Brands, IMC, Driving Forces and Product Life Cycle

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What do brands provide to the manufacturer or producer? What do consumers see in brands?

Branding is an important aspect of a product since the brand is essentially the product's identity. A consumers are more likely to purchase good brands.

Brands provide prestige to manufacturers. Lets say we have a start product, such as an amazing cell phone. This phone never breaks, is sturdy, has many features, is small enough not to be bulky, comes with cool accessories - in essence it is the perfect phone. The image that resonates from the phone is quality, reliability and trust. These are important aspects that consumers will seek out in a product. Consumers are reluctant to actually shell out money for a product that will break easily or that is not of high quality.

One a company has marketed and disrupted such a highly regarded brand, it brings attention to the manufacture. In other words, lets say Sony built this ideal phone. The reputation of the brand will then be carrying over to the Sony name, and it will strength the image that Sony has in the market. Soon enough, as more and more consumers find out about the phone, they will spread the word how Sony produces such great products, and Sony is a reliable company. In the future, people will be more likely to purchase a Sony product, as one pleasant experience can be translated to long term loyalty.

On the flip side, lets say we have a phone that is horrible, it breaks, shuts off by itself, is not user friendly... the consumer will see the brand as less then ideal, and they will avoid the brand at all costs, and even worse, the manufacture will get a bad rap. The fact that the brand provides negative opinions of the manufacture is critical, since long term loyalty can be diluted, and the brand could end up getting a bad rap overall. For example, LG produced this phone, but they also produce ...