Tag Archives: Sony

The Necessity of a Brand Audit

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Conducting a brand audit on your brand is not only smart, but necessary. Having recently conducted a brand audit for my MBA global branding class on Sony’s brand (focus on electronic products), I was able to realize the importance of these audits to a brand’s success and future. You may think your brand is doing well and that consumers are happy with the product because sales seem lucrative, but is that truly the case? Do consumers really see your brand the way you see it? Are they loyal? Do they regard your brand as a quality service/product? Do they understand your brand message and logo and equate them to your brand accordingly? Are you sure?

These questions were just a few we investigated for Sony and we realized there was inconsistency regarding the brand message “make.believe” and what consumers perceived of Sony. In addition, from a survey we conducted, most did not even equate their new product “Google TV” with Sony. Yikes!

Although a brand audit can be extensive here are a few of my main recommendations:

1. Have a consistent brand message (Ex. Sony has the Sony Style and Sony logos)

2. Make sure your target market is aware of the connection between your logo/slogan and your brand (Ex. Survey: consumers did not understand connection between make.believe and Sony products)

3. Investigate if your target market thinks what you think of your brand (Ex. Survey: Consumers felt Sony was over-priced for what they offered)

4. Check to see if your target market believes your service/product is “quality” and why they do or do not purchase your product/service (Ex. Survey: consumers did feel the products were quality and have felt so since the “walkman“)

5. Compare and see what your competition may be doing better (Ex. Sony Survey: Apple is big competition and great at innovating)

6. Determine if your target market loyal or not loyal to your brand (Ex. Survey: It’s a toss up)

7. Find out if consumers feel an emotional connection to your brand (Ex. Survey: no specific emotional connection)

7. Revise accordingly.

Thus if you want your brand to do well, you should stay on top of what is perceived about your brand, how consumers “feel” towards it, and consistently innovate your product/service/campaign.

Isn’t branding fun? :)

Communication of Message

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“How to communicate a brand message” for a product takes effort to be creative. 3 creative methods that I researched for the Sony brand (for a global branding study) include:

1. Creative Product Placement: Honda did a fabulous job at placing its CR-Z in a Facebook game in order to create brand awareness. It was also a very unique way for its audience to engage with the brand. In addition, HP placed its computers in Project Runway, which was a great way to show how easy the computers were to use and how cool they were for designers and others who love to geek out.

2. Consistent Spokesperson: Sony has had an issue with being consistent with its brand message. Using a consistent spokesperson could be helpful as Apple had done with Justin Long in its successful “Apple vs. PC” ads. Can you blame Apple for being named “Marketer of the Decade?” Although Sony used Justin Timberlake for its 3D TV ads, it was short-lived. It may behoove the brand to find a new “cool” spokesperson such as from a popular TV show like Glee. Just a thought.

3. User Generated Content: Nowadays UGC has become the norm and many brands are taking advantage. Sear, Chevy Tahoe and FreeCreditReports.com are just a few of the brands who have utilized UGC. For example FreeCreditReports.com had a summer long contest where bands would compete to become the new band for the ads. The winner would debut at the 2010 mtv awards. How cool is that? Sony could do something similar like having contestants produce songs and the winner could appear in a Sony Studios movie.Therefore, keeping the promotion of “innovation” consistent and utilizing the brand message “make.believe” where what you can imagine can come true.

In short – communicating a brand message requires effort, creativity, and consistency.