Brand Building Research Paper

In an aggressively competitive market, branding is still relevant to the success of an organization. Branding is still phenomenon that exceeds cultural national and international boundaries, however, a brand does deliver the same ironclad total quality of products as it once did several years ago. Products sold based on the name supporting the product and consumers obtained the peace of mind that if they purchased a specific product from a particular brand consumers will definitely get their money's worth out of the product. Currently, products do not offer consumers the same guarantee. For example, when the iPhone first launched consumers were already complaining about technical difficulties, consumers had to wait patiently for Apple to eliminate all of the glitches in the System.

When Nintendo's Wii launched, consumers complained that the system did not function properly with their television. "According to Performance Research (www.performanceresearch.com), 41% of United States consumers believe companies can best improve brand perceptions by increasing their cause sponsorships-for the first time surpassing sports and arts/cultural categories as ways to boost consumer opinion. Wendy Liebman, chief executive at WSL Strategic Retail (www.wslstrategicretail.com) found that a store supports the community or worthwhile causes came in number eight on the list of the 10 reasons shoppers consider a store as their favorite. And Carol Cone, of Cone, Inc. urges that 'goodness is now required.'" (Washington and Miller, 2010).

There was a time when products use to live up to the name of the brand, and now consumers are less likely to place their faith in the brand. Consumers may purchase a product from a well known brand only to purchase a product with mediocre assembly or a possible hazardous risk to the consumer. For example, mothers have purchased baby slings for decades, in the year 2010 there was a nationwide recall on a specific brand of baby slings that could put a consumer's child a risk. Another example would include Tylenol for Arthritis pain, the drug was recalled due to a toxic chemical found in the latest batch, and the makers of Tylenol urged the customers to throw their Tylenol items away and issued the batch number for easy identification of the faulty drug.

"The brand of Coca-Cola has strategically revamped and reformulated their flavor in an effort to gain mass appeal. The Coca-Cola Company took arguably the biggest risk in consumer goods history, announcing that it was changing the formula for the world's most popular soft drink, and spawning consumer angst the likes of which no business has ever seen.

The Coca-Cola Company introduced reformulated Coca-Cola®, often referred to as "new Coke®," marking the first formula change in 99 years. The company didn't set out to create the firestorm of consumer protest that ensued; instead, The Coca-Cola Company intended to re-energize its Coca-Cola brand and the cola category in its largest market, the United States." (The Coca Cola Company, 2010).

"The company's beverages are generally for all consumers. However, there are some brands, which target specific consumers. For example, Coca-Cola's diet soft drinks are targeted at consumers who are older in age, between the years of 25 and 39. PowerAde sports water target those who are fit, healthy and do sport. Winnie the Pooh sipper cap Juice Drink target children between the ages 5-12. This type of market approach refers to market segmentation. The Coca-Cola Company when advertising has a primary target market of those who are 13-24, and a secondary market of 10-39." (Book Rags, 2006).

"Following the evolution in time of two interesting brands allows the researcher to find a lot of information about their success or failure. What is really essential in developing a comparison is the fact that, both of them (Coca-Cola and Pepsi) are part of the same category of products: soft drinks. In advertising, everything depends on strategy applied on the market, which is adjusted to the positioning. This concept has been developed in the last 20 years and it has totally changed the perspective upon the market, starting with the brain motivation of the consumer, on which the final choice is based. Coca-Cola and Pepsi have a compelling and competitive history, as one could see from the commercials and other creative proofs. For this reason, the positioning of these brands could be easily recognized analyzing some commercial products, like their slogans, in this case. They demonstrate that, despite becoming the fashion-setter, Coca-Cola had to cope in time with a lot of unpleasant and unexpected situations, which conditioned variation of the positioning according to the enemy's movements, Pepsi. This continuous competition has an effect upon the whole strategy of brand management, and it has given a lot of opportunities for creation and finding the right way to the consumer's mind." (Moraru, 2010).