This research work examined the importance of Branding in the marketing of Unilever products with special reference to Toiletries such as soap and toothpastes. The study made use of primary and secondary data primary data was sourced from questionnaire and oral interview while secondary data came from textbooks, magazines, newspapers and journals. The research instrument used in gathering the data was the questionnaire, which was distributed to 200 consumers of toiletries brands of Unilever products in Enugu metropolis out of the 200 copies of the questionnaire issued to the consumers 190 were returned and used for analysis.
The data collected were analyzed using tables, frequencies and percentages. After data analysis I discovered that:
Based on the above findings, recommendations were made which the researcher feel will go a long way in helping Unilever to market its products.
In essence, a brand identifies the seller or maker. It can be a name, trademark or other symbol.
Brand name is a name given to a product which can be vocalized or pronounced and services to distinguish it from others. Brand mark is that part of a brand show in front of sign, symbol, letter, design which are not alterable. A trademark is a brand mark or a brand name with legal protection. No other seller is given the right to use a trademark except the registered owner.
For trademark law the seller is granted exclusive right to use of the brand name in perpetuity. These brands differ from other assets such as patents and copyright which have expiration data.
A brand is essentially a seller’s promise to consistently deliver a specific set of features, benefits and services to the buyers. The best brand conveys a warranty of quality. But a brand is even a more complex symbol. A brand can convey up to six levels of meaning.
ATTRISUTES: A brand first brings to mind certain attributes.
BENEFITS: A brand is more than a set of attributes customers are not buying attributes; they are buying benefits.
VALUES: The brand also says something about the producer’s values.
CULTURE: The brand may represent a certain culture.
PERSONALITY: The brand can also project a certain personality.
USER: The brand suggests the kind of consumer who buys or uses the product.
If a company treats a brand only as a name, it misses the point of branding. The challenge in branding is to develop a deep set of meanings for the brand. When the audience can visualize all six dimensions of brand is deeps otherwise it is shallow.
Given the six level of a brands meanings marketer must decide at which level(s) to deeply anchor identify. One mistake would be to promote only the brands attributes. Firstly, the buyer is not interested in the brand benefits. Secondly, competitor 45 can easily copy the attribute. Third, the current attributes may become less valuable later, hunting a brand that is too tried to specific attributes.
Brand identification has certain advantage. It enables the seller to build a consumer following and identify a given level of quality with a product from competitions. It expedites the process of communicating to buyers. Thus, it is impossible to identify some products as those of a particular manufactures without the aids of a brand name. Moreover, brand identification enables the manufacturer to communicate to buyers not only a point of purchase but through the medium of advertising and occasionally through publicity. Finally, branding may enable the firm to communicate psychological as well as material values.
Brand as the name implies could be seen as a name, term, symbol, design or a combination of them which is intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and also shows the distribution from those of competitors.
This study therefore, seeks to know the effectiveness of branding on manufactured products with a view to establish the extent to which it has helped in the manufacturing companies like Unilever products.
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