Chapter 4. The Brand Communication Process
This chapter covers the communication theories that help us understand IMC and particularly, the interactive dimension of brand communication.
Key Points in This Chapter
1. How do the elements in a basic communication model relate to marketing communication?
2. What are the four types of brand messages?
3. How are media and brand contact points related?
4. How does noise affect marketing communication?
5. How can perception be more important than reality?
6. What is the difference between feedback and interactivity?
Chapter Perspective: A Gooey Interface
- GUI (Graphical User Interface, pronounced “gooey: it means sticky, sweet”)
- The best interface design is the one that comes closet to replacing the interaction between two people.
- Having a gooey interface means that the brand relationship is sticky. (loyalty between the brand and its customer)
- In order to analyze the role of sticky interfaces in marketing communication, this chapter
1) looks at how communication works
2) proceeds to analyze five steps in the brand communication process
1 creating the message, ② choosing the contact points (or media), ③ minimizing the noise,
④ monitoring perceptions, ⑤ facilitating feedback
LOVE AND ICE CREAM:
The HB brand identity campaign prepared by McCann-Erickson Dublin (p. 122~p. 125)
Introduction
In the late 1990s, with increasing competition facing its ice cream, HB Ice Cream, Ireland’s number one ice-cream brand, decided it needed to change its stodgy brand perception (HB’s parent company is Unilever). This is the story about how that message was communicated through every possible point of contact with the brand.
The Marketing Challenge
- Ireland has the youngest population profile in Western Europe.
- Due to its long heritage in the Irish market (since 1926), HB us regarded with great affection by Irish consumers as “our ice cream.”
- The much fiercer competition in related refreshment areas where the lines were starting to blur between ice cream, carbonated soft drinks, confectionery, and yogurt categories.
Campaign Strategy
- HB maintained a leading share of the Irish ice-cream market
- Business objectives were
1) To grow the category by increasing ice-cream consumption
à Fighting for the share of the market in the bigger category of refreshment
2) To communicate a new “togetherness” message along with the new brand identity by creating a more contemporary brand perception, esp. for the younger people in the HB market.
3) To stretch the impulse ice-cream season(p. 125)
- Given HB’s ubiquity and its broad acceptance, the identity effort was aimed at everyone in the Irish market.
The Brand Message
- Changes of ‘Logo’ and ‘Brand Identity’
1) The new logo design replaced the oval with a heart shape but continued to use the familiar HB initials.
2) Change of HB’s brand identity: Hughes Brothers (the original founders’ initials) à Heart Brand
3) The communication effort needed to touch the emotions of the audience.
à Communication point: the values of natural togetherness and warmth.
à To provide a key emotional benefit by focusing on people enjoying ice cream in a social, interactive environment
- Strategy
1) Event strategy: to use a major public event to create rapid and widespread awareness, excitement, and recognition of the new HB identity
2) The big idea was to capitalize on the heart-shaped logo by using the weekend around St. Valentine’s Day as a launch platform for the new logo.
Delivering the Message
- Beyond advertising to engage all possible contact points: packaging, signage, freezer cabinet, etc
- New media and contact points where appropriate: pan-European TV spot, a local media launch event, on-the-street promotional activity
- The core media idea was to create Ireland’s first-ever themed weekend on Irish TV: “The Love Weekend” themed TV programs sponsored by HB
- McCann’s event-based planàcompletely integrated communication strategyàcustomers were involved with a 360-degree communication program for the new brand identity
Evaluation of the HB Campaign
- Market research two weeks after the Love Weekend
1) nearly half of all Irish recognized the new symbol without the HB signature cue
2) 70% of the 15~24 age group were aware of the logo, with 75% of these immediately associating the logo with HB Ice Cream
How Communication Works (p.125 ~ p.128)
- ‘Traditional Communication Model (Figure 4-1, p.126)’
à ‘The Basic Communication Model’ begins with a source (company/brand, agency) that encodes a message (planned, unplanned, product, service), which is transmitted through media (mass media and other brand contact points). Amid noise (clutter and conflict), a receiver then decodes (perceives and interprets) the message and responds with feedback (response, behavior).
- This chapter will transform this basic communication model into a model of brand communication and then into an integrated marketing communication model (Figure 4-2, p.127).
- In IMC the important dimension is interactivity and this interactive approach describes all the brand communication that determines the quantity and quality of brand relationships.
- Definition of key elements of communication model
1) Encoding is the process of putting a message into words, pictures, and/or sounds that convey the sender’s intended meaning.
à People are always sending messages about themselves and often don’t even realize it.
2) Decoding is the process the receiver goes through to understand a message by interpreting what the words, pictures, and/or sounds in the message mean.
3) The message is the information being transmitted from source to receiver.
4) A communication channel or medium (media) is a means by which a message can be transmitted: letter, e-mail, radio, television, newspaper, telephone, or an event
5) Noise consists of all the interferences and distractions that can negatively affect a message and its transmission.
6) Feedback is a response to a message that is conveyed back to the source.
1. THE MESSAGE (p.128~p.138)
Building brand relationships requires
1) managing a brand’s total “communication package” – everything it says and does
2) analyzing all the messages being delivered at all the various contact points to see if they are working in concert
Everything Communicates
- Brand communication is much broader, including not only marketing communication but all the other types of messages and signals that customers and other stakeholders receive from and about a company or brand.
- The essence of a brand in someone’s mind is this bundle of integrated brand messages.
- Every department’s activities have a communication dimension (p.130. A tale of two companies)
- Marketing communication managers have a responsibility to track everything the organization does that send messages about the brand and company.
The Four Sources of Brand Messages (p.129)
- The first step in managing all the brand messages is to identify their type and source. à to design strategies and tactics to control or influence the messages à strategically consistent messages
- The four basic types of brand messages are determined by their sources: Planned, Product, Service, and Unplanned
(1) Planned Messages
- Planned messages are the marketing communication messages delivered by advertising, sales promotion, personal sales, merchandising materials, press releases, events, sponsorships, packaging, and annual reports.
- Customers are not the only recipients of planned messages; messages come from a variety of company sources besides marketing and MC department.
(2) Product Messages
- Product Design
1) The design of a product can send powerful messages.
2) Operation on the principle that “if it looks good, it must be good.”(Exhibit 4-6, p.132)
- Product Performance
1) Although product design is important, product performance is even more important when it comes to sending brand messages.
2) A major determinant of whether or not customers become repeat buyers: how well a product performs, how well a service is delivered
3) By maximizing the customer’s use of the product, the company can increase its brand’s perceived value.
- Pricing and Distribution
1) There is a big perceived difference between cosmetics sold at Wal-Mart and those sold at Nordstrom.
2) Pricing messages must be put into context and strategically integrated with all other brand messages in order to send customers and potential customers a coherent, meaningful message.
(3) Service Messages
- Service messages have much greater impact on a customer than ad because interactive communication is more personal and thus more persuasive
- 5 service measures nicknamed SERVQUAL: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy
1) The ‘tangibles’ include the physical facilities that customers see and experience as well as the appearance of those providing the service.
2) Reliability means consistency of performance.
3) Responsiveness refers not only to how quickly a company responds but also to quality of that response.
4) Assurance is the ability of those performing the service to create within the customer a feeling of confidence and trust.
5) Empathy means employees are perceived as feeling the customer’s “pain.”
- A quick response can add a positive element even when the message content is not what a customer wants to hear.
- Effectively managing all the various supporting service messages requires a cross-functional organization.
4. Unplanned Messages
- Unplanned messages include brand- or company-related news stories, gossip, rumors, actions of special interest groups, comments by the trade and by competitors, findings by government agencies or research institutions, and word of mouth.
- Such messages are hard to control because they come from sources outside the company.
- An unplanned message may arise (intentionally or not) from another company’s planned messages.
(1) Employee Messages
- Employees are an important communication source, and their views are highly credible
- The more informed employees are, and the better they feel about the company they work for and its mission, the more likely they are to send positive brand messages.
(2) News Media ( à more discussion of this in Chapter 15)
- The most critical unplanned messages come from the news media.
- Relatively large audience and especially high credibility
(3) Disasters and Crises
- One of the biggest corporate crises in recent years involved two companies: Ford & Firestone (Exhibit 4-8, p.137)
- Every company should have a crisis management plan, ‘a plan for handling the types of disasters that can be anticipated’ in case of the unplanned messages.
Managing the Message Typology (p.138)
Although coordinating a one-voice approach in planned messages (AD, PR, etc.) is desirable, it is a waste of a company’s money and effort if the other types of brand messages are contradicting the planned messages.
2. MEDIA CHANNELS AND BRAND CONTACT POINTS (p.138~p.142)
- Think of media as bridges that carry messages from senders and receivers.
- One-way media vs. Interactive media (two-way communication)
- Products themselves-both goods and services-also perform as media because they carry brand messages.
- Products-as-media are important because they enable a brand and customer to interact.
- ‘Brand Contact Point’: Every brand-related, information-bearing interaction that a customer or potential customer has with a brand. Every point of contact delivers a brand message of some sort (G. F. of p.139)
Three Types of Brand Contact Points
- Jan Carlson (former chairman of SAS)
- “Moment of Truth”: There are certain company/customer interactions that had a significant impact on whether customers choose their product the next time they buy.
- To manage brand contacts,
1) A company must first identify all of them
2) Next, it must prioritize them based on the following criteria:
1 impact on brand loyalty
2 ability of the company to influence the contact-point experience
3 cost of making each contact a positive experience
4 the extent to which contacts can be used to gather customer data
5 the extent to which contacts are appropriate for carrying additional brand messages
(1) Company-Created Contact (p.139~p.140)
- Company-created contact points are planned marketing communication effort.
- Example: Lexus, Channel One Network
(2) Intrinsic Contact Points
- ‘Intrinsic contact points’ automatically take place during the buying and using of a product, so these contacts primarily affect current customers’ perceptions, whose retention and growth in business dealings are extremely important.
- Case of ‘3M’
1) One industrial company strengthening its relationships with customers by identifying and responding to intrinsic contact points.
2) A cross-functional team of representatives from the three operational areas: sales, management information systems, and logistics
3) By collectively discussing each of their contact points, the 3M team was able to strategically focus on the warehousing process and come up with cost reductions, which in turn reinforced its brand relationship with Boise Cascade (their b2b customer).
(3) Customer-Created Contacts
- One of the communication areas most overlooked by marketing departments (Figure 4-4, p.141. ‘Customer-Initiated Marketing Communication Model’)
- Dealing with current customers à To significantly impact customer retention
- When customers contact a company, these customers are at a critical point regarding brand satisfaction.
- The problem is, most companies have not yet learned how to respond properly to customer-initiated messages.
- A drastic example of how a company can go wrong in handling customer-created brand contacts: US West (the telephone company, now named Qwest) in the mid-1990s
3. NOISE FROM CONFLICT AND CLUTTER (p.142~p.144)
- In the marketing communication model, noise is shown as
1) surrounding the message and channels
2) interfering with the receiver’s message decoding
- Understanding the source of the noise à Eliminating any that came from the marketing program itself à Being able to raise the quality of brand communication à Resulting in a more positive brand perception and reputation
Mixed Messages and Message Conflict
- One of the most troublesome sources of noise is inconsistent marketing communication produced by the company itself.
- Example of inconsistent service messages in a regional retail chain
- Marketers not only compete with brands but they also compete for the attention and support of customers, potential customers, and other stakeholders.
Message Clutter and Overload
- The problem of noise requires integrated marketing communicators to recognize that messages come from many different sources.