Nutella brand marketing essay PDF

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brand marketing analysis on nutella...

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Part 1

Introduction and Literature Review ........................................................................................... 5

BRAND HERITAGE, STORYTELLING AND ARCHETYPES ...................................................... 5 BRAND COMMUNITIES ..................................................................................................................... 6 Part 2

Brand Analysis .............................................................................................................................. 7

HISTORY OF NUTELLA ..................................................................................................................... 7 ................................................................ 8 ............................................................................................................... 8 NUTELLA BRAND COMMUNITIES AND CONSUMER TRIBES ................................................ 9 Part 3

Conclusion and Strategies .......................................................................................................... 10

REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................................... 11

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Part 1

Introduction and Literature Review

subjective and is yet to have one accurate definition. Using Pitt et al. (2006) definition based on the context of this paper, brands are defined as buyers and sellers can establish a relationship, thereby creating a focus of identity. The wholistic objective of the branding process is to create a unique personality, leading to reduced substitutes in the market (Sammut-Bonnici, 2015) This paper will explore the brand journey of Nutella. Officially released in 1964, Nutella was created by The Ferrero Group during post-war Italy. The brand has grown over the decades, expressing their heritage and values through its storytelling, and building of brand community, becoming the second largest chocolate producer in the world through its innovation and brand building efforts which will be explored in the latter part of this paper (Brat, McCracken and Cimilluca, 2009). Clow and Baack (2005) define brand equity as a concept that includes multiple aspects that overall provide the brand a unique selling point, and a unique place in the market which allows them to maintain great market share as well as charge premium prices as compared to a product/service that is not branded well. model of successful brand equity involves - Brand Awareness, Brand Association, Perceived Quality, Brand Loyalty, and other Proprietary Assets (Beig and Nika, 2019). This paper will look into strategy to build its portfolio and its ability to satisfy the five requirements of

BRAND HERITAGE, STORYTELLING AND ARCHETYPES The heritage of a brand can act as a symbol of longevity and sustainability and can provide a reliable image to the brand. Hakala, Lätti and Sandberg (2011) define brand heritage as a in number of years of operation and the power of the brand over time, as well as the consistency and continuity of the core values, the product and visual symbols. The longevity of a brand may provide competitive edge to those with well-developed and cultured journeys. It can be argued that the heritage of a brand can impact its perceived value and authenticity and can help build closer relationships with both existing and potential customers. Wiedmann, Hennigs, Schmidt and Wuestefeld, (2011) explore the effects of heritage on brand image and consumer behaviour and found that the heritage has a strong influence on the trustworthiness of a brand, and hence consumers may perceive lower risk and may be willing to pay higher prices for the core values and benefits provided by a well-cultured brand. In doing so, customer loyalty and the overall image of the brand is improved. Page | 5

While having a well-established history and stability to a brand can help the brand on the surface level, companies and brands need to develop appropriate strategies to portray this heritage and values to the customers. Hall (1980) argues that depends on the journey. Rather, showcased through constructing a narrative that includes elements which allow consumers to understand the history and values and gives the brand an identity and personality. (Banerjee, 2007). Holt (2004) further expands on this theory discussing the effectiveness of myths and storytelling, and how they attribute to great cultural branding by iconic brands, as well as how customers value the narratives provided by brands to express themselves. Most brands tend to express their stories through archetypes, which act as intermediaries between and the brand by creating intangible experiences, such as the use of semiotics (Barros, 2010). These archetypes infuse a mythical and deeper meaning to the brand, possibly creating an unconscious connection with the receiver, leading to high potential brand loyalty and associations (Siraj and Kumari, 2011). It is worth noting however that not all consumers necessarily connect to the narratives and its underlying archetypes, hence brands have to position itself and evaluate its consumer base before developing a strategy.

BRAND COMMUNITIES Brand communities allow the company to focus on important relationships which include the brand and consumer, the consumer and product and consumers among themselves. Unlike traditional communities, brand communities extend over geographic boundaries and ties consumers together, providing social structure to the relationship of the brand and consumer (Muniz, 2001). This allows a consumer to not only use the product but rather makes them feel like a part of a community, enhancing brand loyalty, and in turn helps the company perform better and gain competitive advantage (McAlexander, Schouten and Koenig, 2002) . Brand loyalty through brand communities is also increased due to tribal commitments, as they allow information about the brand to flow through the community, which can be considered word-ofmouth or guerrilla marketing (Hur et al., 2011). However, brand communities are extremely prone to rumours and competitors can sabotage the relationship of the brand and the consumers (Muniz, 2001). Now that we have established theories regarding successful branding, let us explore how Nutella incorporated these strategies to become a global brand.

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Part 2

Brand Analysis

HISTORY OF NUTELLA Beginning in post-world war two Italy, cocoa was an extremely scarce and sought-after ingredient for all chocolatiers. With limited resources available, the Ferrero Group were the first Italian manufacturer to open production and offices both home and abroad, and globalizing the company (Ferrero, n.d.). However, with cocoa being so scarce, Ferrero developed new solutions using hazelnuts and sugar which were widely available. With chocolate being posed as a luxury item, Ferrero an affordable and spreadable chocolate, breaking consumer perceptions at the time that chocolate was only for the rich. Being a huge success, Michelle Ferrero further developed and innovated the ingredients and aesthetics and rebranded it as Nutella in 1964. The brand name seemed to have caught the attention of consumers, gives some character to its name in Italian, portraying the beauty and showcasing its main ingredient, hazelnuts. innovative name and product features can attribute to its success in its European expansion in the 1960s through giving a deeper meaning to the brand, as well as act as a proprietary asset in its brand equity portfolio. The iconic glass jar and red-texted logo was created in 1965 during its launch in Germany, and still holds value to this day. Zakia and Nadin (1987) discusses how semiotics allows consumers to deconstruct underlying and intended message. The design of the jar would have been very modern for the time, and the use of a glass bottle while having a white plastic cap can be seen as a portrayal of an expensive and luxurious, yet affordable product, without the need of explicitly stating those facts. The black and red logo further adds to the modernity and gives a differentiating factor to the brand and overall improving its perceived quality. It is interesting to note how packaging that was modern in the 1960s is still prevalent today. With more copycat brands starting to develop similar style of logos and packaging, Nutella is still able to capture a majority of the share, solely due to its brand name and heritage. The history behind the Nutella brand upbringing can attribute to raising its brand awareness in Europe, with the innovative use of resources to provide consumers with a luxury product at an affordable rate.

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NUTELLA

BRAND IDENTITY AND PERSONALITY

Along with the semiotics in terms of packaging, Nutella messaging has always involved the spread of joy and bringing families together at the breakfast table ( , 2016). This was evident during the 1970-80s where family dynamics were disrupted due to social changes in Europe. However, it was observed that Nutella may have helped dampen the tensions between family members which would provide families and children a source of enjoyment and relaxation amid chaos (ibid.). This was further picturized in a Nutella was portrayed as a source of pleasure and comfort (ibid.). Through these creations of myths and storytelling, Nutella was able to give its brand high symbolic values in terms of spreading happiness and togetherness, which may lead to high involvement. Furthermore, carrying the same ideals and messages through the years establishes heritage and culture, creating associations with pleasure and happy familial consumption, as well as adding hedonic value which is highly desirable by most consumers ; Solomon, 2011).

NUTELLA

ARCHETYPES

give towards that brand. This in turn can affect consumer attitudes towards the brand and influence their judgement (Brassington and Pettitt, 2013). The above example of how Nutella was marketed as a symbol of pleasure gives the brand a personality and solidifies its heritage across generations. , Nutella seems to as their core archetype in the early days, aiming to create the desire to maintain relationship with the people and experiences, and having a voice of an empathetic and soothing nature, with intimacy, luxury and pleasure being what is desired (Mark and Pearson, 2001). The strategy to do so involves stressing the attractiveness of the brand and what it would do for the consumers (Goulding, 2021) However, as time passed, Nutella pushed its marketing and personality towards a lighter nature rather than emphasizing the product archetype creating an optimistic outlook on life and the desire for happiness, through simple brand marketing and allowing consumers to recognize their inner beauty (ibid.). series in 2016 for example, which involved sharing its positive values collectively with consumers and allowing them to showcase their joy through storytelling online (PRNewsWire, 2016). Furthermore, through this slogan consumers are able to associate the brand with the feeling of happiness and pleasure as well as provides a likeable and simple brand image to Nutella. I further adds to the Page | 8

mers (Dass et al., 2014; Briggs and Janakiraman, 2017)

NUTELLA BRAND COMMUNITIES AND CONSUMER TRIBES Morandin, Bagozzi and Bergami (2013) defined the objectives of any brand community The brand must be functional, hedonistic, and experiential, and must be united with members by shared values created by the brand. As seen earlier, Nutella has created hedonistic and experiential values through its enjoyable and seductive recall of its chocolate (Cova 2003, cited in Gabrielli and Baghi, 2016). Its rich heritage and unique values established, along with its little competition provides them large opportunities for building a worldwide community with (McAlexander, Schouten and Koenig, 2002).

presence had not been as significant in the 1980s. Fortunately, the advent of the internet and social media in the 2000s and years to follow created a marketing platform for Nutella and (Cova and Pace, 2006). The allowing followers to co-create value, which can lead to development of positive attitudes towards the brand because they are likely to feel they made some amount of impact to the brand (Acar and Puntoni, 2016) In the beginning of 2000, fan-made pages and communities were thriving on the internet, involving connecting with other brand followers, sharing recipes, in turn marketing and publicizing the Nutella brand and its values without any input from Nutella themselves. With fears of brand hijacking through this medium, they had encountered issues with its followers, suing sites that used their trademark name and logo without permission (Cova and Pace, 2006). However, years later seeing the impact of those communities on their overall behaviour and attitudes toward the brand, Nutella created its own web community for its devoted fans in 2003 called entailing an online platform that allows individuals to meet express themselves through sharing content and creating characters, also receiving helps to sustain the myths and the new cult following of Nutella, further adding to the dynamic relationship between consumer stories and reality and co-creating meaning and value for the brand . Nutella Parties were organized by local communities where similarly values such as family and enjoyment are defined in a way that is extraneous to the consumer tribe. World held every year to celebrate, get creative with and most importantly, to

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eat Nutella , bringing together the entire Nutella community and using hashtags on social media as well as contests to gain more following (Nutella.com, 2021). These online brand communities helped lead to a mass cult following, which allowed the brand to create a space in the cream spread industry and thrive all over the world, and through the increased involvement and empowerment of the community, Nutella today has one of the largest loyal customer bases. (Shire, 2014).

Part 3

Conclusion and Strategies

The success of Nutella from its beginning till now can be attributed to its ability to create moments and tell stories, making the underlying message clear and concise. Going back to longevity is an essential factor in awareness and perceived quality today when put against rival brands. With the it created a likeable personality that consumers are willing to support and be associated with, and the creation of brand communities and its wide consumer base leads to increased customer loyalty through the co-creation of value in the brand. These features along with its proprietary assets such as its name and logo combined forms a strong brand portfolio and can explain how the brand continues to achieve success today. While they have and will likely continue to thrive with its rich history and success, brands always need to discover newer ways to stay relevant and functioning in their industries and most tastes. With the current situation in the world, ethical consumption has grown, and trends have gone towards brands with strong CSR and ethical production as of late. While Nutella has its CSR established, they could continue to work towards supporting cacao farmers especially those affected by the covid-19 pandemic, as well as move towards reduced plastic and emissions from its factories. By doing so, consumers perceived ethical responsibilities of the brand increases which may lead to increased loyalty, enhancing its functional and symbolic image and maintaining its stature in the industry (He and Lai, 2012).

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