How do you name a product? This is not an easy decision as the name is likely to affect the success of the product. Depending on how established an organisation is, there are a number of ways to brand a product. As with all good marketing strategy the chances of an effective product name will be increased if the product name reflects the results of research into the market place in which it will be sold. There are a number of different ways to name a product or service:
The brand strategy diagram below shows the different ways to brand products and services
Individual Brand Names
A product could be branded with a name that has no association with the other products belonging to the organisation. Many of the drinks produced by coca –cola have their own branding e.g. Lilt, Fanta and Powerade. An organisation may choose an individual name for a variety of reasons including:
If the new product is not related to its existing products.
If they want to shield the new product from any negative publicity associated with its other products. For example a fast food organisation may feel that a healthy food product should not be linked to its fast food business.
If they want to shield existing products from the new product just in case it generates negative publicity.
If they inherited the brand name (when they purchased another business) and decided to retain the brand name because it is an established brand recognised by consumers. An example of this is Volkswagen's ownership of SEAT and Skoda.
When firms decide to choose an individual brand name they need to be aware that if consumers are not able to associate the new product with other successful products belonging to the firm, they will need to build sales from scratch.
An individual brand name allows firms to target specific sectors of the market. Click here to find out more about market segmentation.
Multi- Branding
This is when an organisation produces competing products and gives each its unique branding. Multi- Branding is used when customers are not loyal towards one or a small number of brands. An obvious example is clothes washing powder as
Unlike food it's not dependant on the consumer's taste buds
It doesn't have to perform in the same way as technology and
It's not a status symbol
To overcome lack of loyalty, clothes washing powder manufacturers produce a large number of differently branded washing powders.
Continue onto page 2 for further information about brand strategy including family (umbrella) branding, combined brand names and co-branding. It also has the concluding paragraph to this article about brand strategy.
