LIFESTYLE BRANDING AS A METHOD OF INCREASING PRODUCT APPEAL A STUDY OF LIFE BEER IN THE SOUTH EAST

 

ABSTRACT

Any organization needs to consider branding. This is due to the fact that it is challenging for a business to operate profitably without properly branding its products. It is impossible to overstate the significance of this study on lifestyle branding as a strategy for boosting product appeal – a study of living in the south east. The Nigerian beer company will be advised by the study’s findings, which will also be utilized to provide instructions on the value of lifestyle branding and how to employ it to enhance client numbers. After the data in this study was analyzed, we discovered that lifestyle branding makes products more appealing to customers and generates profits for the company.

 

CHAPTER ONE

 

INTRODUCTION

 

1.1  BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

As long as there have been relics of human existence, brands and branding have been around. An attribute that distinguishes a seller’s good or service from those of other sellers or competitors is referred to as a brand, according to the American Market Association (2010). When savvy businesspeople realized they could charge more for an otherwise standard commodity if they could guarantee quality and consistency in the nineteenth century, branding was born. They typically made claims about the exceptional qualities of their branded products to support the higher price (Doyle, 2001).

Companies must advertise both themselves and their products in the modern economic world. They are able to set themselves out from their competitors because to this. For instance, Coca-Cola is well-known throughout the world for offering more than just ice-cold beverages. For some consumers, sipping Coca-Cola implies much more than simply enjoying a cold beverage or selecting Pepsi even though both beverages are roughly the same price. Due to the Coca-Cola brand, Coca-Cola has a competitive edge against Pepsi. Coca-Cola has been able to forge a lasting bond with its customers through branding, and as a result, these customers are devoted to the company. One of the most well-known brands in the world is Coca-Cola (Melin, 2001).

Companies therefore have set funds aside to project the right kind of image and capture their customers’ loyalty. While working on its image a company has to incorporate its communication plan which aims at building its reputation among it different stakeholders. The idea behind it is to create a coordinated image that runs through all facets of the company’s appearance (Advetiser 1991).

A communication plan dictates a company’s vision and mission. To make the idea of a communication plan successful, most companies if not all have a Public Relations and Marketing department that ensures it keeps, builds and maintains a good reputation. Competition among different bear in Nigeria has risen. A brand which is widely known in the market place acquires brand recognition. When brand recognition builds up to a point where a brand enjoys a critical mass of positive sentiments in the market place, it is said to have achieved brand franchise. Brand recognition is most successful when people can state a brand without being explicitly exposed to the company’s name but through visual signifiers as mentioned earlier like logos, slogan’s and colours.

Life Continental Lager Beer is the fine quality lager beer from the stables of Nigerian Breweries Plc made from the choicest grains, hops and the purest of waters. Life Continental Lager Beer is expertly brewed to give that rich, crisp distinctive taste and well-rounded aroma in true quality fashion of the master brewers. Life is better when shared and when life is shared, there is progress. This is what forms the core brand value of great-tasting Life Continental Beer, promoting and refreshing a life-long tradition of sharing, a heritage of progress.

The largest and most established brewing firm in Nigeria is Nigerian Breweries Plc. It exports to other parts of West Africa in addition to serving the Nigerian market. Incorporated in 1946, Nigerian Breweries produced its first STAR Lager bottle in June 1949 on the bottling lines of its Lagos brewery.

Other breweries were created as the corporation expanded into other areas, including the Aba Brewery in 1957 and the Kaduna Brewery in 1963. The business, in terms of capital investment, was one of the largest in the nation by 1971. At Ibadan, a new brewery was added in 1982. The business purchased its fifth brewery in Enugu in September 1993, and its sixth brewery, located at Ameke in Enugu, in October 2003. The Ama Brewery, which has a 3 million hectoliter capacity, started brewing on March 22, 2003. As a way of boosting product attractiveness, lifestyle branding will be examined in this project through a case study of life bear in the south east.

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Any organization needs to consider branding. This is due to the fact that it is challenging for a business to operate profitably without properly branding its products. Manufacturers increasingly focus on promoting their brands directly to consumers (rather than to distributors) as consumers become more savvy, spending significant sums on advertising the high quality of their products and resulting profitability. Moreover, branding has been a significant problem, particularly in underdeveloped nations. As a result, it is necessary to explain how branding and profitability relate in industrialized nations. Manufacturers are under the impression that if they invest in the quality of their brands, consumers would respond by asking for their products by name and being willing to pay more for them. In light of this, the study’s goal is to examine lifestyle branding as a strategy for boosting product attractiveness through an analysis of life bear in the south east.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To investigate the role of lifestyle branding in the beer consumer sector in the south east.

2. To find out if lifestyle branding increases product appeal by the customers.

3. To assess whether life branding provides financial returns for Company.

1.4 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

Hypothesis One
Ho: Lifestyle branding increases product appeal by the customers
Hi: Lifestyle branding does not increase product appeal by the customers
Hypothesis One
Ho: Life branding provides financial returns for Company.
Hi: Life branding does not provide financial returns for Company.

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

The Nigerian beer company will be advised by the study’s findings, which will also be utilized to provide instructions on the value of lifestyle branding and how to employ it to enhance client numbers.

The depth of earlier investigations has been enriched by this study’s thorough analysis of the prior literature. Also, it has updated and confirmed several previously held beliefs about branding and how it improves profitability in the industrial sector.

1.6 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF STUDY

The study focuses solely on the life beer brand in the south-eastern region of Nigeria and specifically on how lifestyle branding benefits profitability in the manufacturing industry (case of Nigeria Breweries). In this article, an effort is made to examine the branding concept, branding strategy, effects of product branding, and their major impact on organizational profitability.

Without specific limitations, it is impossible to carry out a study of this kind successfully. Nonetheless, the results of the study’s findings are unaffected in any way by these limitations. Inadequate resources and some respondents’ refusal to provide all requested information are the study’s main weaknesses. This study alone does not provide a conclusion; there is still room for research studies

1.7 DEFINITIONS OF TERMS

Profit is the money earned from a business or from the sale of goods, especially after all necessary expenses have been covered. It might alternatively be understood as an influx of assets into the company as a result of the selling of goods or services by that company.

BRAND: A brand is the sum of a product’s attributes, such as a name, word, symbol, color, design, mark, or combination of features that set it apart from other items or a way for a company to be recognized by consumers.

Branding is crucial to the image, reputation, and success of a product or firm, according to Rosenthal (2003). It is a component of the promotional aspect of marketing.

A lifestyle brand is one that makes an effort to represent the ideals, aspirations, hobbies, attitudes, or beliefs of a particular group or culture for marketing objectives. With the intention of helping consumers define their way of life, lifestyle companies work to inspire, inform, and motivate people.

1.8 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY

For ease of understanding, this research paper is divided into five chapters, as follows: The first chapter is devoted to the introduction, which includes an overview of the study, its historical context, explanation of the problem, study objectives, research hypotheses, relevance of the study, its scope and limitations, definition of words, and its historical context. The review of related literature is highlighted in Chapter 2 in order to provide the theoretical foundation for the study. The third chapter covers the study’s methodology and research strategy. The gathering, processing, and presentation of data are the main topics of Chapter 4. The study’s summary, conclusion, and suggestions are presented in Chapter 5.

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