Functional brands, image brands, and experiential brands

BY Kidendei  Segereti

Building and managing your brand, its identity, its name, and its reputation is critical to your company’s ultimate success. How (and when and where) you connect with your customers is determined in large part by your branding and by how your audience relates to your brand. Markets are more competitive than ever, and the quality of products and services more consistent so, in many cases, you’re branding will become your strongest differentiator in the marketplace.

Today I want to discuss the three types of brands, what distinguishes each, and some thoughts on how this can help you to determine the optimal marketing mix of strategy and tactics.

1. Functional brands.

A functional brand is typically bought to satisfy a functional need on the part of the consumer. Automobiles, cell phones, and dish soap are examples of functional brands. Functional brands are tied in the consumer’s mind to specific product categories and typically share the user’s associations with other brands in the same category. For instance, all automobiles share in their basic functionality; they are designed to transport passengers from point A to point B and they all do the same thing in essentially the same manner. Because of this, functional brands must differentiate from their competitor’s brands by stressing either better performance or better economy.

Building and managing a functional brand is dependent on focusing the marketing mix on either the product itself (for superior performance) or on place and price (for superior economy). Advertising and messaging must support the connection between the brand and the category. but must also stress what it is that makes the brand superior, either in functionality and features, or in price and overall value.

2. Image brands.

Image brands create value by building specific perception in user’s minds. Certain fashion, food, and liquor products are image brands and they differentiate themselves because buyers perceive them as offering a unique association or image. For instance, while clothing is typically a functional product, many huh-end fashion brands are marketed based on the image used to differentiate it from the competition.

Managing an image brand is a function of creating an emotional connection with the customer. Image brands depend on their ability to tap into consumer’s desires to belong to a social group, or to be admired by others, or to define themselves according to a particular image. Because of this, advertising plays a huge role in building these brands, as well as other forms of communication such as sponsorships and publicity.

3. Experiential brands.

Experiential brands differ from image brands in one important respect: where image brands focus on what the product represents, experiential brands are all about how the product makers the user feels when interacting with the brand. An experiential brand is not always a tangible product, but in many cases is a place or a service which delivers a sensory experience or encounter with the brand. Starbucks is an experiential brand; while the product is coffee and other beverages and food items, the real product is the experience of the store itself. Comfortable seeing, stylish design, WiFi connectivity, work space, and music are all part of the experience the brand provides. Another example of a experiential design is Six Flags amusement parks. Here a consumer pays admission in exchange for the thrills and adrenaline-inducing rides available in the park.

Managing experiential brands are primarily a challenge of consistency. Starbucks takes great care when hiring and training employees to assure a good cultural fit and and the ability to convey the brand values and deliver on the brand experience. Disney, too, is known for the care it takes in hiring, training, and managing employees, as well as maintaining the spotless and cheerful tamps[here of the parks.