Trade-Mark and Brand Decisions

Meaning of 'Brand'

In the modern era, every producer uses some symbol or trade­mark on the goods produced by him. Brand is such a medium which prescribes the recognition of the product so that the customers could become satisfied of it and the consumer could again ask for the product bearing the same mark. The main objective of providing the mark or brand is to separate one's product from those manufactured by the other producers.

The following are some of the definitions of brand

In the opinion of American Marketing Association, Brand is a name, position, symbol or design or their combination by which the products and services of a seller or different sellers are recognized and are differentiated from the products and services of competition.

In the views of Lapland, The 'brand' can be defined as any indication, symbol, letter or letters which indicate the origin or the ownership of any product and differentiate the product from its variety, and don't grant the same right to others for using them for the similar object.

In the opinion of Stanton, All the trade-marks are the brands and thus these include those words, descriptions or numbers which could be pronounced. It also includes the design of a picture.

From the above-given definitions, it might be said that when some company adopts some mark or symbol for any product, that mark specially sets a reflection or image ⁱⁿ the hearts of the cus­tomers about that product, company and its qualities. The company gets that symbol registered with the government so that other com­peting company might not imitate the same. After the registration has been affected, the `brand' become a 'trade-mark'.

Uses and Importance of Brand

The advantages of the brand are being given hereunder

I. Uses to the Producers

From the point of view of the producers, the following are the uses or advantages of brand:

1.      Customers' Familiarity with the Product. The things that are sent to the market, after assigning them a 'brand', are easily recognized by the consumers. It this way, brand is a means for ac­quainting the customers with the product.

2.      Formation of Secured Market for the Product. When the product of one and the same brand is continuously sold in the market, there develops a secured market for such product. While purchasing the 'branded' thing, the consumer has not to think much before purchase. The products having a specific brand occupy a specific place in the market.

3.      Increased Effectiveness off the Advertisement. The product which has some special brand, is easier to be advertised. The advertisement of the branded goods remains existing in the minds of people for a longer time. Thus the brand increases the effective­ness of the advertisement.

4.      Easy Availability of Middlemen (Agents) for Distri­buting the Products. For selling the branded goods, any wholeseller or the retailer gets agreed easily. Thus, for the distribu­tion of the branded product, the middlemen are easily available.

5.      Direct Distribution of the Product, Also Possible. When some brand becomes quite popular, the producer himself could easily distribute the products directly to the consumers and the mid­dlemen are then not needed for it. The lesser are the middlemen; the lower is the price on which the product is available to the consumers which also results in profit ^'to the producers.

6.      Protecting the Producer against Competition. When the^-consumers continuously demand the branded products, the producer is unaffected by the competition.

II. Uses to the Consumers

The consumers too are benefitted by the 'brand' which may be mentioned as under:

1.      Guarantee of the Kind of the Product. When some producer sells some products through some brand, he always endeavors that there must not come any kind of degradation in the quality of the product and the consumers might always be able to get better type of the product.

2.      Easy Recognition. The customer is facilitated also in recognizing the branded goods. He doesn't take much time in pur­chasing the products for the second time.

3.      Uniform Prices. The prices of the branded goods are al­most similar everywhere, hence the consumer is not exploited.

4.      Fine Packing. The branded products are, kept in good and safe packing. Thus, the consumers get the products in good packets which don’t perish soon.

III. Uses to the Middlemen

Besides the producers and the consumers, 'the middlemen, agents, etc., too get the advantage of the brand, for instance, due to the specific brand, they are not required to explain and convince the customers regarding any product. Due to the brand, not much attention is required to be paid to the export promotion. By selling the goods of good brand, the credit (reputation) of the agents and middlemen, too goes up.

Necessity of Brand from Social Point of View

Some people don't consider the 'brand' desirable from the so­cial point of view. They argue that the producers, in the beginning, .by excessively advertising the products, make their brands quite popular and when there is developed fall or much faith of the con­sumers in the brands, they begin to exploit the masses. The producers, due to the brand, by creating a secured market for them­selves, make themselves financially sound. Hence, none other could sell such competing product in the market. All these facts are harm­ful from the point of view of the consumers. Really, for eradicating all these evils, it is necessary that there must certainly be imposed some legal restrictions so that the consumers could, not very much be exploited.