Discussion 1 ) Need a response;

Redmond Gautier IV

Class,

During a Zoom meeting, Carlos Chance, the head of branding at Slate, Incorporated, asked for research on the role brand equity plays in their competitors’ branding strategies and how Slate can learn from them to enhance and defend their brand equity. The two main competing companies of Slate are Samsung and Apple. In the meeting, Carlos provided various examples explaining brand equity. Before discussing the role brand equity plays in both of the competitors’ branding strategies, it is necessary to amplify Carlos’s description of the subject. Brand equity is “the added value a brand gives to a product beyond the functional benefits it provides” (UMGC Branding Elements, 2023, Brand Equity section, para. 3). There are multiple benefits of brand equity such that “consumers are willing to pay more for a product with brand equity” in addition to brand equity providing a competitive advantage (UMGC Branding Elements, 2023, Brand Equity section, para. 3). Most importantly, “brand equity resides in the consumers’ minds from seeing, hearing, feeling, and learning about a brand over time. Thus, brand equity takes time to develop and be crafted by marketers who forge unique, strong, and favorable experiences with the brand” (UMGC Branding Elements, 2023, Brand Equity section, para. 4). The effectiveness of brand equity, essentially, depends on the actions conducted by the company marketing the brand.

Research reflects “corporate social responsibility has a significant positive impact on corporate image and brand equity…thereby companies should improve their social responsibilities activities to strengthen their brand equity” (Esmaeilpour & Barjoei, 2016, p. 55). Corporate social responsibility activities pertains to both internal and external aspects that enhances the overall efficacy of brand equity. From an internal aspect, a company known to have high moral standards, is ethically sound, environmentally friendly, and treats employees with dignity and respect is likely to have strong brand equity. From an external aspect, it is pertinent for a company to consider the five elements relating to the consumer’s perspective of brand equity. The five elements are brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality, brand loyalty, and the fifth factor which is the communication channel and indirect relationship between the company and consumer (Esmaeilpour & Barjoei, 2016, p. 57). When a company comprehends their consumer’s interpretation of brand equity, then a company is also likely to facilitate strong brand equity. Based on the actions a company should incorporate relating to brand equity, it is necessary to explain the role brand equity has with both Samsung and Apple.

Samsung is very keen as it relates to their brand equity to gain the attention of their customers. Specifically, “Samsung made sure to announce their new premium smartphones before Apple did in the last three to four years” (Barajin, 2021, para. 2). By Samsung getting ahead of their competition, such as Apple, this strategy provides them the competitive advantage for brand awareness amongst the consumer population. Another tenet of brand equity is brand association whereby the marketing of Samsung’s devices has become world-class in the last three to four years due to the quality and creativity of their marketing campaigns for their new products (Barajin, 2021, para. 7). Internal to the organization, Samsung is setting an extremely high standard as compared to other multinational corporations. Specifically, Samsung was named number one out of 800 for Forbes’ list of world’s best employers for the third consecutive year based on the results of a Statista market research survey of 150,000 workers for multinational companies from 57 countries (Brier, 2022, para. 2). Due to the internal success of Samsung, this has the ability to enhance their brand equity amongst consumers. From these examples on how Samsung is able to successfully employ brand equity, it is essential to explain how Apple employs brand equity.

Similar to Samsung, Apple continues to have phenomenal brand equity. When new Apple products are released, customers line up ready for purchase regardless of cost, thereby reflecting fierce brand loyalty (Nauseda-Frey, 2022, Brand Equity Examples section, para. 2). Apple stands in a class of its own through perceived quality based on their technological prowess to develop and create the iOS [iphone operating system] used strictly in their products unlike the Android operating system which is used by thousands of companies (Lucente, 2022, para. 7). As the 2021 Computer Manufacturer Brand of the Year, Apple’s ability for originality in the form of innovation plays a critical role in their success towards brand equity. Apple also has an innate ability towards the fifth factor of brand equity pertaining to the communication channel and indirect relationship between the company and consumer. Notably, “Apple is the king of curating in-store experiences as buying a product at Apple feels luxurious and is completely different than their competitors. By investing in the customer experience post-purchase, Apple shows their customers the relationship is not just a transaction, but Apple invests in their satisfaction” (Hanson, 2022, Create Brand-Building section, para. 3). As a result, Apple strives to provide their customers with the ultimate shopping experience as this form of brand equity keeps their customer’s loyalty intact. Apple’s innovation and superior product quality enables them to successfully implement brand equity into their business strategy.

There are multiple lessons to learn from Samsung and Apple to enhance and defend Slate’s brand equity. It important for Slate to consider both internal and external factors to sustain brand equity. Internal to the company, Slate must strive for excellence in building and maintaining a robust cohesive company. Slate must also not be hesitant to invent new products thereby increasing the capacity for originality. Slate needs to be one step ahead of their competitors by releasing products prior to their competition. From an external standpoint, Slate needs to see through the lens of their consumers with a focus on the five elements of brand equity: brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality, brand loyalty, and the communication channel. For Slate to achieve unprecedented brand equity, it is absolutely essential to become fully immersed with their consumer’s needs, wants, and preferences to gain their customer’s complete trust and confidence.

References

Bajarin, T. (2021, August 12). Why apple and samsung’s device competition is great for consumers. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/timbajarin/2021/08/12…

Brier, E. (2022, October 11). World’s best employers. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/lists/worlds-best-employers…

Esmaeilpour, M. & Barjoei, S. (2016). The impact of corporate social responsibility and image on brand equity. Global Business & Management Research, 8(3), 55–66. https://web-s-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.umgc.edu/ehost…

Hanson, J. (2022, June 23). Brand identity: Discovering who you are is the point. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2…

Lucente, K. (2022, April 26). Brand equity and why it matters. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2…

Nauseda-Frey, K. A., (2022, December 28). How to build brand equity. Forbes Books. https://books.forbes.com/blog/how-build-brand-equi…

University of Maryland Global Campus (2023). Branding elements. Document posted in MBA 630 9044 online classroom, archived at https://leocontent.umgc.edu/content/scor/uncurated…

Respectfully Sent,

Red

Redmond Gautier

Discussion 2: Charles Deatrick- response to discuss

Carlos said. “I want you to research the role that brand equity plays in our competitors’ branding strategies, and how we can learn from them to enhance and defend our brand equity.”

Slate Inc. is a cell phone company with a smart phone product line. Slate Inc.’s two main competitors are Samsung and Apple. Apple is a publicly traded company incorporated in 1977 and Samsung was founded in 1969 but their stocks are not traded on the American Stock Exchange. According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), brand equity is the value of a brand from the consumers’ perspective. “Brand equity is based upon the consumers’ attitude regarding positive brand attributes and favorable consequences of brand use” (UMGC). Apple and Samsung both utilize the multiproduct branding strategy to construct their product lines. “Applying one name for all its products and benefitting from on the brands equity and positive perception that its consumers have allows for the brands to be successful” (UMGC). Brand equity aids in the sales and revenue because the more people want to be associated with the brand the higher the prices that company will charge and people are still going to pay that. The new Apple iPhone 14 Pro, smart phone that competes with Slate, costs roughly $1,200. The new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra 1TB costs $1,770 and people are willing to make these payments. Social media also aids in creating and expanding branding activities to consumers. Social media genuinely embraces contents that are original, fresh, sharp, exotic, sexy, and captivating and consumers want to have a piece of that and feel like they are original, fresh, sharp, exotic, sexy and captivating when they use those products. People like to, and want to, associate themselves with winners. There is so much that can be learned from Apple and Samsung on developing brand equity, but this will take time. As stated in the course materials, “brand equity takes time to develop and is carefully crafted and nurtured by marketers who forge unique, strong, and favorable experiences and associations with the brand” (UMGC).

References:

University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC). Branding Elements. Retrieved from https://leocontent.umgc.edu/content/scor/uncurated…