Are marketers overestimating the powers of branding? Do you believe brands have

Question

Are marketers overestimating the powers of branding? Do you believe brands have the powers ascribed to them (e.g., as experience provider or as a lovemark)? Can brands create social and/or cultural values?

If your answer is yes to either of these questions, explain your answer(s) by giving examples of brands that have managed to do this.

If your answer is no to either of these questions, explain why you believe brands fail to achieve this particular outcome.

Regardless of whether your answer is yes or no, do you think brand should shape social and/or cultural values? Why or why not

Explanation / Answer

Are marketers overestimating the powers of branding? Do you believe brands have the powers ascribed to them? Can brands create social and/or cultural values?

As we discuss the social or cultural influence of a brand, we invoke the concept of the cultural brand. Cultural branding is a concept of developing a brand based on the existing socio-economic forces in a community/ society. Marketers try to find a type of rift or stress in the society and then build the brand around it so that the existence of the brand partially or fully eliminates or tries to eliminate the stress present. As a result, the brand becomes more popular and convincing to the members of the society or community. Consider Apple. All of its brands represent one issue at its core - 'simplicity'. Then look at the present societal nature of America - isn't just missing simplicity in every aspect of the society? Yes, it does. So, when Apple comes out with its brand which represents simplicity, it creates a new cultural value for the Americans which they really need. This not only makes the brand popular but also creates a thought process in the society and its members which, partially, can bring about new cultural values. So, it is possible for a brand to create/alter societal or cultural values. The process of success or the intensity of the effect depends on the strategy of the brand, the positioning, and the research the company had carried out underneath.

Regardless of whether your answer is yes or no, do you think a brand should shape social and/or cultural values? Why or why not.

Brands cannot be created (or even when created, cannot be sustained for long) in absence of the needs and wants of the target customers in a society/ community. If this is true, then the branding should depend on the cultural and social values and not the vice versa. But if there is a problem or deficit in the social or cultural values of a community, and the members recognize that a cultural change may be required, then a brand can be built around this particular need for change and then it is completely ethical that the brand is creating a new value which the community wants. For example, consider the case of Coca-Cola. Looking at the increasing separation and hatred among community groups across the globe, every one of us realizes that there is a need for integration and at that onset, if a company promotes its brand as a notion of harmony and 'happiness', its effort becomes worthy.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse A
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.