Project 2 Revised

CHAPTER ONE 1.1 Background In a world where consumers have infinite choices, it is impossible to compete without a compelling brand.
Creating one however requires vision, daring, and the ability to understand the consumer. Above all, brand building requires knowledge of the pitfalls and the opportunities in every business decision. Many businesses view "brands" as something vital, but somewhat elusive when it comes to trying to measure, in terms of performance and real added value. The fact is that what is not measured is not managed - and as a result, organizations too often let the value of brand slip right through their fingers (Smith 2001) As markets mature and competition intensifies, firms are exploring ways to increase the equity of the brand which has been shown to increase company profitability (Aaker, 1991; Keller 1993; Ambler et al 2001). One strategy that has gained considerable attention is differentiating ones products from competition. Key features are emerging from this paradigm; not only does it result in increased sales, but also has the potential to provide a sustainable competitive advantage to the firm as the intangible aspects of a brand relationship are not easily duplicated by competitors (Barney 1991;Scholes and Johnson 2002). Besides, it has the potential to ensure satisfaction amongst both customers and employees (Vallaster and de Chernatony 2003) A brand is only as powerful as an organization allows it to be, argues Clifton (2003). That is why the biggest barriers to brand success often lie within a company. Brand building succeeds when everybody in the organization is truly informed and inspired to live up to the promises of the brand day-to-day (Keller 2003). That is certainly a daunting task. Berry (2000) in a research into service brand equity analysed the strategies of 14 highperformance service companies. He revealed that the primary source of brand awareness is the companys controlled communications, which covers advertising, service facilities, and the
The Effects of Branding of Locally Manufactured Products on Customer Purchase Behaviour - A Case Study of PZ Cussons Ghana Ltd. Page 1 of 64
appearance of service providers, company name, and logo. He posited further that brands gain meaning as the customer is influenced by the experience with the company. This in his view is because service businesses are labour-intensive and human performance, rather than machine performance, plays a critical role in building the brand.
This further lays credence to difference between a product and a service. In the view of Kotler (1991) the marketing mix for products involves four (4)Ps whereas that of services adds on three more Ps making it seven in all - people, processes and physical evidence.
A Brand is the proprietary visual, emotional, rational, and cultural image associated with a company or a product. The purpose of having people remember the brand name and have positive associations with that brand is to make their product selection easier and enhance the value and satisfaction they get from the product.
The intangible, but real, value of words, graphics or symbols that are associated with the products or services offered by a business. Developing branding of a site includes the presentation of signage and architecture to create a unique awareness and memory by the potential customer of the products or services offered at that site. Brand equity for a particular business is similar to the goodwill of an enterprise.
The process by which the true character and purpose of the company or organization is communicated. The process by which a commodity in the marketplace is known primarily for the image it projects rather than any actual quality. The assignment of value to products through naming, packaging, marketing, and advertising.
1.2 Statement of the Problem All companies need branding to be able to market their goods and services more effectively. However, majority of Managers of various organizations believe too much attention and emphasis is placed on branding instead of focusing on producing the right product at the price which will win the battle at the market place. By this they oblivious to the extent to which branding contribute towards corporate image. Branding in recent past was virtually nonexistent in most organizations and the realization of this as an important marketing strategy has been very slow in its consideration as a viable marketing tool. Hence very little credence is given to its efficiency in influencing customers choice.
1.3 Objectives of the study The objective of the study is to examine the role and effectiveness of branding in manufacturing firms. It is therefore necessary to consider the following: To identify the benefits of branding to manufacturing firms. To know the effect of branding on consumers. To asses, the overall returns in terms of sales to manufacturing firms. To identify the impact of branding on the corporate image Identify and develop the most effective vehicles for branding.
1.4 Research Questions To ensure, that the study achieves its objectives there is a need to look at the expectations of branding in the marketing of manufactured products. The following research questions will be asked: How does branding help PZ Cussons Ghana Limited to effectively market its products?
How does branding help the consumers in choice of particular products? How does branding affect the corporate image? How does branding help in the assessment of the overall returns of sales of the organization?
How does branding benefit PZ Cussons to achieve its goals?
1.5
Significance of the Study
Even though branding is perceived to be expensive and time consuming by most manufacturing companies, this study attempts to assess the benefits of branding in the marketing of manufactured products and the corporate image of the company. The significance of the study includes the following: The study will help PZ Cussons Ghana Limited improve upon its branding strategies. The researcher believes it will make the research significant to all students, practitioners and enthusiasts of marketing as; it will serve as a literature review for further study and complement other research work made on this particular topic.
1.6 Scope of the Study The study will concentrate only on importance and effectiveness of brand campaign strategies of product, place, price and promotion to PZ Cussons. The study will review literature on the applicability of the concept to the manufacturing firms in Ghana and conduct primary research to assess the effectiveness on PZ Cussons packages using the marketing mix as criteria for evaluation.
1.7 Structure of the Study The study will be structured in five chapters. Chapter one covers the background of the study, statement of problem and objectives, Research questions, significance and scope of the study. Chapter two deals with the review of relevant literature concerning the research problems, concepts and theoretical framework that will be looked at in the study. Chapter three contains the methodology aspect of the study. This includes the population, study site and sampling procedures, research instruments such as the questionnaire etc, coupled with the administration of the instruments as well as the method for data collection, data analysis, and constraints of study. Chapter four will lay out results from both secondary and primary research and these results will be discussed in connection with the objectives of the research. Chapter Five will be used to summarize the key points of the study and to conclude on the results obtained. Chapter Five will also provide recommendations on how the manufacturing sector can handle the problems established in the study and issues to consider in developing a strategy for the way forward.
CHAPTER TWO 2.0 Introduction This chapter consists of literature review and it is made up of the information obtained from the secondary data of renowned authors, the internet, journals and other magazines.
2.01 History of branding Branding began many centuries before the term acquired its modern usage. The Greeks, Romans, and others before them had various ways of promoting wares or goods, whether they were wines or pots, metals or ointments. Messages would be written informing the public that this man, at this address, could make shoes and that the man who lived over there is a tailor. Much early advertising and marketing (in the literal sense) was thus done on a personal basis, with the name of a particular individual as important as that of his product or service. The modern development of this can be seen in the name of the private shopkeeper over his shop, and some of the best-known chain stores have originated as that over a single establishment. In the earliest days, shops, as distinct from individuals, were quick to sell their wares by using pictures. In Rome; for example, a butchers shop would display a sign depicting a row of hams, a shoemaker one of a boot, a diary a crude sketch of a cow. Such pictorial promotion was a forerunner of the many inn and pub signs with which those in Britain are familiar with today. In classical times, most potential purchases of most products were illiterate and would be able to identify a particular product only from a picture. Again, in our own times the use of pictorial advertising is exploited in many ingenious ways to accompany a brand name and draw the attention of the public to it.
A more sophisticated and literate age has led to the use of visual puns to suggest the brand name concerned: the lance on the Lancia logo, the shell to match, the birds eye in the Birds eye logo and the nest and the nestlings that illustrate the Nestle products.
2.02 The Growth of branding Modern branding and the use of individual brand names have its origin in the nineteenth century. The industrial revolution and the consequent development of advertising and marketing techniques made the selection of a good brand name of great importance The greater the quantity and variety of products, the greater the demand for them, and this resulted in the need for manufactures and marketers to choose a brand name that would be effective in many ways as possible: memorable, pronounceable, original and, in many instances, directly or indirectly descriptive of the product it denoted. Later, of course, trademark laws were to classify and impose restrictions on the sorts of names that could be protected- legal protection was not given equally to all types of brand names. Choosing a good brand name is an important decision for both manufacturer and the distributor. A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, design, or combination of these, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors. Branding generally adds some uniqueness to the product development, positioning and features to attract articulate customers perception. In some cases, certain companies and customers unfortunately do not see the value or part branding plays in enhancing not only the value of the product but also the image of the company. Example Coca-Cola, McDonalds, etc, use their brand imagery to promote their products. In developing a market strategy for individual products, the seller has to confront the branding decision. Branding is a major issue in the product strategy. On the one hand, developing a
branded product requires a deal of long-term investment spending, especially, for advertising, promotion and packaging. Many brand oriented companies subcontracts manufacturing to other companies. For example, Taiwanese manufacturers make a great amount of the worlds clothing, consumer electronics and computers but not under Taiwanese brand names. On the other hand, manufacturers eventually learn that market power lies with the brand name companies give the product. Brand-name companies can replace their Taiwanese manufacturing source in Malaysia and elsewhere. Japanese and South Korean companies realized this and spend liberally to build up brand names such as Sony, Toyota, Gold star and Samsung. Even when these companies can no longer afford to manufacture their products in their homeland, the brand name continues to command customer loyalty.
2.03 Branding Defined Branding is an important part of marketing decision-making and marketing mix because of the major ways organization identity their products is by the branding. The worlds standard marketing textbook, written by Philip Kotler defines a brand as a name, term, sign, symbol or design or a combination of them intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or ground of sellers and to differentiate them from those competitors. Branding therefore has to do with the way customers perceive and buy things; it is not simply a characteristic of certain industries. According to Stanton, Extzel and Walter there are four types of the brand designation. These are brand name, brand mark trademark and trade name. A brand name is that part of a brand (including numbers, letters and words) that can be voiced. A brand mark is that part of the brand that can be seen but not voiced (usually, symbol or design). A trademark is the brand name and/or brand mark that the seller has an exclusive right to use. For instance, Coca -Cola has trademarked its brand name and brand mark (its special way of writing).
A brand name is an element of a brand that cannot be vocalized, such as IBM. A brand name communicates a great deal, which can facilitate brand awareness and brand image. Many managers believe that names do not matter. They think it is the right product at the right price can help win the battle of the market place. However, names really matter. Depending on the category, the name alone can represent the primary reason for the brands success. A company might spend hundreds of millions of dollars to develop a new product and then give that new product a brand name that guarantees failure. Innovation alone is never enough. Along with innovation, a company needs marketing to assure the brands eventual success and survival .The heart of a good marketing program is a great name.
Branding is valuable for one reason and for one reason only. It dominates a category. Coca-Cola, the worlds most valuable brand is valuable because it dominates the cola category worldwide. Microsoft the worlds second most valuable brand is valuable because it dominates the personal computer software category worldwide. Generally, an effective brand name suggests something about the products benefits. It is easy to pronounce, recognize and remember, distinctive in some way and can be translated into other languages. Ideally, a brand name should help to communicate to the consumer the major benefits of the firms products. William Zikmund, 2001.suggested key characteristics of a good brand name. He said a good brand name should suggest a positive image be easy to remember avoid linguistic traps communicate products benefits easy to pronounce has mnemonic quality is short and distinctive
invokes positive association or connotation reinforces product concept Say something about the user.
God in his own wisdom gave each of us a name starting from the first man in the Bible Adam to help us distinguish one person from another; this shows the extent to which names are important in any human endeavor. .2.04 The anatomy of a brand Criteria of success A successful brand is also complex .To be strong enough to deliver the superior perceived quality, a brand is going to have address many elements of consumer perception and expectation. Quality is not an inherent physical characteristic but a customer perception. However, the following criteria can be used to arrive at a successful brand: On the product level, it must deliver functional benefits to meet the market need at least as well as the competition. A brand is not merely the creation of advertising or packaging. Obviously, no product will thrive in the long term if it does not perform. To be the pioneering product in a particular area is a strong basis on which to build a brand, but it is not essential so long as the customer is satisfied with the product. A brand cannot be created by simply changing the name of a failing product and putting a large advertising budget behind it. A brand will offer intangible benefits over and above the product.
To elicit loyalty, a brand must offer some intangible benefits .These are usually referred to as values. It is the same with products .Levi jeans offer the values of toughness, informality, and American-ness, whereas Gucci jeans offer style and a cosmopolitan image. These personalities are the stock in trade of branding. Personality is a benefit, as the price premium of leading brands over the decades demonstrates.
The various benefits of the brand must be consistent with each other and present a unified character or personality.
The perception of the brands is not based upon painstaking analysis; customers will often come to a quick and superficial conclusion, using their buying shorthand. If the offer to the consumers is too complex ,or different this year from last year ,it may not be considered at all ,not because consumers are not intelligent but because they may not be wiling to take the necessary trouble to work the crowd of its competitors. A company must actively manage the personality to make it clear and consistent over time. The values offered must be preferred by the consumers.
No brand personality, however clear and consistent, is of any use unless it meets consumer wants. All purchases are judged based on value. Value is not some intrinsic quality measurable on an absolute scale, but a consumer perception. If the brand can offer, something that is valued by customers as unique, then the brand has the case of long-term preference.
2.05 Principles of brand performance Three important principles emerge from research into brand performance: Market leaders and superior brand positions are interlinked
The top brands such as Coca-Cola, McDonalds, and Kodak etc are all virtually leaders in their markets. Market leadership depends on how the product meets the needs of the customer and given that, the customer can sometimes want what seems like strange and irrational things. The real key to leadership is the superior perceived quality. The market power that comes from being a leader gives a brand all sorts of other advantages, from bargaining power with the distributor trade to a general aura of quality in the minds of many consumers. Market- leading brands tend to have higher profits
Traditional microeconomics suggest that lower prices are key to higher sales and yet all these top brands maintain their leadership positions in the face of cut-price alternatives .Research shows that market leaders command a price premium and therefore a higher rate of the
profitability. Recent surveys conclude that in the United Kingdom over six times the margin.
Leading brands also demonstrate greater resilience during recessions or price wars. It used to be thought that this unfair advantage arose from economies of scale in manufacturing, but the PIMS research is demonstrating that brands become market leaders because superior perceived quality is reflected in consumers willingness to pay more. The virtuous cycle begins with superior perceived relative quality, leads on to higher sales and delivers economies of scale as a symptom rather than a cause. There is no such thing as a brand life cycle
Once a leading brand is established with a loyal customer base, it is more likely that the position will be maintained for long time. Brands are larger than products, large enough to be repeatedly updated and altered in almost any aspect to maintain their relevant market. All purchase behaviour decisions involve an element of risk, and buying behaviour shows that the drive for something well known and trusted is stronger than the drive for novelty. A successful brand must offer the consumer superior perceived quality. It must be managed consistently over a long period, to develop a position or personality. Once this is achieved, market leadership and higher profitability may well follow.
2.06 Branding as a strategy Branding is a strategy issue. The most brilliant tactical decisions will build real brand equity only if a strategic view underlies all activity. A brand evolves far too slowly to shift in response to
uncoordinated short term stimuli. The brand strategy is the brand. If an organization is committed to the concept of branding, it accepts certain ideas about the nature of the strategy: Strategy starts with customer satisfaction. The satisfaction of customers is the reason for the existence of an organization. Strategy is long term. A company needs to be confident of its ability to continue delivering this satisfaction, so that it can plan its investment in order to achieve growth. Strategy is competitive .The aim of a strategy is to differentiate a company from its competitors so that customers perceive a clear choice and development a repeated preference.
The relationship between brand strategy and corporate strategy is very close the ultimate objective in both fields is to develop a sustainable competitive advantage. If customer perception is at the heart of the strategy, then clearly the challenge facing any organization is to position the offering in a way that will appeal to the target audience.
Positioning is the central concept in modern thinking of strategy. Positioning is a useful word because it emphasizes that the key issue is how the offer is presented to customers and how they, rather than the ingredients of the offer. Branding therefore perceive it is all about positioning.
The objective of the strategy is a sustainable competitive advantage, which may come from any part of the organizations operations. The market is the judge of this advantage. Brand strategy is the process whereby the offer is positioned in the mind to produce a perception of advantage.
A successful brand will eventually have the option of making the brand leadership part of the position. Many brands that are market leaders do indeed say or imply in their advertising that this is an endorsement of their superiority and it works plenty of consumers will buy the market
leader because it is better quality and low risk and a more reliable option. A superior brand position can be built on anything of enduring value to the customers. This may include images or simply that a brand is the biggest .the position should be consistently communicated by all elements of the marketing mix.
2.07 The process of positioning Positioning is actually the other half of the branding issue: if a brand is essentially a customer perception, positioning is the process by which a company offers its brand to consumers. The message that is conveyed is far more than simply an advertisement, the most obvious form of the marketing communication. It should be communicated by all the organizations activities, because any of them may be the salient attribute from which the customer takes the message and develops a perception. The objective of the positioning process is to make the offer into a brand.
2.08 Choosing a brand position The brand position will, if successful, be something that consumers throughout the market understand and can express. Consumers around the world will tell you that Volvo builds the safest cars, or that Disney is expert at entertaining children of all ages.
Criteria for selecting a brand position
Many positions might be successful, but it is clear that certain criteria must be applied in selecting an appropriate one: The position must be salient to customers. It is absolutely no use positioning upon something that is not used by customers as an indicator of the quality, such as positioning a hotel on the height of the building. The position must be based on real brand strengths if the message
promises something that cannot be delivered; the consumer will be less likely to purchase the product regularly and may even be antagonized.
The position must reflect a competitive advantage. It is no use positioning on the same basis as a competitor. Without a perceived difference, there will be a risk that all products are seen as similar and the purchase is made on the price. The position must be communicable in clear and motivating way to the market. If the position is too complex, or relies upon extensive use of the brand, consumers cannot be relied upon extensive use of the brand, consumers cannot be relied upon to put in the substantial effort required to discern the message.
2.09 The Power of the brand Good brands do three highly significant things for stressed out consumers: Brands save time of customers
Firstly, good brands save the time of the consumer, because there is no need to survey an entire product category. The best brand equals to the best product. This s equation is unshakable, even when it flies in the face of logic .even consumer who knows w that two brands are the same will choose the one with the biggest brand name. Over the counter drugs is a great example. If for instance your baby is sick .you are more likely to chose Tylenol over another brand even though the active ingredients are the sane, and the other product might save the customer a third of the price; nonetheless chances are that you will choose the brand name. The closer the product gets to the consumer physically, the more the brand matters.
Brands project the right message to the customers
The second thing a good brand does is to project the right message to the people who will judge the product. They ate headache avoidance devices. For instance, a student looking for a place to have a diploma in information technology studies may go to NIIT and look no further because of its brand name. Another person who may want the best of authentic material may choose Woodin.
This is because they have been known to produce quality fabrics. In the restaurant industry, however Papaye have gained a lot of recognition for their standard of foods. This has helped them in the brand extension of their restaurant to spintex road. This outlet has been successful because of the brand name the restaurant has got in Ghana. Even if there is a problem or trouble down the road, no one can be blamed for choosing the brand with the sturdiest reputation. Brands provide an identity
The third thing a brand does is to give people a identity that makes them feel secure, as they belong to the group of like minded travelers .in his brilliant intellectual history The Americans: The Democratic Experience, Daniel .Boorstin characterizes these consumption communities created by brands as a particularly American phenomenon.
He describes their appearance at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century this way: The advertisers of the nationally branded products constantly told their constituents that by buying their products, they could join a special group, and a million of Americans were eager to join. Their members recognized one another, sharing a common illusion hopes and disappointments. The modern American then was tied, if only by the thinnest of threads and by the most volatile, switch able loyalties, to thousands of the other Americans in nearly everything he ate or rank or drove or read or used.
The truth is that consumers need brands, both good and bad, to help them navigate a world in which their choices are almost infinite. The best thing that ca happen to a brand is to become a kind of shorthand in consumers eyes for trustworthiness., style excitement, or any of the host of other great qualities that demand their loyalty and respect. Establishing the right brand message is the first step on that road. As Stephen king wrote in his book; developing new brands: What matters for success is the nature of the brand At the first sight, it may not seem very startling to conclude that success or failure depends on how satisfied the customer is with the brand in use. However, in fact it shows us where to concentrate. The actual business of launching and distributing the brand can ,if it is badly done, make the brand fail; but however well it is done ,it cannot by itself make the brand succeedit seems that the product improvement is not enough to ensure success .
A brand is only a brand if it engenders some sort of emotional reaction in a consumer; if it lives in what really seems to matter in the market place is the total range of satisfaction that the new brand offers its early and most interested triers. Dan Parkinson, head of consultancy at marketing firm Mountain View said ,the key to reviving or repositioning a brand, is deciding whether people have "fallen out of love" with it or whether it is still relevant to our lives today.
2.10 Brand and Customer Loyalty A customers loyalty largely determines the success of a brand and business. The promise that the brand offers must be supported by the product offer in use, otherwise the brand will quickly is recognized as a superficial gimmick. Keeping the customer happy is the core to any business vision, but it is only now in the 21st century that technology can really deliver one-to-one
marketing. We can now hope to regain the business model of the Greek and roman times when consumers had contact and a dialogue with the marker or merchant. Customers loyalty is based on delivering a product or service that people would like to buy and enjoy using. The role of the brand is to increase awareness of that product offer and to present its benefits in a way that is appealing to the consumer. The role of a brand and the brand personality needs to be continually monitored and updated to ensure the closets match between consumers expectation and the brand promise. It is the combination of the two that creates and sustains brands like Coca-Cola, Gillette. Disney and American Express. Brands are important because they act as the communication tool between increasingly globally separated businesses and consumers. Business models have always driven the brand development model from the early Romans, through the industrial revolution, to current new media business. A brand is the aura that surrounds a product or service that communicates the benefits and differentiates it from the consumers.
Philip Kotler (Marketing Management, 1997, p443) further talks about brands being able to convey up to six levels of meaning. Attribute: this is what comes first to a persons mind on seeing the brand. Thus, Mercedes suggest expensive, well-built, well-engineered, durable, high prestige, high resale value, fast and so on. The company may use one or more of these to advertise the car. Benefits: when purchasing, people do not just buy the products, they buy benefits. Example, the attribute durable could translate into the benefits of the purchaser having the notion that he would not have to buy a new car every few years. This therefore means that, the attributes should be translated into functional or emotional benefits. The attribute of the car being well built could have the emotional benefits of a feeling of security in the case of an accident.
Values: the brand also says something of the producers value. Thus, Mercedes stands for high performance, safety, prestige and so on. The brand marketer must figure out the specific groups of car buyers who are seeking these values. Culture: the brand must represent a certain culture. The Mercedes represents German culture organized, efficient, high quality. Personality: the brand can also project a certain personality. F the brand is a person, an animal or an object, what would come to mind. Mercedes may suggest a no-nonsense boss (person), a reigning lion (animal) or austere palace (object). Sometimes, it might take on a personality of an actual well-known person or spokesperson. User: the brand suggests the kind of consumer who buys or uses the product. We would be surprised to see a 20-year old secretary driving a Mercedes. We would expect instead to see a 55-year old top executive behind the wheel. The user will be those who respect the products values, culture and personality. If a company treats a brand only as a name, it misses the point of branding. The challenge in branding is to develop a deep sense of meaning for the brand. When the audience can visualize all the six dimensions of a brand, the brand is deep, otherwise it is shallow says Kotler.
2.11 The Value Of A Brand Brands are important and valuable because they provide a certainty as to future cash flows. As all businesses need such certainty in order properly to plan, invest and develop it is clear that brands play a key strategic role in a large number of companies. They are especially valuable, however, because they are extremely expensive to develop and the risk involved in new brand development are high. It is estimated that perhaps nineteen of every twenty new brands fail; such an attrition rate is horrendous and acquiring an existing brand or brand-owning company may sensible strategy than attempting to develop a new brand from scratch. Moreover, even if a company does take the
new brand development route the cost is high. It is reckoned for example, that it is virtually impossible to get a new food brand into national distribution in Britain without a multi-million pound advertising budget retailers such as Tesco, Asda Sainsbury simply cannot be persuaded to stock a new brand without a large promotional budget; and without the support of the major retailers, any new brand is doomed. The list below shows a ranking of the worlds top brands carried out and published in 2006 by Interbrand a British consulting firm. These brands are leaders in their fields and represent between them billions in revenues and profits. A strong brand produces market leadership, a stable or sustainable competitive advantage, international reach, platform from which to expand activities and of course, long term profit.
Table 1 The Worlds Top Ten Valuable Brands 2011
World ranking 1 2 3 4 5
Brand Apple Google IBM
World ranking 6. 7. 8.
Brand Coca Cola AT & T Marlboro China Mobile General Electric
McDonalds 9. Microsoft 10.
Source: The Telegraph 2011 To even qualify for the list, each brand must derive about a third of its earnings outside its home country, be recognizable outside of its base of customers, and have publicly available marketing and Manufacturing Firms data. One or more of those criteria eliminate such heavyweights as Visa, Wal-Mart, Mars, and CNN.
The first step is figuring out what percentage of a company's revenues can be credited to a brand. (The brand may be almost the entire company, as with McDonald's Corp., or just a portion, as it is for Marlboro.) Based on reports from analysts at J.P. Morgan Chase, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley, Interbrand projects five years of earnings and sales for the brand. It then deducts operating costs, taxes, and a charge for the capital employed to arrive at the intangible earnings. The company strips out intangibles such as patents and management strength to assess what portion of those earnings can be attributed to the brand. Finally, the strength is assessed to determine the risk profile of those earnings forecasts. Considerations include market leadership, stability, or the ability to cross both geographic and cultural borders. That generates a discount rate, which is applied to brand earnings to get a net present value. Business Week and Interbrand believe this figure comes closest to representing a brand's true economic worth. Berkowitz Et Al (Marketing 3rd Edition 1990) identifies branding as important not only for manufacturers but also for retailers and consumers. Retailers value branding because consumers shop at stores that carry their desired brand. Some retailers have created their own store brands to further enhance loyalty from their consumers. Sears for example, exclusively offer the Kenmore brand for its appliances and artisanship as the brand for tools.
A good brand name, says Berkowitz, is of such importance to accompany that it has led to a concept called brand equity, the benefit a given brand name gives to a product beyond a functional benefit provided. This value has two distinct advantages: first, brand equity provides a competitive advantage such as the Sunkist label that implies quality fruit. Rob Walker recently wrote about brands in the New York Times August 6, 2006 edition: he
said a brand is a process of attaching an idea to a product Even companies like Apple and Nike, while celebrated for the tangible attributes of their products, work hard to associate
themselves with abstract notions of nonconformity or achievement. A potent brand becomes a form of identity in shorthand.
A second advantage of brand equity is the ability to endure environmental changes. Hasbro Toys developed G.I, a popular brand name of military action figures. After the Vietnam War made these items unpopular, Hasbro later restored the name on a new line of toy soldiers and sales topped $200m annually.
Consumers however may benefit from branding. Recognizing competing products by distinct trademarks allows them to be shoppers that are more efficient. Consumers can recognize and avoid products with which they are dissatisfied, while becoming loyal to other, more satisfying brands. Brand loyalty often eases consumers decision-making by eliminating the need for an external search.
Furthermore, brands are also important to consumers as an information source that tells them what to expect in a product. Example if you place order at Kentucky Fried Chicken of the "Colonels original recipe chicken", you know ahead of time what to expect.
Some brands can also offer the buyer certain psychic rewards because of their image. A top of the line Oldsmobile and a Cadillac offer the consumer the same quality of transportation and riding comfort . However even though the Oldsmobile may cost a few thousand dollars less, the Cadillac will be the better to a certain group of consumers. This is because to many, driving Cadillac offers more than transportation- it also offers the owner a certain degree of status, since the Cadillac brand is a symbol to others that you have "arrived" in society. The seller also benefits from branding. If a
core segment of the market becomes brand loyal, then the seller has a firm base to rely on to cover fixed costs.
A successful brand can also have a carryover effect on new products the seller introduces to the market. Branding can also benefit the seller if the brand name is used on several products. In this situation, each time the seller advertises one of its products, the other with the same brand name benefits. To sum up, some of the benefits are as follows; Product identification is eased. A customer can order a product by name instead of description. Customers are assured that good service has a certain level of quality and that they will obtain a comparable quality if the same brand is reordered. A firm is able to advertise its products and associate a brand and its characteristics in the buyers mind. Product prestige is increased as social viability becomes meaningful.
Consumers feel less risk when purchasing a branding with which they are familiar and towards which they have a favorable attitude. Branding helps segment market and create a distinct image.
2.12 Types of branding Combination Branding
In certain instances a combination approach is taken where the parent name is used to endorse some products directly but where others are left to stand alone. With Nestle, for example the brand name for their main coffee product, Nescafe is a deviation of that of the parent company. Global blend, their premium quality product is endorsed with the
Nescafe logo. With their confectionaries and some other products such as cereals, the Nestle logo is used alongside that of brand names. Private Branding
This is where the manufacturer sells its products under the brand name of a wholesaler or retailer. Here, the dealer secures exclusive rights for their brand and is responsible for their distribution. Manufacturers follow this approach when a retailer has a large number of outlets and a strong reputation. The advantage to the manufacturer of using dealer branding is promotional costs are shifted to the wholesaler or retailer.
The marketing focus of dealer brands is to attract and retain customers who are loyal to the store and to exert control over the marketing plan for these brands. Private brands appeal to the price conscious consumers who compare prices and ingredients with manufacturer brands. When they believe that the private brands offer good quality at lower prices, they buy them. Mixed branding
Several manufacturers adopt the mixed branding approach to distinguish between products, which they manufacture under their own brand names and identities, and those, which are supplied to retailers and packaged with their retail identities. Most of the time, the main reason for this approach, is that the market segment that is attracted to the retailer is different from that of the manufacturer. Generic brand
In some instances, manufacturers or retailers have been content to sell their products under generic or no-brand names. This branding strategy emphasizes the names of products themselves and not manufacturer or dealer names. This was started in the drug industry as lowcost alternatives to expensive heavily promoted manufacturers brands. Here, no identification other than a description of the contents given.
Currently, generic brands have expanded into cigarettes, under wares, etc. generic brands are hardly advertised and they appeal to price conscious careful shoppers who are sometimes willing to accept lower quality and purchase for the large families. Their prices are less than other brands by 10% to 50%. The marketing goal of this strategy is to offer low price, lower quality items to consumers interested in price savings. One brand name worldwide
This strategy is useful when the company primarily markets one product that is widely distributed and the brand name does not seem to conflict with local cultures of different societys example coca cola. This gives greater identification of a product with the company on an international basis. It helps to achieve greater consistency and co-ordination of advertising and promotion on a worldwide basis.
Philip Kotler in his marketing insight article explains the advantages of a global brand name as he calls it: He says the main advantage is the economy of scale in preparing standard packaging, labels, promotions and advertising. Advertising economies result from using standardized adverts and the fact that media coverage increasingly overlaps between countries. Another advantage is that sales may increase because travelers will see their favorite brands advertised and distributed in other markets. Thirdly, trade channels are more ready to accept a global brand that has been advertised in their market. Finally, a worldwide-recognized brand name is a power itself especially when the countries of origin associations are highly respected. Japanese companies have developed a global reputation for high technology and quality and their names on products give buyers instant confidence that they are getting value. Nevertheless, there are also costs and risks to global branding.
A single brand name may not be as appealing as locally chosen names, says Philip Kotler. The company replaces a well-regarded local name with a global name; the changeover cost can be substantial. The company will have to inform millions of people that its brand still exists but under another name. Even the companys local managers may resist the name change ordered from headquarters. The over centralization of brand planning and programming may dissipate local creativity that might have produced even better ideas for marketing the product.
Even when the company has promoted its global brand name worldwide, it is difficult to standardize its brand association in all countries. Heineken beer, for example is viewed as a high quality beer in the United States and France, a grocery beer in the United Kingdom, and a cheap beer in Belgium. The major influence to draw from all of these is that wise companies will globalize those elements that make or save substantial sums of money and localize those that competitive positioning and success require.
Different brand name in deferent markets
Local brands are often used when the brand name cannot be translated into the local language, when the product is manufactured and consumed locally, when it is a leading selling brand and part of anew-local acquisition, and when the company wants to play down its foreignness and be thought of as a local company. A local brand name is necessary for products for which there has been no local manufacturer and the imported international brand is too expensive for the typical local consumers. Individual brand names permit greater identification of the product by consumers with a name more suited to the local language or jargon. Example in the United States, Frigidaire was
synonymous with the word refrigerator, but this could not be the case in a non-English speaking market. Company name as a brand name
Many companies use standard trademarks for all their products, but are flexible in the case of brands, taking into consideration local market conditions, local consumers motivation, language and translated problems and other market factors.
Brand extension A company may decide to use an existing brand name to launch a product in a new category. Amour used its dial brand name to launch a variety of new products that would not easily have obtained distribution without the strength of its dial name. Honda uses its company name to cover such different products as automobiles, motorcycles, snow blowers, lawn mowers, marine engines and snowmobiles. This allows Honda to advertise that it can fit six Hondas in a two-car garage.
Several specialty-clothing retailers, such as Gap and Ann Taylor, are extending their brands in to the bath and body products area. Gap stores throughout the United States now feature soap, lotion, shampoo, conditioners, shower gel, bath salts and perfume spray. Brand extension offers a number of advantages; a well-regarded brand name gives the new product instant recognition and earlier acceptance. It enables the company to enter new product categories more easily. Sony puts its name on most of its new electronic products and instantly establishes a conviction of the new products high quality.
Brand extension also involves risks. The new product might disappoint buyers and damage their respect for the company is other products.
The brand name may also be inappropriate to the new product-as said by Philip Kotler in his book, Marketing Management 1997 p.454.
2.13 The Life Cycle of a Brand In practical terms, most of brands need have no lifecycle at all. Such major world power brand as Kodak , Coca cola, Gillette and IBM have been with us for generation and are still thriving and enormously successful. Indeed it is the potentiality of such long life, which makes new brands development so exciting and important, and existing successful brands so valuable. But like anything else, brands survive only if they re looked after. If Kodak had stop product development and innovation with the Box Srownie, the Kodak brand would have been of interest to historians; if coca-Cola had a generic name like soda rather than a proprietary trade mark then it would not be in such powerful use today. The potentially indefinite life of a brand is recognized in law. Whereas patents have a finite life of, generally fifteen to twenty years and then expire, registered trademarks, if properly maintained and renewed, can go on indefitely.
2.14 Why brands die Brands may die due to certain factors such as; Growing Competition
Existing brands are extending, new brands are entering new markets and most of all, retailer private label brands are growing in most categories, whether groceries, drinks, etc. these forces exert great pressure on weaker brands. Deliberate execution
There have been many deliberate brand execution, especially in the automobile industry. The main reason is that companies have too large a range of brand in relation to their available
advertising or selling resources and therefore have to discontinue smaller brands in order to concentrate on those with the most potential. Acquisitions
These often create brand name duplication. When Burroughs and Sperry were acquired, both names were dropped and replaced by Unisys. The Rowentree name has largely been replace by Nestle. Weak marketing Weak marketing can also kill brads and so can inferior qualities or high cost of production. However, the main reason for the death of brands is the lack of business proposition. Weak brands once have had this but lost it.
2.15 New Brand Media types and files sizes However, the broadening number of channels has also seen a reduction in quality of a large proportion of the content on American cable networks (see fig. 1.1). Web media have grown out of a text-based system so additional sound and graphics were seen as an advantage, and many new multimedia sites are often high quality. The Internet The Internet was first set up as an electronic link for the American military; it was intended to provide a command chain between centers, even if one of them was destroyed. This shift to the centreless network changed how we understand information exchange and communication. Information is no longer stored in a giant central storage device, but is scattered all over the world, and can be equally accessed from all around the globe. It has become a truly 24-hour global linking system that is relatively cheap and needs little expert training.
6.4
3.2 2001
1998
1999
2000
No. Internet users (Millions) (UK) Internet growths (source: BRMB, 1998)
The Internet is expanding globally at a logarithmic rate. BRMB research, September 1998, suggests there are 3.2 million home users in the UK; it estimates by the year 2001 this will be 6.4 million. This level of growth means a great opportunity for brand activities to reach directly into the heart and head of customers in their own home.
Digital television First, the brand will be perceived as strong and high profile, one that can afford such a broadcast service. Second, its customers will enjoy a much better information / entertainment to junk ratio since the many smaller players are not present. These brands can probably build their band experience into a much stronger proposition without worrying about competing smaller sites, resulting in more satisfied and loyal customers.
2.16 New media brand strategies. In the UK, IDTV started later than the Internet, but there is no reason to separate the equal potential of both new media types in their ability to provide high quality brandsites. Brandsites can offer a series of marketing channels that are ripe for brand activities: o Corporate, product or service identity and information; o Public relations management; o Defining and dominating a new channel of distribution; o Customer service; o Direct sales; o Customer and market research; o Complaints and helpline services.
The brochure segment is the most likely starting point for most brandsites, as they reflect a low cost, low commitment strategy. This will also offer the lowest returns, as it works as an untargeted and unidirectional communication channel. The more sophisticated next step is a brandsite that offers a high-tech version of your brand.
This would harness the power of the hardware and software to create presentations that are entertaining and offer learning and knowledge attainment opportunities. Multimedia brand sites quickly outstrip their rival brochure sites for preference by consumers. They also have the capacity to collect simple visitor data that can form a low cost response loop for brand activities. Multimedia sites maximize the brand sites as a new support technology as part of the total marketing effort.
Brand sites that progress beyond these simplistic approaches require high-tech brand experience. They use advanced technologies to generate 3D virtual spaces and are accompanied by sophisticated data agents that observe, learn and manage the flow of information you receive. The virtual store offers the perceptual cues that we have learnt to use while shopping in the real world. A sales avatar, a human-looking shopping assistant that is either human or computer controlled, may greet you.
The agents also follow your journey through cyberspace, noting how often you return to a particular site or how long you spend there; they gain their knowledge through observation rather than intrusive questioning. The advantages of the natural movement, intuitive understanding and the sociability of such brand sites mean that they can generate clear customization and strong emotional attachment for the customer.
2.17 The evolution of the new media brand sites The banking sector has provided much evidence for the evolution of the strategic use of brandsites within a total marketing effort (Angehrn et al, 1998). The use of first generation brandsites such as brochure sites is widespread, and reflects the immaturity of the technology and its attendant uses. Sophisticated brands have now evolved these into second-generation sites that offer entertainment and information opportunities through high technology, while providing database knowledge for the company. A few sites have moved into third generation intelligent and fully leveraging brand positions increase strongly with the evolution of your brandsite along these paths.
Level of Sophistication
High tech
Entertainment and learning
High tech, high touch
Brochure Low tech
One-to-one
Level of Low touch New media development strategies high touch Customization
CHAPTER THREE Methodology 3.0Introduction The relevant data collection method that was used by the researchers during this study is considered here. It is the method used in collecting information about the stated problems and questions.
3.1Sources of data Data for the study was drawn from both secondary and primary sources. The major sources of secondary data were from the records, a report in newspapers and on the internet. Primary data will be obtained from structured questionnaires given to workers of PZ Cussons Ghana limited.
3.2Data collection method Questionnaires were the primary means of data collection for the evaluation of the opinions, perception and recommendation of respondents. A structured questionnaire was used for interviewing the sample of workers in PZ Cussons Ghana limited because it was more realistic given the sample size of 50. The questionnaires were self administered by staff and management.
A pilot survey was conducted to ascertain the error element in the draft questionnaire after which the final questionnaire was prepared. The questions that were asked were both open ended and close-ended techniques; While the closed ended questions provide an opportunity to quantify responses to questions across the whole sample, the open ended enabled the researchers to obtain more opinions and perceptions of the respondent.
For the closed ended questions, both multiple type answers and scaling were used. All questions requesting respondents perception provided scaled answers.
The researchers believed that this was helpful in quantifying more accurately some important and common perceptions held by the respondents. The questionnaire was in two parts. Section A and section B. section A consisted of sociodemographic data such as age, profession and number of years working for the company. Section B consisted of mostly open-ended questions in order to permit free responses from the respondents. However, for issues that their categories are clear-cut and for which respondents were able to make their choices, closed ended questions were used. Efforts were first made to establish rapport. This was followed by briefing the respondents about the aims and objectives and the intended use of the information provided by respondents. On the other hand, some respondents requested to administer the questionnaire themselves because of time. 3.3The study site The research will be carried out in Tema. The customers of PZ Cussons limited in Tema will be interviewed. Also the employees at PZ Cussons Company will also be interviewed for relevant information. This is captured in the map of Ghana below in a red shaded portion at the bottom right side of the map. 3.4Population and sampling Clearly, it was very easy to establish a well-defined population or sample frame from which a sample was chosen. However, it can suffice to say that the population for this research was that of workers who have worked at least six months in the company. In selecting the sample for the survey, researchers used a purposive sampling procedure to pick respondents since it was important that researchers interview respondents who have adequate information to provide concerning the research questions.
However in administering the questionnaire, in all 50 questionnaires were administered through face to face. However to reduce the level of bias in the survey the researchers widened their sample frames as realistically as possible. The researchers believe that, given his resources and expertise these figures are realistic but substantial enough to reduce sample errors. Since the aim of the researchers was to seek the unique opinions, perceptions and recommendations of the respondents which were, hopefully, representative of that of their respective organization. 3.5Alternative methods The interviewer encountered some difficulties in undertaking the primary research. These difficulties arise when the researchers considered alternative methods o data collection or contact methods. For example, interviewing top-level respondents in some organizations was very difficult because there was so much red tape and tight schedule of duties with their positions. Where these become an impediment, the interviewer considered self-administered approach while making regular phone or personal calls to ensure that the questionnaire was attended to. 3.6Methods of data analysis In order to obtain a good blend of analysis of data, both the qualitative and quantitative approaches to data analysis was used. This is to ensure that all aspects of the research are analyzed before relevant conclusions and recommendations were made. The Excel software package and SPSS (statistical package for social scientists) was used for all the calculations, charts and for the development of other statistical analysis.
CHAPTER FOUR DATA FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
4.0 Detailed Findings 4.01 Introduction This section will deal in some details in the analysis of both primary and secondary data collected from the field and PZ Cussons Ghana Limited, and the presentation of the findings. The findings will be presented according to the sections and parts of the questionnaires administered. In all 50 questionnaires were analyzed and the responses are presented in an easyto-understand tables, graphs, charts and figures that will greatly enhance the readability of this long essay. Attempts were also made to answer the research questions posed in the introduction. The research sought to determine the effect branding has on a manufacturing firm such as; PZ Cussons Ghana Limited. Companies and customers today have now come to realize the significance that brand policy plays in the promotion of goods and services in the market.
Results gathered from the field reveals that PZ Cussons operates in selected markets that have the potential for future growth in mature and emerging markets. They ensure a naturally balanced portfolio of global markets, which is continually reviewed to ensure the provision of Africa, Asia and Europe with the best opportunities for profitable growth. PZ Cussons takes pride in having knowledge about local markets, which enables them too quickly respond to local need appropriately.
The company employs 400(four hundred) employees, most of them are mainly located in its headquarters in Tema, The main business of the company are; manufacturing and marketing of Soaps, toiletries, Cosmetics, Pharmaceutical and edibles.
4.2. Background of Staff and Customers From responses received, it came to light that 90% of the responses came from the customers while the other 10% came from the staff. Results from the field reveals that majority of the respondents interviewed were men forming 60% of the total sample and female 40%. The educational background of the workers of PZ Cussons has it that greater part of the respondents (56%) have secondary education and the remaining 44% attaining tertiary or post-graduate educational qualifications. The sex of customers and the level of their education shows that the female staff have the least learning attainment. The average length of stay in the company by workers is ten years with the highest length of stay being thirty years and the least a year old. The bulk of the employees representing 50% are the marketing, the Finance, Engineering departments tallied with 20% followed by Logistics and Procurements 15%, the remaining 5% are the Human Resource and Administration Department. Figure 1: Sex of Respondent
W en om 40% M en 60%
Source: Field Survey; May 2011
4.3 Knowledge of Branding by the workers of PZ Cussons Ghana. Several authors on branding, including Davis and Dunn (2002) have argued that for branding to succeed, it must permeate all departments. In fact, they posit that there must be a total
management buy-in. To this extent, one can thus argue that to leave such an important task to one department is counter-productive. Indeed, there ought to be a total team support. This assertion is supported by Coyler (2003) who remarks, "Marketing is the custodian of the physical brand, but who are the custodians of behavior?" If it is just Human Resource (HR), he argues, then you've perhaps got a problem because often HR departments have lost their punch at board level. The best sponsor for branding culture is the CEO. "It's not good enough to run spin campaigns for staff, he adds. The top team has to foot the bill. They need role model behavior. You can't ask thousands of staff to behave in a way that people at the top won't model, he concludes.
However, with this development, no wonder almost the entire workers of PZ Cussons are not aware of branding knowledge in the company. They sometimes see a company product advertised on radio or TV without knowing before hand how the company wants to position the product. The main objective of the study was to assess the effect branding has on the company.
4.4 Department responsible for Branding One startling discovery from the field research was that in spite of the all-team concepts being mooted by management and branding authorities there still exist that functional barrier in firms. For instance in determining the departments responsible for branding, out of the 50 respondents interviewed 60% mentioned the Marketing/sales departments. A further 20% mentioned the human resource/administrative department whilst 15% attributed this task to all departments. The remaining 5% mentioned Research Department. This is shown in Figure 2 below.
Figure 2: Departments responsible for Branding
R s ac eer h A Dp r e t ll e atmn H mn ua R s uc eo r e S le /M r e g a s ak tin
5 % 1% 5 2% 0 6% 0 0 % 1% 0 2% 0 3% 0 4% 0 5% 0 6% 0
Source: Field Survey; Accra Ghana; May 2011.
When the question was put as to whether or not, there was a brand management team and the levels of management represented on the team, 70% of the respondents mentioned that they had no brand management teams while 30% said they had one. Another 20% however indicated that the membership should cut across all departments, involving staff from middle and senior level management. However, with this development, no wonder most of the manufacturing industries do not have any brand management team in place. It is important however to differentiate between the local and foreign PZ Cussons in this matter. PZ Cussons have foreign offices. In fact, PZ Cussons Ghana has most of their strategic directions emanating from the parent company in the UK according to the Head of Sales and Marketing. Unilever (Ghana) Ltd. for instance has a foreign brand management team but resident in South Africa, overseeing the whole brand strategy for Africa.
Figure 3: Presence of Brand Management Teams
Y 30% es,
No, 70%
All the respondents but one, which represented 80% agreed that Branding is very important. The dissenting one mentioned it is not very important for current consideration. Some of the associating comments were;
We believe if we set good examples internally then we will be successful to our external customers.
The brand is seen as an embodiment of whole organization and all employees must do everything possible to ensure consumer loyalty.
Charity begins at home this is enough for all and sundry.
PZ Cussons Managers View on Branding A Likert - scale type question was used to assess what the views of managers were on branding. Out of the responses received, 40% of the respondent said it is treated as a marketing-level issue. 20% of the respondents however saw it as primarily a communication responsibility, while 20% mentioned it was one thing that needed a total staff involvement. However, some of the
respondents representing 20% saw it as a Public Relations role. None of the respondents saw it as Top-level responsibility. Figure 4: PZ Cussons View on Branding
The above makes interesting discussion. Indeed, branding is a communication activity. However, it is in the domain of the marketer who strategies and gets other functions to accept it. None of the respondents had brand management teams in the organization. This being the case, it follows then that, branding will not attract the attention and energy of all the marketing-management team. This is worrying particularly for the branding process. Almost all brand gurus are unanimous on the fact that branding, be it external or internal must involve all, especially TopLevel Management (Aaker 1996; Keller 2000, Davis and Dunn 2002). Manufacturing organizations in Ghana are unanimous on the importance of communication in building the brand, especially the external one. Several of them thus use different channels in reaching employees about branding activities. The table below is indicative of the channels used in PZ Cussons Ghana and their frequency.
Table 2: Table indicating Channels of Communication for brand campaigns in the company. CHANNELS Memos Meetings Intranet Newsletter Fax Telephone calls Grapevine Face-face (oral) FREQUENCY 45 55 30 15 5 12 5 15 PERCENT 22% 27% 15% 7% 2% 6% 2% 7% 1%
Notice Board 20 Source: Field Survey; Accra Ghana; May 2011.
Aside the above channels, managers mentioned that they used brainstorming and reports, all in a bid to engender communication. From the Table 1 above, meetings top the chart as the most widely used communication channel in most manufacturing companies. Rating on a scale of 1-5, with five being the highest and how often the channel is used, respondents agreed that meetings were gain mentioned as the most widely used especially in PZ Cussons. However, in the view of, the Market Research Manager of the company has a different view. He said memos are a slow and ineffective means of communication brand activities. He thinks that in most cases, memos are not well responded to, and one has to follow this up with a phone call or a face-to-face meeting any way. He therefore reiterates that whatever need to be discussed through a memo, could be done over the phone. In addition, this is evidenced in the table, as meeting was identified as an important channel even topping memos. Table 1 is transformed into a bar chart as below;
Figure 4 Channels of Communication
Notice Board Grapevine Fax Intranet Memos 0

5 12 5
20 15
15 30 55 45
20
40
60
80
Besides memos and meetings, Telephone calls and the intranet is the next used channel. However, an appreciable number of them use oral communication (face-face). The fact that memo usage exceeds e-mails is understandable; against the backdrop, that Ghana is a developing country. This has a tremendous effect on branding where communication plays s crucial role. When PZ Cussons sought to reposition its brand for the first time in thirty years, it was meticulous about running at the same pace, internally as well as externally. As events transpired, the fact that it had put in place the infrastructure to communicate with staff helped it to deal with potentially very negative public relations in the outside world brought by because of its advertising campaign. They have been criticized heavily for coming out with commercial that are not consumer centered. However, they made a major investment in communicating with its own staff. According to the Marketing director, the company recognizes that success was ultimately
all down to their ability to deliver the customer experience Taking it a step further, the Brands Manager for Cosmetics recommends is taking this a step further. She maintains that, from experience, if there were one thing the PZ Cussons would have done differently, it would be to put their own staff first in the communication plan before any communication went out to customers. Although there exist, various communication channels, there is room for improvement. Over the years areas showing improvement include; staff having generally higher levels of information; management/supervisor relationship; the effectiveness of briefings and stronger upward feedback Communicating Brand Campaigns. For branding to succeed, much depends on communications. A Likert scale was therefore used to assess the role and effectiveness of communications. Sixty percent of the sample that responded mentioned that communication played a critical role in supporting their brand building efforts. Table 3- The Role and Effectiveness of Communications
Role of Communications
Tally
Percentage (%) 60% 30% 10%
Communications plays a critical role 30 See the need for communication but 15 are working at it Communication not yet our strength 5 Source: Field Survey; Accra Ghana; May 2011.
This assertion is also supported by Blumenthal (2002) who argues that for branding to strive, there must be communication to staff till them hear, breathe and live brand. Of the remaining forty percent, 30% reiterated that they see the need for communications and are working on it. A further 10% revealed that communication was not one of their strengths. What the above seems
to suggest is that of the respondents it is only the 60% who succeed at branding. Although the other 30% who are working at
their communication seem to be striving, they have not reached there yet. They will therefore, for now, be concentrating on only communication something that does not augur well for the build up of branding. Employee Commitment It is generally agreed that organization all over the world need the support and commitment of their employees to be able to satisfy its customers (Kotler 2003; Keller 1993). Practitioners support this view as well, as in the remark below; "I reckon about 20 percent of a brand is its physical attributes, like a logo, colour, letterheads. The rest is all about behaviour, and employees bring a brand to life; they are its ultimate custodians." Ian Buckingham, Head of Interbrand Inside. Yet the process of creating and maintaining a brand culture in the workplace - internal brand alignment - is a difficult and delicate process. It needs more than a manual and a slide presentation. Alignment is about encouraging employees to behave in certain ways. "You can't just say to people, 'Here's the external brand, here's the internal, and here's how it plays out in everyday behaviour,' says the Head of Marketing. You have to be careful because people are individuals; you can make this a false thing. If you keep staff happy and still let them bring their personality to work then you're more likely to succeed. Unlike in PZ Cussons, other Manufacturing firms like Unilever, they have what is called PPP- People, Product, Profit- to wit, give the people the needed push to create the Product which evolves into profit.
What the above stresses is that getting your people or employees committed to the brand is crucial to delivering to the end consumer. The study thus sought to ascertain to what extent staffs have been
involved in attracting new employees and customers. Management agreed that most of their recruits especially in the last three years have been because of employee recommendation. This was largely true for PZ Cussons. When employees were interviewed, it was realized that 40% of employees who felt happy and satisfied about their conditions of service talked about their firms to potential recruits. They went ahead to solicit for clients for their organizations. In response to the question of whether he would recommend his organization to others as a good place to work, this is what; a Marketing Supervisor of the company had to say; Yes, because the organizations philosophy on employees is that they Is the core part of the business and so are properly taken care of. He went to say, he will recommend his organization to others to do business with because, he believes they offer good products and always strive to satisfy the customer. The table below is evidence that the sample interviewed understood the brands of their organizations and felt committed to it. Responding to the three Likert scale questions, these were the results; To what extent do you trust the brand of your organization? Table 4: Level of trust for PZ Cussons brand(s) Level of Trust for the Brand Completely trust Trust quite a lot Neither trust or distrust Somewhat distrust Completely distrust Tally 30 10 7 3 Percentage (%) 60% 20% 15% 5% -
TOTAL
50
100%
In assessing the level of trust for the brand, thirty respondents, representing 60% said they trusted their organizational brands completely. A further 20% said they trusted the brand quite a lot. Bringing the total number to 80% in support of the brand, this is considered a good sign for branding. With over three-quarters of staff trusting the organizations brand means, there are the same number whole can be converted to brand evangelists and ambassadors. This finding is significant and calls to question the assertion made by Hiscock (2002). In his research, Hiscock (2002) said about 30% of UK employees are brand neutral or are just not interested in their company's brand, while a further 22% are brand saboteurs, actively working against the brand culture. Quoting a MORI data he continued that this leaves just under half, 48%, who are brand champions and will spread the brand idea. Of these, 33% would talk positively about the brand if asked, and 15% would talk positively about the brand spontaneously. In making this judgment however, one is careful to add that, the current work was conducted in Ghana, and the conditions and situations vary. However, the difference in number 80% as against 30% is worth researching further. Perhaps employees in developing countries, Ghana inclusive trust their organizations brand than those in UK. Figure 6 Level of trust for PZ Cussons brand(s)
Assessment of employees trust in their companys brands
Somewhat distrust Neither trust or distrust Trust quite a lot Completely trust 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
To what extent do you believe that the company is capable of delivering on its promises to customers and employees? This question was to identify the habit and practices of companies who achieve a good fit between their brand promise and the way in which their people think, feel and act. This is against the backdrop that consumers in the UK are reported to trust Kellogg (a brand) than the police and church (Aaker 1991). In his research on behalf of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Brooke (2002) argued that brand management is simple: its a case of make a promise, keep a promise. The research therefore sought to understand to what extent employees believed their organizations could deliver on its promises.
Table 5 Level of trust on the companys ability to deliver on its promises to customers Level of trust Strongly trust Partially trust 25 15 Tally Percentage (%) 58% 32%
Indifferent Do not trust TOTAL
10 50
10% 100%
Of the sample population another 58% agreed they strongly trust in PZ Cussons ability to deliver on its promises. 32% also said they partially trusts the above question. This totals 90%. However, 10% or the respondents said they do not believe in their organizations ability to deliver. Interestingly however, this 6% of the population said they felt very enthusiastic about PZ Cussons brand. This again is at variance with Hiscock (2002) findings which points at 22% being brand saboteurs. None of the respondents however, felt indifferent about the brand. This is good as there would be no sitting on the fence.
What is your feeling about your organizations brand? Unlike the two Likert questions above, only 38% felt very enthusiastic towards their organizations brand, as compared to 56% for the level of trust and believability. The above notwithstanding, a 44% reiterated their support stating that they felt quite enthusiastic. This brings to 82% that number that has a positive feeling towards their organizations brand. 12% of the respondents felt indifferent about the question, while 6% felt quite negative about their organizations brand. Table 6: Level of feeling towards PZ Cussons brand Level of Feeling Very Enthusiastic Quite Enthusiastic Indifferent Quite Negative Tally 19 22 6 3 Percentage (%) 38 44 12 6
Very Negative TOTAL 50 Source: Field Survey; Accra Ghana; May 2011.
100
From the table as above, none of the respondents felt very negative towards the brands of their organization. The above three questions and the subsequent analysis points to the direction that generally in the Ghanaian Manufacturing sector, there seem to be a general support for the brand. Employees feel committed, trust and believe in the brands of their organization such that they go out of their way to recommend their places of work to potential employees. This is an indication that these employees understand the brands and will become advocated and evangelists for the brand. This is indeed understandable, judging from the sector in which they operate. The onus now lies on management to turn the few 6% unhappy employees to happy ones. The future looks bright anyway.
Measuring Branding Activities To measure the effectiveness of Branding in PZ Cussons, a quantitative survey, tracking the attitudes of consumers and customers. In response to how branding activities were measured, answers varied. Top of mind awareness, customer retention or turnover and sales. One response reiterated that marketing performance is used as it represents the contribution of the department to the overall organization. Another response mentioned that they measure customers attitude to determine if it identifies and falls in line with the brand goals and vision. According to William Nyavor of Ernst & Young, they have developed an audit structure, which is used to measure branding on a quarterly basis.
The effectiveness of these programs be they an audit, or marketing performance is that the overall health of the customer-brand relationship deserves constant monitoring and periodic measurement. This would include;
Conducting periodic assessments of brand perceptions against key objectives Tying increased brand alignment to business unit or marketing results Establishing success targets and measuring against these.
To wit, set the objectives of branding campaign; undertake regular checks; and measure to determine success or otherwise. For example, one could establish a minimum percentage of customer service representatives who must be aware of the new brand positioning, understand why it is important to them personal (intrinsic) and to the company (extrinsic). The reps should also understand and know how to deliver on the brand promise. To measure if this activity is succeeding or otherwise, one could implement a mystery- shopping programmed explicitly designed to test for that.
In developing brand- customer relationships, these metrics could also be guiding principles for training and mentoring. Understanding the business- stress on customers understanding what the company
stands for, including the organizations history, how money is made, who the customers are, and current Manufacturing Firms goals.
Understanding the brand- emphasize key values and differentiated elements of the
brand. Brand influence- Describe specific ways that customers have an impact on the brand
experience. Brand trust- Reiterate the level of trust that customers have of the ability of the
company leadership to do the right thing relative to the values of the brand. Brand credibility- Measure whether customers believe that the company is capable of
delivering on its promises to customer and customers. Brand Delivery- Measure whether customers believe that the company fulfills its
promises to customer and customers. Brand preference- Understand the extent to which customers prefer to work at the
company rather than its competitors Brand advocacy- Estimate the degree to which customers are comfortable referring
friends and family to their employer. Brand satisfaction- Track customer retention and turnover, and satisfaction as
compared to industry standards.
4.1. DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF RESULTS SUMMARY The research sought to examine the effectiveness of branding in PZ Cussons. It also largely investigated whether messages sent out to external customers were understood and consistent
with brand campaigns. As Brookes (2000) recalls, Brand position falters when changes in the inside do not align with the new message to the customer and finally develop the most effective vehicles for branding Contrary to the assertion held by branding authorities like Davis and Dunn (2002) and Coyler (2003) that branding needs a total team support, the field research revealed that largely, branding does not enjoy the total team support. It is not surprising therefore, that PZ Cussons Ghana does not have a brand management teams. This however precludes the foreign PZ Cussons like Nigeria and United Kingdom who have brand management team. In fact, PZ Cussons Ghana branding activities are directed from United Kingdom. The study also revealed that branding was either marketing or a communication issue. This thus tallies with the earlier finding that the company did not have brand management teams. In fact, none mentioned that it deserved the attention of top management. This being the case, it follows then that, branding will not attract the attention and energy of other-management personnels apart from marketing. This is worrying particularly for the internal branding process. Almost all brand gurus are unanimous on the fact that branding, be it external or internal must involve all, especially top-level management (Aaker 1996; Keller 2000, Davis and Dunn 2002).
The study revealed that the manufacturing firms in Ghana have come to terms with the Branding concept, such that most customers trust what their brands stand for and will recommend clients and job seekers to their companies.
In measuring the effectiveness of branding campaigns, some firms resorted to attitude tracking, top of mind awareness while other relied on customer turnover and sales. It was also established
that branding contributed to the overall organizational strategy of most Manufacturing Firms institutions in Ghana. Companies need to learn to run at the same pace internally as well as externally. The author came across the company sending a family-friendly message towards its customers without introducing it to its own staff. Crche facilities, for example, were very limited and not extended to all working mo thers. To its credit, the company recognized this and acted fast to prevent the risk of disillusioned staff acting as terrorist towards the brand. This assertion is supported by Brooke (2002) who reckons, when Carlos the CEO entered Safeway with a great enthusiasm, things improved, but there was still always a very real danger of taking a great story to the outside world, before you have got things right internally. We were in the danger of creating dissonance among our customers and staff, he added. The customers have to believe it, and more importantly, act on it. However, can this be said of the Ghanaian Manufacturing sector? The Manufacturing Sector in Ghana The Manufacturing sector actually grew in size and number in the 90s following democratization after 20 years of military rule. In view of this, the research covered the PZ Cussons, an emerging Fast Moving Consumer Goods company in Ghana. PZ Cussons has come under intense competition. PZ develops leading brands for the markets in which they operate. Whilst some have global reach, the majority of their brands are sold only in local and regional markets as they create products that are particularly suited to local needs and taste. Their strategy is to grow these brands so they achieve category leading positions in their markets and they continually review and expand the categories in which their operate to ensure profitable growth. The design of the questionnaire as mentioned in chapter 3 is for managers. The rationale was to elicit responses pertaining to management and leadership from managers, and the company for that matter. This pronged approach thus will paint a very lucid picture of the situation on the ground. The analysis is also along this line managers.
CHAPTER FIVE 5.0.CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
Manufacturing companies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on campaigns to promote their brand externally says Bernstel (2003). However, the most impotent audience, the customer, is often over-looked. It is one thing to tell customers who you are and quite another to show them who you are (Boone 2000). An organizations customers have to be engaged to make the brand come alive Boone (2001) concludes. Several studies have revealed that there is a correlation between branding and the bottom line (Aaker and Jacobson 1987; Fournier et al, 2002). Can the same be said of branding activities?
The study revealed that branding is gaining prominence in Ghanas Manufacturing Firms institutions. However, PZ Cussons have gone far ahead as it used to be some time in the past. This is attributable to the fact that PZ Cussons have foreign head offices that are directly supporting its branding efforts. Strategic decisions thus, emanate from the head offices taking a top - down approach.
However, when it came to how branding campaigns were measured, several strategies emerged. Customer retention as well sales performance-tracking studies were also used to measure customer attitude. The effectiveness of these measures of sales performance depends on the overall health of the customer-brand relationship. It deserves constant monitoring and periodic measurement. This would include; Conducting periodic assessments of brand perceptions against key objectives Tying increased brand alignment to business unit or marketing branding results Establishing success targets and measuring against these.
It was also established that brand metrics could help Manufacturing organizations not only measure the effectiveness of their brand investment activities, but also ultimately guide business decision-making.
Successful brand metrics enable companies to monitor as well as manage the health and stability of their business over time. A simple guide for brand metric development is represented by the acronym SMART (Dunn and Davis 2003). Brand metrics should be: Simple The more complex the metric, the more time spent on measuring the brand than managing it Meaningful There must be a direct link to brand-building efforts and business results Actionable Business decisions and objectives must be aligned with brand metrics Repeatable Consistent, repeatable application of a metric is necessary to demonstrate progress and drive business action Touch point-oriented Deft orchestration of customer touch points is the key to effective and efficient brand delivery; metrics should capture success or failure at mission-critical touch points. Aaker (1996) adds that the metric should be sensitive and applicable across brand product categories and markets. Branding activities should form an ongoing part of the companys management functions. Successful branding, it is argued retains customers. Surveys of customers can measure customers attitudes toward the company and their perception of its goals and activities as well as their own place within the company. Customer surveys should become an annual event, demonstrating employer concern for feedback and diagnosing problem areas to be addressed in the following year. Focus groups can also be used to elicit customer concerns and communicate company values. Although much branding activity involves the dissemination of information by the company to customers, a successful campaign will also provide regular opportunities for customer feedback. Abstracted from Human Resource Executive, published by LRP Magazine Group,
So how should a company identify, prioritize and track the right set of brand metrics? Below is a guide to developing the right brand metrics to steer effective business decisions as suggested by Davis and Dunn (2002); Bernstel 2003; Tosti and Stotz (2001). 1. Start at the top To start, brand managers must align metrics to the strategic imperatives for the organization as a whole. Are the businesss goals focused on revenue gains, franchise growth, or geographic expansion? How will the CEO measure the success of achieving these business imperatives? The success of any brand strategy initiative lies in its ability to demonstrate impact on what keeps executives awake at night. 2. Link brand performance metrics to the business goals If the businesses goal is to increase revenues, one key brand performance metric may be increased customer retention and loyalty. By linking the business goals to the brand, brand managers can bring clarity and action to corporate priorities. 3. Identify brand perception metrics that influence brand performance Determining which perception metrics are leading indicators of brand performance is an important step in this process. For example, if greater consistency in the brand experience is a key to customer retention and loyalty, then customers understanding of how they represent the brand to customers will be an important element to monitor. Therefore, brand perception metrics such as internal brand understanding may be well suited to gauge progress against business and brand goals. While this is an example of an internally focused metric, the power of ensuring internal understanding and alignment should not be underestimated.
4. Establish ongoing process and responsibilities Finally, in order to ensure the successful implementation and use of these brand metrics, Manufacturing Firms must ensure that the proper processes and responsibilities are established to
track and maintain these metrics. First, look for existing measures that can be leveraged not all metrics need to be developed from scratch. Second, assign explicit responsibility for the tracking and analytics of these metrics without accountability, many brand efforts falter. Finally, find opportunities to include brand metrics into establish scorecards and measurement systems. By demonstrating the support/linkage to business objectives, brand investment and return can gain internal credibility and stature.
Brand investments will continue to draw scrutiny and skepticism in organizations particularly these days. So it is becoming increasingly important for organizations to establish brand measurement programmes to tangibly demonstrate brands role in helping to build and sustain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Choosing SMART brand metrics will give a company the tools it needs to successfully measure the effectiveness of brand investments and in turn brands overall impact on the business.
Implications for Management
Being passionate about brands for that matter is a questionable attribute for marketing professionals; we need to be rational about managing them. Brands are important. In fact like other assets, they need to be invested in otherwise their value erodes. But as Doyle (2001) argues, this is not a blank cheque. In fact, they must be worked out. This research has revealed that branding is important, in that is shapes customers to live, breathe and hear the brand.
It has also been established that customer relationship, as measured by branding, adds further equity to the total brand value and contributes to corporate brand strategy. In this direction therefore, it is suggested that managers implement and monitor branding programmes, as a way of improving service delivery. Thus, for branding to succeed;
management must support the branding process in person and with resources set the objectives of branding campaign; undertake regular checks; Measure to determine success or otherwise.
Limitations The primary limitation of this study is the sample. The judgmental stratified sampling was used with some selection subjectivity. However, it was felt this could also be one of the key strengths, in the quality of respondents assessed (de Chernatony 1996). The studys dependence on the two-part marketing officials of the company and other management personals, questionnaire may also engender bias about some topics discussed. However talking to industry experts in an emerging field is part of the exploratory research process (Vallas and de Chernatony 2003). The time available for the study was relatively short and therefore does not make it easy for enough investigation to be made into the issues concerned. Besides, the issue of branding involves management of the company who usually are busy and this made it difficult to get access to the requisite information at ease for the study. Most of the information concerning the topic are considered as the organizations secrets and are not made available to outsiders. Again, these are issues that border on brand strategy, and several firms are skeptical about releasing such information. However, the questionnaire will serve a good deal, while individual brand charters will be of help The response rate was also lower that anticipated. Given the opportunity again, the author would have used a quantitative research design, to make my conclusions more absolute, since this bothers on metrics- numbers. Future Research Directions
In conducting this research several theories and concepts were discussed. Consequently, additional research is necessary especially the implications for marketing strategy and tactics in a different manufacturing setting, say Unilever Ghana Limited.
It is also useful for a comparative research to be carried out in other service areas, or better still in the Fast Consumer Manufactured Goods (FCMG) industry. A further research using a triangulation method will also help unearth various branding metrics in other industries. This will go a long way to add to the body of knowledge in this fledging area.
In a Nutshell This research in Branding is an emerging field. It is the view of the author that conclusions drawn from this study should be seen as preliminary and exploratory, rather than definitive (Blumenthal 2000). This is largely due to the fact that, there is scarcity of primary and secondary research on it, especially from the customers perspective in our part of the world, which is the focus of study. Besides, the topic resides within a new area of theory and practice in marketing, and far more in-depth study is needed than the scope of this project could allow. Nevertheless, it offers a useful guideline to managers in the Manufacturing Firms on how to think deeply about their customers in their branding activities. It will also be useful to other researchers in view of its internal validity to carry out similar study in another area. The research thus, will add to the body of knowledge in this new field especially from the developing worlds perspectives.
REFERENCES
Aaker D (1996) Building Strong Brands, Free Press, New York. Blumenthal, D (2002) Customer branding, does it improve quality of life, Brand Leadership Institute, England. Brooke, J (2002) The Brand Inside, Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK. De Chernatony L (2001) A Model to Grow and Sustain Brands Strategically; Marketing; 2001. De Chernatony L and McDonald M (1998) Creating Powerful Brands in Consumer, Service and Industrial Markets, 2 e, Butterworth Doyle, P (2001) Shareholder-value-based brand strategies, Journal of Brand Management, Vol. 9, No. 1,pp. 20-30. Eyring, AR (2002) Inside-Out Branding for a Change, Interbrand, September 30, USA. Hancock B (2002) Trent Focus for Research and Development in Primary Health Care, An Introduction to Qualitative Research, Trent Focus Group, University of Nottingham,UK Hiscock, J (2002) The Brand Insiders, Marketing, May 23, pp. 24-25
Hopelain J (2003) Brand metrics strengthen business health, Marketing News, March 31. Strategic Brand Management; Creating, sustaining brand equity long term 2e, KogPage, London. Keller KL, (1993) Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Managing Customer-Based Brand Equity; Journal of Marketing, Vol. 57, 1-22. Kotler, P (2003) Marketing Management, 11 Edition, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Malcolm, et al (2001) Corporate marketing and service brands- Moving beyond the fastmoving consumer goods model, European Journal of Marketing, Bradford, England. Mitchell, C (2002) Selling the Brand Inside, Harvard Business Review, Boston, and January 2002.
Pringle H and Thompson (1999) How Cause Related Marketing builds brands, John Wiley & Sons, England Smith, J (2001) Brand metrics, your key to measuring return on brand investments, Prophet, USA. Smith, P R (1993) Marketing Communications-An integrated Approach, Kogan Page, London. Tosti, DT and Stotz RD (2001) Brand: Building your brand from the inside out, Journal of Marketing Management, Chicago, Vol. 10, No 2, pp.28-33 Turley, L. W. and P. A. Moore (1995), Brand name strategies in the service sector, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 42-50. Webster, K (2000) Branding your Customers, Interbrand, USA. Zikmund W (2000) Business Research Methods, 6th Edition, Harcourt College Publishers, USA.

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CHAPTER ONE 1.1 Background In a world where consumers have infinite choices, it is impossible to compete without a compelling brand.

How does branding benefit PZ Cussons to achieve its goals?

Significance of the Study

Criteria for selecting a brand position

Brands project the right message to the customers

Table 1 The Worlds Top Ten Valuable Brands 2011

Brand Apple Google IBM

Brand Coca Cola AT & T Marlboro China Mobile General Electric

McDonalds 9. Microsoft 10.

2.12 Types of branding Combination Branding

Different brand name in deferent markets

Entertainment and learning

High tech, high touch

Brochure Low tech

CHAPTER FOUR DATA FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

Source: Field Survey; May 2011

Figure 2: Departments responsible for Branding

R s ac eer h A Dp r e t ll e atmn H mn ua R s uc eo r e S le /M r e g a s ak tin

Source: Field Survey; Accra Ghana; May 2011.

Figure 3: Presence of Brand Management Teams

Source: Field Survey; Accra Ghana; May 2011.

Charity begins at home this is enough for all and sundry.

Source: Field Survey; Accra Ghana; May 2011.

Notice Board 20 Source: Field Survey; Accra Ghana; May 2011.

Figure 4 Channels of Communication

Notice Board Grapevine Fax Intranet Memos 0

Source: Field Survey; Accra Ghana; May 2011.

Percentage (%) 60% 30% 10%

Source: Field Survey; Accra Ghana; May 2011.

Assessment of employees trust in their companys brands

Source: Field Survey; Accra Ghana; May 2011.

Indifferent Do not trust TOTAL

Source: Field Survey; Accra Ghana; May 2011.

compared to industry standards.

CHAPTER FIVE 5.0.CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

Implications for Management

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