Reference no: EM133204550

Discussion Post: What Is a Brand?

Watch the videos, "Branding Foundations" "What Is a Brand?" and "Understanding Why Brands Are Important" and answer the following questions:

Question I

Tell us your favorite brand. Give a full description of this brand and why it is your favorite.

Question II

Describe your favorite brand's promise. What elements of the brand convey this message to you? Remember that a brand promise not the same as slogan or tagline.

Question III

Name and describe three brand touch points. Explain why these are important.

From the Professor:

One of my favorite brands is Patagonia. This is a company that specializes in outdoor equipment and clothing. They sell their product through their own branded brick and mortar stores, other outdoor sporting goods stores, and a robust online store.

Patagonia is one of my favorite brands for two reasons. First, this company was created with an emphasis on the customer. Everything that this company thinks about, creates, and markets is based on a quality product for a specific target customer. Yvon Chouinard started this company in 1973 because he needed to find quality products, and eventually clothing, for his mountain climbing expeditions (Chouinard, 2006). When he couldn't find any, he made his own.

As he was the customer, it was somewhat easy for him to make products to meet his needs. That was the most important element of the business. He intuitively knew that if he made the best products, he would have satisfied repeat customers. Even though he didn't start out with any intention to run a business, his dedication to creating quality products got him to that place anyway.

The second reason I love Patagonia is based on their social and environmental platform. They take their environmental mission very seriously. Everything they do within the company supports this mission. They have spent considerable resources to develop environmentally friendly clothing and processes to support their environmental mission.

If you look at the brand promise of this company, it is very unique, customer focused and filled with emotion. Patagonia focuses on the socially responsible outdoor person by offering products made with ethical practices to support the environment (Chouinard, 2006).

This is evidenced through every one of their brand touch points. Their advertising, while it may focus on products, focuses on the ethical manner in which each one of these items is made. Their website does the same. In fact, most of their website is dedicated to their story of social and environmental responsibility as opposed to selling their products. Finally, one of their biggest platforms is still a catalog. And yes, while the catalog does sell product, it also takes great pains to tell their brand story.

Do you have other brands that can match up to this promise?

Dr. Amans

References:

Chouinard, T. (2006). Let my people go surfing: the education of a reluctant businessman. New York, NY: Penguin Books.