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Branding 1

BRANDING

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Branding 2

BRANDING

Branding as an aspect of business gives a major edge in the improvement of competitive

markets. Simply branding displays the expectations of customers from the business’ products and

services, different from competitors. A growing business faces a range of problems and

opportunities which demand different solutions. Generating traffic and leads is one of the main

challenges. Struggle for producing enough demand for marketers contents increases with the

progression of years. In addition, competition stiffens. It becomes for the marketers to exactly

know where to focus their efforts (Kiron & Shockley, 2011, p. 57). A research by HubSpot found

that in the future, 53% of customers want more videos from marketers while 14% want blog posts.

Providing the ROI (return on investment) of your marketing activities is another challenge.

For the marketers, measuring ROI is vital. It helps in understanding the success of a particular

marketing operation and a piece of content (Ryals & Knox, 2001, p. 539). ROI moves together

with an increment of the budget. Tracking ROI of single activities is hard. There is the need for

two-way communication between the sales reports and marketing activities. Thirdly, securing

enough budget is a global marketing challenge. Getting more budget is easier but for small

organizations working with sizeable marketing spend (Quelch & Hoff, 1993, p. 267). Managing a

website is a challenge for marketers. The performance of a website is high on the list of priorities.

Website work to draw visitors in, convert them and help you achieve your set goals (Weber, 2009).

Feedback on technology is scattered. Therefore, identifying the right technologies for your needs

is a challenge. The other minor challenges include targeting content for the international audience,

training your team and hiring top talents. 7-Up is a brand performing well in the market in

comparison to the other products. It is having a percentage of 65 ever bought. In the past 12

months, 80% has been frequently bought.

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When developing marketing strategies, both consumer decision-making process and the

mode of making decisions are useful. Mental availability is a key to brand success. Brands compete

in terms of mental and physical availability. Customers need to be thinking about your brand and

be able to access it. In this case, more people will buy the product easily in more situations. Mental

availability extends beyond the awareness of the brand mostly depending on the quality and

quantity of mental structure of the customer (Slovic et al, 2005, p. 35). Good mental access to the

customer enhances a brand’s mental availability than the brand’s competitors. This is a fact of

consistent and quality advertisement. In a restaurant, for example, an optimizing customer will

scan the menu several times until they are certain of the dish they have chosen. This is different

from a satisfying customer who after searching through the first few options on the restaurant menu

realize what to enjoy and order that immediately. Whether a customer is an optimizer or satisfier

determines the branding approach to take. 7-UP brand has been one of the most performing brands.

7 UP was created by Charles Leiper Grigg in 1920 after his company; the Howdy

Corporation. He came up with the lemon-lime soda in 1929, which was further shortened to “7

UP” in 1936. A myth explains that 7UP comes from a drink having a pH of over 7 but it is not the

case as it would be neutral or basic. Britvic claims the name to come from seven ingredients in the

drink. Others claim the number to be a coded reference to lithium, which has an atomic mass of 7,

as it was contained in the original recipe. In the 1980s, television advertisements showed Geoffrey

Holder as 7 UP's advertisement campaigns aiming to distinguish between 7 UP and other marketed

soft drinks with cola flavors. In the advertisements, Geoffrey uses both hands, one holding a pair

of cola nuts while the other holds a lemon and lime, which he describes as “Uncola nuts”. A

competitor analysis of this soft drink brand is now being conducted. Some management plans are

placed to position the brand against its main competitors. The primary competitor of 7UP is the

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sprite. These two soft drinks, 7UP, and sprite are the major translucent soda brands (Hartogh,

2008). The brands resemble each other in flavor and have several divergences. Other competitors

are from aerated drinks and fruit juices.

Several factors enhance market competition for 7UP. Both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are

affected by several ethical issues. A lot of pressure is put on the company in terms of compliance.

In addition, some allegations say that their factories contribute in polluting fresh water sources.

This is an evidence that the market is partitioned. The marketing strategy of 7UP is based on 4

parts; Product, price, place, and promotion (Roehm et al, 2002, p. 210). 7UP is a soft drink based

on lime flavor and lemon. Extensive market research has been conducted by PepsiCo. Flavor and

market requirement of the product gives it a huge publicity. Natural lemons and lime flavors give

7UP freshness. It appears in different sizes in the market which enhances its market demand. In

relation to the competition of soft drinks in the market globally, the prices of 7 UP are competitive.

The pricing strategy in the marketing of 7UP is affordable and cheap in relation to other carbonated

drinks. The prices are kept on a marginal level.

In an occurrence of different demands for the soft drinks, the market of beverages required

nutritional drinks which 7UP did not have. 7UP fluctuated its prices to call for demand in the

market. It maintains the competitive pricing through supply chain management, manufacturing

locations, distribution and variable cost (Beamon, 1998, p. 287). 7UP competes directly with both

local and branded players. In regarding the place, 7UP takes the advantage of the brand value of

PepsiCo and its infrastructure. The high brand reach of PepsiCo enables 7UP to reach the global

world. Supply chain management of Pepsi Company gave 7UP a stronger supply chain network

helping suppliers and retailers value 7UP hence increasing its demand (Aaker $ McLoughlin,

2010). The important promotional plans of 7UP were advertisements on popular channels of

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televisions and radios, newspapers, magazines and other print media channels. Over the mass

media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, 7UP has high digital marketing enabling better reach

of customers and services in addition. 7UP targets customers of young age. It focused to sponsor

different events like cricket tournaments for youngsters.

The brand of a company consists of the name of the company, the meaning behind the

name, the company’s logo and slogan, and promotional features associated with the company

(Keller, 1993, p. 12). Branding of products is commonly used in identifying main products made

and sold. Looking at these three brands; 7U, Coca-Cola, and sprite, building a positive and

prominent brand image is the main factor for success. The message is something to be said for the

brand. Brand messages may be presented to the customer market through planned, unplanned,

product and service messages. Planned messages include paid advertisements delivered to targeted

customers through social media (Grönroos, 2004, p. 111). Its benefit is that the placement and

message itself is controlled. In unplanned messages, many exist beyond the influence or plan of

the company. Coverage of media about your company includes both positive and negative

messages. Product messages communicate only the benefits of a product. Lastly, service messages

include details about the quality and nature of services provided.

Customers use these three brands frequently. The current messaging used by brands is

salient when customers are buying the brands. From common thinking, the salience concept is

connected with the ability of an element to rise from its background (Romaniuk $ Sharp, 2004, p.

334). Krech and Crutchfield (1948) state that ‘Saliency refers to the fact that not all of man’s

beliefs stand out with equal prominence in his cognitive field. He may be more aware of certain of

his beliefs than others, they may enter his thoughts more readily’. Distinctive assets play a major

role in building mental and physical availability of a brand. There is the need to protect and develop

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these elements over a long term. A good competition law and policy is needed for reforming 7UP.

Competition law ensures a promotion of a fair market, unexploited by dominant businesses

(Cseres, 2013). The effectiveness of competition law will depend on factors like budget, research

and investigation support, drafting, independence, and control.

Appendix for part two

Articles

 Antioxidant 7Up drinks were a classic example of deceptive

health advertising

 7UP drops "all natural" claim after CSPI threatens lawsuit

Branding 7

Looking at the 2012 data, 7UP has been one of the frequently bought brands. Minimizing

marketing challenges and enhancing good mental and physical availability has been the reason for

its success. Efforts contributing to the building of 7Up mental availability has been advertisements

through televisions, radios, magazines, and newspaper (Kelly et al, 2000, p. 195). I would expect

a positive variation in the 2012 performance for the 7UP brand. Due to the fact that experience of

a brand is not restricted to the product or service, each brand’s contact counts. Furthermore, proven

and effective marketing campaign will not be neglected for something different. Again, innovation

is the basic factor in the success of a brand. However, it is not restricted to the efficient profits of

the brand. Currently, people look for brands that will show their principles by the action they take.

It is essential that all people engaged in the brand appreciate its values. Generally, improving the

mental availability of a brand will call in factors like uniqueness.

In establishing the brand’s identity, the initial factor is to know the target personas. The

person's habits, demographics, problems, goals, and struggles help to understand the ideal

customer (Best, 2006). Developing your unique brand voice defines how you sound to other

people. Stating a blog is another factor. He blog should be kept updated. Blog posts always attract

readers who might get interested to become customers. For example when someone comes across

your blog just to discover that you lastly posted five years ago could assume that you are no longer

in business. In order to maintain customers, devote yourself to the customer, devote yourself to

customer service. Lastly, you should partner with other knowledge commerce professionals.

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Branding 9

References

Aaker, D.A. and McLoughlin, D., 2010. Strategic market management: global perspectives.

John Wiley & Sons.

Beamon, B.M., 1998. Supply chain design and analysis: Models and methods. International

journal of production economics, 55(3), pp.281-294.

Best, K., 2006. Design management: managing design strategy, process, and implementation.

AVA publishing.

Cseres, K., 2013. Integrate or Separate-Institutional Design for the Enforcement of Competition

Law and Consumer Law.

Grönroos, C., 2004. The relationship marketing process: communication, interaction, dialogue,

value. Journal of business & industrial marketing, 19(2), pp.99-113.

Hartogh, M., 2008. The Profitable Fizz: A Critical View of Competition in the Soft Drink

Industry.

Keller, K.L., 1993. Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity. The

Journal of Marketing, pp.1-22.

Kelly, K.J., Slater, M.D., Karan, D., and Hunn, L., 2000. The use of human models and cartoon

characters in magazine advertisements for cigarettes, beer, and nonalcoholic beverages. Journal

of Public Policy & Marketing, 19(2), pp.189-200.

Kiron, D. and Shockley, R., 2011. Creating business value with analytics. MIT Sloan

Management Review, 53(1), p.57.

Branding 10

Quelch, J.A., and Hoff, E.J., 1993. 10 Customizing Global Marketing. Readings in International

Business: A Decision Approach, p.267.

Roehm, M.L., Pullins, E.B. and Roehm Jr, H.A., 2002. Designing loyalty-building programs for

packaged goods brands. Journal of Marketing Research, 39(2), pp.202-213.

Romaniuk, J. and Sharp, B., 2004. Conceptualizing and measuring brand salience. Marketing

theory, 4(4), pp.327-342.

Ryals, L. and Knox, S., 2001. Cross-functional issues in the implementation of relationship

marketing through customer relationship management. European management journal, 19(5),

pp.534-542.

Slovic, P., Peters, E., Finucane, M.L. and MacGregor, D.G., 2005. Affect, risk, and decision

making. Health psychology, 24(4S), p.S35.

Weber, L., 2009. Marketing to the social web: How digital customer communities build your

business. John Wiley & Sons.

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