Assignment Details

“A product is something that is made in a factory; a brand is something bought by a customer (King, 1973)”

Drawing on the literature, critically evaluate the meaning of this statement in modern economies. Illustrate your answer using examples of both local and global brands.

Branding is an important element of tangible products and, particularly in consumer markets, is a means of linking items within a product line or emphasising the individuality of products items. It must be never forgotten, however that a “good” product and service is needed to enable effective communication to build the brand (Brassington & Pettitt, 2003). According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), a brand is a “name, term, 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 competitors.” Technically speaking, then, whenever a marketer creates a new logo, name, or symbol for new products, he or she has created a brand. These different components of a brand that identify and differentiate it can be called brand elements. Brand elements come in many different forms. For example, consider the variety of brand name strategies that exist. In some cases, the company name essentially used for all products (e.g., as with General Electric, and Hewlett-Packard).