18 Branding and Packaging of Services

Dr. Jasveen Kaur

 

SERVICE BRANDING

 

Branding is nothing but providing an identity and building a distinct image of the product or a service. It is all about differentiating an organization from its competitors. Branding involves creating mental structures and helping consumers organize their knowledge about products and services in a way that clarifies their decision making, and in the process it provides value to the firm. In other words, branding is endowing services with the power of a brand. (K. Rama MohanaRao)

 

Branding of services is the difficult task because it calls for maintenance of consistent service quality. Additionally, a brand cannot be physically attached to a label or to a service itself.

 

Marketers’ goal should be creating a good brand image and the strategy to achieve that goal is to develop a theme in totality. (M. K. Rampal)

 

Elements of Brand

 

Marketers believe that branding is not simply the naming of product, but something beyond that. The visual distinctiveness of a brand may be combination of anything following: name, letter, number, a symbol, a signature, a shape, a slogan, a color. But name is the most important element of brand as its use in the language provides a universal reference point. The name is such an element of the brand that should never change unless some extraordinary conditions demand the change. The key to creating a brand is ability of a service company to choose attributes such as name logo that identify the service and distinguish it from the others. These different components of brand are called brand elements. Creating a successful brand entails blending all these brand elements together in a unique way – the service has to be of high quality and appropriate to consumer needs, the brand name must be appealing and in tune with the consumers’ perception of the product, the packaging, promotion, pricing and all differentiation. Consumers view brands beyond their functional attributes and benefits. They also look for non functional and symbolic qualities. This quality of service determines the success of the image. (K. MohanaRao)

 

Choosing Brand Elements

 

Service branding is critical to total marketing strategy, particularly for new companies facing a severe competition and for companies expanding their range of services or operations. Since the value perceptions of consumers of services are linked with many performance attributes, it is very difficult to judge service brand names isolating the performances of the service company. However, some characteristics can be identified based on their potential to be part of successful brand. The following eight criteria are the most used for selecting a brand:-

 

(i) Distinctiveness: It is fundamental quality of a brand. The consumer should be able to identify a service provider and distinguish from its competitors. The brand should facilitate this. To be distinctive, service providers use words that are uncommon to the service category. Usually, generic names are avoided in branding. Some companies such as Airtel, Tata Indicom, ING Vysya and Bajaj Allianz use fabricated words to establish a distinct identity (K. MohanaRao). For example, ING Vysya Bank has named their saving account as Orange; Citibank also tried with their saving account called Suvidha. (RajendraNargundkar)

 

(ii) Memorability: One of the key objectives of branding is to occupy a space in consumer memory. Several factors affect memorability. A name that is easy to understand and pronounce is likely to get memorized. Short and simple words are also easy to memorize. Idea for example is uncommon brand name and enjoys high level of memorability.

 

(iii) Likeability: The brand should be likeable visually, emotionally and in other ways. Consumers are co- producers of service and, therefore, associates brand name to themselves as the partners of a relationship with the service provider. The brand should have an aesthetic appeal taking into consideration consumers’ behavioral dimensions and cultural background.

 

The likes and dislikes of people are influenced by their beliefs, attitudes, cultural, traditions, habits, lifestyles and personality factors. Corporate brands such as SBI, LIC, Airtel, and Reliance are high on likeability.

(iv)   Relevance: The name that conveys the essence of a service has the ability to position the company clearly in the minds of consumers. Brands such as Lifestyle, Indian Airlines, Music World and Café Coffee Day are examples of successful brands that have used this principle.

 

(v) Meaningful: The ability of the brand to communicate credibility, corresponding category, and benefits to customers and so on is assessed to find out the meaningfulness. The brand may suggest a product ingredient or the target market either directly or indirectly. Brands such as Speed post, more. For you and Kalanjali conveys the features of the service meaningfully.

 

(vi) Flexibility: Many companies grow over the years in size and also in terms of the scope of the business. The companies may in some cases outgrow their original names. The big brand names in India such as Tata, Reliance and Wipro started their business in manufacturing sector and later entered the service sector in a big way. They did not face any branding problems as they could promote sub- brands with the corporate name wherever necessary and maintain their legacy. Brand names in their regional language, region names, names from epics and local literature, etc, will have very less or no flexibility. The brand name of dailies such as The Times of India, The Hindu and The Indian Express has less flexibility to become international brands.

 

(vii) Adaptability: The brand elements should have the potential to adapt changes in the environment and be updated. Sometimes, more than 50 percent of service package might be altered over the years. The name, however, should be capable of converging the core value consistently to the consumers. For example, the service package of Apollo Hospitals has been changing over the years. The adaptability of the brand enacted no enacted no confusion over the core value of the brand in the market.

 

(viii) Protectability: Brand elements should be legally protectable. The trade Marks Act, 1999 provides legal protection for the brand elements, if registered properly. Generic names are not given legal protection.

 

Attributes of Strong Brand

 

Which brand becomes strong or weak is a debatable question always. The theories do not exactly to get desired results. Branding is more an art than science. K.L.Keller identified 10 attributes of the strong brand in the world, which are as follows:-

 

· The brand excels at delivering the benefits consumers truly desires

 

· The brand stays relevant

 

· The pricing strategy is based on consumer perception value.

 

· The brand is properly positioned.

 

· The brand is consistent.

 

· The brand portfolio and hierarchy makes sense.

 

· The brand makes use of and coordinates the full repertoire of marketing activities to build equity.

 

· Brand managers understand what the brand means to consumers.

 

· The brand is given proper, sustained support.

 

· The company monitors sources of brand equity.

 

Service brands should possess, if not all, many of the above- listed qualities. Brand elements have potential to play a number of brand- building roles.

 

Goods Branding Versus Service Branding

 

The definition of brand does not distinguish goods branding from services branding. But, the executional strategy of branding goods and services differ. Because of intangible character of services, consumers try to identify and assess functional and emotional values in service brands. Service companies need to identify the differences in brand- value perception of the consumers between goods and services and work for capitalizing on clues associated with physical evidence.

 

Service branding differs from goods branding due to following reasons:-

  • Goods branding assume an internal quality- controlled, value-delivery system which is not seen by consumers. In contrast, the value- delivery service brands is visible to consumers who are active participants of the system.
  • The contact points between brands and stakeholders are limited in goods branding. The number of contact points is more in services marketing, making it necessary for service brands to focus on their internal and external communication strategies.
  • Branding activity concentrates on the technical product in the case of goods. Service branding takes into consideration technical product as well as functional performance.
  • In the case of product- based branding, the cluster of values can be tightly controlled by production, communication and distribution systems. While these are important in service branding, albeit more difficult to control, corporate culture plays a critical role through its potential to influence staff behavior.
  • Many services branding issues require a company-wide approach to their solution and implementation. Such issues include identifying and cementing service quality gaps, focus on internal and external stakeholders, including staff, and monitoring the whole service delivery process and promotion of strong organizational values in motivating staff to deliver the service brand. (K. Rama MohanaRao)

 

Branding Strategies for Services

 

Most service organizations offer a line of products rather than a just single product. As a result, they must choose among four broad branding alternatives: Branded house (i.e., using a single brand to cover all products and services), house of brands (i.e., using a separate stand-alone brand for each offering), or sub brands and endorsed brands which are both some combination of these two extremes. These alternatives are discussed in following sections:-

 

A) Branded House- David Aker and E. Joachimsthaler use the term branded house to describe a company, such as the Virgin Group, that applies its brand name to multiple offerings in often unrelated fields. The danger of such branding strategy is that brands get overextended and weakened.

 

B) Sub Brands- Next on the spectrum is sub brands, for which the corporate or the master brand is the primary frame of reference but the product itself also has a distinctive name. FedEx has been successfully using a sub branding strategy. When Federal Express changes its trading name to more modern “FedEx”, it also changed its logo to feature the new name in distinctive logo. Consistent applications of this design were developed for use in setting range for business cards to boxes and from employee cap to aircraft exteriors. When the company decided to rebrand a ground delivery service it had purchased, it choose the name FedEx Ground and developed an alternative color treatment of the standard logo (purple and green rather than purple and orange). Its goal was to transfer the positive image of reliable, on-time service associated with its air services to its less expensive, small-package ground service. The well known air service was then rebranded as FedEx Express. Other sub brands in what the firm refer to as “the FedEx family of companies” include FedEx Home Delivery, FedEx Freight, FedEx Custom Critical, FedEx Supply Chain services.

 

C) Endorsed Brands- For endorsed brands the products brand dominates, but the corporate name is still featured. Many hotel corporations adopt this approach. Many hotel chains offer a family of sub brands and/or endorsed brands. For multi brand strategy to succeed, each brand must promise a distinctive value proposition, targeted at different customer segment. Because accommodations vary by service level, room configurations and amenities also vary. Certain brands targeted at guests who are making an extended stay, and finally, there are resort brands that primarily target vacationers. In some instances, segmentation is situation-based: the same individual may have different needs under other circumstances, such as when vacationing with family or travelling on business. A strategy of brand extension is aimed at encouraging customers to continue patronizing units within the brand family and often is reinforced by loyalty programs.

 

D)  House of Brands- At far end of the spectrum is the house of brands strategy, exemplified by Procter & Gamble, with about 80 packaged goods products, each actively promoted under its own brand name. Yum! Brands Inc. adopts the house of brands strategy with more than 35000 restaurants in 110 countries. While many may not have heard of Yum! Brands, people certainly are familiar with their restaurant brands- KFC, Pizza Hut. Taco Bell etc. Each of these brands is actively promoted under their own name. (Christopher Lovelock)

 

Tact’s used in Implementing Strategy

 

Branding in terms of consistent message delivery from different touch-point is all the more important for services, as they may be intangible for the most part. Therefore, a carefully thought out branding strategy is major part of service product. (RajendraNargundkar) Following are the tact’s which can be used for implementing the strategy:-

 

1.   Include a tangible good as a part of brand image– Like LIC’s, lamp between two hands, the Times Group- two elephants and ICICI- Umbrella for safety bonds, tax saving bonds and regular income bonds.

 

2.   Tie in a slogan with the brand– A company can attach their slogan with the brand for example IDBI Bank, LIC, FED Ex etc.

 

3.  Use distinctive color– For example Avis’-red, Jet airways-blue and yellow. (M.K. Rampal)

 

4.   Tieringservice products with branding– In a number of service industries, branding is not only used for core services, but also to differentiate different service levels. Often based on offering price-based classes of service concept, each is based on packaging a distinctive level of service performance across many attributes. It is particular evident in industry such as hotels, airlines, car rentals etc. For example in airlines classes are first, business, premium, economy etc. (Christopher Lovelock)

 

5.  Position mapping– In case of new services as well as the existing ones, the service features that a marketer intends to offer should be clearly identified. This can be done through mapping out of a process for the service to be produced and delivered on one hand, and the handling of various customer touch points and backroom operations on the other. (RajendraNargundkar)

 

Benefits of Branding

 

Branding offers many benefits to service providers as well as service consumers. The following are the benefits of branding services:-

 

1.  Provides Corporate identity and recognition

 

2. Provides an opportunity to distinguish the service from that of competitive services

 

3.  Helps customers develop value perceptions

 

4.  Helps in developing customer relationships

 

5.  Builds up long-term equity to the concern

 

6.  Makes market penetration easy

 

7.  New service offers get quick responses (K. Rama MohanaRao)

 

PACKAGING

 

According to William J Stanton, “Packaging may be defined as the general group of activities in product/service planning which involves designing and producing the container or wrapper of service.” Packages might include up to three level of material. Well-defined packages can build brand equity and derives sales. The package is the buyer’s first encounter with the product and is capable of turning the buyer on or off. Packaging also affects consumer’s later product experiences.

 

The service package is defined as a bundle of goods and services that is provided in some environment. This bundle consists of the following four features:-

 

1. Supporting Facility- The physical resources that must be in place before a service can be offered. Examples are a golf course, a ski lift, a hospital, and an airplane.

 

2. Facilitating Goods- The material purchased or consumed by the buyer, or the items provided by the customer. Examples are golf clubs, skis, food items, replacement auto parts, legal documents, and medical supplies. Operations data or information that is provided by the customer to enable efficient and customized service. Examples include patient medical records, seats available on a flight, customer preferences from prior visits, and location of customer to dispatch a taxi.

 

3.  Explicit Services- The benefits that are readily observable by the senses and that consist of the essential or intrinsic features of the service. Examples are the absence of pain after a tooth is repaired, a smooth-running automobile after a tune-up, and the response time of a fire department.

 

4.  Implicit Services- Psychological benefits that the customer may sense only vaguely, or the extrinsic features of the service. Examples are the status of a degree from an Ivy League school, the privacy of a loan office, and worry-free auto repair.

 

All of these features are experienced by the customer and form the basis of his or her perception of the service. It is important that the service manager offer a total experience for the customer that is consistent with the desired service package. Take, for example, a budget hotel. The supporting facility is a concrete-block building with austere furnishings. Facilitating goods are reduced to the minimum of soap and paper. The explicit service is a comfortable bed in a clean room, and implicit services might include a friendly desk clerk and the security of a well-lighted parking area.(James A. Fitzsimmons)

 

Reasons for Using Packaging as Marketing Tool

 

Various factors have contributed to the growing use of packaging as a marketing tool:-

 

1.  Self-Service- An increasing number of services are sold on self-service basis. The effective package must perform many of sales tasks; attract attention, describe the products features, create consumer confidence, and make a favorable overall impression.

 

2.   Consumer Affluence– Rising consumer affluence means consumers are willing to pay a little more for the convenience, appearance, dependability, and prestige of better packages.

 

3. Company and Brand Image – Packages contribute to instant recognition of the company or brand. In the store, packages for a brand can create a visible billboard effect, such as GarnierFructis and their bright green packaging in a hair care aisle.

 

4. Innovation Opportunity– Innovative packaging can bring large benefits to consumers and profits to producers. Companies are incorporating unique material and features such as reseal able spouts and openings. (Philip Kotler)

 

Packaging Challenges Brought By Change

 

Changes in our society and economy are bringing rapid and wide ranging changes for businesses, with direct impacts on packaging. Those who are agile and innovative can seize opportunities to become more efficient, effective and profitable.

 

1. Rapid Technology Development- Whether  it’s at  home, in the manufacturing or  in there tail environment, technology is changing the way we interact and do business. Shopping decisions are increasingly made before a consumer gets to store. We seek out product information before purchase and share opinions via social media to approve and validate our buying decisions. As a result, demands on brands are changing and communication with and between consumers is starting earlier in the process and continuing far beyond the point of purchase. This creates opportunities for more engagement with your customers. Packaging can be used to support online campaigns and allow more interactive and personalized customer communication.

 

2. Changing Economics- Fewer natural resources and market fluctuations alongwith global and local regulations have driven upmanufacturing, packaging and transportation costs.Only by understanding the entire supply chain, local regulations and the impact of packaging throughout can new opportunities be realized.

 

3. Focus on Sustainability – As a wide array of packaging materials with claimed environmental benefits present themselves, it is vital to understand and measure their impact upon the whole supply chain and their long-term viability.

 

4. Changing Society- The world’s population is changing, with far-reaching effects. The companies should consider these changes. (www.dhl/supply chain)

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

Branding is nothing but providing an identity to a service. A brand is a name term, sign, symbol or design or a combination of them. Different components of a brand are called brand elements. Service branding is different from that of goods branding due to variety of service attributes that demand a different process. Positioning means projecting the image of the service distinctively to that of competing brands in the minds of consumers. To achieve the marketing objectives for the brand and satisfy the desires of consumers, marketers must choose the aesthetic and functional components of packaging correctly. The packaging elements must harmonize with each other and with pricing, and other parts of the marketing program.

 

Learn More:

  • Rampal, M.K., Gupta, S.L. (2000). Service Marketing. India: Galgotia Publishing Company.
  • Lovelock, Christopher, Wirtz, Jochen, Chatterjee, Jayanta (2011). Services Marketing. India: Pearson Publications.
  • Rao,K. Rama Mohana (2013). Services Marketing.India:Prentice Hall.
  • Nargundkar, Rajendra (2011).Services Marketing.India:TataMcGraw Hill.
  • Kotler, Philip & Keller, Kevin Lane &Koshy, Abraham &Jha, Mithileshwar (2009).Marketing Management.India: Pearson Publications.