When we hear of advertisements we often come across the word’ brand' or 'brands'. In fact, advertisement is all about creating an image or a brand. What are brands?

A brand may be defined as a name, term, sign, symbol, or design or a combination of theses that differentiate the product of one company from that of its competitors or other identical products.

Let us take a look at some advertisements to understand how brands and brand values are built up.

In the advertisements shown above, we find that the products are given a specific name like MTNL 3G jadoo or Colgate total fresh. They are given a specific name because in the markets there are several similar products. The 3G connection, for example, is being offered by various companies like airtel, reliance and Tata. Now to differentiate between the products from these companies, each company gives a specific name to the product.

Similarly, there are many toothpaste companies in the market. To differentiate toothpaste from all the others requires a unique feature. For example, colgate palmolive gives the name of colgate total fresh to its toothpaste, so as to distinguish it from toothpaste made by Unilever Pepsodent.

Giving special names to a product by the company is termed branding. Products are given a byline such as ‘‘I m lovin’ it and hot and spicy’ to lure customers. Giving a name to the products is not sufficient, to sell the product in the market, its unique or special features must be highlighted. A customer would buy a product only when he is convinced that the product is better than all the others available in the market.

To induce the customer into buying a product, advertisement plays a major role. For example, there are many brands of 3G networks in the market. All the companies would want that their brand should sell more than the other brands. Therefore, the companies advertise through different media to highlight the uniqueness of their products. The consumer would get confused about which brand to buy because of the variety offered.

To help the consumers in making their buying decisions the advertisers starts claiming special values for their products. For example in this ad, it is claimed by the company that delivery of the pizza would be done within 30 minutes or it would be delivered free of cost

This also helps distinguish two products of similar type. These advertisements try to appeal to the different concerns of the consumer and hence build their own brand values. Both the advertisements appeal to different concerns of the consumer. While the tata photon highlights the speed of access, airtel 3G adds the assurance of the reliability of the network. Thus, each brand adheres to a specific value that is important for the consumer. This is known as brand value.

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