Introduction
Brands are valuable in that they create social positions for customers, and they influence their decisions either to buy or not to buy the products. The main challenge of branding managers is to try and make the brand as strong as possible so as to get a large share of the market (Bell, 2008).
This paper critically evaluates a journal article titled “Asian Brands and the Shaping of a Transnational Imagined Community “ authoured by Cayla and Eckhardt. The article is about how brand managers in Asia work towards creating brands in the region.
Branding managers in Asia is integral in creating markets for products. It is, therefore, essential for one to understand the process so as to appreciate the work done by these managers.
Summary
The authors suggest that brands help in the creation of new identities as well as social positions for customers. Global brands are significant since they help consumers to feel connected beyond their immediate surroundings. They argue that brands have the capability of creating interconnections between people from across the globe. They feel that they share something in common by using a common brand.
Further, they argue that brands can give information regarding a certain culture. They act as newspapers since they can tell a story about a certain issue. However, the process followed in the creation of a pan- regional identity is different. The main focus of the authors is on the methods used by brand managers as well as various cultural intermediaries that are influential in the creation of regional consciousness. Asia was used in the study.
The reason as to why the authors chose Asia is because in the recent years there has been increased political, cultural and social integration in the region.
Critique
The authors argue that brands play a strong role in connecting people across the world. They have the ability to connect people who have never met or seen each other before. They further suggest that brands have an influence on how people view things, places and how they view other people. They give the example of Starbucks for this case.
Branding may not always influence the values and culture of the world (Kleindl, 2007). According to Cayla & Arnould (2008), ethnocentric approach has mostly been adapted in branding. It is difficult to develop brands in emerging markets(Segal-Horn & Faulkner, 2010; Kotabe & Helsen, 2009).
As a result, the brands are only capable of influencing a certain region rather than the entire globe as the authors have cited in the article, in question. On the other hand, if the brand is introduced in the international market, people from different regions will have a commonality in that they will use a similar product (Schultz, 2009). There is a possibility that the brand is likely to influence the culture of people who use it.
They will be interconnected in the sense that they use a similar brand, and it influences their culture in a similar manner. I, therefore, think this could be a strong point that when branding is not done by following the ethnocentric approach, it can highly influence people from various regions in the world.
In the Asian region, branding managers are working to Asianize their products. This is an effort that is bearing fruits since most brands reflect the Asian lifestyle. It is easy to market brands in neighbouring states rather than marketing similar brands in nations that are far apart (Roll, 2006).
It is not easy for such an approach of branding to be influential in the global market. The exportation of brands into the international market has proven to be a daunting task for brand managers (Morris, 1998). Branding managers in this region have focused on branding their products within the regional boundaries. The products they make reflect much on their culture.
As such, it will not be easy for them to penetrate the international market (Gregory, 2002; Czinkota & Ronkainen, 2007). They need to produce goods which do not reflect much of the Asian culture and try to build their brands internationally. However, this point presents a strong sentiment that if a brand adapts to certain cultural specificities, it can influence the interconnections among the cultures.
The authors go ahead to suggest that brand marketers have a role to play in transnational connections. Marketers’ crucial role is to influence potential customers to purchase the organization’s products (Dvorak, 2010). They market the brand rather than build the brand. They have the capability to popularize the brand (Duboff & Spaeth, 2000).
However, marketers can popularize the brands in the international world (Hackley, 2009). Brand managers make brands while marketers popularize them (Ashworth, 2010). Marketers cannot be left alone in the brand building process since they play a key role. The process involves advertisement, developing awareness and creating images (Kapferer, 2008; Chiaravalle & Scultuchenck, 2006). This is the role of marketers.
Conclusion
Brand building is one of the most salient factors in any organization. It determines the success of the organization. A strong brand attracts customers while a weak brand keeps them at bay. On the other hand, the brand interconnects nations and influence their cultures.
Therefore, I think the idea presented in the article is a strong one but branding managers need to work beyond their regions.In doing this, they should work together with the marketers.
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