The article “How to Build Support for brand Marketing” by R.A. Sevier discusses the problem of brand support and possible strategies to improve the brand creation process. The author pays special attention to steps and procedures which have a market to build support and achieve the desired goal. The author singles out fine steps:
- to find the right people,
- clarify why the wrong brand is important”,
- build confidence,
- “implement brand strategy aggressively”
- show outcomes (Sevier 2005).
The author persuades readers that the process of brand creation serves four basic management purposes. First, the bridge information gaps existing among manufacturers, middlemen, and customers. Second, they help coordinate the promotional activities of the total marketing system to achieve a coordinated thrust. Third, they help adjust the system to the customer and consumer requirements. Fourth, they adjust and help in adjusting the product to customer needs.
The author underlines that a company’s market share, current, and future, may fluctuate readily. Competitors’ marketing mixes are designed to switch customers to their own brands. Thus, executives are concerned with brand switching–they wish to increase the switch-in rate and decrease the switch-out rate. The task of brand support is to get people or markets to progress from a state of unawareness, or even negative reaction, to one of positive action. The stages in this progression are unawareness, awareness, comprehension, conviction, and action. Opposing the marketing communications in this endeavor are such countervailing forces as competitors’ communications, predispositions, noise, brand loyalty, and habit.
The article is objective and well-thought; thus, the author does not cite specific real-life examples of the strategy implementation. The main strength of the article is a clear structure and detailed description of concepts and proposed actions to support a brand. The author addresses one of the most important issues in advertising often mixed by companies. Usually, companies pay attention to advertising and marketing processes but forget about the support and positive image of their brand. Brand support activities also help create and maintain marketing systems. It can foster interfirm coordination and linkages of manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers. For the marketing task is not complete with the sale of the product, satisfied customers must be retained. Reaffirmation of consumer choice, a post-sale activity, is important. Continued advertising after purchase gives the customer public acknowledgment of his wise choice and tends to eliminate or reduce cognitive dissonance. As was mentioned above, the main weakness of the article is the lack of real-life examples and cases of the companies which follow this strategy. As output swells and communications facilities increase, more claims will be made on consumer time, and the cost of marketing communications will skyrocket.
I would recommend this article to everyone involved in strategic marketing processes and advertising. This article will help a manager to understand that the role of support in the marketing mix varies with the product and its stage of development. Brand compresses time horizons for the acceptance of products and facilitates the introduction of new products. Support must therefore be flexible. In this way, changing tasks can be matched with resources. One advantage of advertising is its fluidity; it is more readily adjustable than manufacturing or other marketing factors. But flexibility does not mean expendability. The only thing I would like to add is a control function of support. For marketers, it is important to understand the effectiveness of their planning and support activities.
References
Sevier, R.A. (2005). How to Build Support for brand Marketing. Marketing.