CASE STUDY

Innovation and brand consultant, Anisha Motwani, believes that free trials or sampling as a strategy is mostly prevalent and successful in categories that have deep seated habits and have high frequency of consumption. Brand switching in this category require attitude and behavior changes and free sampling influences customers to try new brands and thus increasing the probability of purchase. Such categories could include newspapers, food products, etc. Free trials can also be found in case of expensive offerings where consumers prefer sampling before making a final commitment……

Success of Reliance Jio in the intensely competitive Indian telecom market brings forth the strength of trial marketing strategy, even in the service industry. Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd offered free sampling of Jio’s voice calling, text messaging, and data services, and acquired stupendous 100 million subscribers, of which it continued to retain 72 million even after the free trial period ended.

Conventional wisdom suggests that brand that indulge in trials and discounts erode brand value. Here’s the reality though. People value brands. But people also seek value for money ……

Source: https://www.ascdegreecollege.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Marketing-Management-Indian-Cases.pdf

With reference to the case study answer the following question:

With reference to the case study, explain the term Brand and its types.

Brand — A brand means any identification mark (such as a trade name, mark, symbol, picture, design, colour, etc.) used to identify the product of a seller and to differentiate it from the products of competitors. In the case study, "Reliance Jio" is a brand that successfully identified its telecom service offerings and differentiated it from competitors. A registered brand is known as a 'trademark'. Examples of brands include Dalda ghee, Colgate toothpaste, Lux soap, and Titan watches.

A brand name consists of: (a) Words, numbers, or letters which can be pronounced. (b) Symbols, designs, marks, etc., which can only be seen but not pronounced.

Types of Brands:

1. Producer's Brand — A brand owned and used by the manufacturer of the product. For example, Reliance Jio is a producer's brand owned by Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.

2. Middlemen's Brand — A brand owned by wholesalers or retailers and used on products they distribute. For example, store brands of supermarkets.

3. Family Brand — A single brand name is used to sell a number of allied products. For example, Usha sells fans, sewing machines, and other appliances under the same Usha brand.

4. Multiple Brand — A company uses different brand names for different products in the same product line. For example, Hindustan Unilever uses Lux, Lifebuoy, and Dove for different soap variants.

5. Single Brand — A single brand name is used for all products of the company.

Three commonly used types of brands by business firms are: (a) Symbols and Marks — Like Rath vanaspati, Ship brand match-box. (b) Special Names — Like Pears soap, Mohan ghee. (c) Name of the Producer — Like Godrej refrigerator, Escorts tractor, Modi carpets.

In the case study, Reliance Jio is an example of a brand that uses the producer's name and has built strong brand equity through trial marketing.