Traditionally, a brand is thought to evoke, in the customer’s mind, a Certain personality, presence, and product or service performance. A brand may be defined as a ‘name, sign, symbol or design, or combination of these, intended to identify the products of an organization and distinguish them from those of competitors.
This is also referred to as a logo when used in the product’s promotion. For instance, the branding of an event to fully maximize opening the brand to the public on promotional materials such as Styrofoam Cups is beter appreciated using the brand’s logo. The brand mark is the element of the brand identity, consisting of the design or symbol. The brand name refers to the words, such as the name Nike, and the brand mark represented by the swoosh symbol.
Many hotel brands have become household names, such as Hilton and Holiday Inn. The following attributes associated with a successful brand, which are: name, symbol or both are well known; it is unique and cannot be copied by competitors; It is reflective of the consumers self image; it represents the intangibilities of the product; it informs and influences a consumer at the point of consumption; it provides the foundation for all marketing activity.
When developing a brand the objectives must be thought out. It is important to point out its characteristics, such as the brands quality, value for money, emotional appeal and status associated with it.
BRAND NAMES
Kotler, (2006) suggests the following characteristics for designing a brand name: appropriate imagery; easy name to pronounce and remember; distinctive with supporting colour and design; uses words that convey the nature of the product and reinforce the benefits; registrable in the countries it wants to operate and should easily translate into a foreign language.
When the car manufacturer General Motors introduced the Chevrolet Nova in South America, it was apparently unaware that ‘no va’ means ‘it won’t go’ in Spanish. Once they realized they quickly changed the name, at some considerable financial cost, and damage to the company’s brand image.
Research bears out how strongly the name in particular, but also the logo and design styles of different brands, can affect the perception of the offering represented by those brands (Holloway, 2004).
