Brand Analysis
What is a brand? Most people would point to a logo or the look and feel of a product. While that is
part of a brand, it is far from the only, and definitely not the most important aspect, of a brand. Instead
it is your clients' gut feeling about your products and/or services that defines the brand.
That is, your brand is not what you say it is, it is what your customers say it is, and as a
result in most cases today, what Google says it is!
Besides graphical branding services,
Ztrive performs brand analysis using a compound of three widely accepted brand concepts:
Interactive Branding or Branding of Services [Kotler]; Brand Essence or Identity [Kapferer];
and Brand Equity or Image [Aaker]. See illustration below how they relate.
- Interactive Branding puts emphasis on the fact that the service brand is concurrently and
interactively built in the communication between provider and client; as opposed to branding of products
which is largely one-way and mass mediated.
- Brand Essence maintains that the strength of the brand comes from within the providing
organization, rather than being a result of reactive changes to the external environment.
- Brand Equity is the term used for the financial and market value of the brand; the former
meaning giving the same basic function to the brand as equity on the stock market and the latter meaning
being a measure of the client awareness, appreciation and loyalty to the brand.
The goal of a brand analysis is to:
1) find out your current market position and what your brand stands for (Brand Equity/Image), as
defined by clients and other external sources;
2) investigate your current and future internal brand (Brand Essence/Identity), as defined by
management and employees; and
3) advice on credible ways to bridge the likely gap between image (market perception) and identity
(where you want to go, what you want to be known for).