Monday 29 December 2014

Branding in the Jewellery Industry

 branding agency in India
Branding is a set of tools and activities, which builds a brand or gives an identity to it. It is extremely important in any industry because multiple, competing brands create category excitement and bring new consumers to the market. These competing brands give more choice and clear differentiating product to the consumers. This happens in every industry, including jewellery and luxury goods industry.

Brands occupy a special place in our minds and hearts. Many brands are associated with a known and trusted set of benefits and values that satisfy our rational and emotional need. They can help us distinguish between products, recognize the promise of an understood experience, choose and create preference, and target the people who are going to exercise that choice and preference.

Branding in the Jewellery Industry:

There is a revolution taking place in the jewellery industry and it is the emergence of branding as a powerful force for the future.  Jewellery brands only account for a small percentage of total retail sales. Yet, brands are just as important in generating consumer choice in the industry as they are in other luxury goods categories. There are 4 key reasons why there is huge opportunity for jewellery brands in the future.

a) The diamond jewellery industry is a big business worldwide.
b) The retail market is fragmented.
c) The global jewellery market is largely unbranded.
d) Industry players do not spend significantly to support brands.

The big question - How do you build a BRAND?

Creation of Brand Identities:

Brand has to be built with time. It depicts company’s value and beliefs. Brand identities illustrate and maintain close connection with that perceived image. Taking a step forward to begin branding exercise, it needs to begin with creation of BRAND IDENTITIES. Brand Identities are set of tools, which brings immediate attention and recognition. Hence, it is significant that these identities are created and communicated appropriately. Brand tools can appreciate or depreciate the market value/share of a company.  A very close at home example is of TBZ- the original who came up with multiple chain stores in July 2011 when the company proposed its first IPO. The iconic Zaveri Bazaar store dates back to 1864. With 149 years of consumer patronage, it was a challenge for the group to keep the same warmth and feel with its other stores. Apart from the legacy, décor, jewellery designs and warmth of the salesperson, it was the identities that did the magic. Identities such as logos, brand colors, signatures, brochures, packaging, corporate stationary, advertisements, tv commercials, etc. contributed in empowering TBZ – The Original as the brand.

Branding in the jewellery industry is more than a legacy. It is the core essence of the identity that a jewellery brand creates in the minds of its consumers. To know more, read our next article about Creation of Brand Identities.

Creation of Brand Identities

The visual elements of the brand that together identify and distinguish the brand in consumers mind are brand identities. These elements are colors, design, logo, symbol, signatures, name, font style and size, which help us distinguish between two brands. We call these Identities power tools as they are retained for a longer time in consumers mind. The first step in Brand Building exercise is the creation of identities. Let’s begin with first identity – Logo.

Logos: Logo is a fundamental part of a business and the centre point of a brand identity. It is the first thing that customers see the most and by which they recognize the brand. However when it comes to brand styling, a logo is just the start. Logo as a composition contains several elements such as typography, textures, icons, patterns, emblems, symbols. Logo evolution dates back to industrial revolution. From early days of Industrial Revolution to Modern era, logo development has been re-positioned with every passing time. Today, it has developed into a brand equity asset.

Color: Color is an important element of visual brand identity and color mapping provides an effective way of ensuring that a color contributes to differentiation in a visually cluttered marketplace. Many brands associate colors with company values and same are perceived in consumers mind. Colors can be depicted in logo, products or packaging.  The particular Tiffany blue or called as Robin’s-egg-blue has made the Tiffany Blue Box® an international icon signifying the excellence of all Tiffany & Co. designs.  They have been able to do this by maintaining consistent use of colour across all their communications – boxes, shopping bags, advertising and other promotional materials. It is a trademark color and reference number given represents the birth year of the Tiffany & Co.  The color represents creativity, communication, modern & forward thinking, which acts as a stimulator for the brand Tiffany.

Typography: The style or way you write is Typography. It is an identity, which is common irrespective of the languages it is translated and spelled in. The font, style, size and color are usually identical throughout all markets, channels and aids in building brands. A much known example can be taken of Coco-Cola. The cola giant’s typography is recognizable world-wide. The Coca-Cola translated in various languages ensures the same font style and Color scheme. SO whether its Hindi or Russian, the Koka-kona will have the wave and the Gotham font with symbolic red color as the brand identity.  The power of brand identities is to secure a position in consumers mind by keeping it simple, clear and distinctive in all markets. Typography in luxury segments has been given due importance to spell opulence. The Indian Jewellery Industry segment is still naïve to develop brand identities. Internationally acclaimed, Harry Winston uses stacked “H & W” that are the first initials of its name in an emerald shape frame (which is an emerald cut diamond), giving importance to typography.

Symbols:  Symbols were supposed to be first language of communication. Egyptians encrypted special codes in form of symbols on the mummies.  Symbols convey different meanings in different regions, but there are few symbols which are common worldwide. It is important to design symbol in such a way that it does not hurt sentiments of mass and at the same time depicts the core aesthetics of the company. The twin interlocking C’s with one facing right and other left of luxury French Brand Coco Chanel is symbolic and constitutes their logo.

Packaging:  Packaging today has become very crucial for most of the Business. Apart from the product as the key strength of any business, it is the package that stays with a customer and gives first impression of the brand. Packaging has to be innovative, compact and offer protection to control damage. It also acts as a salesman. It conveys about both,the product and the Company. Hence,utmost care is taken while packaging. These days, due significance is given on protection of environment; hence eco-friendly packages are being developed by the companies. Jewellery Companies’ packages have also come a long way. Apart from the protective case to the product, the package also includes company product literature on how your product was made, imprint of company logo on the product for easy recognition, certificate of authentication and a digital story to give the whole experience every-time you open the box.

Jingle/Slogans/Taglines: Jingles or slogans have been in use for a long time. These slogans or jingles help the consumers’ to recall the brand in their minds. No one can eat just one – Lays, ting-ting-tining – Britannia, or as I am targeting Luxury Jewellery Segment let me say ‘Hira hai sada ke liye’- Yes, u guessed it right, Its De-Beers. De-beers is the Trendsetter for the jewellery Industry. They are the very first players in Gem and Jewellery segment to promote through advertising and connect to consumers with an emotional appeal.  For Indian markets, the above tag line caught instantly and till date it continues to use this in all its TV commercials. 

These identities have helped the brands to grow over the period of time and make space in the minds of their target audience. If they are communicated well, they become signature elements and Brand Assets.

How to create an effective Brand Design Structure - Corporate Identity

“Why fit in, when you can stand out?” In a fast paced competition where consumer has innumerable options available to them, a company needs a strategy to establish a solid presence in the market place. Corporate Identity helps you to achieve this business Objective. It differentiates your product and services from others. It expresses your business’ brand personality and sets you apart from your competitors.

A business makes itself distinct through the image that it presents to the world, which are marketing collaterals like business cards, letter heads, brochures and other options. One such work of Audelade that you can see includes a complete identity built not only with business cards, but also extending it to packages, dairies, warranty books and many more. The identity is built to bring in uniformity in everything associated with the company or brand. This is because the uniformity in communication designs generates greater recall value and wins consumer loyalty. These are two strong reasons why businesses need to emphasize on brand design structure, which constitutes of Corporate Identity.

One of the best ways to practically understand the power of corporate identity is to place your brand as a most important contender in the market. Completely designed marketing collateral is going to assist you to present your trade name as a most important player inside the market place. Even in the event of you being novel to the trade, by means of generating a strong visual image you’ll be able to convey that you happen to be dedicated to quality and excellence.  This simply means that the strong visual image determines your progress in the market. So, creating a great corporate identity of your brand is the most essential thing to survive for a long time in the mind of your target audience. One good example of it is India Bullion and Jewellers Association (IBJA) that has recently held its second bullion awards ceremony, which is only of its kind in India. It went on to build complete identity from event logo to stationary, event invitations to badges and other marketing communication designs for the ceremony that provided impetus in marketing and making the event known amongst other industries too.

The consistency in design with attention grabbing logos, impressive-innovative business cards, elegant letter heads & envelopes, inviting brochures makes a lasting impression. As you know, “First impression is the last impression.” So, invest in your corporate identity to develop trust, a sense of values and ethos, and a lasting connection with your customer.

Click here to find out some examples of Corporate Identity