Brand Elements and Brand Element Choice Criteria

BRAND ELEMENTS Brand elements are devices that identify and differentiate the brand. Multiple brand elements application may strong the...

BRAND ELEMENTS

Brand elements are devices that identify and differentiate the brand. Multiple brand elements application may strong the brand equity. The outcome of this activity can be judged by what consumers would think or feel about the product if the brand element were all they knew.

Brand Elements

BRAND ELEMENT CHOICE CRITERIA 

There are six criteria for choosing brand elements. These brand building criteria can be divided into two categories.

Brand Building

The elements used to build a brand, memorable, meaningful, and likable

Defensive

These elements are used to defend the brand position against the attack of other brands. The elements are transferable, adaptable, and protectable.

Brand Building

Memorable

How easily do consumers recall and recognize the brand element, and when—at both purchase and consumption? Short names such as Tide, Crest, and Puffs are memorable brand elements.

Meaningful

Is the brand element credible? Does it suggest the corresponding category and a product ingredient or the type of person who might use the brand? Consider the inherent meaning in names such as DieHard auto batteries, Mop & Glo floor wax, and Lean Cuisine low-calorie frozen entrees.

Likable

How aesthetically appealing is the brand element? A recent trend is for playful names that also offer a readily available URL, like Flickr photo sharing, Wakoopa social networking, and Motorola’s ROKR and RAZR cell phones.

Defensive

Transferable

Can the brand element introduce new products in the same or different categories? Does it add to brand equity across geographic boundaries and market segments? Although initially an online book seller,Amazon.com was smart enough not to call itself “Books ‘R’Us.”The Amazon is famous as the world’s biggest river, and the name suggests the wide variety of goods that could be shipped, an important descriptor of the diverse range of products the company now sells.

Adaptable

How adaptable and updatable is the brand element? The face of Betty Crocker has received more than seven makeovers in 87 years, and she doesn’t look a day over!

Protect able

How legally protectable is the brand element? How competitively protectable? Names that become synonymous with product categories—such as Kleenex, Kitty Litter, Jell-O, Scotch Tape,Xerox, and Fiberglass—should retain their trademark rights and not become generic.