Research areas / Brand

Anyone who underestimates the “mega power of brands” in the global economic cycle and fails to work consistently on their own brand is squandering opportunities.

And there is a risk of being outshone by other brands – not necessarily better, but stronger. That is why, for us, successful brand development begins with a fundamental understanding of brand identity in its respective market reality. Based on this assessment of the status quo, the next step is to define long-term brand development goals and derive targeted measures.

Brand positioning

Identity and reality in harmony

At (r)evolution, the field of brand positioning research encompasses a multi-optional set of qualitative and quantitative instruments that make it possible to assess the status quo of a brand in its market.

Die Brand identity
The company’s internal view of the brand is an essential part of its morphology. Distinctive brand personalities emerge when employees in marketing, customer service, and product development have a consistent image of their own brand and consistently embody this brand identity. The focal point is usually a “brand book” that provides guidelines and describes the core brand values. These brand values serve as a reference point in further positioning analyses. If there is no uniformly lived and defined brand identity, this must first be developed in workshops and individual interviews.

Brand reality
The basis of any quantitative positioning study should be a deep understanding of the brand reality as perceived by the target customer group. To this end, we first use group discussions and/or individual explorations to capture the complete attribute space in which the brand and competing brands are perceived. In a second step, brand personalities are outlined by having study participants project human characteristics onto the brand in question and its competitors. This allows us to identify the image attributes that are relevant and differentiating for the market under consideration.

Brand positioning
Finally, a market-representative quantitative positioning study determines the image profiles of relevant market participants and identifies drivers that influence the market as a whole. This allows you to analyze the distinctions and overlaps between your own brand image and that of your competitors and identify possible differences between your own perception of the brand and how it is perceived by others. It is also possible to determine whether the current positioning is within an attribute space that is relevant to the purchase decision. Based on these analyses, targets for long-term brand development can be defined.

Brand management

Developing brands for the long term

Fine words alone do not make a brand. Only when the desired brand values can be experienced in the everyday reality of the target group do they unfold their full power.

In order to achieve the desired target positioning of the brand, a comprehensive brand management tool is therefore required that takes into account not only the identified image attributes but also the diversity of the individual brand experience in the various phases of the purchasing process. This is because brand impact is created wherever the target group comes into contact with your brand. For this reason, we not only map the customer touchpoints that can be controlled by the company (such as advertising, PoS, website), but also include the central locations of social interaction (such as personal recommendations, networks, forums).

This allows us to identify the communicative and operational levers for current and potential customers that can be used to develop your brand to the desired target positioning.

Brand

Cases

Impact of physical brand surfaces

Good question: To what extent does the external appearance of a brand, i.e. its physical brand surface, influence the image and performance...

Go to the case

b2b market research at C-Suite level

b2b market research at C-Suite level (e.g. CEOs and CFOs), i.e. market research decision-makers, is notable for its multiple challenges.  But what makes...

Go to the case

Measuring retailer satisfaction correctly

Researching retailer satisfaction is a specific subtype of b2b market research, as retailers often have a very ambivalent relationship with companies whose...

Go to the case

Further areas of research at (r)evolution

Satisfaction research & customer satisfaction Advertising pre-testing & advertising effectiveness Target group analysis & consumer insights Concept testing & potential analysis
PUBLICATIONS / CASE STUDIES

Selected specialist publications

Riddle Response

A holistic view of the topic of response and how this can be influenced in the phases of a project.

Go to publication

Listening what is important

The open questioning of pain points or delighters is part of many surveys, and yet the qualitative insights hidden in the open...

Go to publication

No worries about being replaced by AI

Members of planung & analyse's platform of corporate market researchers (PUMa) are generally positive about AI tools and believe they could make...

Go to publication