Introduction
Entrepreneurship is an important concept in business. This is due to the different opportunities that result from entrepreneurship. Business opportunities can either result from the innovation of new products or by companies adding value to their products that are already in the market. Various marketing concepts are integrated by the management to ensure that the products succeed in the market for example branding. A product brand refers to a symbol, name, or a combination of both that is used by a firm to distinguish its product from other competing products (Kohli & Harich 1995). For a particular firm’s product to succeed in the market, it is paramount for the management to develop brand equity. Brand equity refers to the worth that is attached by consumers to a particular product (‘Marketing teacher’ 2007). Firms should ensure that they develop brand equity about their products to achieve a competitive edge. Firms that develop brand equity for their products benefit from an increase in the profit margin (Harris 1996). This results from an increase in the level of sales. Currently, the soft drink industry is characterized by intense competition. The increased competition has resulted from the emergence of various product categories for instance the energy drinks category. Red Bull GmbH and Monster Beverage Incorporation are firms that produce energy drinks. These firms face stiff competition from other large competitors such as Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo incorporation, and Gatorade Company (Barbara 2009). The discussion of this paper seeks to illustrate how brand equity has been developed in these products and the various strategies that can be used to improve the brand equity of Monster energy drink.
Red Bull brand equity
Red Bull energy drink is manufactured by Red Bull GmbH Incorporation which is located in Austria, Australia. It is the leading energy drink globally in terms of sales. The increase in sales for this product arises from the fact that the management of Red Bull GmbH incorporation ensures that the production process is effective. One of the reasons that enable Red Bull energy drink to have high brand equity is that it meets the energy requirements of the consumers (Barbara 2009).
Consumer market research
The management ensures that a comprehensive consumer market analysis is conducted to enable the effective production of the energy drink. This enables the firm to identify the energy needs of diverse consumers such as athletes and students. Numerous scientific researches have been conducted to prove the energy content of Red Bull energy drinks. The results of these researches are positive resulting in an increase in the level of confidence amongst the consumers.
Effective manufacturing process
The ingredients that are used in the production of Red Bull energy drinks meet the energy requirement of the consumers effectively. These include moderate content of carbohydrates and sugars at 3.1 and 3 grams respectively. There is also the incorporation of sodium minerals and proteins. The drink also contains taurine which is an amino acid and other metabolic transmitters. This enables the effective absorption and reaction of the drink into the body (Barbara 2009).
Strict quality control
The quality control department ensures that the product content does not include any traces of cholesterol, fats, and alcohol. It also ensures that the production department maintains the proportion of the ingredients. This has resulted in consistency in the quality of the Red Bull energy drink (Barbara 2009).
The effectiveness of Red Bull Incorporation in quality control has enabled that the energy drink to consistently supply sufficient energy requirements. This has resulted in an increase in brand loyalty amongst the athletes and the students who require a high amount of energy daily.
Monster energy drink
Monster energy drink is manufactured by Monster Beverage Energy Incorporation in Corona, California (‘Monster energy’ 2009). The firm is effective in the production of the drink. However, the production process of the Red Bull energy drink is superior to that of Monster energy in terms of ingredients. Monster energy drink contains high content of carbohydrates compared to Red Bull energy drink. Other ingredients that are included in its manufacture include guarana, taurine, stimulants, vitamins, and high contents of sugar. The high content of sugar reduces the rate of energy drink absorption. This results in a low rate of re-hydration which is a threat to the consumers who require instant energy rejuvenation.
The high level of sugar content is harmful to the consumers who require instant energy such as the athletes. This is because high sugar content results in the creation of a laxative effect and a sudden crash in the body’s energy levels as the sugar are utilized by the body. This makes Red Bull energy drink to be more popular than Monster energy drink amongst athletes.
Brand extension
There are diverse product lines about Red Bull energy drink compared to Monster energy drink. The management of Red Bull GmbH ensures that the drink is produced in different flavors to meet the needs of the consumers. The production of various Red Bull product lines does not only consider the flavors but also the ingredients used, for example, the production of sugarless Red Bull (Barbara 2009). This enables Red Bull energy drink to meet the needs of diverse customer categories (‘Marketing Teacher’ 2007).
Channels of supply
The management of Red Bull Incorporation has adopted comprehensive channels of distribution. In the domestic market, the firm has integrated both the direct and indirect channels of distribution. This ensures that there is a sufficient supply of the product within the domestic market. The firm has also ensured that Red Bull energy has penetrated the foreign market more effectively than Monster energy through the use of foreign agents. The firm’s product distribution strategy has enabled the consumers to conveniently access the product globally. On the other hand, Monster energy drink does not have a comprehensive distributional channel (‘Monster energy’ 2009). This has resulted in a limitation in its market scale and hence the low level of sales. The effective distribution of Red Bull energy has resulted in an increase in the level of customer loyalty and hence the brand equity. (‘Info-express’ 2002).
Brand equity building strategies
There are diverse strategies that can be integrated to enhance the brand loyalty of Monster energy. These include the following.
Incorporate value addition
The management of Monster Beverage incorporation should integrate the concept of product value addition. This is through investing in research and development to ensure that the energy drink meets the energy requirement of the diverse category of customers. For effectiveness in incorporating the concept of value addition, the management should undertake comprehensive and continuous market research. This would help in incorporating the changes in energy requirements amongst the consumers. Value addition would enable Monster energy to move with the tastes and preferences of the consumers (Aaker 1996).
On the other hand, value addition would ensure that there is the standardization of the energy drink’s ingredients. For instance, standardization of the carbohydrates and sugar level would increase Monster’s marketability amongst the athletes. This would culminate in the creation of higher brand equity. This is because the quality of the product is improved resulting in a change of attitude amongst the consumers (Ken 2003).
Increase product differentiation
To improve the product brand equity, the management should integrate the concept of product differentiation. This is by ensuring that the firm produces energy drinks that meet the needs of the diverse categories of consumers. Currently, the manufacture of Monster energy drink is aimed at meeting the energy needs of athletes and young people. The management should formulate strategies aimed at ensuring it produces energy drinks that will meet the energy needs of the elderly. The new drink should be marketed under the same brand name but the ingredients used in the manufacturing process should meet the energy requirement of the identified customer category (Keller 2008).
The exploitation of Intellectual property rights in the foreign market
The management of the firm should expand its distribution channel to incorporate the foreign market. To effectively penetrate the foreign market, the management of Monster Beverage Incorporation should ensure that it acquires property rights such as the patent. This would enable the product to trade in the foreign market under its original brand name. About exploiting property rights such as the trademark, in the foreign market, the management of the firm should conduct research. This would enable effective branding of the product according to the foreign market culture. Effective branding would enable the product to be accepted in the foreign market (Chris 2002).
Conclusion
There is intense competition within the soft drink industry due to the increased dominance of large competitors such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. Considering the intense competition within the soft drink industry about energy drinks, the management of energy drink producing firms should ensure that they develop brand equity. This would result in the effective financial performance of the firm due to an increase in the level of sales. Amongst the energy drink, Red Bull energy drink has a high level of brand equity compared to Monster energy. This arises from the effective production process of Red Bull energy. The management integrates comprehensive market research to determine the energy needs of the consumers. The production process ensures that the quality of the drink is high. This is through the standardization of the ingredients used in the production process. The production process of Monster energy does not surpass that of Red Bull in terms of ingredients. The monster energy drink has high sugar and carbohydrates levels which makes the drink infamous amongst the athletes. There is also a high level of brand extension for the Red Bull energy compared to Monster energy. A more comprehensive distribution channel for Red Bull energy drink has been adapted to that of Monster energy. This has enabled consistency in the supply of the product within the domestic and foreign markets.
To improve the brand equity of Monster energy drink, the management of Monster Beverage Incorporation should ensure that it incorporates value addition in the production process. This is through undertaking continuous consumer market research. Product differentiation would also enable the product to meet the energy needs of diverse customer categories. The management should also adopt a more comprehensive product distribution channel. This would enable increased consistency in product supply both in the domestic and the foreign market.
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