Abstracts
CHAPTER ONE
Welcome to the Age of “Disruption”
Digital revolution has redefined the way a business is done and how marketing is performed. Unlike radio or TV, the Internet is not just a media. It is a new and complete eco-system that affects every aspect of the marketing practice. It has reshaped the relationship between the sellers and the buyers. As a result, many companies or even industries have become obsolete; companies whose products only provided linear functions were easily replaced by smart devices, while industries that could not cope with the advancement of technology and customers’ changing lifestyles faced severe disruption. Disruption, however, has opened the doors for market players who are more agile and able to respond to consumer concerns with innovative, efficient solutions. Furthermore, the emergence of social networks has empowered consumers by allowing them to form an unspoken alliance against the manufacturers. Their unison of voices and actions can make or break any organization regardless of its size and background. In the digital age, China leads the development of e-commerce both in terms of magnitude and innovation. Brands that treat China as an integral part of their global strategy will gain an upper hand in an ever-evolving operating environment. Additionally, COVID-19 has further disrupted the market and forced corporations to rethink their business and brand strategies with all their stakeholders, both internally and externally. Brands that can embrace the new normal will weather the storm and continue to endure and prosper.
Chapter Two
Connecting a disconnected world
The digital revolution has resulted in a paradigm shift. Profit maximization is the major driver of many corporations, and satisfying customers is a function of achieving sales targets. With their combined bargaining and influencing power, consumers can influence the direction of any organization. Their access to abundant information puts tremendous pressure on business operators by driving down product prices and shortening the product life cycle. Yet a market led by manufacturers or consumers alone will result in a disconnected world. Smart branding can help achieve a new market equilibrium by fulfilling the needs of both the sellers and the buyers. This chapter demonstrates how brands bring tangible value to users and make their lives hassle-free. In turn, users feed timely insights to brand-owners so that they can produce the right products without excessive inventory, hence achieving a desirable return on investment (ROI).
Today’s total media package includes paid, earned, owned, and shared media. Marketers must recognize the respective strengths and characteristics of these media to optimize their combination for effective brand promotion. Shared media has become especially important due to the significant time that consumers spend on social networking. Brands can monitor, defend, steer, initiate and conduct business on social media to their advantage. In sum, marketing has evolved from mass marketing, direct marketing, and integrated marketing to digital marketing. Consumers now play multiple roles as directors, reporters, and judges. Brands can be classified into functional, aspirational, lifestyle, and responsible brands depending on the roles they play in the lives of users.
Chapter Three
Essence of branding
Branding is an inseparable part of our lives. When we buy things, we think of brands. A brand stands for absolute quality and implies a more satisfying experience. A trusted brand gives people assurance and peace of mind. The brand becomes a promise and nurtures relationships based on this guarantee. Yet branding is not about making but delivering promises. There is no trade-off between building a brand and building sales. Exercising both defensive and offensive strategies is paramount in the digital age, where social media is occasionally filled with false and destructive comments, and the life cycle of the brand has been severely disrupted or shortened. As such, hot brands that sell well can be regarded as a company’s most valuable assets.
In the age of disruption, good brands are distinctive, consistent, and relevant. A product becomes a brand when it has a personality and a unique brand DNA; simply hiring a celebrity as a spokesperson does not guarantee success for the brand. Moreover, regardless of its age, a brand will deteriorate when it loses its relevance to the users. Because branding is so important, protecting it and avoiding negative publicity is thus a top priority. Corporations should take proactive measures to manage crises even when they are free from any legal liability; in other words, crisis management begins before the crisis. This chapter concludes by discussing how branding as a concept applies not only to commercial products but also to cities, countries, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and people.
Chapter Four
The rise of disruptive brands
Disruptive brands redefine categories, challenge established players, and offer a new or different experience to consumers. This chapter illustrates the power of disruptive brands through four key disruptors: Airbnb, Uber, WeWork, and Apple. Airbnb’s success comes from its unique business model; it allows guests to stay in places that feel totally new, yet have the warmth of a home. The company differs from traditional hotels as its listings are rated by the users, not the industry. Now a household name, Uber began as a simple concept that sought to eliminate the hassle of hailing a cab, worrying about change, and communicating with drivers. It has subsequently extended to include food delivery. Revolutionizing the office environment, WeWork is not just about the “work,” but also the “we.” Its contemporary offices boast communal spaces that are perfect for networking opportunities and appeal to young, energetic entrepreneurs. Finally, Apple’s iPhone has disrupted the market by changing consumer behavior and lifestyle for good. Pictures taken with an iPhone can be shared on social media and stored on iCloud. Users can customize their smartphones by downloading countless mobile apps. These brands illuminate the 10 common characteristics of disruptive brands, which include simplicity, authenticity, unrivaled speed and scale, and big personality. This chapter concludes by explaining how the nine competitive forces framework has revamped Porter’s Five Competitive Forces model by adding four new dimensions that are essential to current market dynamics: other users and user-generated content (UGC), key opinion leaders (KOL), e-commerce platforms and fulfillment partners, and review and comparison websites.
Chapter Five
Branding Redefined
Branding provides rational reasons for consumers to behave irrationally. Corporations today have access to real-time data that allow them to understand how well they are serving the customers. The four V’s of big data are volume, velocity, variety and veracity. By adding another “V” – verdict, the core reasons why people love the brand, big data can help assess, plan, implement and monitor brand performance.
Branding is a collective experience, and everyone plays a part that will either reinforce or diminish the brand experience and its reputation. Through physical and virtual contact, a brand can enhance a user’s experience. Therefore, branding is both a science and an art.
This new branding mindset is about co-survival and co-advancement, such that growth can occur by value creation through innovation. It is not a zero-sum game.
This chapter explains the 5-C Market Equilibrium, a state of being where all parties get what they need while the market operates harmoniously and sustainably. The 5-C components are corporations, consumers, collaborators, community and civilization.
This chapter also emphasizes the importance of brand virtue, which consists of brand values (the original mission of the brand), brand personality (the characteristics, qualities, and style of the brand), and brand behavior (the actions and activities the brand undertakes in the marketplace). Today, a brand is defined as the set of values it represents and the actual values it adds to those involved with the brand. A great brand radiates positive energy that brings opportunities and possibilities to anyone involved with it.
Chapter Six
The 10 Cs of Sustainable Branding
The pandemic has put many brands to the test and revealed the vulnerability of some businesses. This chapter introduces a strategic framework to bolster the sustainability and endurance of a brand, preparing it to face any challenge – the 10 Cs of Sustainable Branding.
From micro to macro analysis
The logical starting point to appraise a brand’s performance is where the brand originated – the corporate. A brand must operate in a context. This is how it fits into the market environment and appeals to different stakeholders.
From staying in tune to staying in touch
There can be no relationship without ongoing communication. Communication can inform, educate, intrigue, and steer. The whole point of communication is to drive contact. Ultimately, our goal is to connect with the customers after they have initiated the contact.
From customer to competitive analysis
Marketing starts and ends with customers. A brand is worthless if it is not appreciated by the people it serves. It is natural that the competitors will entice the customers by offering incentives that may outweigh the trouble of brand-switching. Customers now expect some degree of customization on how the brand can precisely answer their specific needs.
From role to customers to role to society
A brand exists because it has a role to play in people’s lives. This convergence between the brand and the customer’s life defines the mission of the brand. A truly respected and admired brand extends its positive influence from the industry to the community.
Chapter Seven
From micro to macro analysis
Corporate – Brand is culture
Brand-building should always start from within the corporation. The corporation should operate according to the philosophy behind the brand. Strategically, the personal branding of the staff must synchronize with the corporate branding direction.
Context – Brand is trends
Disruptive brands can transform an industry because they are trend-setters. In this digital era, consumers are the most influential publisher. They can create a trend and turn it into the norm.
Green Total
“Green total” incorporates green marketing, sustainability, and more. It is an orchestrated effort from the very beginning to the end of the entire business operation based on an ideology of respecting and embracing nature.
Health Total
Consumers all over the world are becoming more health-conscious. The pandemic has further intensified the demand for infection control, a prerequisite for giving customers peace of mind when they patronize a physical venue.
Equality Total
An enduring brand is one that is liked, respected, and trusted by people. Discrimination of any kind is unacceptable, especially among the young and liberal consumers.
Connect Total
The pandemic is a catalyst for the digitization of business operations around the globe. “Connect total” is about building an emotional connection with customers and anticipating their changing needs under different circumstances.
Smart Total
Smart homes and smart cities are becoming a reality. “Smart total” is about making all walks of life safer, more convenient, and more satisfying. As such, every brand has to reexamine its product design, features, customer interface, and total service delivery.
Chapter Eight
From staying in tune to staying in touch
Connection – Brand is meaning
While decoding different brands, consumers filter out those that are irrelevant or lack personal appeal. Branding is not what you do. It is what you stand for. In a digital age where consumers have abundant choices, a brand cannot remain merely a concept. It must offer tangible values to the people it serves, or it will be easily replaced.
Communication – Brand is dialogue
Pushing an ad by disrupting the audience’s consumption of some other content rarely works.
To meet the changing expectations of their audience, brand-owners must adopt a new discipline in storytelling based on the Five As of Advertising:
- Authenticity – People identify themselves with characters and stories that are authentic.
- Affinity – Brands must win the audience’s empathy by appealing to their emotions.
- Attainability – Young consumers prefer to opt for instant gratification. A small reward that can be savored today is more palatable than a huge promise in the future.
- Aspiration – Brands must strike a balance when creating their content to be neither too heavy nor substanceless.
- Artistry – Brands must learn how to amuse the audience while staying on course and convince the audience that the brand is a worthy choice.
Contact – Brand is experience
A brand is now created by experience by allowing the audience to see, hear, smell, touch, and taste the brand. The more tangible a brand is, the more people can involve and embrace it. The brand experience at every touchpoint can reinforce or diminish a brand promise.
Chapter Nine
From customer to competitive analysis
A brand is more likely to succeed if it can serve customers better than its competitors can.
There are four types of customers, depending on the relationship they have with a brand:
Regretfully trapped:
Customers who are not satisfied with the brand performance and would stop using the brand if they had a choice.
Fake loyalists:
Customers who seem to be satisfied but feel no obligation to use the brand. They don’t complain about the brand yet have no attachment to it either.
Bored lovers:
Customers who are likely to continue using the brand but have a low level of satisfaction and engagement.
Die-hard fans:
Customers who are not only satisfied with the brand, but are also happy to stick with it.
Brands must nurture all customers to become their die-hard fans by understanding what really matters to them.
Customer lifestyle – Brand is a way of life
A brand has to offer more than just functional benefits. A brand can hold a much stronger position in users’ minds if it enhances the ways they want to live
Competitive advantage – Brand is relative
Brand owners must understand the concept of relativity. A brand should not blame competitors for its loss of business. Instead, it should ask itself why it was not able to fulfill the changing needs of the consumers.
Customization – Brand is fluid
In today’s borderless market empowered by digital technology, a brand should be expanding instead of restricting itself to serve only a confined market segment.
Chapter Ten
From role to customer to role to society
All kinds of relationships will go through four stages. First, users have to be aware of the brand. Once the brand is on users’ radar, they will pay more attention to it. We are bombarded by loads of information every day; we use selective attention to spend time only on issues that concern us. Throughout the process of digesting and filtering information, we employ selective retention to keep information that appears relevant and useful. Based on our previous experience or perception, we use selective distortion to interpret the meaning we have distilled from the information. After learning more about the brand’s uniqueness and selling points, we may start to like it. The positive progression of the relationship will lead users to identify themselves with the brand. After the users have been involved with the brand for a while and see that it can consistently deliver the promises it makes, they will finally trust the brand.
Convergence – Brand is to play a role in user’s life
Consumers will identify with a brand if it aligns with their values. They will also trust the brand if they can benefit from the added values it delivers. The more prominent the role of the brand in users’ lives, the more important it is.
Community – Brand is to play a role in the community
If a brand can go beyond its commercial boundaries and play a role in the community, it will naturally be seen as an admirable brand.
Chapter Eleven
The 4E Brand Management Process
The 4E Brand Management Process (4E-BMP) is a logical approach to unleash a brand’s potential and keep it competitive.
Your brand is like your child. It bears your DNA. Our job is to steer our children and nurture them throughout the good and bad times. In most cases, your child may outgrow your expectations; after all, they are constantly absorbing nutrients and inspirations from the outside world. We want our children to uphold the right value system, possess an adorable personality, and behave. In the end, we want them to do well and do good, be a useful person, and add value to our society.
Brand evaluation
The first step of 4E-BMP is to find out where the brand currently stands in the market and consumers’ minds. It warrants the interrogation of the brand’s position from all angles.
Brand enforcement
After gathering all the relevant information and strategic insights, the next step is to consolidate all the inputs to articulate your brand promise in a compelling way that your target customers cannot resist.
Brand engagement
The third step of the 4E-BMP is to map out an integrated approach to effectively engage the brand’s different stakeholders to the extent of converting them into brand advocates.
Brand enhancement
A strong brand may enable the corporation to step into new territory that has synergy with its core business. By doing so, the corporation can leverage its established brand equity through brand extension, new segment penetration, global expansion strategy, and more means.