Researches On The Strategies Of Upgrading The Brand Identity Of The "Time Honoured" Brand

With economic globalization and regional economic integration,the barriers between the Chinese and the international consuming market are silently dissolving.Given such a premise and in the present economic environment,Chinese brands have to compete with international brands over market share.Therefore lots of these Chinese brands are facing great challenges either from competitors or their own limitations,especially the ones lauded as the "Time Honoured" brand.The "Time Honoured" brand refers to those that were founded in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic period,with good reputation and honoured history.They stand firmly in a hi-tech and highly informationized world,keep offering high-quality products and services with ingenious skills in the past century.They are not simply the inheritors of traditional Chinese culture,but also the witness of the changes and the history of China.Through studying the present brand identity as well as the future developing tendency of some domestic and international "Time Honoured" brands and analysing consumers' preferences on the crucial components.This thesis discusses the strategies of improving the brand identity of the "Time Honoured" brand and offers some suggestions for the "Time Honoured" brands to overcome current challenges.Firstly this thesis studies the main contents forming a brand identity.David A.Aaker(1995)comments that brand identity is consisted of the "core identity of brand" and the "extended identity of brand".He also proposed that brand identity is an efficient tool in actively guiding the trend of consumption,and brand identity does help in building brand associations(1998).Through literature studies,based on David A.Aaker's theory,the interactions among seven components of the "core identity of brand" and the "extended identity of brand",brand logo,brand packaging,brand standard colour,brand standard character,brand aided figure,website and advertisement,are investigated in this thesis.Secondly,more than 150 Chinese,Taiwanese,Japanese and European "Time Honoured" brands are taken as samples in researching their brand identity at the moment,in the transition stage of the reform and probably in the future.Specifically,through case study on a specific brand,it is meaningful to compare its brand identities during its successful stage,transition stage and comedown stage to conclude the characteristics of its brand identities in all time.This may contribute a lot in building strategies of upgrading the brand identity.Thirdly,a questionnaire investigation is conducted in analysing consumers preferences on five main components of the "Time Honoured" brands' identity.The questionnaire adopts five point scale to investigate consumer's preference for brand logo,brand packaging,brand website,brand advertisement,and consumer's personal information.This outcomes of this questionnaire survey define the roles of these five components in brand identity.Based on the studies carried out above,a system of strategies of improving the "Time honoured" brand's identity,which can be applied in any stages of the brand,is proposed.Besides,through the calculation,the contributions of the seven components are properly weighted.Each component has its own individual evaluation system.Specifically,a brand logo is evaluated in terms of uniqueness,visibility,adaptability,easy memory,universality,and simplicity,and a brand packaging is evaluated through packaging function,structure,material,size,shipment,rationality,cost effectiveness,recycle effectiveness,uniqueness,comfort,style,and popularity.A brand aided figure is evaluated in terms of recognition,adaptability,flexibility,beauty,simplicity,and uniqueness.A brand website is assessed in terms of the domain name,online interaction,logo,standard colour,standard character,the old logo,promotional slogans,information update and electronic business functions.Such a complete evaluation system with suggested improving strategies is a helpful tool for "Time honoured" brands in any developing stages to find out their weaknesses concerning brand identity and to seek for the way out of the current predicament.