Driving brand performance

Bambang Bhakti, Marketing trainer, Jakarta

Today's challenge among marketing professionals is to promote superior shareholder value though becoming a leading profitable growth company in any product/service category.

This is only possible if the respective brand gains customer or consumer satisfaction that results in brand loyalty; purchase loyalty and attitudinal loyalty are linking variables in the chain of effects from brand trust and brand effect to brand performance.

Purchase-loyal consumers may be willing to pay more for a brand because they perceive some unique value in the brand that no alternative can provide.

Price premium as a source of brand profit, therefore, is obtained. This uniqueness, on the other hand, may derive from greater trust in the reliability of a brand or from a more favorable effect when customers or consumers use the brand.

When loyal consumers repeatedly purchase the brand, the market share position is strengthened. Furthermore, because of affective factors, loyal consumers may use more of the brand, that is, may like using the brand or identity with its image. As a result of greater customer or consumer loyalty, superior brand performance outcomes such as greater market share and a premium price are obvious.

The key terms here are purchase loyalty and attitudinal loyalty that drive brand performance. Strategically, purchase loyalty is driven by the unique value of the brand, while attitudinal loyalty is driven by greater trust in brand reliability and/or various affective factors.

These rational and emotional factors become the fundamental frameworks in marketing program development, both in thematic and schematic activities.

Entertainment, in the eyes of a marketing professional, has a key role as an image-building vehicle to foster brand trust and brand effect to serve as key determinants of brand loyalty or brand commitment.

By definition, entertainment is a creative event to create attention and create a positive feeling among a specific audience. It has, however, a certain aura of image either being entertainment for the general public or a specific segment of the audience, or being entertainment for a high-quality or economy entertainment performance.

From this entertainment matrix positioning, 'Joged at RCTI, for example, is positioned in the quadrant of public general audience with economy performance as opposed to Ananda Sukarlan, Piano Resital, which is positioned in the quadrant of a specific audience with a high-quality performance.

The Krisdayanti Show, on the other hand, is perceived to be in the quadrant of public general audience with a high-quality performance whilst Ketoprak Humor is positioned as for specific audience with economy quality performance.

Depending on the brand communication objectives, an entertainment program is selected. One brand may consistently associate it with its brand positioning such as Gebyar BCA, Telkomania, A Mild Music Programs being in the quadrant similar to Krisdayanti Show, with high-quality performance.

The President of Djarum with Aning Katamsi, Pall Mall Wet Party and Yamaha with Piano Resital are in the quadrant specific segment audience with high-quality performance.

Contrary to this principle, Bank Mandiri seems to have been linking its brand positioning to various entertainment programs, which may dilute its brand image.

At one time, 'Bank Mandiri' can be seen through RCTI's Who Wants to be Millionaire, while it is also seen at another event, Tembang Kenangan and also associated with Indonesia Football League.

Who Wants to be Millionaire seems appropriate for promoting a positive image around the brand of Bank Mandiri. Tembang Kenangan is very good entertainment. However, it is segmented for a mature and "recreational" audience, while Indonesia Football League is very popular, but perceived as low-quality performance, ruined by the bonek (penniless football hooligans) image.

If we contrast the different approaches of BCA and Bank Mandiri, from the perspective of purchase loyalty and attitudinal loyalty, their brand trust are still being challenged. BCA is still in the image transition from Salim Group to IBRA and soon to "new" investors. Whilst this issue is only known by elite groups of government, investors and politicians, BCA continues to improve its brand image by focusing on improving customer services through innovative technologies, and is seen as friendly to most audiences.

In the case of Bank Mandiri, being a relatively new brand, its key issues are brand awareness, brand trials, and brand preference. A solid brand trust will have to be developed into a new image in order to build purchase loyalty and attitudinal loyalty.

Therefore, in addition to service or technology improvement programs, a single focus image development with high repetitive penetration into the customer's mind is needed.

Who Wants to be Millionaire is a good move, but "moving the brand around" with embang Kenangan and Liga Sepak Bola will only help them increase brand awareness, without directing the brand image to the desired position.

Brands that make customers or consumers happy or joyful or affectionate should prompt greater purchase and attitudinal loyalty. People may not purchase the brands they "love" for their high price and so forth.

In this respect, linking the brand with appropriate entertainment programs should, therefore, promote purchase loyalty and attitudinal loyalty as long as it is done consistently with its brand objectives.

The McKids entertainment program on RCTI, screened late in the afternoon every Saturday appeals to the purchase and attitudinal loyalty of kids towards McDonalds products.

The key word here is appropriateness. An entertainment program may be good but not necessarily appropriate to link to a certain brand.

But not many brands capitalize on the power of the entertainment industry. This is understandable because not every entertainment program is designed to link the brand and its targeted customers or consumers. Many entertainment programs designed as "canned" or "off-the-peg", as if good for any brands, however, do not consider the needs of a specific brand mission.

Designing an entertainment program for a specific brand mission on the other hand, requires unique talent and motivation amongst brand owners, especially top management.

If the top executive of the company does not have an appreciation of entertainment and sees it as one of the strong, powerful media to communicate the brand, then a "traditional" approach toward brand communication is an obvious choice.

As this article was being written, the board of executives and management team of BCA were attending a spectacular Gebyar BCA aired by Indosiar directly from Hilton Hotel, Nusa Dua, Bali.

It was a program designed for the audience by the BCA management team with their partners in the media and entertainment business.