The brand ladder

I had an interesting conversation this week. The core of what I took from the exchange was a reminder of the question of how much emotion should be vested in the brand? The brand is an emotional connection to a product or service. Positive relationships lead to pull marketing, the propensity of the consumer to buy without the need for repetitive messaging known as push marketing.

Emotion comes in many forms, some more appropriate than others. Take relationships between people for instance. Some relationships are deeper and more emotional than others, for instance a husband and wife or parent and child. Others are more superficial, for instance the trust relationship that develops with a colleague. A third type may be a relationship with a regular supplier, welcome but ultimately exchangeable for a relationship with another supplier.

The degree of emotion and its nature is the glue that holds the brand together. What is the degree of emotion that is appropriate for the product? The progression through the stages of emotion is what is known as the brand ladder.

The brand ladder begins with product attributes, tangible features or characteristics of a product. For instance, a tire is round, made of durable rubber that can bear a certain amount of weight. That is the minimum required of a tire to be considered a tire. Call that ground level.

The first rung of the brand ladder will be product features, things that functionally set aside the tire. Does it have offroad capacity or is it suitable for wet roads? Tires are a commodity, so the features are a way for consumers to develop preference and trust.

Emotional benefits are the second rung of the brand ladder, feelings that attributes and features evoke in consumers. Consider for instance the life saving features of the tire, for instance the experience of recovering from a skid on a wet road. That should be enough to engender emotional loyalty and create the preference that marketers need.

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The third and final rung of the ladder consists of the core values and / or brand essence. On the second rung of the tire ladder, Pirelli emphasizes safety and innovation. However, on the third rung of the ladder, the brand pins itself on Italian flair, power and control. This transfers and becomes a hallmark characteristic of the consumer as well.

If you were a tire manufacturer, which rung of the ladder would you want to occupy.

Part of the perception of the brand ladder is that the entire ladder should be climbed in one upward progression to the third rung. However, sometimes a tire is just a tire and starting with a healthy set of benefits may be enough, with some potential for progression to the second rung of the ladder based on consumer experience. On the other hand, it may be more expedient to hover between the first and second rungs. Innovation and production processes are expenses that will not be justified if demand is weak and sales are sub-par.

In the case of aiming to occupy the third rung held by Pirelli, sales will be limited and competition will be stiff, so there is commercial merit in occupying the position between the first and second rungs of the ladder, and maximizing on need and consumer budget.

The challenge facing the brand manager is to identify where the emotion lies and tailor the brand and its marketing to that. Sometimes too much emotion and overambition can be counterproductive.

Pierre Mare has contributed to development of several of Namibia’s most successful brands. He believes that analytic management techniques beat unreasoned inspiration any day. Reach him at [email protected] if you need thought-leadership, strategy and support.