Branding Decisions for International Markets

Online, July 18, 2012 (Newswire.com) - A global brand is one which is perceived to reflect the same set of values around the world. Global brands transcend their origins and create strong enduring relationships with consumers across countries and cultures. They are brands sold in international markets.
Examples of global brands include Face book, Apple, Pepsi, McDonald's, MasterCard, Gap, Sony and Nike. These brands are used to sell the same product across multiple markets and could be considered successful to the extent that the associated products are easily recognizable by the diverse set of consumers Benefits of global branding
In addition to taking advantage of the outstanding growth opportunities, the following drives the increasing interest in taking brands global:
Economies of scale (production and distribution)
Lower marketing costs
Laying the groundwork for future extensions worldwide
Maintaining consistent brand imagery
Quicker identification, recognition and integration of innovations (discovered worldwide)
Preempting international competitors from entering domestic markets or locking you out of other geographic markets
Increasing international media reach (especially with the explosion of the Internet) is an enabler
Increases in international business and tourism are also enablers
Possibility to charge premium prices
Internal Company benefits such as attracting and retaining good employees, and cohesive company culture
Global brand variables
The following elements may differ from country to country:
Corporate slogan
Products and services
Product names
Product features
Positioning
Marketing mixes (including pricing, distribution, media and advertising execution).These differences will depend upon:
Language differences
Different styles of communication
Other cultural differences
Differences in category and brand development
Different consumption patterns
Different competitive sets and marketplace conditions
Different legal and regulatory environments
Different national approaches to marketing (media, pricing, distribution, etc.)
• Generic or No Brand:
The first decision regarding branding is whether to brand or not. The trend towards non-branding products is increasing world-wide. In fact, the scales of non-branded products are increasing particularly in retail stores. The increase in demand for non-brand products is due to the availability of these products at fewer prices. In addition, non-brand products are available - In a number of sizes and models.
• Branded Products:
Most of the global companies go for branding. The customers of different countries find it easy to identify the branded products and they are aware of the ingredients and utility of the branded products. For example" the customers throughout the world are aware of the products of Colgate-Palmolive, Pepsi or Coke etc. The global company can get better price and profits through branded products.
• Private Brand:
Most of the exporting companies go for dealer's brand or private brand. The advantages of private branding include: easy in giving dealer's acceptance, possibility of getting larger market share, less promotional expenses etc. Private branding is more appropriate for the small companies who export to various foreign countries.
Manufacturer's Brand: The manufacturer sells the products in his own brand. The advantages of manufacturer's brand include: better control of products and features, better price due to more price in electricity, retention of brand loyalty and better bargaining power.
• Single Brand:
The global company go for a single brand for all its exports to the same country (or Single Brand): The advantages of single brand in single market include: better impact on marketing, permittmg more focused marketing; brand receives full attention, reduction in cost of promotion etc.
• Multiple Brands:
The marketing conditions and the features of the customers vary widely from one region to the other, in the same country. Therefore, the exporter uses multiple branding decisions in such cases. Multiple branding enables the exporter to meet the needs of all segments. The other advantages of multiple branding include: creation of excitement among employees, gaining of more shelf space, avoidance of negative connotation of existing brand etc.
• Local Brands:
Global companies have started widely using the local brands in order to give the impression of cultural compatibility of the local market. The advantages of local branding include: elimination of difficulty in pronunciation, elimination of negative connotation, avoidance of taxation on international brand etc.
• Global brands or World Wide Brand:
Exporters normally go for global brand. The advantages of global brand include: reduction of advertising costs, elimination of brand confusion, better marketing impact and focus, status for prestigious brands and for well-known designs etc.

Strategies for Branding Decisions
(1) If the product has production consistency and salient attributes which can be differentiated, then it would be better for the manufacturer to go for branding otherwise better to sell the product without any brand.
(2) If the manufacturer is least dependent person, it would be feasible to go for the manufacturer's own brand otherwise; it would be feasible to go for a private brand.
(3) If there are intermarket differences like demographic and psychological, it would be feasible for having a local brand. Otherwise, it would be better to go for global brand.
(4) If there are intermarket differences like demographic and psychological, it would be feasible for multiband. Otherwise it would be feasible to go for single brand.
Branding Strategies
There are three branding strategy types:
1. unique brand
2. corporate brand
3. range brand
Unique brand strategy
A company selling items from a single product area - cleaning powder, for example. Let's suppose this particular type of Soap becomes extremely successful and gets to be the market leader. Unique branding refers to giving this product a unique name no other products manufactured by the company will be known under.
The importance of this strategy can be understood by following example;
A company produces more soap items under the same brand - let's call it Brand X. Consider the following products: Brand X soap, Brand X Conditioner, Brand X Microfiber Cloth. If quality goes down, competitors come up with higher quality items and sales drop, the brand will become unsuccessful. This will most likely affect all products known as Brand X, even if only one of them is causing trouble. So if Brand X Soap will no longer do its job, the Brand X Conditioner sales will drop as well. However, unique branding prevents this from happening. If you go for a unique branding strategy and name your products, let's say, Brand X Soap, Super Amazing Conditioner or Squeaky Clean Microfiber Cloth, no one will be affected by the other ones' failure, should it ever happen. This is why unique branding is a reliable safety measure more and more companies choose to go for!
Corporate brand strategy
Corporate branding is opposed to unique branding. It refers to a company that uses the same name for all its products - such as Apple, for example. The advantages of this strategy are that if the existing brand is already known and well-loved, new products will easily make their way to the top of the market. If you like Apple computers, you will feel confident with purchasing an Apple printer, if they produced printers. If you are satisfied with the performance of the previous products, you would expect to find it satisfactory in newly released printers as well. The disadvantages of this strategy starts if customers are not satisfied with the new printer, they will probably lose their trust they used to have in its manufacturer. This can cause sales to decrease, and also lower the chances of customers buying future new products.
Range brand strategy
There is no room for extremes in business, as for some companies, neither unique, nor corporate branding will achieve success. This is the reason why range branding strategy was created. It is a hybrid, a mixture of the other two branding strategy types. For example you are the leader of a company - a vehicle manufacturer. You have a very good reputation on the market, and your business has been extending for more than a few decades. Would you limit yourself to regular vehicles everybody drives to work? Or would you like to go beyond boundaries and create a distinct brand for, say, luxury cars? Or trucks?

Example of Lexus, the brand comprising all luxury cars manufactured by Toyota.