BRAND ASSOCIATION IN RETAIL SECTOR
Brand Association could mean different thing to different customers. Brand Association can be anything that connects the products or services in the minds of he customers that can stimulate their perception to think or remember the product for example a yellow check mark is a Nike products, the symbol of golden arc is easy to remember the sign of McDonald fast food, and you can easily recognize a Mac book because of its apple sign. These are some of the brand association that is perceived by customers because they often seen or heard such products and it stimulates in their mind. Brand association can also be a color when you were passing by on the street and you see a color blue, red and white stripe fences you may think about going to the grocery before going home to buy some Pepsi. Brand Association does not necessarily create sales but it helps customers to recognize the difference of which product they would prefer if they have to choose or it subconsciously stick to their mind that this is about the product if they were in the grocery even if they would never prefer the product they would choose it instead of a generic brand.
The organizations does not necessarily intend to associate a certain product if for example they use a popular celebrities like Kenny Rogers who use to own part of Kenny Rogers Roosters creates and remember his famous songs when people visit their stores. All the songs of Kenny Rogers also helped people to remember their stores or vice versa although they do not necessarily prefer their food and the songs of Kenny Rogers. Brand association are formed and discovered by people because of advertisement when they often seen the products on TV, radio, print ads, internet and other media. It can also be passed on through word of mouth association or brand preferences, when organizations think about developing the product they also thought about how the customers are likely to relate to this products knowing that customers are likely to put their shoes on the products.
Budweiser “the king of the beers” make believed that customers especially men are king and they are proud to be king, while Marlboro says “come to where the flavor is” and every time a man smoke about cigarette they would think about the flavor but not necessarily they prefer the brand. As you can see brand association in a retail sector can be intentional or unintentional but organizations take advantage of the opportunities if it creates a positive effect on their brand. Brand association can also be perceived by people through price and quality if they have found a product that is economical in price and quality they are likely to think and prefer about the product, this in itself makes the company very sufficient and stable in their marketing position and usually price, economy and quality is related to fast moving consumer goods including products in the groceries and supermarkets. When budget is involved in their buying decision it is easy to point products that are light on the budget. The letter U brand symbol of Unilever and P& G logo of Procter and Gamble is easy to associate in their product even if it comes from other countries with Japanese or Chinese tags as long as customers can see their logo they can easily distinguish that it comes from those companies.
Brand Association is not always positive sometimes there are products that do not entice customers. The Halal symbol of the Muslim world signifies a strong influence to religious denomination and Islam participation all over the world and most likely products including sardines, tuna, cheese, bottled water, snacks, preserved foods and vegetable and many other products including appliances can have this Halal symbol which instantly signify attachment and brand association to the world that this product is produced by Muslim or Islam organizations and there is nothing wrong with it but there are times that products with this kind of symbol may be prevented by other countries or nationalities if they do not conform to such faith they may also associate the product in their religious denomination and most likely they would prefer to buy another product without this symbol.
Some competition may even take advantage of such issues although Halal symbol is accepted worldwide but this can delimit their distribution through Anti- Islamic countries especially in some Western, some Asian and European world that do not prefer their products because of religious brand association making Halal brand as Islamophobia branding association. On the other hand Islam or Muslim countries will put a curse to any products with pork and meat and they will ban any products if they thought that is has a hidden ingredients of meat knowing that it is a disrespect in their religion. The declaration or threats in court to settle legal issues, rallies and strikes can even arise simply because of such brand association so organizations must be very careful about the safety in establishing their brands. They should also implement immediate necessary risk measures to uplift their brand if this thing happened.
References:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Advertising_slogans
http://tribune.com.pk/story/294942/halal-meat-international-conference-on-dec-14-15/
http://socialistworker.org/2012/01/19/united-states-of-islamophobia
http://managementstudyguide.com/brand-association.htm
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