Sources of Brand Equity for Yogurt Products in Greece

Yogurt is a key product in the Greek market which shelters several brands like Fage Total, Olympos, Kri Kri, and Dodoni. Firstly, the paper explains brand equity and factors associated with it and how it facilitates the strengthening of four different yogurt brands in Greece. This research expounds on the sources of branding equity for the dairy products in Greece. The paper categorizes branding equity in two, qualitative techniques and quantitative techniques. The research further expounds on qualitative techniques that include awareness, recognition, recall and image while quantitative techniques involve free association, projective techniques, brand personality and experiential methods. The study further extrapolates on the positioning and perceptual map regarding the four brands. The mapping gives the product differentiation and consumers perception of the product. The paper delves deeper and explains the advertising campaign analysis for each brand, besides, provides the concepts associated with each brand regarding brand equity.

Introduction

            Brand equity is an issue of centrality for every company since it decides the value of a particular product in the market against its competitors or generic equivalent. Brand equity refers to the value and strength of a brand which enables it to determine its worth in the market. Companies distributing dairy products in Greece, primarily yogurt, have invested heavily in their brands to create value and worth of their products in the market. Companies understand that a brand that is valued by the customer provide impetus hence facilitating market expansion and an increase in profit margins. Brand equity is associated with several factors like measurability and the sources that facilitate its existence. Fage Total, Olympos, Kri Kri, and Dodoni are yogurt brands that understand the sources of brand equity, and over time they have used the sources to strengthen their brand in the market. The sources are categorized into both quantitative and qualitative techniques. The qualitative techniques involve free association, projective techniques, brand personality and value and experiential methods.  The quantitative techniques include awareness, recognition, recall, and image; these components have facilitated the four yogurt brands in Greece to win customers in the market. A brand with value facilitates a company’s ability to generate more revenue, expand its customer base as more customers are likely to associate themselves with the brand.

Sources of brand equity for yogurt products in Greece

            The yogurt brands used the brand equity sources to ensure they remain abreast in the market. Over the years they have employed both the quantitative and qualitative techniques to ensure that their brands are the driving force in the market.  Brand equity provides approaches that the labels have incorporated to penetrate new markets that are focusing on the consumers (Aake, Biel and Biel 2013, p.3). Over the years these brands Fage Total, Olympos, Kri Kri, and Dodoni have employed the qualitative technique whereby they involved the aspect of free association. In their quest for the market share, they had to get feedback from consumers regarding what comes to their mind when they hear of a particular brand (Trott 2016, p.5). Employing this methodology has earned Fage Total a considerable chunk of the customer base in Greece since consumer associate the brand with quality in the market (Burger 2012, p.2). The free association gives consumers a different angle from which they view specific products in the market, for example, associating Fage Total with quality has made the brand more valued in the market. In the market, there is a high probability one brand becomes more recognized than the others depending on the consumer’s perception.

 The brands have employed projective techniques to penetrate the market deeper and strengthen their brands. The projective technique offers a platform to have feedback regarding the true feelings and beliefs of the customer concerning the product (Vaselinova and Samonikov 2018, p.57). These feedbacks enable the four brands to figure out which areas of their products require adjustments.  Getting accurate information regarding consumer’s belief in the product gives the brand ability to adjust accordingly. Feedback from the consumers enabled Olympos yogurt brand make changes in the market, for example, adding better ingredients, and a variety of yogurt products in the market. This move enabled Olympos yogurt to make strides in the Greek market by expanding its customer base hence increasing its profit margins. Brand personality and values also bring about the expansion and strengthening of a particular brand in the market (Whan Park 2010, p. 7). Getting feedback from consumers by analyzing their thoughts regarding who they can compare the brand to enabled the yogurt product to improve their qualities and looks over the years. Observing consumers behavior in the market provides ideas and thoughts for the yogurt brand to emulate. The brands have used this technique to understand how they can penetrate the market more and establish their products as strong brands within the Greek market. By emulating some of the top brands in the market, a company can learn some of the strategies associated with elevating a products worthiness and value in the market, for example, Dodoni yogurt. The brand adapted this approach by emulating some of the approaches undertaken by strong brands in the market like proper advertising and packaging.

            The brands have also employed the quantitative techniques which are the backbone of brand equity. Awareness is a critical component in reaching out to the consumers. There is a high probability that consumers will go and purchase an outstanding product on the shelf (Christodoulides and De Chernatony 2010, p.52). To accomplish this, the brands have invested more in ensuring their logos standout in the market, slogan, packaging, and brands name are easily recognized in the market. Ensuring that the brands are noticeable in the market are recognizable in the market have strengthened the products over time, for example, Kri Kri has penetrated the market as a result of its attractive logo and packaging. Creating an impression on the consumer’s mind elevates a positive perception regarding the product before taste is included. Therefore, a long-lasting impression through images have strengthened these yogurt brands and ensured they have access to the Greek market. In addition to this, recognition plays a vital role in strengthening a brand in the market. The ability of customers to recognize a brand while under pressure mirrors the strength of the brand (Nam, Ekinci and Whyatt 2011, p.1017). This is achieved by the brand ensuring its packaging and logo is outstanding in the market and ensuring it offers quality yogurt that customers always look for it while shopping. The Fage Total yogurt has used this technique to strengthen its brand in the market; therefore, consumers can locate it on the shelf while in a hurry.

 Recognition creates a platform for consumers to recognize a single brand in the market under any circumstance while shopping in the market. Recalling is another important factor when it comes to ensuring a brand is valued in the market. Recalling is achieved by proper advertisement advancement in technology provided a platform for Fage Total, Olympos, Kri Kri and Dodoni yogurt brands to advertise themselves. Therefore, advertising facilitates consumers’ ability to recall the brand while shopping provides impetus to a product regarding the number of sales. The four brands have invested heavily in advertisement since this creates awareness, recalling and recognition of the brand. Brand image is an important step in ensuring brand equity of a product. As aforementioned, the four yogurt brands have embraced this approach by creating a long-lasting impression on consumer’s mind, thereby strengthening a brand. The image is a commanding factor since it provides direction to a customers’ perception regarding the brand (Tong and Hawley 2009, p.263). A better image reflects the company’s brand. Therefore, it is vital to ensure the image is sophisticated and outstanding in the market.

Positioning map

            Positioning marketing is an approach to differentiating a product in the market from what the competitors offer in the market. Fage Total, Olympos, Kri Kri, and Dodoni are great competitors in the Greek market; therefore, indicating marketing position shows the differentiation of brands in the market.

                                                            High price

                                    Fage Total

High-performance      Olympos                                                         Low performance

                                    Kri Kri

                                    Dodoni           

                                                            Low price

Perceptual mapping

            Perceptual mapping gives an overview of the consumer’s thoughts and perception regarding a particular product in the market.

                                                            High quality

                                    Fage Total                               Olympos

Attractive                                                                                                        Unattractive

                                    Kri Kri

                                    Dodoni

                                                          Low quality

Advertising campaign analysis

               Advertising is a core factor in elevating a company brand; most companies embrace advertisement to strengthen their brands in the market (Parente and Hutchinson 2015, p.287). Fage Total, Olympos, Kri Kri, and Dodoni have used this approach to create awareness, recognition, recall, and image in the market. All the companies embrace the advancement in technology by creating social media pages to advertise their products, for example, Fage Total use the YouTube channel to advertise its products (Shimp 2010, p.237). In addition to this, the company uses flyers and slogans like ‘Gate away Greek yogurt’ has plastered the name of Fete Total yogurt in the market. Olympos concentrates on magazines, outdoor and transit to fulfill its advertisement campaigns. Kri Kri employs the use of mobile ads and celebrity branding to promote its brand. Dodoni, on the other hand, concentrates on corporate sponsorship whereby the brand has sponsored several events in Greek. This approach has strengthened the brand as more consumers can relate to the product during shopping.

Recommendations

            The companies need to up their game regarding advertisement to attract more customers in the market and create a positive perception among the customers, focusing only on quality will not assist the company in improving the value of their brand. Therefore the companies need to focus on their image regarding packaging and branding to attract more customers in the market and boost brand equity for their products. They should create more social media platforms to remain in touch with their customers hence getting genuine feedback from them. This will provide a platform to make adjustments to their products that would result in boosting a yogurts brand. Quality is an important factor in promoting a brand, but the first impression creates a strong a positive perception that is long lasting to a customer. Therefore, a product like Olympos should focus on attractive measures to strengthen its brand in the market.

Conclusion

             The brand is a vital component in ensuring a company can penetrate the market, build a customer base, and increase its profit margins. To fulfill these, businesses need to concentrate on creating value for their brands by focusing on the sources of brand equity. Brand equity covers several aspects that include both the qualitative and quantitative techniques that facilitate the strengthening of a brand. Fate Total, Olympos, Kri Kri and Dodoni embraced free association, projective techniques, brand personality and Relationship, observational approaches, image, recall, awareness and recognition in their endeavor to strengthen their brands.

References

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Parente, D. & Hutchinson, K. (2015). Advertising Campaign Strategy : a Guide to Marketing       Communication Plans. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.     

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Whan Park, C., MacInnis, D. J., Priester, J., Eisingerich, A. B., & Iacobucci, D. (2010). Brand attachment and brand attitude strength: Conceptual and empirical differentiation of two critical brand equity drivers. Journal of marketing, 74(6), 1-17.