Ella Ward

A strong brand identity must comprise unique identity elements such as logos, colours or characters that distinguish it from competitors and facilitate recognition and purchase. A critical marketing function is therefore deciding which elements to invest in, to protect and build this identity. Within this paper, a new measure, Competitive Intensity, is proposed as a means to critically evaluate brand identity elements on their uniqueness potential. Results of testing 1281 in-market elements… Show more

A strong brand identity must comprise unique identity elements such as logos, colours or characters that distinguish it from competitors and facilitate recognition and purchase. A critical marketing function is therefore deciding which elements to invest in, to protect and build this identity. Within this paper, a new measure, Competitive Intensity, is proposed as a means to critically evaluate brand identity elements on their uniqueness potential. Results of testing 1281 in-market elements from 13 consumer packaged goods categories in 19 countries show that character, logo and logotypes have the greatest potential for unique brand ownership. Colour, however, is more challenging to develop as a unique brand identifier due to high levels of competitive sharing. Competitive intensity varies for elements of the same type, suggesting that practitioner execution plays a critical role in successful ownership. Being the first empirical comparison of eight element types, this paper provides comprehensive guidance to practitioner decision-making. Show less

Composed of elements such as logo, color and pack shape, a strong visual brand identity ensures the brand speaks with one voice across all consumer touchpoints. In turn, this
builds brand equity, improves brand recognition and recall, and facilitates a smooth transition between advertising and the purchase environment. Yet common barriers, including category prototypicality and fragmentation across line-extensions, can hinder the development of a strong identity.

This paper proposes a… Show more

Composed of elements such as logo, color and pack shape, a strong visual brand identity ensures the brand speaks with one voice across all consumer touchpoints. In turn, this
builds brand equity, improves brand recognition and recall, and facilitates a smooth transition between advertising and the purchase environment. Yet common barriers, including category prototypicality and fragmentation across line-extensions, can hinder the development of a strong identity.

This paper proposes a method to measure the visual similarity of products within a branded portfolio. Similarity is chosen as a key determining factor in identity strength due to the well documented connection between reinforcement and association strength in memory.
The Homogeneity Index is adapted from Labrecque et. al (2013), to determine an overall index of branding homogeneity for a portfolio of products with the same brand name. The measure is explained and then applied to 38 products in the laundry liquid and gel category as a pilot study in the United Kingdom. Show less

"Core Metrics - Uniqueness" is a chapter within the book Building Distinctive Brand Assets, edited by Prof. Jenni Romaniuk.

Building Distinctive Brand Assets explores strategy, tactics and insights from a wide range of asset types including celebrities, taglines, jingles and advertising based assets. Combining academic rigour and practical advice, this is a book you will return to again and again, as you face the ongoing challenges of today’s branding environment.

Used as creative heuristics to symbolize the brand, identity elements are a critical component of brand identity that make a brand easy to recognize. To be an effective prompt it is crucial these elements uniquely evoke the brand amongst competitors in consumer memory. To investigate the structure of competitive memory links for different identity element types, the composition of consumer response types was calculated for 258 elements in the chocolate category across five countries (n=2036… Show more

Used as creative heuristics to symbolize the brand, identity elements are a critical component of brand identity that make a brand easy to recognize. To be an effective prompt it is crucial these elements uniquely evoke the brand amongst competitors in consumer memory. To investigate the structure of competitive memory links for different identity element types, the composition of consumer response types was calculated for 258 elements in the chocolate category across five countries (n=2036 respondents). We find that when presented with an identity element, the vast majority of category buyers elicit either a single brand, or no brand; with colour elements receiving a significantly higher proportion of ‘no brand’ responses. Rather than a cohort of consumers who elicit multiple brands, the challenge for brand managers is to create identity elements that elicit a brand in memory, and to ensure that brand is their own. This has implications for how to build a unique brand identity. Show less

This paper investigates competitive intensity for brand identity element types using the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index.

This paper overviews what the move to self-service checkouts is doing for impulse buying of the categories traditionally merchandised there. We outline what is currently known and suggest the research that is needed in this space for retailers and manufacturers wishing to replace their lost sales. We propose good descriptive research combined with in-store experiments to test a broad range of alternatives including: introducing merchandise to self- checkouts; adding special displays; using… Show more

This paper overviews what the move to self-service checkouts is doing for impulse buying of the categories traditionally merchandised there. We outline what is currently known and suggest the research that is needed in this space for retailers and manufacturers wishing to replace their lost sales. We propose good descriptive research combined with in-store experiments to test a broad range of alternatives including: introducing merchandise to self- checkouts; adding special displays; using self-checkout screens for “selling” top impulse items; strategic placement of impulse items in typical shopper paths or next to top selling store items (eg. bananas). Show less