This article attempts to examine the successful commodity branding initiatives, lists out critical success factors and finds consistency in the way the results of this issue are understood, through the understanding of ancient learning and philosophical thoughts. A combination of old philosophical musings and empirical findings explain how a customer could be made brand loyal for a commodity. A conceptual framework proposed by the author tries to bring both the spiritual and material thoughts together for commodity branding. Finally, the author gives a set of recommendations about the category of business that can use this knowledge effectively.
When
we talk of commodities, the very fact that all the
tangible features are undifferentiated makes the product
or services a commodity. So, in the case of commodity
branding, the focus is on providing intangible benefits
to the customers that would differentiate the product
or service. The scope of commodity branding stretches
from the product categories traditionally viewed as
commodities like food items, cement, steel, etc.,
to branded products which become commodities after
a period of time; for example, telecom services, computer
hardware, garments, etc.
The
two extremes of commodity branding might appear distinct,
but in reality the brand manager needs to ensure that
the consumer picks up his brand amongst other brands
with the same or similar attributes. So commoditization
of products or services is indistinguishable from
each other at a functional or attributive level. The
important question which now remains is that if both
the products are same at the attributive level (say,
the competitor's product is cheaper), then why should
a rational consumer choose a specific product or brand? |
