Comparison between Changed Brands of a Commodity

 

 

Comparison between Changed Brands of a Commodity

Introduction

A company needs to uniquely choose and modify its name, sign, symbol, logo, design, and services to ensure that buyers view it as the only service or product provider in the market. Effective and efficient branding should ensure it clearly delivers the message to prospective buyers. Motivate buyers to purchase the particular commodity as well as create customer loyalty. It should confirm a company’s and product’s credibility and emotionally connect consumers to the product.

History on British Telecom

British Telecom was the official name give to Post Office Telecommunications in 1981. British Telecom was a separate corporation but still under post office control till it became the trading name for British Telecommunication plc, which was a privatized company (Ward & Lee, 2000).  Later in the ‘90s, British Telecom changed its trading name to BT which was no longer controlled by the government though was required to trade following the laid out guidelines by Office of Telecommunications.

Logo

When BT became a separate corporate identity and organizational structure it designed its logo to be that of a piper. This logo symbolized that the customer was the first priority for BT and it showed its commitment to satisfying different customer needs. This new re-launch of BT cleared any ties that linked it to General Post Office in the eye of the public. It became an entirely new and different concept from customers’ perspective. This enabled BT move forward as a new business under new management hence changing consumers’ attitudes towards it. Its reorganization and strategic partnerships opened up BT to world-wide expansion. The piper logo was a symbol of its new creation (Ries & Ries, 2002).  Later on BT replaced its piper logo with a “connected world” logo. This comprised its trustworthy, helpful, inspiring, straightforward, and heart corporate values which all together symbolize a global technological innovative future. Logos are the back-bone of branding and these changes in logos by BT shows effort to distinguish its brand as the best globally. The logo also sets out BT as an international company whose products and services are accessible to any buyer.

Channels of distribution

Branding of a commodity is also affected by its channels of distribution and how it reaches customers. This entails where it is sold, how it is sold, who sells it and how well customers trust those channels of distribution (Millman, 2012).  BT has over 1,800 products and services which are under five major categories. There is broadband and convergence, calls and lines. It also has transit, conveyance; interconnect circuits, wholesale line rental, global carriers and other wholesale related products. It has networked IT services, and multiprotocol label switching. There are others like Global services and retail enterprises. Considering its broad range of products and services it has four ways of delivering them to customers. They are BT global services, BT retail, BT wholesale and openreach which are enabled by BT innovate and design unit together with BT operate unit. BT global services ensure commodities are accessed by the global market through e-commerce (Millman, 2012). Wholesale and retail mainly operate in the United Kingdom which is accessible to citizens. Openreach is a separate company from BT whose role is to ensure that citizens of the UK have access to reliable telephone and internet services by installing new lines, upgrading local networks, and maintaining green cabinets on road sides. E-commerce done in BT websites has made purchase of commodities easier even for local people. These established channels of distribution by BT have played a major role at building its brand. Their safety and accessibility promote massive sale of commodities by the company.

Advertising

BT has been using many diverse methods to promote its products even before its re-launch. The government had funded a campaign with a slogan “The Power Behind The Button” which was meant to make people understand the strengths and services offered by British Telecom. Brochures were also produced stating the importance of communication and the way British Telecom availed theses services to the people. When it was faced with competition from Mercury it made the Roadphone which was displayed in fairs and exhibitions as the largest telephone in the world. It made a great impression back then. Over the years BT has changed its marketing strategies to embrace advanced technology (Gobe, 2010). It ran television advertisements that followed a storyline which required viewers to vote the fate of the characters in BT websites. It is also promoting its commodities through undertaking the climate stabilization intensity project which aims integrating climate stabilization and economic prosperity.

This project displays a company that cares about the negative impact it has on climate and seeks to stabilize it. Therefore, it positively impacts on the brand and image of BT promoting sale of its products (Baue, 2012). BT is currently allowing purchase of its commodities through its website. However, its website comprises a whole load of other content that does not relate to the telephone and broadband products it offers. This action makes it hard for people who access the website in search of BT online services to access them. It displays the image of a company which does not have a clear outline of what products it is offering the public hence negatively affecting its unique brand.

Conclusion

Despite the importance of branding to an organization’s success, many buyers are now not concerned with a brand. Consumers are looking for affordable commodities that meet their needs. Companies need to understand what drives consumers to shop in a particular market and work and at shaping their plans to feature consumer’s expectations. They should also understand that there is less consumer loyalty and therefore work at acquiring and retaining new buyers rather than retaining old buyers only. However, companies should ensure their branding is unique to enable market dominance.

  

References

Baue, B. (2012). Threading the Needle: How BT Integrates Climate Stabilization with Economic Prosperity. Retrieved on 28^th November, 2013 from http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/new-metrics/bt-climate-stabilization-economic-prosperity

Gobe, M. (2010). Emotional Branding: The New Paradigm for Connecting Brands To People. New York: McGraw Hill.

Millman, D. (2012). Brand Bible: The Complete Guide to Building, Designing and Sustaining Brands. Beverly, MA: Rockpork Publishers.

Ries, A. & Ries, L. (2002). 22 Immutable Laws of Branding. New York: Collins Business Essentials.

Ward, M. R., & Lee, M. J. (2000). Internet shopping, consumer search and product branding. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 9(1), 6-20.

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