the conditions under which learning and imitation occur. Learning is the acquisition of a behavior, imitation is the performance of the learned behavior. Thus, with respect to brands, learning has to do with acquiring the imagery associated with the brand. Imitating or performing brand-related behaviors, however, is the enactment of the actions that the brand stands for. Four processes need to be considered as initial conditions of experiencing a brand. - Attention: For any learning to occur the consumer must first pay attention to the brand. Paying attention to brand representations must be rewarded. For example, the behavior of looking at the Calvin Klein logo in an ad is rewarded by the stimulation derived from beautiful human shapes as the context of the brand.
- Retention: If the behavior advocated by the brand is to be retained in the mind of the consumer, it must be coded and symbolically represented until an opportunity for the specific behavior occurs, e.g., a purchase occasion. A brand that provides rehearsal opportunities will be more strongly engraved in the mind of the consumer than a brand that does not call for involvement. Thus, if one can play with a brand, sing the name of a brand, or otherwise take some action, the brand will be retained longer than a brand that stands for passivity. For example, Ronald McDonald can be played with in the form of a toy, or you can go to www.nike.com and “ask Nike.” An important part of the brand experience is rehearsal of what it stands for.
- Performance (also called motoric reproduction): The behavior advocated by the brand should not remain at the intellectual or emotional level in most cases. The ultimate outcome of the brand effort tends to require motor performance that results in purchases and recommendations, for example. The brand experience must incorporate opportunities for the desired behavior to be rehearsed. Thus, seeing how others recommend a brand or talk about their experience with a brand, can shape consumer behavior, as desired. A common example of this learning process is the portrayal of people on an ad telling each other about the benefits of a brand or product.
- Reinforcement: The consequences of the performed behavior may constitute positive or negative reinforcement, or punishment. Purchasing the brand, behaving like the brand, trusting the brand, etc., must be rewarded so purchase and other desirable behaviors are produced in the future. This type of reinforcement can be intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic reinforcements are those provided by the use of the product itself. If it performs better than expected the consumer is delighted and is very likely to purchase again, and also likely to talk about the product and brand experience. Extrinsic behavioral reinforcements include social approval by others, manufacturers incentives and recognition, etc. Thus, Amazon.com reinforces purchasing behavior by keeping track of tastes and preferences to make the shopping experience better from both an emotional and a practical perspective. Emotionally, the consumer enjoys recognition, and practically, the consumer saves time.
In considering experience branding, then, these are the four processes that require strategic consideration across media. |