Brand Building-Snapple and Dockers

Snapple and Dockers are powerhouse brands for the ready-to-drink and fashion product categories.  Each has seen success in the development of brand equity using a various degree of branding elements and marketing programs.

 Branding elements

To effectively build brand equity Snapple and Dockers choose brand elements to “enhance their brand awareness; facilitate strong, favorable, and unique brand associations; and solicit positive brand judgments and feelings” (Keller, p. 104). Both brands use a mix of offensive and defensive strategies including the use of brand names, logos, spokespeople, and packaging to build positive contributions to brand equity.  Each brand meets the six criteria for brand elements – memorability, meaningfulness, likeability, transferability, adaptability and protectibility (Keller, p. 140). These six criteria have allowed the brands to withstand the changing times.

The brand elements that make the biggest statement for these two brands are the names, logos, slogans, characters and packaging.

Brand names:  Snapple and Dockers are easily rememberable names to aid in brand recall and recognition (Keller, p. 148). The Snapple name is an unusual combination of “snap” and “apple” and is catchy and engenders positive feelings in consumers (Keller, p. 150; Keller Case Study). The name itself is memorable because it makes one think of “snapping,” a word and action that most everyone is familiar with.

As for Dockers, this brand relied more heavily on an already memorable brand, Levi’s. Docker by definition is a “dockworker or longshoreman” giving the brand a nautical connotation. By incorporating Levi’s into the name, this automatically created positive recognition and recall (Keller Case Study p. 202; Keller, p. 141).

Logos/Characters: Both brands use imagery to suggest to consumers that the brands are fun and interesting. The use of these visual elements communicates the Dockers core brand values, simple, basic and easy.  Unlike Dockers, Snapple uses only typeface for the logo, however, recent marketing programs created a brand salience of “cool and fun” using characters to tell the Snapple story (Snapple video case). Both of these examples would suggest that both brands are likable in the minds of consumers.

Slogans communicate descriptive or persuasive information about the brand (Keller, p. 159). Both brands use slogans that reinforce the brand’s core values, brand positioning, and points of difference (Keller, p. 160).  Snapple uses the slogan of “all natural” whereas Dockers uses, “it’s hard to be nice if you don’t feel comfortable.”

Packaging:  Packaging plays an important role is brand equity for both companies as it can influence taste, value, consumption and product usage (Keller, p. 177).  Snapple for example uses packaging and labels to emphasize the “purity” of the product creating brand recognition advertising this differentiator (Keller Case Study, p. 338).

Marketing Programs

The marketing programs that both Snapple and Dockers utilized to build brand equity followed the CBBE model, developing awareness and strength, favorability, and uniqueness of brand associations (Keller, p. 187).  Both companies understood that “consumers want to be entertained, stimulated, emotionally affected and creatively challenged” (Keller, p. 189).

Both companies used integrated marketing programs including a mix of traditional and innovative elements (Keller, p, 187; Keller Case Study, p. 339).  The campaigns included the use of radio, television, outdoor media, sponsorships, promotions and online vehicles to build brand equity and represented a higher level of emotional appeal in the CBBE model (Keller, p. 60).

Snapple increased brand equity through the use of traditional advertising, using offbeat humor and consumer-oriented jingles. The company also used sponsorships by well-known celebrities.  Unlike Dockers, Snapple personalizes marketing efforts more heavily using, experiential marketing, testimonial advertising and one-to-one marketing (Keller, p. 188). Dockers built the brand equity using a mostly traditional advertising and sales promotions with consumer and the trades, developing itself as a flanker brand.

Both companies marketing and product strategy created a point of difference through the differentiation of products offered to consumers.  I personally think that both companies did a great job at building their respective brands by product category.  Each has established a high level of brand equity based on the brand elements and marketing programs employed.  However, I do think that you cannot compare the two, as they were both launched differently.  Snapple was created as a new brand where as Dockers was created as a sub-brand of Levi’s Strauss and relied heavily on the already existing brand equity of Levi’s jeans.

Brand Building – Accenture

Due to brand confusion between Arthur Andersen and Andersen Consulting (AC), Andersen Consulting set to re-brand itself while maintaining the favorable brand identity and equity it held in the market. AC realized early on in the rebranding of the company that consistency in marketing and marketing research were critical for developing effective and efficient marketing communications to rebrand the company (Keller Case Study, p. 356).  Prior to

Andersen Consulting recognized the brand value chain would ultimately effect the brand equity (Keller, p. 317).  Therefore AC set out to “create value first by making shrewd investments in their marketing program.” Andersen Consulting began their efforts with extensive marketing research followed closely with advertising launches to build awareness exceeding $100 million.

Marketing Research Measures:  AC conducted quantitative research to identify brand associations and sources of brand equity with both internal and external audiences focusing on five factors: marketplace awareness, client satisfaction, buyer values, advertising copy testing, and media monitoring (Keller, p. 354, Keller Case Study, p. 356). AC invested in marketing research to determine the brand quality, customer mind-set, marketplace conditions, market performance, and shareholder value and investor sentiment of the organization.

AC conducted tracking studies to define market awareness of its name, tracking tangible and intangible points of difference that influence and determine consumer’s product and brand choices compared to competitors (Keller, p. 332). The firm’s Global Awareness Tracking Study used unaided recall in determining brand awareness.

According to Keller, “AC had a strong reputation from which to launch a new brand” which would make one assume that the firm conducted a brand strength assessment to determine the “competitive strengths and weaknesses, brand’s market, stability, leadership position, growth trend, support, geographic footprint and legal protectability” (Keller, p. 420).

The company further defined a brand equity management system to help improve the “understanding and use of the brand equity concept” within the firm quickly realizing the perception of the firm was based on perceived capabilities (Keller, p. 333, Keller Case Study p. 363).

Marketing Communications Measures:  In accordance with the CBBE model, AC evaluated and used all possible communication options in efforts to affect brand equity. Marketing communication tactics used in the re-branding of AC/Accenture provided detailed brand awareness, and strengthened and developed favorable brand associations (Table 1 ). The initial launch was completed with a teaser advertising campaign to promote the change of the name. The campaign illustrated to customers that Andersen Consulting would be renewed at the beginning of the year.  They company also used marketing-based comparative approaches to test advertising copy.

Table 1 – Overview of marketing communication tactics used

Type	Tactic
Advertising	–     Television –     Print
Direct Response	–     Branded mailings to both internal and external audiences –     Internal emails –
Interactive	–     Accenture.com –     Billboard and posters –     Branded airship –     Online placements –     Web casts/Pod casts
Promotion	–     Newsletters –     Creative packaging on brand launch mailing –     Brochures –     Open houses –     Internal magazines
Public Relations/Publicity	–     Press release –     Teleconference
Event Marketing and Sponsorship	–     Major global sporting events –     Celebrity events

I think the key to Accenture’s success in rebranding the company and maintaining the brand equity falls in maintaining consistency and relying heavily on an integrated marketing communications program to advance the brand into the new century.  The company used an extensive amount of market research to develop key insights into what brand truly stood for in the minds of the consumer prior to launching the new brand.  I also think that the key to success what the teaser advertising campaign produced to provide the audience with advance notice into the re-branding of the company – providing internal and external audiences with interactivity with the brand.