Ex.1. List some of your favourite brands. Then answer these questions.
1. Are they international or national brands?
2. What image and qualities does each one have? Use the following words and phrases to help you.
value for money
durable
fashionable
top of the range
stylish
well-made
reliable
timeless
cool
luxurious
inexpensive
sexy
3. Why do people buy brands?
4. Why do you think some people dislike brands?
5. How loyal are you to the brands you have chosen?
Ex.2. Read what these people say about brands. What reasons does each person give for liking or disliking brands?
P.1
I am basically pro-brands. If you buy a branded product it?s a guarantee that the quality is fairly good and the product is reliable. Another reason is you attract a bit of attention if you buy something stylish, and branded products are usually stylish and have a good design. Most people buy brands because they want to impress other people. They want to show that they have style and good taste.
P.2
I don?t buy brands. I don?t want to give free advertising to companies. I hate all the advertising hype around brands. And I don?t want other people to think I?m trying to impress them with lots of logos. And I also get fed up seeing the same things wherever you go. If you buy a suit from a famous brand you?ll see five people with the same suit that month. It?s so boring. Another thing ? am I buying the genuine product or an illegal copy? Basically I want value for money. I won?t pay inflated prices for a name, a fancy logo and a packaging. However, I do buy brands for my kids ? especially sports goods and trainers ? it?s always Nike, Adidas or Reebok.
Ex.3. Speak about your reasons for buying or not buying brands.
Reading I
Ex.4. Read this extract and complete it with the words below.
money
branding
name
differentiate
quality
competitors?
?What is ? and why do we need brands??
?A brand can be a name, a term or a symbol. It is used to ? a product from ? products. The brands guarantee a certain ? level. Brands should add value to products. But customers must believe they get extra value for ? .
Ex.5. Read the following text and answer the questions below.
1. Why are brand names important?
2. Name three different sources of brand names.
The name is the most important element of a successful brand. Packaging changes, advertising changes, products even change but brand names never change.
Where do great brand names come from? All different sources, they may come from family names or perhaps the inventor?s favourite colour or animal or sometimes the names are just completely made up. For example, McDonald?s is a family name, Adidas was created from the inventors name Adi Dassler, Volvo means ?to roll? in Latin and KODAK was completely made up by the inventor George Eastman because he thought it was unusual and different.
Ex.6. Can you guess where the following brand names came from? Match the brands in the box with the correct text below.
b) This was the fifth perfume made by the same company.
c) Named after the Greek Goddess of Victory.
d) Originally a Japanese family name Toyoda. The inventors changed one letter to make it easier to pronounce overseas.
e) Named after an African Gazelle.
f) The family names of two men, one a motor enthusiast and the other an engineering genius.
Vocabulary
Ex.7. Match these word partnerships to their meanings.
B
R
A
N
D
1. loyalty
a) the name given to a product by the company that makes it
2. image
b) using an existing name or another type of product
3. stretching
c) the ideas and beliefs people have about a brand
4. awareness
d) the tendency to always buy a particular brand
5. name
e) how familiar people are with a brand
P
R
O
D
U
C
T
1. launch
f) the set of products made by a company
2. lifecycle
g) the use of a well-known person to advertise products
3. range
h) when products are used in films or tv programmes
4. placement
i) the introduction of a product to the market
5. endorsement
j) the length of time people continue to buy a product
Ex.8. Complete these sentences with word partnerships from Ex.4.
B
R
A
N
D
1. The creation of Virgin Cola, Virgin Air, Virgin Rail and Virgin Bride is an example of ? ? .
2. Consumers who always buy Levi?s when they need a new pair of jeans are showing ? ? .
3. Not enough people recognise our logo; we need to spend a lot more on raising ? ? .
P
R
O
D
U
C
T
1. David Beckham advertising Vodafone is an example of ? ? .
2. A ? ? consists of introduction, growth, maturity and decline.
3. The use of BMW cars and Nokia phones in James Bond films are examples of ? ? .
Reading II
Ex.9. Read this extract and say why need brands.
- What are brands and why do we need them?
- Well, brands are all about trust. You know what a brand is about, what it means, what it?s going to deliver and you actually trust it to deliver time and time again.
You can argue that we don?t need brands, that we?d all be better off in a world where nothing is branded and we all wear blue overalls and buy oats out of sacks and have no choice over who we bank with or what TV channels we watch. And I think one thing about brands is they add colour and enjoyment and fun, as well as giving you the power to choose things.
We need new brands because customers want new brands. They want choice. They want a selection of different products. They like to rely on the quality levels guaranteed by the company. They like to trust products. It makes shopping so much easier for them. And also, they like to identify with brands.
Reading III
Ex.10. Read the text. Find, please, all the word partnerships with the word ?brand? in the text and define them.
BRANDS. BRANDING.
A brand can be a name, a term or a symbol. It is used to differentiate a product from competitors? products.
The brand name of a product is the name the manufacturer gives it and under which it is sold.
The main aim of producers is to create brand popularity, so that most of people would recognize the product among the competitors? products.
Branding refers to the image or impression that a company creates for its products, usually through advertising. The image or impression that people have of a particular brand of products is called the brand image.
Consumers may or may not recognize a particular brand name. This knowledge, or lack of it, is measured in terms of brand recognition and brand awareness. Brand recognition is when a person knows what a product is or knows something about it as soon as they see it or hear its name. Brand awareness is how much people know about a particular brand, and the ideas they have about it. Advertising campaigns are launched to enhance brand awareness, that's why sometimes brand costs more than the whole company. Brand awareness helps people to find the necessary size, quantity, taste, especially, when they are in another country.
Brand names, first of all, should be eye-catching. All brand names are registered and protected by law; no one else can produce the same product under such brand name. It's a very hard to create a new brand name so some companies use brand stretching. They use a leader-brand to launch a new product in a new category.
Consumers rely on and pay for reputations.The brands guarantee a certain level of quality. Brands should add value to the products. Customers who buy brand name products must believe they get extra value for money. They are buying the added assurance that the brand name company will take the necessary measures to protect its reputation for quality. Thus, brand loyalty is born. Brand loyalty is the way some people always buy a particular brand of a product, and are not likely to start buying a different brand.
There are different types of brands. There are what we refer to as stand alone brands or individual brands, for example Ariel or Marlboro cigarettes. There?s also the corporate branding, or family brands such as Marks and Spencer or Levis.
ESSENTIAL VOCABULARY
add v
advertising hype
be familiar with
be pro-brand
brand awareness
brand image
brand loyalty
brand name
brand popularity
brand recognition
brand stretching
branded product
branding n
competitor n
cool adj
corporate branding
differentiate v sth from sth
durable adj
eye-catching adj
family brand
fancy logo
fashionable adj
fed up adj
genuine product
guarantee v, n
identify v with
illegal copy
impress v
individual brand
inexpensive adj
inflated price
international/national brands
leader-brand n
luxurious adj
packaging n
pay v for sth
product endorsement
product launch
product lifecycle
product placement
product range
protect v
recognise v
reliable adj
rely v on
sexy adj
stand alone brand
stylish adj
timeless adj
top of the range
trust v, n
value for money
well-made adj
ISSUES TO DISCUSS
1. What image and qualities should brands have?
2. Why do people buy brands?
3. Why do you think some people dislike brands?
4. How loyal are you to the brands you have chosen?
5. What is a brand and why do we need brands?
6. What is branding?
7. Why are brand names important? Name three different sources of brand names.
8. Speak about the main notions for brands. (brand loyalty, brand image, brand stretching, brand awareness, brand popularity, brand recognition).
9. Speak about types of brands (stand alone brands or individual brands, the corporate branding or family brands).