Roles of Brand

1. As a Driver Brand:- A brand becomes a driver brand when it leads to the purchase decision. Here the brand represents the package of benefits or a corporate brand or a combination. In a computer industry, Intel can be a derived brand, rather than a computer brand itself. In detergents, we have Surf Excel, and Excel becomes the driver brand owing to the presence of enzymes it suggest which the consumer is actually buying. In Bajaj Chetak, Bajaj is the driver brand as it is represents reliability and performance.

2. As an Endorser Brand:- A brand plays the role of an endorser also. Here it supports the driver brand and its claims. It thus lends credibility to the driver and endorser brand. In several cases to begin with, corporate brand that supports a driver brand, is usually used. Later, the corporate brand is withdrawn, when the driver brand can stand-alone.

3. Strategic Role:- A brand can play a strategic role in the future performance of the company. For HLL, brands such as LUX, LIFEBUOY, SURF play a strategic role. Their brand equity would affect the future performance of the company. So the company must identify what it’s strategic brands are and whether these brands are handled with extreme care.

4. As a Sub-Brand:- A brand can play the role of a sub-brand reserved for a part of the product line for e.g. , Vediocon Bazooka, where Bazooka is a sub-brand of Vediocon. Bazooka distinguishes a T.V. from other T.V. sets in Vedio Range. In some cases like Arial Micro-shine, the sub-brand does not remain just descriptive, but plays a driver role. A sub-brand that describes the driver brand does not dilute the driver brand, or does not distract us from it. A sub-brand can specify segments. An organisation can use common prefixes or suffixes to denote sub brand e.g. Philishave.

Tags: brand, Brand Power, Brand role, Brand sponser, brand system, Branding