This document discusses branding and pricing strategies. It defines what a brand is according to the American Marketing Association and explains how brands represent consumer perceptions and feelings about a product. Strong brands become iconic in the market for years. It also discusses brand equity, which is the effect that knowing a brand name has on consumer response, and brand value, which is the monetary worth of a brand. The document then covers different branding strategies like brand positioning, brand personality, and developing new brands versus extending existing brands. It concludes with an overview of pricing strategies such as value-based pricing, cost-plus pricing, and adopting a good value approach through value-added pricing.

1. MKT601 - Contemporary Marketing
Week 8: Branding & Price

2. Brand & Branding
Brands as the major enduring asset
of a company, outlasting the
company’s specific products and
facilities.
According to the American
Marketing Association (AMA), a
brand is a “name, term, sign,
symbol, or design, or a combination
of them, intended to identify the
goods and services of one seller or
group of sellers and to differentiate
them from those of competition.”

3. Brands are more than just names and symbols. They are a key element in the
company’s relationships with consumers.
Branding is how the company wants people to perceive it.
Brands represent consumers’ perceptions and feelings about a product and its
performance—everything that the product or the service means to consumers.
Brands vary in the amount of power and value they hold in the marketplace. Some
brands—such as Coca-Cola, Nike, Disney, Apple, McDonald’s,, and others—
become larger-than-life icons that maintain their power in the market for years, even
generations.
.
Brand & Branding
Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2021), Principles of Marketing (18e) Pearson Education Limited.

4. Brand Equity & Brand Value
Brand equity: The differential effect that
knowing the brand name has on customer
response to the product or its marketing.
 A brand has positive brand equity when
consumers react more favorably to it than to
a generic or unbranded version of the same
product.
 It has negative brand equity if consumers
react less favorably than to an unbranded
version.
 High brand equity provides a company with
many competitive advantages. A powerful
brand enjoys a high level of consumer brand
awareness and loyalty.
Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2021), Principles of Marketing (18e) Pearson Education Limited.

5. Brand Equity & Brand Value
What is brand value and how can you measure and improve it?
Brand value: Brand value is the monetary worth of a brand,
• If your company were to merge or be bought out by another business, and
they wanted to use your name, logo, and brand identity to sell products or
services, your brand value would be the amount they would pay you for that
right. This is market-based brand value.
• Whereas brand value is a financial gauge of a brand’s worth, brand equity is
to do with customer perceptions and how positive they are. Brand equity
can be viewed as a factor influencing brand value,

6. Brand Positioning
Marketers need to position their brands clearly in target customers’ minds. They
can position brands at any of three levels
1. At the lowest level, they can position the brand on product or service
attributes. For example, FedEx can position itself on attributes such as
speed, reliability, quality, and convenience of package delivery.
2. A brand can be better positioned by associating its name with a desirable
benefit. FedEx can go beyond product attributes and talk about benefits such
as the peace of mind in knowing that packages will be delivered where and
when they must be.
3. The strongest brands go beyond attribute or benefit positioning. They are
positioned on strong beliefs, values, and feelings, engaging customers on a
deep, emotional level. For example, FedEx’s more recent “What we deliver
by delivering” campaign goes beyond pragmatic attributes and benefits. It
shows that the brand is about more than efficient package deliveries; it’s
about what those package deliveries mean to the people shipping and
receiving them.
Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2021), Principles of Marketing (18e) Pearson Education Limited.

7. of Successful Co-Branding
BMW & Louis Vuitton:
Co-branding Campaign: The Art of Travel
Apple & MasterCard
Co-branding Campaign: Apple Pay
UNICEF & Target
Co-branding Campaign: Kid Power
Examples of Successful Co-Branding Partnership
https://up-rev.com/13-examples-of-successful-co-branding-partnerships/

8. Brand Development
A company has four choices when it comes to developing brands:
 Line Extensions
 Brand Extensions
 Multibrands
 New Brands
Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2021), Principles of Marketing (18e) Pearson Education Limited.

9. A brand personality is the specific mix of human traits that may be attributed to a particular
brand.
Jennifer Aaker conducted research into brand personalities and identified the following seven
brand personalities:
1. Sincerity (down-to-earth, honest, wholesome, and cheerful)—For example, Hello Kitty
2. Excitement (daring, spirited, imaginative, and up-to-date)—For example, MTV
3. Competence (reliable, intelligent, and successful)—For example, Samsung
4. Sophistication (upper-class and charming)—For example, Shiseido
5. Ruggedness (outdoorsy and tough)—For example, Timberland
6. Passion (emotional intensity, spirituality, and mysticism)—For example, Zara
7. Peacefulness (harmony, balance, and natural)—For example, Yamaha
Brand Personality
Kotler, P., Keller, K.L., Brady, M., Goodman, M. & Hansen,T.(2019). Marketing Management, 4th European Edition, Pearson

10. https://www.ebaqdesign.com/blog/brand-personality
Name four brands that symbolize passion

11. Current Trends in Brand Marketing
Some brand marketing trends go in cycles, while others only grow over
time. Here are a few current trends to build into your successful brand
marketing strategy:
 Putting Ethics First
You can’t force a sustainability angle, and customers are wising up to
so-called ‘green-washing’ efforts by companies attempting to pull the
wool over our eyes. But customers are increasingly making decisions
based on the eco-friendliness and ethics of the brands they buy from,
so it pays to make any strides in these areas front and center.
https://www.qualtrics.com/au/experience-management/brand/brand-marketing/

12. Current Trends in Brand Marketing
 An Emphasis on the People Behind the Brand
In the age of the ‘Great Resignation’ and a bubbling worker’s
rights movement, showing consumers that your employees are
well-treated and well-respected human beings isn’t just a good
idea, it’s a necessity.
We’re All in this Together
Empathy is a great leveller, and that’s especially true in the wake
of a global pandemic. Customers want brands to acknowledge
that things have been tough for everyone – that they get it, and
that they care.
https://www.qualtrics.com/au/experience-management/brand/brand-marketing/

13. “The moment you make a mistake in pricing, you are eating
into your reputation or your profits”.
-Katharine D. Paine
Founder, the Delahaye Group
13

14. Price: The amount of money charged for a product or service, or the sum of the
values that customers exchange for the benefits of having or using the product
or service.
• Historically, price has been the major factor affecting buyer choice. In recent
decades, however, non-price factors have gained increasing Importance
• Price is the only element in the marketing mix that produces revenue; all other
elements represent costs. Price is also one of the most flexible marketing mix
elements. Unlike product features and channel commitments, prices can be
changed quickly.
Price
Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2021), Principles of Marketing (18e) Pearson Education Limited.

15. A pricing strategy is a method for deciding the price you will charge.
The right price is the one that your customers will willingly pay, but
which also maximizes your profits and business success.
What is a Pricing Strategy?
https://www.qualtrics.com/au/experience-management/product/pricing-strategies/

16. Understanding Pricing Strategies
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/08/22/understanding-pricing-strategies-price-
points-and-maximizing-revenue/?sh=2e1f96e87e96
Common Pricing Strategies
1. Cost-Plus Pricing/markups: This strategy uses the
contributing costs to sell the products with a fixed percentage
added to the total.
• Cost-plus pricing is simple and straightforward, especially
for brands with numerous products or services
• The disadvantage of cost-plus pricing is that the customer
isn’t part of the calculation. With market saturation and
stockouts, it could drive consumers to select the bargain
option.

17. Understanding Pricing Strategies
2. Value-Based Pricing: Value-based pricing relies on perceived value to the
customer. Typically, this strategy has a higher profit margin and aligns with the
customer’s perspective. If the price isn’t ideal, it can be adjusted to better suit the
market.
Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2021), Principles of Marketing (18e) Pearson Education Limited.

18. According to this model, the marketer's job is to increase
perceived value (PV) in order to increase consumer
incentive to purchase. As the saying goes, perception is
reality. And since the price we care about falls
somewhere between perceived value and cost of goods
sold (COGS), the total economic value (TEV) is
practically irrelevant
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/rethinking-old-value-pricing-thermometer-its-time-we-market-cheng

19. WTP and Elasticity
Willingness-to-pay is the maximum a customer will pay for a product or service. If a
product is priced above the Willingness-to-Pay, customers will not make the purchase.
Price sensitivity is a measurement of how much the price of goods and services affects
customers’ willingness to buy them.

20. • Recent years have seen a shift in consumer attitudes
toward price and quality.
• Increasingly, consumers want to know that they are
getting good value for their money.
• In response, many companies have changed their
pricing approaches to bring them. in line with
changing price and value perceptions
• More and more, marketers have adopted the strategy
of good-value pricing—offering the right
combination of quality and good service at a fair
price.
Good-Value Pricing
Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2021), Principles of Marketing (18e) Pearson Education Limited.

21. • Value-based pricing doesn’t mean simply charging what customers want to pay or
setting low prices to meet competition. Instead, many companies adopt value-added
pricing strategies.
• Rather than cutting prices to match competitors, they add quality, services, and value-
added features to differentiate their offers and thus support their higher prices.
Value-Added Pricing
Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2021), Principles of Marketing (18e) Pearson Education Limited.

22. Understanding Pricing Strategies
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/08/22/understanding-pricing-strategies-price-
points-and-maximizing-revenue/?sh=2e1f96e87e96
3. Competitive Pricing: Competitor pricing means you're considering
the prices of similar products or services from competitors and using
it to determine your product's price.
There are a few types of competitive pricing strategies:
A. • Cooperative pricing: This matches the prices of
competitors down to the dollar to maintain the status quo.
Gas stations often use this type of pricing.
B. • Aggressive pricing: This strategy involves keeping a price
“distance” between yourself and your competitors.
Regardless of what competitors do, your prices will remain
the same or go lower
C. • Dismissive pricing: Leaders in the market with premium
products or services are in a position to use dismissive
pricing. This strategy allows brands to price as they wish
without considering the competitors’ prices.

23. Understanding Pricing Strategies
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/08/22/understanding-pricing-strategies-price-
points-and-maximizing-revenue/?sh=2e1f96e87e96
4. Price Skimming: Price skimming is a strategy that is often used for introducing
new products with little to no competition. These products charge a premium
initially, but then the price is lowered over time.
Apple frequently uses this strategy, called market-skimming pricing (or price
skimming). With each new generation of Apple iPhone, iPad, or MacBook laptop,
new models start at a high price then work their way down as newer models are
introduced
5. Penetration Pricing: Penetration pricing is a valuable
strategy for a market with numerous similar products and
price-sensitive customers.
Amazon does this for some of its digital products and
services.

24. With advances in digital technologies, many companies are now
reversing the fixed-pricing trend. They are using dynamic
pricing— adjusting prices continually to meet changing
conditions and situations in the marketplace.
Dynamic pricing offers many advantages for marketers.
Services ranging from retailers, airlines, and hotels to sports
teams change prices on the fly to optimize sales according to
changes in demand, costs, or competitor pricing, adjusting what
they charge for specific items on a daily, hourly, or even
continuous basis.
The dos and don’ts of dynamic pricing in retail
Dynamic and Personalized Pricing
Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2021), Principles of Marketing (18e) Pearson Education Limited.