H20 assignment
What is a brand? A brand is an Identity, a name and a reputation. It provides functionality and people have certain images and ideas when seeing brands. A brand is a name or some symbol or mark that is associated with a product or service and to which buyers attach psychological meanings."(Iacobucci 2001) In the article ‘creating and managing brands’ written by Tybout, A. &Carpenter, it was noted that brands serve consumers by saving time, assuring a level of quality, and simplifying choice. The brand name, rather than the product, is now the primary basis for choosing one product over another.
When visiting the site www.johnkerry.com I definitely find that his name is a brand. John Kerry is a product which is trying to be sold. He is selling his opinions, and people buy his opinions by voting for him. Although people don’t actually have to pay money, he is selling himself. Not only John Kerry is involved with this branding himself. He has a lot of people behind him that tell or advise him what to say and when to say it, how to formulate his words and even what to wear. I would say that he is a brand. He even has his own logo, so when people see the blue and red striped flag with a white star, we all know it means ‘John Kerry’
When looking at his website there is a lot of information to be found about Kerry. For example: his history background, certain political values, photos, even a message board where you can start a discussion. Also there is an update about what is happening and what his progress is. I think people who visit his site and spend time reading different columns will pretty much get the point of who he is and what he stands for. I think that not only ‘fans’ who will definitely vote for him see this site, but also people who aren’t sure who to vote for will take a look. Everyone who is interested in politics will find this a useful site. The site also has a Spanish site, for the Spanish speaking people in the states.
When visiting www.eonline.com first thing that came to mind was that they are branding celebrities. Without the juicy gossip on celebrities Eonline would have nothing to write about. And by putting their gossip on their website readers form a person’s character.
Eonline is mainly branding themselves on their site. You can check out their program schedule, their shows, FAQ, and under ‘personalities’ you can read the biographies of the employees.I Eonline is targeted at people who have interest in reading the newest gossip and probably the majority buys tabloids too. Therefore I would say 15-35 year old women would be interested in visiting this site, although I don’t think you can put an age limit on viewers who visit this site, because even though no one wants to admit it, everyone reads tabloids every now and then! The site offers help by readers being able to contact them.
www.goarmy.com is definitely a brand for the
http://www.missiondecision.nl Is the dutch equivalent of goarmy, only I think this site is more straight forward, it doesn’t have a game you can play, but it’s main goal is to applications you can fill out online. I think this is a very smart way of promoting. (although I don’t agree on how boys are misled by how fantastic the army is, but we’ve had this conversation in class many times so make it easy for people to apply for the army.