Brand equity might be something intangible and hence not really the specialty of CRM experts, but this is something so strong you can't deny. I was at the Disneyland park the other night and as I was leaving the movie theater, I have noticed that even though the park was closed, the magical music of Disney was still playing, all lights out. This might seem totally unecessary for most of you, but this is those kinds of little details that build strong brands, and that set those company apart.
The Example of Coca Cola
Some companies have based their value on their brand. I believe Coca Cola is the best example. Coca Cola has existed since more than a century and based its success on the very same product. In the whole history of Coca Cola, most of their product sales is the classic Coke. No major innovation has brought in, neither in terms of products (the failure of the New Coke is actually one of the most outstanding marketing case study), nor in terms of packaging/distribution, nor in terms of sales promotion.
But Coca Cola has been able to invent a myth, and foremost to keep this myth alive and well being, that it sets it apart.
Of course Coke is a great product and it helps, but the branding effort has been tremendous. Same thing for Disney, that has been able to pursue its greatness thanks to marketing superiority.
A brand must live
What is important is that the company embraces the brand value, and that this brand lives in their every day actions.
There are a lot of tools and ratios that helps chief of marketing to measure their brand return on investment, and I like to discuss about branding score, which is a wide concept to be thought.
But once more branding is also another important part of your customer relationship management strategy, because the brand is the face of the company, and it is the personnality the customer is in contact with when it uses the product or simply when it is in contact with an ad.
