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Applied Brand Management
This report encompasses the findings from a brand management and brand equity exercise in Melbourne Australia. In the context of the report, the authors create a proposed business and create an analysis that compares the brand equity of the proposed business venture and that of existing competition.
New startup business
As part of the requirements of this report, there is a need to create a business venture. The proposed business will be the basis of the analysis to be conducted on the brand management and brand equity. In satisfying this requirement, we agreed to develop a fast food outlet as our business. However, in contrast to the traditional offerings of fast food outlets, the proposed business will focus on serving healthy alternatives to the typical junk foods offered by other fast food settings. The main selling point of the new business is the offering of organic vegetable salads, as well as fruit salads.
In order to make the proposed business fully fledged and able to fulfill the considerations of being a complete business, it required a name. After deliberations, we settled on Auganic Fast Food Salad. There were two major reasons for settling with this particular name. Firstly, the name portrays what the business is all about, and thus avoids all confusion that may ensue. Secondly, the alteration of the word organic to Auganic was deliberate as a marketing tactic. Since most people will interact with the brand for only a short period, we found it important to have a memorable name. The twist in the name makes the brand easy to remember.
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Among the leading causes of death in Australia includes heart failure and heart diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, and various types of cancer (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2017; Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2017). Most of the conditions in the top causes of death in the country are linked to increased levels of cholesterol in the body. As such, in order to control the escalating number of deaths, there is a need to control the health of the Australian populace (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2017).
Given the busy nature of the residents and population of Melbourne, a fast preparation of food, as well as foods that can be conveniently consumed easily is a major requirement for the hectic schedules of the majority of the city dwellers. This type of lifestyle has led to the increase in the number of fast food set ups in the city, as well as an increase in their demand.
Auganic Fast Food Salad has a role to play in the reduction of bad eating habits of the residents of Melbourne as well as the improvement of the health of the residents. In this regard, the business aims to change the manner in which the population of Melbourne takes care of their health. This is to be achieved with minimum interruption of their daily schedules and work balance.
Here, the business finds a justification for its entry through the provision of healthy food options. Auganic Fast Food is to achieve this through the offering of healthier alternatives to the common junk foods offered in the majority of the fast food settings. Therefore, the setting up of Auganic Fast Food Salad will meet an important market need of providing healthy food options to the population of Melbourne.
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The target market for the proposed business, Auganic Fast Food Salad, will be the residents and population of Melbourne, Australia. Within this population, there are various classes of people who require such services but have been left without the alternatives. Such categories of potential customers include the health conscious individuals who have a busy schedule during the day and cannot find enough time for a freshly prepared and healthy meal.
A second category is the health conscious individuals who may require a boost during the day or night as they plan to make a healthy meal at home. A third category is the individuals that are willing to eat in a healthier manner but have no idea of where to start. All these persons are currently exposed to having to consume alternative foods since there are limited options that serve healthy foods using a fast approach. This presents a ready market for the proposed business and its products.
CBBE Analysis of the competition
This section focuses on the analysis of the proposed business in a bid to determine the brand equity of the business in lieu of its competitors. Brand equity refers to the monetary value attached to a brand as sourced from the recognition it enjoys over its competition (Lasser, Mittal, & Sharma, 1995). In this regard, the analysis makes use of the customer based brand equity (CBBE) model approach to determine the source of the current brand equity for the two major competitors for the proposed business. The segments below outline the CBBE analysis for each of the business’ competitors.
CBBE Analysis for Crisp Creative Salad
Making use of the CBBE pyramid, the foundation for the company’s brand equity is their brand identity. In this regard, Crisp Creative Salad has carved out a niche by identifying themselves as a luxury brand for the healthy individuals. This is achieved through market research and the making of radical choices regarding the products and marketing prior to beginning operations.
The second tier of the pyramid is brand meaning, which directly relates to what the business is. In this tier, the company attempts to make the customer know them more than just being aware of their presence. In the case of Crisp Creative Salad, the company the company gets their clientele to know them through crisp advertising and layout of their products and menu in a clean and exquisite manner. In addition, the company ensures their products meet the customer expectations at every level.
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The third tier relates to the response the company’s products receive from the consumers. In this regard, there are two definitive categories: judgments and feelings. These refer to the responses from the customers regarding the superiority, quality, and credibility of the products after consuming them. For Crisp Creative Salads, the customers have largely been positive, and many of their customers consider them superior and feel that their salads are of great quality.
The fourth tier relates to brand resonance, where there is a developed relationship between the customer and the product or company. At this level, the customer feels a personal connection to the brand and considers the company their only option. In this regard, Crisp may have a few customers who only order from their branches, and possess a sense of behavioral loyalty to the brand.
CBBE Analysis for Sumo Salad
Sumo Salad, Auganic’s other competitor also has varying characteristics across that reflect the company’s qualities along the CBBE pyramid. Starting at the bottom of the pyramid, the company has a strong brand salience owing to creative marketing approaches that make it well known. This creates a strong operational foundation for the firm, especially given the tough financial situation in the country over the past few years. Such a unique and strong foundation has enabled Sumo Salad to maintain a good image such that the company was still receiving franchisee offers in spite of the tough economy in 2007 and 2008 (Stafford, 2009).
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On the second tier, which represents who the company is, Sumo Salad seems to struggle with communicating what they stand for to the customers. In terms of imagery, there is a clutter of information in the targeted marketing approaches used in several of their advertising campaigns. While such an action may not directly communicate the company’s required image, Sumo Salad has suffered from such actions by creating the wrong psychological and social impressions in the minds of the customers.
In terms of performance, however, there are better reviews and the customers seem to be satisfied with the pricing and effectiveness of their products. Sumo Salad shines in terms of their performance, mainly through pricing, service efficiency, and the primary characteristics and features of both the company and their products. This, according to Baylis Sumo, among the founders of Sumo Salad, has enabled them to stay afloat for a long time (Stafford, 2009). Therefore, Sumo Salad has a mixed score in the second tier of brand meaning.
On the third tier of the CBBE model, which represents the brand response from the customers, Sumo Salad has mixed responses regarding the quality, credibility, and superiority of their products. In this regard, the feelings and judgments are mixed for Sumo Salad. Customer judgment refers to conceptual feedback held by a customer before they experience the brand’s products, mainly through reviews of other consumers of the product (Lasser, Mittal, & Sharma, 1995).
On the judgment front, Sumo Salad has had both positive and negative reviews. Feelings, on the other hand, is a direct response from a customer who has experienced the product offerings and made a decision regarding the ability of the brand and product to meet their expectations (Lasser, Mittal, & Sharma, 1995). In the same fashion, Sumo Salad has had a mixed response of feelings from their customers over various products in their portfolio.
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The fourth tier represents brand resonance, which refers to the relationship fostered between the customer and the company. Sumo Salad enjoys very little brand resonance where customers only purchase from the company and have a direct and personal engagement with the brand or the company in a direct and connected way. This may be attributed to poor relationship management, products that don’t meet the customers’ expectations, or the lack of an internal motivation to reach such levels of customer service.
To reach this level of the pyramid, Sumo Salad requires to have a deep and intense psychological connection with the customers. Such a connection stems from a mix of values and characteristics portrayed by both the company and its products. Sumo Salad, however, has not managed to bring such factors together to create the level of engagement required between the company’s products and their customers to achieve the level of brand resonance aspired for by many firms.
Conclusion
There are good prospects for Auganic Fast Food Salad in the current market in Melbourne. From the CBBE analysis, there are various weaknesses in the competitors’ approaches that the company can take advantage of in a bid to acquire an edge. These include the time to prepare meals, absence of personalized services, and lack of a quality, connected touch to the clientele. As such, from the onset of planning for the business, Auganic should begin to plan for the conquering of the entire pyramid through the provision of quality and personalized services to lure in clientele and acquire a large market share.
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References
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2017, September 27). Australia’s leading causes of death, 2016. Retrieved from Australian Bureau of Statistics: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/3303.0~2016~Main%20Features~Australia’s%20leading%20causes%20of%20death,%202016~3
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2017, February 7). Retrieved from Leading causes of death – Leading underlying causes of death by sex: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/life-expectancy-death/deaths-in-australia/contents/leading-causes-of-death
Lasser, W., Mittal, B., & Sharma, A. (1995). Measuring customer‐based brand equity. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 12(4), 11-19. doi:10.1108/07363769510095270
Stafford, P. (2009, March 12). Sumo Salad finds a healthy model. Retrieved from Smart Company Australia: https://www.smartcompany.com.au/entrepreneurs/influencers-profiles/sumo-salads-healthy-model/
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