Kirsten Jade Adams 201004214 What makes a brand unique? OSW1B21 Table of Contents * Introduction……………. …………………………………………………2 * What makes a brand unique…………………………………….. …………………………….. …3 * The characteristics of a unique brand……………. …………………………………………………………. 3 * why should consumers use unique brands? * Conclusion…………………………………………………………………. 4 * Bibliography………………………………………………………………5 ————————————————- A unique brand involves TRUST and CONSISTENCY!! 1 INTRODUCTION What makes a brand unique?

A successful brand is one that develops and sustains over time a strong, positive image in the minds of consumers. Brand trustworthiness and consistency are what make a brand unique. Trust is a cornerstone of any successful brand. It reassures the customer that the product or service they are buying will live up to expectations. Its a basic deal: if the brand delivers, its rewarded; if it falls short, the customer will almost certainly take their business elsewhere. (Curtis 2004: 28). A brand should always be consistent in order to maintain their relationships with loyal customers.

Brand equity is also another concept to assist in the uniqueness of a brand. Coopers and simons said “A change in any of the financial, market, brand or legal factors can dramatically affect brand equity”. ( 1997: 42). A brand needs something different compared to other brands so that it can be unique. Two brands that will be mentioned in this essay are Blackberry and Apple as unique brands. “A genuine brand is about benefiting the customer, and the more differentiated a brand is, the easier it is to communicate efficiently with the customer”. Hill 2000:9). A genuine brand is seen by the consumer as unique. It is not only the brand that is unique, what makes a brand unique is the service the consumer gets. Did the product live up to the consumers expectations? A genuine brand provides value or positive brand equity to its customers. 2 WHAT MAKES A BRAND UNIQUE? Unique brands are consumer brands that the customer really wants and makes a special effort to find. Shopping for a unique brand doesn’t mean comparing- the buyer wants that unique product and is willing to search for it.

A unique brand offers things that no other brand has, that is why it is unique. For a brand to be unique there needs to be brand equity. “Brand equity is the totality of the brands perception, including the relative quality of products and services, financial performance, customer loyalty, satisfaction, and overall esteem toward the brand”. (Hill,2000:5). Blackberry is a fairly new brand but what sets this brand apart from others is its uniqueness because of its instant messaging (bbm), and in South Africa it offers free internet browsing whereas no other handset offers this service.

The design of the Blackberry handset when it first came out was unique to this brand, it is now being imitated by multiple leading handset brands. The other unique brand mentioned in this essay is the Apple because of the production of the iPod, iPad,iPhone and apple Mac which uses its own operating system known as firefox which makes it a unique brand. The characteristics of a unique brand Brand trustworthiness and consistency are what make a brand unique, and keep the consumers happy. A brand needs to have the trust factor; this ensures that consumer gets what is promised.

If the brand is a trusted brand then the consumer will be loyal because they always get what they are promised. Consistency ensures that the brand is always the same, it is never different to before. For example if a consumer purchases a next generation iPhone and this product looks completely different and no longer operates in the same unique manner as previous generation iPhones ( starts resembeling other handsets such as a nokia or a blackberry) there will no longer be any consistency in the brand and it will not be a unique brand.

A consumer TRUSTS a brand that is always CONSISTENT. These two factors are the most important factors in order to create a unique brand. Why should consumers use unique brands? Unique brands are different to normal brands as they are usually the top of the range and offer more to the brand than normal brands. Unique brands such as blackberry offer a variety of services for a reasonable price. Using unique products makes the consumer perceive themselves as unique and special . Weaker Competitors often try immulate unique brands but forget the most important factor of trust.

The brand needs to be trusted in order for a consumer to trust it. 3 CONCLUSION It can therefore be concluded that a unique brand is not often found everywhere like the normal brands. These unique brands offer special qualities or services to them. Two important factors that are needed in order to create a unique product are trust and consistency. A blackberry is a unique product because of the instant messaging they offer. Apple is a global company that is a unique brand, they offer top of the range technology and innovations.

Unique brands last long on the market and have a strong brand image reputation. Consumers will make an effort to go out of their way to find such unique brands because of what is promised with the brand. 4 BIBLIOGRAPHY Coopers, A. and Simons, P. (1997) Brand equity Lifestage: An Entrepreneurial Revolution, London: TBWA Simons Palmer. Curtis, J (2004) ‘Brands we trust’, Marketing, 28 April: 28-30. Hill, M (2000) ‘ The brand mindset’, United States, D. E. Knapp. 5-9 Hill, M (2000) ‘ The brand mindset’, United States, D. E. Knapp. 1-5 5