MKT 353 Week 3 Brand Identity and Positioning Example

Honest Ingredients, Pacific Northwest Roots: Building Brand Identity and Positioning for Bramble and Bee

[Student Name]

University of Phoenix

MKT/353: Product and Brand Management

Week 3 Assignment

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

Bramble and Bee, its survey results and competitors are composites written for a model paper.

Bramble and Bee, the composite Portland maker of lip balm, lotion bars and salves, is entering 180 stores of a regional pharmacy chain this year and plans a mineral sunscreen stick. Its customers at Saturday markets and boutiques know the brand's story, but pharmacy shoppers will see it next to national natural brands with large advertising budgets. When a small brand leaves the places where people already know it, its identity must do the talking that its founder used to do in person. This paper defines Bramble and Bee's brand identity and positioning for that move.

Brand Concept

Park et al. (1986) proposed that brands should be built around a concept chosen at launch, functional, symbolic or experiential, and managed consistently over time through introduction, elaboration and fortification. Bramble and Bee's concept combines functional benefits, such as effective, simple-ingredient skin care, with experiential benefits, such as the pleasant feel and scent of its products. Choosing this concept guides which products and messages fit the brand.

Purpose and Values

The brand's purpose is to make skin care that people can trust because they can understand every ingredient. Its values are honesty, simplicity and care for the Pacific Northwest, expressed through local sourcing of beeswax and a tin recycling program.

Brand Personality

Aaker (1997) identified five broad dimensions that people use to describe brands as if they were people: sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication and ruggedness. Bramble and Bee scores highest on sincerity, with traits such as honest, down-to-earth and wholesome, and should stay there. Its personality resembles a friendly neighbor who keeps bees and makes things by hand, with a gentle sense of humor, not a laboratory or a luxury spa. Drifting toward sophistication to compete with premium brands would blur what makes it distinct.

Identity Elements

The name Bramble and Bee evokes Northwest blackberry thickets and honeybees. The logo is a simple line drawing of a bee. Colors are warm honey yellow and deep green. Packaging uses compostable tins and paperboard tubes. The voice is plain, friendly and specific, for example: Beeswax, shea butter and sunflower oil. That's it.

Current Perceptions

A survey of 500 people in Oregon and Washington, half of them current customers, asked about awareness and associations. Among customers, top associations were natural ingredients, local company and gentle on skin. Among non-customers, aided awareness was only 14%.

Competitors

In the pharmacy aisle, Bramble and Bee will compete with a national natural brand known for beeswax products, a large brand offering natural lines at low prices and several premium clean beauty brands. Each owns a position: the national brand stands for heritage and wide availability, the large brand for value and the premium brands for sophistication.

Perceptual Map

On a map with price on one axis and how local and simple the brand feels on the other, the national brand sits in the middle on both, the large brand is low on both and premium brands are high in price but moderate on simplicity. An open space exists for a brand that is clearly local and simple at a mid-premium price.

Points of Parity

To be considered in the pharmacy aisle, Bramble and Bee must match competitors on product effectiveness, convenient packaging and safety. Customers must believe it works as well as familiar brands.

Points of Difference

Its points of difference are short, understandable ingredient lists, Pacific Northwest sourcing and small-batch production. These are valued by target customers and not owned by competitors.

Brand Relationships

Fournier (1998) studied how consumers form relationships with brands, finding that people treat some brands as partners in their lives, with relationships that vary in strength and character. Bramble and Bee's loyal customers often describe the brand as a friend or a neighbor, a sign of a close relationship that the company should protect in larger channels.

Positioning Statement

For people who want skin care they can trust, Bramble and Bee is the Pacific Northwest brand that makes simple, effective products with ingredients anyone can understand, because every product is made in small batches with a handful of natural ingredients, many sourced from local beekeepers.

The Voice in Practice

Voice shows up in small places. A shelf tag might read, Five ingredients. All of them pronounceable. A social post might show a beekeeper in Hood River checking hives in the rain with the caption, Your lip balm starts here. Customer service emails sign off with a staff member's first name. Each example uses plain words, real people and a light touch, which keeps the brand recognizable even when shoppers see it for only a second.

Testing the Position

Before printing new packaging, the company showed three positioning statements to 300 pharmacy shoppers who did not know the brand. The simple, local, trustworthy statement scored highest on believability and interest, while a statement built around luxury scored lowest. The test also showed that the word local mattered more to Oregon and Washington shoppers than to those in Idaho, so regional materials will vary the emphasis slightly while keeping the core position.

Guidelines for Use

Packaging will show the ingredient list prominently. Advertising and social media will feature real beekeepers and staff. New products, such as the sunscreen stick, must have short ingredient lists to fit. The brand will avoid claims such as clinical or luxury.

Applying the Position to Pharmacy

Pharmacy shoppers move quickly and compare prices. Bramble and Bee will ask for placement near the natural lip care set rather than the mass brands, use shelf strips that repeat the five-ingredient promise and price lip balm at $4.99, between the large brand and premium names.

Risks

Growth into pharmacies could make the brand seem less local. Keeping the founder story, local sourcing and small-batch production visible will reduce this risk.

Measuring Progress

The company will repeat the awareness and association survey each year. Success means aided awareness among non-customers rising from 14% to 30% within two years and simple ingredients becoming the top association for at least half of those aware of the brand.

Conclusion

Bramble and Bee's identity rests on honesty, simplicity and Northwest roots, expressed through its name, logo, packaging and voice. Research on brand concepts and consumer-brand relationships supports a consistent, relationship-focused approach. A position as the simple, local, trustworthy choice fills an open space in the pharmacy aisle.

References

Aaker, J. L. (1997). Dimensions of brand personality. Journal of Marketing Research, 34(3), 347-356. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224379703400304

Fournier, S. (1998). Consumers and their brands: Developing relationship theory in consumer research. Journal of Consumer Research, 24(4), 343-373. https://doi.org/10.1086/209515

Park, C. W., Jaworski, B. J., & MacInnis, D. J. (1986). Strategic brand concept-image management. Journal of Marketing, 50(4), 135-145. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224298605000401