BRAND MESSAGE VS BRAND PERCEPTION

Abstract

Purpose: In today’s fast moving business world, where information has become readily available and consumers have become socially aware, brands have had to regularly keep themselves updated and relevant to the consumers to be able to remain competitive. Brands often claim certain attributes as their USPs which tries to set them apart from their competition. However, in some situation those attributes have not directly translated in the minds of the consumers. The objective of this research is to try to determine the reason behind the disconnect between the brand message and the perception that consumers hold and to suggest ways on how to diminish that gap. Through this study we have tried to answer the following questions: • How is a brand message created? • What drives a consumer’s perception about a brand? • How to understand the disconnect between the message and the brand? • How to decrease this gap? Methodology: The methodology to be used is mixed (open and closed ended) questionnaires to be distributed amongst two groups of interest. The first group is brand managers and marketing managers from a selective few brands. The second group is students of business management who have a basic understanding of market. Findings: Our study shows that even though brand managers do try to go for creating trust and synergy with the consumer in order to further their brand, they emphasize more on their market orientation, positioning and pricing. Some of the brand managers keyed satisfaction and trust of the consumer on their brand as an important element. With the findings of our research, we are in a position to state this firmly that in local market comprising of highly diversified brands portfolio, the spectrum of consumer preference is highly unpredictable. Conclusion: In order to get better and efficient results of marketing efforts that a brand owner undergo for stated intended outcomes, it is of utmost importance to clearly communicate the intended message without any ambiguities to the target audience. Brand owners have a large set of strategic tools to create a profound impact, utilizing these to the optimal level may result in intended and desired better performance of the brand.