DISCUSS
HOW PRODUCTS HAVE BECOME SUCCESSFUL THROUGH THE TECHNIQUES AND MANIPULATION OF
BRANDING
Today we live in a branded culture; any business that wants to
succeed needs to have strong branding as people buy into brands not products.
“The brand has become so significant a
phenomenon of our time that it is almost impossible to express any ideas, or
even delineate personalities without branding them.”
(Olins, 2003,
p.23)
It is evident from this quote that branding has developed to a point
where anything can be branded. It used to be constricted to just basic everyday
products like soap, and the brand represented its price and content. Today
customers now look for a deeper meaning behind the brand, and to learn more
about the company behind it. Further more, today a brand is about representing
images of certain lifestyles, these become tools that we can use to define
ourselves by. ‘Branding has
shifted from being simply about the identity creation to a period of attempting
to emotionally connect with audiences.’(Davis, 2009,
p.20) To connect with the
audience, the brands aims to appeal to the customer’s emotions, relating
customers to the brand and see the social and cultural difference the brand
will make. This shift has given the opportunities to exploit branding methods
and manipulate customers into connecting to the brand; this is referred to as ‘cultural
and emotional branding’. (Holt, 2004, p.13) The brand name ‘Vitamin Waters’ gives customers
the idea that this product is healthy, and part of a healthy diet just because
of the word ‘Vitamin.’ People will look and read deeper into this brand name
and associate it with a healthier and potentially happier lifestyle, if they
purchase this drink.
Brands today are incredibly powerful; their strength
has influenced who we are and how we live our lives today. Our society is
dominated by a few large brands such as Coca Cola, Nike and Adidas. These perform
like cultural activists by “encouraging people to think differently about
themselves”. (Holt, 2004, p.9) TV programs are an example of cultural branding
as different brands develop in different social classes as people rely on these
to “express their identity” (Holt, 2004, p.5)
Emotional branding is described as a “deep interpersonal connection.” (Holt, 2004, p.14) A
connection someone makes with another person or object has harder to break,
especially when he or she are made to believe that they will benefit
personally, socially and culturally.
“Branding these days is largely about
involvement and association; the outward and visible demonstration of private
and personal affiliation. Branding enables us to define ourselves in terms of a
shorthand that it is immediately comprehensible to the world around us.”
(Olins, 2003, p.14)
It is clear that customers look far beyond
about what a brand is, and look more to what it represents. People and
societies are now defined by their commodities rather than who they are. “Branding
is about creating and sustaining trust, it means delivering on promises.”
(Olins, 2003, p.170) Branding became powerful, as the trust has been maintained hence the
brand remains successful. “The best and most successful brands are completely
coherent. Every aspect of what they do and what they are reinforces everything
else.” (Olins, 2003, p.175) Brands are created as a seduction technique;
they aim to present a simple and clear message that the customer can
emotionally relate to. It is the brands that represent the clearest messages
that are the most successful. Today the trust that is expected in brands; has
been manipulated in order to seduce the customer to have an emotional
connection and hence creating a successful product that people will continue to
buy. Another technique which branding uses is to appeal to a customer on an
unconscious level.
“The conscious mind
discriminates, decides, evaluates resists or accepts…the unconscious, merely
stores information. There is little if any resistance encountered at the
unconscious level, to which marketing appeals are now directed.”
(Phillips, 1997, p.115)
From
this quote it is apparent that companies are searching for any method that will
reach the customer on a deeper level to create this emotional connection, so
they will not have the capability to resist buying into the brand. This is be
re-enforced by a quote from Olins in his book ‘On Brand,’ where he says that; “Brands offer the illusion of choice.” (Olins, 2003, p.10) The
illusion of that Olins refers to: is created by the representations of life-styles
and social status’s. People believe they have a choice in the brands they buy
into. In reality we have no choice when buying brands, they have too much power
and influences in how we think and behave. We know what type of lifestyle we
want or want to show we have, and consequently which brands represent which
life styles. We are always looking for the ‘better’ and sometimes healthier
option in everything we buy.
In reference back to the seduction of trust in
a brand; companies use the influence the media has over us and how it
determines what we think and believe such as health and beauty. Brands feed off
the obsessions of the Western World and as a result can often be “manipulating
and misleading.” (Olins, 2003, p.181) Many companies have exploited the customer’s
trust in the perceptions of a brand in order to generate successful products. This
is especially evident in food and drink products. A food or drink brand that
makes a customer believe is a healthy alternative will be more successful than
one that doesn’t. Even so, such a brand to succeed it still has to appear
functional for people to buy it. The media keeps showing us images of the
‘ideal’ man or woman, this then encourages us to want to look like that and
consequently buy in to food and drink brands that represent a healthy lifestyle
that will leave you feeling beautiful, just like the actors in the adverts.
Businesses today exploit the methods of
branding; logo, brand name, and the language it is written in to clarify the association’s
people. It is the name of the brand that is most significant to the customer; this
is what customers read into. “A brand name can reduce the risk for the
customer,” (Riezebos, 2003, p.45)
If the name clearly communicates what the brand is about and performs,
the customer will trust it. Many companies today chose the functional approach
to branding. They chose to emphasize the functional attributes of the brand and
use a name such as ‘Vitamin Water’. This results in the customer focusing on
the word ‘vitamin’ and immediately associating this with the product being
healthy. It is here that the exploitation of branding is brought to light. In
an article about Semiotics, Barthe talks about signage and representations of
meaning. “Denotation is not the first meaning, but pretends to do so.” (www.aber.ac.uk,
2008) He also references how “the orders of significance called denotation and
connotation combine to produce ideology.”
(www.aber.ac.uk, 2008)
Barthe explains how the ideological and emotional associations that it
creates sometimes mask the literal meaning of a sign. These connotations can be
emphasised by the style or tone of voice that the semiotic is written in. This
is backed up by Fiske saying, “it is often easy to read connotative values as
denotative facts.” (Fiske 1982) Explaining that people become too involved in
what they see and start thinking that the emotions they feel are the literal
facts. It is people’s miss-judged ideology and associations of a brand that
makes it a success. “A brand encompasses the perception of it and its
reputation, as well as its tangible ‘look and feel’ it related to the customer
experience of it. Its impact if quantifiable.” Evidently we are all seduced by the
expert techniques of branding.
The rise in with health in the Western World
has made it very easy for companies to create brands of drinks that consumers will
be seduced. This seduction leads customers to believe anything they are told or
shown.
“Bottled water has emotional
connotations of health, purity, activity and fitness which seems to have a
special resonance for the western world…people pay relatively large sums of
money for the emotional satisfaction they derive from drinking it.”
(Olins, 2003, p.181)
This quote demonstrates that even by branding and
packaging our most basic necessity automatically will blind us with the social
and cultural satisfactions. When buying a product, the customers look at the
brand name to decipher what the product tastes like, what it does, and what it
represents. With the example of bottled water, it may taste the same as water
from a tap, but because this water has been bottled and branded, people believe
it is better for you and resulting in both being and representing a healthier
and happier lifestyle. We care more about what we look like and our commodities
than what we are actually being sold. Vitamin Waters is an example of a strong
and clear brand name that is incredibly misleading when describing the actual
drink. This brand that was created in 1996 and then taken over by Coca-Cola and
is marketed as healthy alternative because it contains “all your digital
nutrients in one gulp.” (http://www.vitaminwater.co.uk/ 2010) In
reality, this drink contains 32.5 grams of sugar, in comparison to a can of
Coke that has 39 grams of sugar, hardly a healthy drink. This drink is a bottle
of sugar filled, flavored water that has been referred to as junk food with the
addition of vitamins and minerals. It is the exaggeration of the drinks
function in the brand name that attracts people. Customers see the word
‘vitamin,’ and automatically associate this drink with healthier lifestyle. Further
more, they trust the brand because they believe that a drink would not be able
to be called ‘Vitamin Water’ unless it did have health benefits. The name
refers to two of our basic necessities, vitamins and water. It is simple and
makes people believe there is nothing much else in the drink apart from the
what the brand name say, and is therefor healthy. It is true that the drink has
vitamins and minerals in it, however these also come at the price of a huge
amount of sugar. These clear images and association this brand provides are
seducing customers into believing they are getting a quick fix to a healthier
lifestyle. Referring back to a quote at the start of the essay, everything
about this product is inviting and reaches customers on an unconscious level
where ‘little resistance is encountered’; the brand name, the colours of the
labels and products, the language it talks to us in, and even the shape and
size of the bottle.
The seduction of this brand is aided by the bright, colourful
labels, and the fun, jokey tone of voice that the brand communicates with
customers in. “Keep perky when your feeling Murky.” (http://www.guardian.co.uk. 2012) A more
humorous tone of voice gives the brand more believability as it talks to the customer
as a friend would do so, and this helps to reinforce the 
trust in the brand. It is
not just the brand name that makes customers believe this drink is healthy; it
is the environments that the product has been sold in. “The clearest way of
understanding a brand…is to look at the environment where it makes or sells
it.” (Olins, 2003, p.176) For example,
Vitamin Water sold in the Virgin Active fitness centre the Light in Leeds. 
By association,
gyms promote health so any brand of drink that is sold in a gym is connected to
a healthy lifestyle.
trust in the brand. It is
not just the brand name that makes customers believe this drink is healthy; it
is the environments that the product has been sold in. “The clearest way of
understanding a brand…is to look at the environment where it makes or sells
it.” (Olins, 2003, p.176) For example,
Vitamin Water sold in the Virgin Active fitness centre the Light in Leeds. By association,
gyms promote health so any brand of drink that is sold in a gym is connected to
a healthy lifestyle.
Innocent Smoothie was founded in
1998 and is a perfect example of a company that has been successful without
exploiting branding. The aim of the brand is to “make healthy food accessible
and pleasant to consume, with an emphasis on using healthy and 100% natural
ingredients.” (Abbing, 2010, p.20)
The
founders created the company based on a belief of health, ethics and humor.’
The company chose to brand themselves as ‘Innocent” as it clearly represents
trust and honesty in both their company and their products. Every part of the
brand reinforces this message from their logo, to their environmentally
friendly packaging, to the way Innocent communicates with their customers.
“The
innocent brand is able to trigger the values and beliefs of the organization
internal, as well as the user needs externally. The brand connects with what
the company believes with what the user values, and offers a shared vision of
what’s meaningful and worthwhile.”
(Abbing, 2010, p.21)
This is a brand that has
become hugely successful and started with a belief rather than a financial
agenda. “The power of a brand derives from a curious mixture of how it performs
and what it stands for.” (Olins, 2003, p16) The success of this brand mirrors
this quote; the brand name ‘Innocent’ refers to the function of the contents; there
are no concentrates, no preservatives or 
flavorings, it is completely hasn’t been touched and is completely
innocent of impurities. The company did not need to exploit the function of the
product to make customers believe that it is something it is not. Innocent have
created a healthy and trustworthy product, and the success of the brand has
developed from this, customers have not been disappointed or manipulated and
the trust has remained. The drink is “fresh and unadulterated and pure” (Edwards & Day , 
2005, p.47) It is the honesty and trustworthiness of the brand that
has made it so successful. The logo reinforces the ‘innocent and unadulterated’
nature of the drink. Referring back to
the quote about how we associate brands with private and personal affiliation;
the ‘Innocent’ image connects the brand with the nature of children through the
simplistic and child-like manner it is drawn in. The halo over the face further
reinforces the innocent nature. The halo is traditionally the symbol of Gods
and sacred figures, figures of trust. In this context, the iconic nature of the
halo is used to represent the truly pure nature of the brand. Linking back the
semiotics of a brand; this image represents a good, innocent and problem free
lifestyle.
flavorings, it is completely hasn’t been touched and is completely
innocent of impurities. The company did not need to exploit the function of the
product to make customers believe that it is something it is not. Innocent have
created a healthy and trustworthy product, and the success of the brand has
developed from this, customers have not been disappointed or manipulated and
the trust has remained. The drink is “fresh and unadulterated and pure” (Edwards & Day , 2005, p.47) It is the honesty and trustworthiness of the brand that
has made it so successful. The logo reinforces the ‘innocent and unadulterated’
nature of the drink. Referring back to
the quote about how we associate brands with private and personal affiliation;
the ‘Innocent’ image connects the brand with the nature of children through the
simplistic and child-like manner it is drawn in. The halo over the face further
reinforces the innocent nature. The halo is traditionally the symbol of Gods
and sacred figures, figures of trust. In this context, the iconic nature of the
halo is used to represent the truly pure nature of the brand. Linking back the
semiotics of a brand; this image represents a good, innocent and problem free
lifestyle.
Similar to the Vitamin Waters, the company has adopted a friendly
and humorous tone of voice that appeals to customers. Innocent developed this
jokey tone of voice in into a more childish vocabulary, “little tasty drinks”, (http://innocentdrinks.co.uk,
2012). This style of communication
accentuates the innocent and trusting nature of the company and above all they
write in a completely coherent manner, and this is key when connecting with
customers. Every thing Innocent writes or shows is delivered in a basic and
clear format; even the ingredients are shown in image form. The text on the
packaging of the drinks is written in the same nature, it gives the brand a
more personal feel and make the customer believe that they are closer and connected
to the creators of this brand, “There is a charm and openness in everything the
brand does.” (Edwards & Day ,
2005, p.48) It is this openness that
creates the trust: the brand has nothing to hide. It is has made is success
through pure, honest goodness of branding.
In conclusion, the vast development of brands in our world have
shaped and styled who we are. Every person will chose a brand in which they can
define themselves by, either consciously or unconsciously. It is our obsessions
and trust in brands that we love that sustains the power of brands. It is this
obsession that has enabled companies to exploit and manipulate both branding
methods and the customer. Brands have become the largest power in our society,
and the peoples biggest weakness. They have shifted from having just a commercial
value, to having cultural and social values as well. A successful brand appeals
to everyone, and for everyone to appeal to a brand it has to represent
something that everyone is seeking for; to look and feel good. It is the health
obsession that has lead for the functional nature of products to be branded as
something that they aren’t, creating a successful brand by misleading and miss
guiding customers. Other companies, like Innocent have created honest brands
and honest products. This something that people are prepared to pay more for
because they are 100% certain that they are receiving the personal, social and
cultural benefits that are being promoted. It is a combination of a customers
trust worthy nature and their love of branded products that creates a successful
brand. A customer has a choice when buying a product that is branded as healthy
but they know it isn’t, they could make a conscious effort to check the contents
of a product; however it is the influence of the power of brands that reassures
us that we don’t need to.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Olins, W (2003) On Brand London: Thames & Hudson
Riezebos, R (2003) Brand Management: A Theoretical and Practical Approach England:
Pearson Education Limited
Davis, M (2009) The Fundamentals of Branding Singapore: AVA Publishing SA
Edwards, H. Day, D (2005) Creating Passion Brands: How to build
emotional brand connection with customers London & Philadelphia: Kogan
Page Limited
Holt, Douglas B. (2004) How Brands Became Icons USA: Harvard
Business School Publishing Corporation
Phillips, Michael. J (1997) Ethics and Manipulation in Advertising USA:
Greenwood Publishing Group Inc.
Abbing. Erik, R (2010) Brand Driven Innovation AVA Academia USA: Publishing
Klein, N No Logo (2009) Picador
Ragas, M. Ragas, Bueno B. J (2002) The Power of Cult Branding Prima
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