i) Brand as a legal instrument At its simplest, branding could be defined as a legal statement of ownership (Crainer, 1995), or as adopting a mark

to designate legal ownership (Broadbent and Cooper, 1987). This is the origin of the term "brand", as encapsulated in the Oxford English Dictionary definition: "A particular sort or class of goods, as indicated by the trade-marks on them." Branding represents an investment and consequently firms seek legal ownership of title, as protection against imitators. For example, part of the branding strategy for Absolute Vodka stresses the importance of continually monitoring competitors' brand activity, to quickly stop any firm adopting this Downloaded by [INASP - Pakistan (PERI)] at 01:19 25 March 2013 Defining a "Brand" 419 name or bottle design. Trade-marks are an important asset, but their value depends on the ability to protect them from infringement (Simonson, 1994). Legislation oITers some protection (e.g. 1994 Trade Mark Act), but. look-alike own labels (Kapferer, 1995) are evidence of the limited scope of the legislation (Lea and Murphy, 1996). jj) Brand as a logo. The traditional definition of a brand, proposed by the American Marketing Association (AM.A)in 1960, derives from the concept of the brand's logo and visual features as a basis for diITerentiation, i.e.: "A name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them lTom those of competitors."

iv) Brand as a shorthand For consumers, brands act as a shorthand device of functional and emotional characteristics, enabling rapid recall of information in memory and speedier purchase decisions. For Brown (1992): A brand name is nothing more or less than the sum of all the mental connections people have around it" As brand names provide memory shortcuts (Jacoby et al., 1977), timepressed consumers are more inclined to buy brands with names they recognize. v) Brand as a risk reducer Consumers perceive risk when they buy products or services (Bauer, 1960). An understanding of the dimensions of perceived risk enables marketers to present their brands to instil consumer confidence (Assael, 1995). vii) Brand as an image in consumers'minds. Boulding (1956) was one of the early authors drawing attention to the commercial importance of image, arguing that people do not react to reality, but to what they perceive as reality. This raises an interesting philosophical point about "reality", which social theorists argue is socially constructed (e.g. Weick, 1979). While this issue was not explored in depth by Boulding, his contribution draws attention to cognitive psychology, in particular perception theory, to explain differing interpretations of the same stimulus. Building on this, Martineau (959) described brands as images in consumers' minds of functional and psychological attributes. The evolution of a more consumer centred perspective on the meaning of brands is exemplified by Newman's (1957) definition of brand image as everything people associate with a brand, and Pitcher's (1985) view that a brand is a consumer's idea of a product. A brand name is more than the label employed to differentiate among the manufacturers of a product It is a complex symbol that represents a variety of

ideas and attributes. It tells the consumers many things, not only by the way it sounds (and its literal meaning if it has one) but more important via the body of associations it has built up and acqUired as a public object over a period of time." ix) Brand as a personality. Since competitors are able to emulate or leapfrog brands' functional advantages (Lambin, 1993; The Economist, 1993), one way to sustain their uniqueness is through stressing psychological values, using options such as advertising and packaging. This differentiates brands in terms of their symbolic values, such as association with the kind of people using them (e.g. Keeble, 1991). x) Brand as a relationship. Having a respected personality is a pre-requisite for a relationship between consumers and brands (Duboff, 1986; Woodward, 1991). A brand relationship is a logical extension of brand personality (Blackston, 1992) and if brands can be personified, then consumers would not just perceive them, but would also have relationships with them (Kapferer, 1992; Blackston, 1993). In other words, consumers would not just have an attitude towards a brand, but the brand would have an attitude towards the consumer.