Role of Brand Names

Brand recognition is an important factor for many businesses - both large and small. The term 'brand' refers to the means by which a business creates an identity for itself and highlights the way in which it differs from its rivals. Branding creates an association in the mind of the consumer and this can make a difference when the consumer is contemplating making a purchase. A business looks to create an identity or association in the minds of its target consumers in relation to that of its competitors. It is important, especially in a highly competitive market, that a brand has market presence - the degree to which a consumer considers a particular product in a purchasing decision.

The brand consultancy and market research firm, Millward Brown, publishes a ranking of the top 100 brands in the world called BrandZ (http://www.brandz.com/output/). The company calculates the value of brands by taking a variety of aspects of the business and molding them together. The study utilizes financial data and primary research with consumers to help produce a measure of the value of the brand. The BrandZ study includes more than 50,000 brands and takes data from over 1 million consumers worldwide.

Here's a link to the 2010 BrandZ Top 100 list: Top 100 firms 

Choose any one of the Top 100 brands of 2010 and answer the following:

1. What type of market structure would you say exists for the brand you have chosen? How does this market structure explain the focus on building brand recognition for this type of business?

2. Discuss whether brand recognition or price plays the most important part in the decision to purchase by a consumer in your chosen brand.

3. Which of the entities is more important to you as a consumer? Explain your answer.