More important than positioning is brand association

In this article, the author introduces in detail the four ways in which brand association creates value for companies and customers. It is suitable for readers who are interested in brand-related content.

The potential value of a brand name often lies in the various associations of the brand, that is, what the brand means to people. Brand associations are the basis for customers to make purchases and form brand loyalty. A brand may have many associations, and brand associations can create value for companies and customers in many ways. Ways to create value include:

1. Help consumers process or retrieve information.

2. Differentiate the brand.

3. Create reasons to buy and create positive attitudes or emotions.

4. Provide a basis for brand expansion.

1. Help consumers process or retrieve information

1. Brand association can serve to summarize facts and product parameters

Under normal circumstances, it is difficult for customers to obtain and process this information. If companies want to convey this information to customers, they have to pay high costs and prices. For example, if a brand finds a big anchor to promote its products, the anchor's slot fee ranges from hundreds of thousands to millions. In addition to the slot fee, the brand owner also has to give a commission of more than 30%. Such high costs are unsustainable for companies. Brand association provides customers with dense information blocks, making it easier for customers to process information.

Many brands that have advertised on Focus Media, in addition to gaining popularity on Focus Media, have also gained brand associations through Focus Media.

2. Brand associations can influence people’s perception of facts

After seeing and hearing the advertisement of Meiji Landou cheese sticks, we saw the image of children and thought that children should supplement more protein. Other things are unhealthy for children. However, eating cheese sticks, in addition to being healthy, can also help children's bone development. We can't help but buy them online. With such brand associations, Meiji Landou can achieve relatively considerable sales even without big anchors promoting the product.

3. Brand associations can influence customers’ recall of information

Especially when buying products, information recall is particularly important. For example, Sanjin has made its blue bottle a brand association. When buying children's or adult OTC drugs, as long as you see the blue bottle, you will think of it as effective and delicious. Such associations play a very good role in the pharmaceutical industry, which is also ignored by many pharmaceutical brands.

2. Differentiate your brand

Brand association is an important prerequisite for brand differentiation. In categories such as red wine, perfume, and clothing, most consumers cannot distinguish between various brands.

However, brand associations play a vital role in differentiating one brand from another. For example, Chanel perfumes are associated with a distinctive quality of sexiness in women.

Such differentiated associations can be regarded as a key competitive advantage. If a brand is positioned better than its competitors in terms of the core features of its products or in terms of the specific uses of its products, it is difficult for competitors to attack it.

It turns out that both Wanglaoji and Red Bull have conveyed great brand associations through advertising. Wanglaoji can make you think that if you drink Wanglaoji when eating hot pot, you may not get angry. And Red Bull is the functional drink that you think of first when you are sleepy or tired. This brand association has not been destroyed even though Jiaduobao has spent tens of billions of advertising fees.

However, after Red Bull was banned from running the ad "When you are sleepy or tired, drink Red Bull", the brand association was suddenly taken away by Dongpeng Special Drink's "When you are tired or sleepy, drink Dongpeng Special Drink". Red Bull's position as the number one brand of functional drinks in China collapsed.

If a company wants to attack the market share of its competitors, the best way is to attack the brand association of the brand. Destroying the brand association means destroying the market.

3. Create a reason to buy

Many brand associations are about product features or customer benefits, which provide customers with specific reasons to choose and use brands. Brand associations are the basis of purchasing decisions and brand loyalty.

For example, Crest is an anti-caries toothpaste that makes teeth clean and white, while Yunnan Baiyao toothpaste is made because people associate Baiyao with stopping bleeding. Yunnan Baiyao toothpaste is made to prevent gum bleeding. This association has made Yunnan Baiyao quickly become the number one toothpaste brand in the Chinese market in terms of sales and profits. Some brand associations can also increase brand credibility and customer confidence, thereby influencing purchasing decisions.

In the marketing of sports brands, domestic brands have basically caught up with international brands. For example, Li Ning sponsored the Wuxi Marathon on a large scale, and domestic sports brands "crazed" runners who could break three in the full marathon, and asked them to wear branded equipment. These brand operation behaviors are currently aimed at enhancing brand associations and making consumers feel good about domestic sports brands.

For example , if you use an Italian name and an Italian portrait for pizza, it will be easier to increase people's reputation for this pizza brand. This is where brand association comes into play.

4. Create positive associations

The positioning faction, including Trout, extremely disdains Nike's slogan of "just do it", and believes that it would be better for them to directly position their brand as "the brand that superstar athletes are wearing."

But they overlooked that, in fact, it is not the so-called positioning that is at work, but the brand associations that consumers have after hearing the brand. Slogans like "just do it" can make consumers have positive associations, and they can be associated with the Nike brand, and seeing the Nike hook can also generate positive associations. These positive associations are much sexier than a dry sentence "the brand that superstar athletes are wearing."

Therefore, whether it is a logo, a slogan, or a design, the key to evaluating its quality is whether it creates a positive and beautiful brand association for the brand. When a company builds a brand, it should not be trapped in how to position itself, but should think about how to spread its brand and obtain positive brand associations, and help consumers make decisions through beautiful brand associations.

Author: Liu Yichun

Source: WeChat public account "Liu Yichun's Brand Business Innovation (ID: shangyeyiguohui)"