Brand Management Assignment

A Report on Brand Equity of Nokia

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Introduction of the Brand-NOKIA:

Brand Nokia is one of the most admired and fastest growing brands in the world. It is the first European telecom brand which finds a place in the list of top 10 brands all over the world. Nokia Corporation is one of the world's largest telecommunications equipment manufacturers incorporated in 1967 which find its roots in Finland and is one of the leading players in the mobile communication. It has since established a leading brand presence in many local markets, and business has expanded considerably in all areas to support customer needs and the growth of the telecommunications industry. Nokia also produces mobile phone infrastructure and other telecommunications equipment for applications such as traditional voice telephony, ISDN, broadband access, professional mobile radio, voice over IP, wireless LAN and a line of satellite receivers. Nokia provides mobile communication equipment for every major market and protocol, including GSM, CDMA, and WCDMA.

Mission of the brand NOKIA:

In a world where everyone can be connected, we take very human approach to technology Connecting is about helping people to feel close to what matters. Wherever, whenever, Nokia believes in communicating, sharing, and in the awesome potential in connecting the 2 billion who do with the 4 billion who dont. If we focus on people, and use technology to help people feel close to what matters, then growth will follow. In a world where everyone can be connected, Nokia takes a very human approach to technology.

Brand Elements:
Brand elements are those trademarkable devices that serve to identify and differentiate the brand. Logo:

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Brand Slogan: Connecting People Know our past. Create the future

Brand Personality: Nokia focused on building customer relationship and trust. Building friendship and trust is the heart of Nokia brand. Logo shows their brand personality. It has created a distinct image in the minds of the customer by the latest ring tones.

Brand Equity:
Brand Equity is the added value endowed to products and services. This value may be reflected in how consumers think, feel and act with respect to the brand, as well as the prices, market share, and profitability that the brand commands for the firm. Brand equity is an important intangible asset that has psychological and financial value to the firm.

Building brand equity

Brand Elements

Marketing Programs involving 4Ps

Leverage of Secondary Associations

Brand Awareness Depth - Recall -Recognition Breadth -Purchase -Consumption

Brand Associations Strong Relevance,Consistency Favourable

Desirable, Deliverable
Unique Point of parity, Point of difference
3

The recall and recognition of Nokia brand is well established as compared to others. When Nokia positions its brand in the crowded mobile phone marketplace, its message clearly bring together the technology and human side of its offer in a powerful way. The specific message
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that is conveyed to consumers in every advertisement and market communication (though not necessarily in these words) is" Only Nokia Human Technology enables you to get more out of life" In many cases, this is represented by the tagline, "We call this human technology". This gives consumers a sense of trust and consideration by the company, as though to say that Nokia understand what they want in life, and how it can help and it knows that technology is really only an enabler so that you-the customer-can enjoy a better life. Nokia thus uses a combination of inspirational, benefit-based, emotional features, and competition-driven positioning strategies. It owns the "human" dimension of mobile communications, leaving its competitors wondering what to own (or how to position themselves), having taken the best position for itself.

Brand Equity Pyramid:

Brand Salience: Awareness aspects of the brand-Nokia scores very high on this. Whenever customer thinks of mobile phones, the first name that comes to the mind is Nokia. Linking the brand through brand name, logo, symbol etc to certain associations The better the customer understands which need the brand satisfies, the better the salience. Here the need is the need to communicate.

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Breadth and depth of awareness: The depth of awareness is huge because of many variants of the mobile phones which Nokia has brought in the market. However the breadth of awareness might be limited because of the fact that the brand has not many extensions into other product category.

Nokia N series launched in 2005 needs no introduction now. It is a single device to enjoy entertainment, access information and to capture and share pictures and videos, whenever and wherever they want.

Brand Performance: Product itself is at the heart of brand equity-Nokia comes with easy to use product. Variety of the product: In every series of Nokia there are large numbers of sets thus large variety. E.g. entry level include 1200, 1208, 1100, 1110, 1110i, 1112 etc Does the brand satisfy utilitarian, aesthetic, and economic needs and wants? Nokia satisfies the human needs of connecting to others i.e. it may be categorized under the need to socialize. The strongest positioning involves performance advantages of some kind. Opening of many Nokia priority centers in all part of the country helps in increasing the brand performance in the customer minds. Five important factors: primary ingredients and secondary features, product reliability, service, style and design, price

Brand Imagery: More intangible aspects of the brand. Nokia has the image of reliability and quality. Nokia gain brand personality and market shares because of its quality Imagery can be formed directly (from a consumers own experiences) or indirectly (depiction of same considerations in ads) Four categories: User profiles, Purchase and usage situations, Personality and values, History and heritage Most of the people think that Nokia would be friendly if it comes to them as a Human being and also many considers Nokia would be excitement if it comes as human being. Some people say that it would be energetic. So we can say that the Nokia brand image is very well in the mind of the consumer.
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Brand Judgments: Customers personal opinions and evaluations a result of brand performance and imagery Four important criteria Brand quality-Nokia stands for innovation and cutting edge technology. Brand credibility-Any model launched by Nokia would be good. Brand consideration-Satisfied customers of Nokia Brand superiority-Nokia being the largest selling mobile phone in the market.

Brand Feelings: Customers emotional responses and reactions Six important types of brand-building feelings: 1. Warmth 2.Fun 3.Excitement---These are experiential and immediate Nokia sets are of various design such as Flip sets, Flat sets, Slide sets , Sets with rotating camera etc which creates excitement. 4. Security 5. Self- respect 6. Social approval---private and enduring The feeling of owning a Nokia mobile provides that self respect and social approval.

Brand Resonance: The ultimate relationship and level of identification that the customer has with the brand. The level of engagement with the customer is very high by means of various latest ring tones and games provided. The depth of the psychological bond Resonance can be broken into 4 categories: Behavioral loyalty (loyalty value), Attitudinal attachment, Sense of community, Active engagement Nokia is associated with great behavioral loyalty as understood from the fact that the customers wait for a Nokia set to come in the store and not buy anything else. Also the percentage of repeat purchase is great, which proves that the customer is satisfies with the performance,

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Functional & Psychological benefits:

Functional benefits

Psychological benefits

.GPS .Media player .MP3 player .Camera .Blue tooth and infrared .Call recording .Internet TV .Free maps .RSS feed .Wi-Fi .Bluetooth

. Style Satisfaction Self actualization Image Expression Brand Look Professionals Fun seeking youth Innovation and technology demanding people Variety seeking customers

Branding Process:
Nokia built its brand at both ends of the market, with high-end multimedia handsets for upscale buyers and low-priced phones for emerging countries. Branding Decisions:

-N Series and E Series r Company brand name Nokia XXXX series

Positioning and Differentiation:

Desired image/positioning of brand includes strong, favourable and unique association. A lot of their success is attributable to Nokia's core business practices and philosophies, which revolve around providing their customers with stylish, usable, robust, experiential and
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relevant devices with Nokia's signature and world famous quality and ease of use. Brands should put efforts (ongoing marketing plan of the company) to achieve desired brand knowledge structure i.e. product, price, distribution, and promotion/communication strategies. Providing service at the local level is one of the ways to gain insights into the needs of diverse markets and it is one of Nokias strengths.

Greater brand equity through Pricing:

Nokia followed premium pricing for its N-series models. It helped in creating that aspirational value for N-series. As it progressed on the experience curve, the price started falling in order to increase the market share. For many lower models though, the company adopted penetration pricing.

Factors contributing to high brand equity of Nokia:

Product competitiveness: Nokia profitably competes in all mobile device segments from entry-level to high-end. It has the broadest product portfolio in the market. Customer satisfaction : Nokia uses customization to gain greater customer satisfaction R&D effectiveness: Nokia spent about USD 3.4 Billion on R&D. Demand-supply network alignment: Nokia captures its potential upside in highdemand situations by aligning its demand-supply network. End-to-end capability: Nokia systematically leverages its end-to-end capability by integrating mobile devices, applications and infrastructure. Constant innovation: Focusing on human technology; enhancing communication and exploring new ways to exchange information.
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Case in Point: Handling the battery issue for greater brand equity:
Around 30-40 cases globally of exploding non-original batteries were observed.The primary root cause of non-original battery failure was internal short circuit in the cell. Vast majority of short circuits were caused by traumatic event (i.e., dropping the phone) which jeopardizes integrity of poorly manufactured batteries. In each and every case, the battery in question has proved to be a non-original battery (either third-party or counterfeit) which did not include industry standard safety measure. It created a lot of noise in the market. Nokias response to faulty and illegal batteries: Nokia took all possible actions to ensure customer safety and satisfaction. Nokia launched customer service program to help consumers and retailers recognize non original batteries. Replaced the batteries that were manufactured during that period with original one & that too free of cost. Nokia Batteries meet all International Safety Standards. Original Nokia batteries comply with all international standards, such as UL2054, UL1642, IEC 60950 etc. They are manufactured with safety circuit, highest quality materials, correctly designed safety vent and clean, stable manufacturing process. Continuous control of the production and intensive product testing is done.

SWOT analysis of the brand NOKIA:

Strength: Nokia has largest network of distribution and selling and is the industry leader. High quality and professional team in the HRD Dept and a very strong R&D Unit The financial aspect is very strong in case of Nokia as it has other profitable business. Wide range of products for all class and many features. The re-sell value of Nokia phones are high compared to other companys product.

Weakness: Few models are expensive when compared to competitive product with comparable attributes.
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Heavy in weight The service centres in India are few and scare. So after sales service is not good. Opportunity: As purchasing power of the people has increased, Nokia has to target right customer at right time to gain the most out of the situation. Increase their presence in the CDMA market, which they are just entering, as well as 3G and Edge. Threats: The threat comes from emergence of other mobile companies in the market like Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Cingular (U.S) etc. Threats can be like providing cheap phones, new features, new style and type, good after sales service etc. Saturation in Current Market

CSR activities for better brand building:

Nokia adopts environment friendly processes for recycling, packaging and transporting. Nokia provides helping hands in the following activities: - Organizing Blood donation camps - Fund raising for relief measures - Volunteering at hospitals to help the patients - Arranging activities for under privilege Disaster recovery measures and corporate giving for following events: - Drought in Euthopia and Southeast Asian Tsunami - Sichuan earthquake in China and Pakistan - Cyclone nargis in Myanmar
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