WHOSE BRAND IS IT, AFTER ALL?

Have you wondered who owns a brand? Who owns the brands you see on advertisements and those you use every day?

The answer is easy, isn't it? The organisation that offers a product or service under a brand name owns that brand. So the brand Petronas is owned by Petroliam Nasional Berhad, Budweiser by Anheuser Busch, Surf by Unilever, Taj (the hotel brand) by the Tata Group, and so on. Correct?

The answer is a nuanced and qualified yes.

Let’s first go back to the fundamentals and ask ourselves what a brand is. Like we’ve explained in an earlier issue of this magazine, a brand is not a logo, a name, a baseline, a cake of soap, a hotel room or an insurance scheme. True, these are elements that feed into a brand. But the brand itself is nothing but the overall impression and opinion formed in the minds of people about an organisation, a product or a service (or, for that matter, a person). This impression and opinion are formed as a result of the interactions the person has with the entity in question, through different touchpoints.

For instance, take Citibank. You may have formed an impression about it when you first saw their billboard. And then, when you saw a press advertisement of the same bank, you’d have a learnt a wee bit more about it and your impression about it would have evolved to that extent. Then, if you happen to bank with Citibank, you’d have visited their branch, spoken to their executives over the phone and drawn money from its ATMs. All these are your touchpoints with the brand Citibank. With each such interaction, your impression about Citibank has evolved - morphed a bit. Just like you, each of the hundreds of thousands of other customers of Citibank would be carrying an impression about it. Ditto with the millions of those who don’t bank with Citibank but have heard of it, or seen or heard its communication in some form.

But the experiences you have had with Citibank could be different from those someone else has had. And so, the impression you carry in your mind about this bank could be different from what the another person carries in their mind. And what about the employees of the organisation? Naturally, each one of them too would be carrying some impression and opinion about it in their mind. Ditto with the vendors, associates and other stakeholders. Which means, technically, there could be as many impressions or interpretations of Citibank as the number of people who are exposed to it one way or another.

So — and this is the nub — a brand, in its totality, is an abstract thing that resides in the mind of the consumer, employee, vendor, associate and anyone else who interacts with an entity one way or another.

This throws a completely different light on the question 'Who owns a brand?'. Obviously, the organisation offering the product or service owns it in the legal sense. But the public (to use the term somewhat loosely) has an equally important stake in it. An emotional stake, an emotional ownership, if you will. Several people therefore share ownership of a brand. Individually and together, all of them are custodians of it.

So, if you are a business owner, brand manager or marketer, what does this mean for you?

1. Openly acknowledge your core target audiences, your customers, your employees and other important partners as co-owners of your brand. Reiterate this fact in meetings, conferences, emails, memoranda and other key pieces of communication.
2. Always be open to feedback from these groups on the brand: what’s great about it, what has to change, what has to be removed, what has to be added. In fact, proactively initiate thoughtful surveys to seek their feedback.
3. In developing a new offering, rope in a sample sub-set from these groups to give you their inputs on the offering. Their inputs will enrich the offering and enhance its chances of success in the market. And the brand owners will feel included.
4. Systematically collect user-generated content such as photos, videos and testimonials on the brand. This is excellent authentic material for internal and external communication.

If you can think of any other implication of shared ownership of brands, let us know.

Progressive business owners and marketers appreciate the fact that, in the effort of nurturing a brand, they are not alone; they have the support of several others. They view this as an asset and as a huge opportunity to do what’s best for the brand (and ultimately, for the consumer).

Hope this issue of Speaking of Brands too has given you something to mull over. We’ll see you again next week with yet another nugget from the worlds of branding, marketing and communication. Meanwhile, keep sending us your comments.

Ciao!

Ganesh & Joy

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Speaking of Brands is a weekly practical, no-nonsense primer on branding & communication for smart marketers and business owners. If you want to your brand to fuel the growth of your business, subscribe to this mag now!