Marriott InternationalBrand Equity Assignment
Question
Task Description: For this assessment task, it is suggested that you select the same company you had chosen for both assessmenttasks 1 and 2. As a brand equity manager to a reputed service company/brand, you have been requested to prepare a report suggesting how to enhance brand equity.
Your report should include the following key features.
- Identification: Identify the most important factors that affect service brand equity.
- Explanation: Provide reflections from literature and in the context of your company/brand and explain how the identified factors would help achieving the brand equity.
- Formulation: Formulate context specific and realistic strategies for enhancing brand equity for each of the identified factors that are clustered under the 7Ps of services marketing mix elements.
- Presentation: Present the report in a professional manner, including expression, grammar and sentence, style,format, title page, table of contents, citations and references etc. Provide at least 10 references, includingrelevant journal articles, books, and authentic Web sources.
Please find below some notes for this task.
Consider relevant cases, textbook(s), published research papers, brand equity and behavioural theories,
informative YouTube videos, authentic Web sources, reviews and the like. You can also get supplementary
information from various secondary sources, including annual reports, trade journals, Websites, press releases,
advertisements and News.
The Turnitin matching rate must not exceed 20%. The total word limit for this assessment task is 4000 words (max.). As per the policy, a late submission of an assessment task will attract a 5% deduction of available marks for each day after the due date.
If you need to submit an assessment extension request, you can only apply through the unit Moodle site at least 24 hours before the deadline ends. Please consult your lecturer and tutor to develop this assessment task. The selection and presentation of resources from Wikipedia, NetMBA, MarketingTeacher, tutor2u, assessment hire and other third party sources will be assessed negatively.
Answer
1. Introduction of ‘Service Brand Equity’ An international ‘hospitality firm’ like the “Marriott” International Inc. selected to prepare this brand equity assignmenthas a huge brand value that makes it to the second place in top 50 ‘most valuable hotel’ according to “Brand Finance” in 2019(Brand Finance, 2019). It takes a long-time mission to achieve the company's goal to increase the brand's value among the customers and business competition in USA. They make ‘innovative changes’ to fulfil the customer’s requirements with ‘integrity’(Marriott International, 2020). In the present scenario, the brands are looking forward to implementing a 'conceptual model' to maintain the 'brand equity' for developing the organizational market value and diverse culture (Mourad). Following the current trend as depicted herein brand equity assignment, “Marriott” International has also adopted customer-based ‘brand equity’ by different dimensions. The company has earned $5,464 million as the ‘brand value’ score in 2018 that is 8% higher than its last year(Mest, 2018). “Marriott” is in the business for over 85 years and prioritizes its ‘brand equity’ to increase the value of their existing services and resources.
2. Can you identify the factors which affect the ‘Service Brand Equity’ in the given context of brand equity assignment?
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‘Brand Equity’ Factors |
Effects and Description |
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‘Customer-based’ Services |
Most of the big organizations in the 'hospitality industry' prefers providing services according to the customer's requirement. 'Customer-based' services and 'brand equity' is the main development factor of "Marriott" International. As discussed in the brand equity assignment, the effective implementation of "Customer-Based Brand Equity" (CBBE) strengthen the customer's loyalty and let the company satisfy the customers to achieve positive 'brand identity' (Sürücü, et al., 2019). The improvement in gaining customer’s trust helps the company to attract other potential customers and maintain a tough competition among the contemporary brands. It is important to build a ‘brand identity’ to differentiate the organizational services to gain more new customers. The “corporate social responsibility” (CSR) among the ‘hotel industry’ can increase the ‘brand equity’ effectively (Martínez & Nishiyama, 2019). The “corporate social responsibility” in hotel industry of India is different and faces many hurdles. |
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Brand ‘Loyalty’ and ‘Image’ |
According to the research on brand equity assignment, the appropriate implementation of "Customer-Based Brand Equity" (CBBE) in multinational hotels can improve the brand's loyalty. It determines the brand's perception and performance quality to influence the management to understand the customer's 'purchase intension' (Liu, et al., 2017). It is an important aspect of the hotel's authority and management to customize the service system according to the customer's requirement. Whereas in India, the “brand image” is mainly set through advertisement by the celebrities. The increasing growth of ‘tourist industry’ and competition among the luxury hotels in attracting a wide range of customers are common in the present scenario. The well-achieved ‘brand image’ by providing loyal services to the customers can help the companies to present themselves positively on the social platforms during the booking process (Liat, et al., 2017). “Marriott” International has already achieved an individual brand identity to attract customers. However, it is also essential for them to sustain their quality for maintaining their image and loyalty. |
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Company Assets |
Another main aspect of a big brand outlined in this section of brand equity assignment is to increase its existing resource value to maintain its 'brand equity'. The researchers have been explaining that the current corporate 'hotel industry' is dependable on various firms to control different financial aspects to gain more profit (Roper, 2018).It will help the brand to only focus on their core services, and let other management industries to increase the financial value of a company. The hotel industry in India follows not only core services but also the related services for engaging customers.The 'supply chain' system enables various brands in the 'hospitality industry' to join with big corporate firms to acquire financial advice, financial management techniques, and profit increasing strategies. |
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Socio-economic Awareness |
The social responsibility of a big hotel brand is to connect as many people as possible to contribute to their well-being. "Marriott" International is maintaining a big employee group of 176,000 employees (as of 2018) globally, and maintains a strong bond with them. The improvement of the customer's perception makes the company provides a better 'working life', 'job satisfaction', and economic well-being of those thousands of employees. The expanding family of the “Marriott” International is the sign of its increasing ‘brand equity’. |
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Service Quality and Customer’s Perception |
The service quality provided by the hotels controls the perception of the customers. "Marriott" International is determined towards providing the best 'value-based' services to fulfil the customer's demand. The service quality of a multinational hotel makes a direct and indirect impact on the customer’s loyalty to the brand, and their perception (Priyo, et al., 2019). The effective communication process, employee's behaviour, and 'value-based' services are the critical aspect of changing a customer's perception towards a hotel brand. It will also help the hotel to achieve 'word-of-mouth' promotion from satisfied customers and increase the brand's engagement. |
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Environmental Contribution |
The awareness towards the environmental well-being and using environmental-friendly resources can increase the brand value of an organization. In the present scenario, it is important for the stakeholders and management to understand the sustainable resources for providing better services quality. The stakeholders are the main responsible for implementing different management practices to maintain an environmental-friendly service process. It helps the brand to maintain a proper image among its competitors. It is estimated that almost 75 per cent of the accommodation facility in 'hotel industry' is responsible for emitting excessive CO2 by implementing unnecessary resources(Amaldas, 2019). It is a concerning aspect as it causes additional costs and negative impact on the environment. "Marriott" International has taken initiative to implement eco-friendly products and services into the daily operations and provide a healthy environment to the customers. |
3. Explanation of the Identified Factors in Context to the “Marriott International”
3.1 Reviewing the Identified Factors
"Marriott" International is working behind providing 'value-based' services to its customers to satisfy their needs and increase the brand's value. According to González-Mansilla, Berenguer-Contrí, & Serra-Cantallops (2019), the organization’s ‘brand equity’ and ‘customer’s satisfaction’ are interlinked and contribute to the hotel’s value. The customer’s perception is controlled by the service quality of the organization and how the management providing their needs. However, it is important to maintain the brand’s image as positive as possible. Unsatisfied customers can ruin a brand’s reputation in the age of digitalization. Same technique applies to India as the brand reputation is depending on customers.
The regular customers of the “Marriott” International are the main asset of the organization in maintaining the image. They can act as the primary promotional channel for the organization among the potential customers. Multinational companies like “Marriott” International can serve their valuable services to the corporate and tourism sector simultaneously. The brand equity assignmentexamines the words of Mondejar Jimenez, Sevilla-Sevilla, & Garcia-Pozo (2016) that “corporate social responsibility” (CSR) maintains the social responsibilities of an organization and influence the customer’s to obtain a positive perception on the brand’s identity. The effective implementation of ‘CSR’ by "Marriott" International can enhance the organization to establish a positive identity towards the customers. The critical aspects related to providing 'customer-based' services noted in the brand equity assignmentcan influence a lot of aspect in maintaining a secure ‘brand image’. In India, the hotel industry mainly targets their regular customers for increasing the brand equity.
“Marriott” International is determined towards making their venture 'green' to provide a healthy environment to the customers. According to Yusof, Awang, Jusoff, & Ibrahim (2017), it is stated herein brand equity assignmentthat the innovative changes including providing ‘green’ and eco-friendly services can make a significant impact on the customer’s perception. It is a well-known fact that the 'hotel industry' is responsible for polluting the environment to some extend. The uncertain impact from the 'global warming', 'climate change', and intense pollution is the concerning factors on any industry. The 'hotel industry' can change its policy towards using non-tangible products and engage in providing eco-friendly services as soon as possible.
3.2 Role of factors in achieving the brand equity of the Company
The factors have been listed below within this brand equity assignment and they have been discussed to understand their roles in increasing brand equity.
A. ‘Customer-based’ Services
The hospitality sector mainly focuses on the ‘customer-based’ services to improve its brand equity on the global market. The main task of the Company is to provide efficient services to the customers(Sürücü, et al., 2019). Thus, the ‘customer-based’ services are important to increase the brand equity of the Company. The Indian hotel industry always tries to provide adequate service to their customers.
B. Brand ‘Loyalty’ and ‘Image’
The customers depend on those brands that are loyal to them. They always focus on the long-term relationship from the Company. Marriott International must maintain a transparent image to increase its customer relationship and thus, increasing the brand equity value(Liu, et al., 2017). The brand equity value is not easy for extending on the global market. Proper planning is needed for extending the brand equity value on the global market. The loyalty of the brand is also an important factor for engaging the customers in the Company. In India, brand ‘loyalty’ plays a main driver for drawing the customers towards the brand.
C. Company Assets
The Company must have basic assets for increasing its brand value on the global market. In the case of Marriott International, they don't have proper infrastructure for maintaining their assets and evaluate it(Roper, 2018). The Company must also engage themselves in maintaining the Company assets for their improvement in the global market. The marketers always opt for those companies that have high brand value. In India, Competition can also be survived through great company assets.
D. Socio-economic Awareness
The Company must have proper socio-economic awareness for its growth of brand equity on the global market. The Company should focus on spreading effective awareness among their staffs. It helps in increasing the brand value of the Company. The Company must have proper measures or planning to expand their business on the global market. The customers in India prefer hygiene places for accommodation.
E. Service Quality and Customer’s Perception
The Company should focus on improving the service quality and thus, helps in achieving the positive feedback from the customer. It will help in improving the perception of the Customers on the Company(Liat, et al., 2017). In this way, the Company can engage a huge number of customers towards their brand. This technique is also followed in India.
F. Environmental Contribution
The environment has a major contribution to increasing the brand equity value of the Company. The Marriott International sometimes focuses on such operations that can harm the environment greatly(Sánchez?Medina, et al., 2016). Those operations must be avoided for increasing the brand equity value of the Company. The Indian hotel industry can implement this factor as the main driver for increasing the brand equity.
4. Formulation of the strategies in 7Ps of the marketing mix
4.1 Discussion of the strategies that can enhance the brand equity in Marriott International
Brand Equity helps to provide various strategic benefits to the Organization for extending their areas and attracting a greater number of customers. It is very beneficial at times of downturns of the organization. The economic pressure can be handled by applying different strategies on the Organization. It helps the Company to compete in the global market through its Product.
Several strategies can be built in the hospitality sector. Among them, five major strategies have been discussed. They are listed in the next section of brand equity assignment: -
A. The strategy of Promotion Mix
Promotion is a measurable action that is planned by the Company to increase its sales on the global market. The promotion mix is consisting of five components that clearly define the objective of the promotion mix in the global market. They have been listed below within this brand equity assignment: -
- Advertising- It is a way of forecasting the Product in global markets for attracting potential customers(Kumar & Patra, 2017). In the Hospitality Sector, advertising is done through digital channels and fostering the unique features of the Organization.
- Sales Promotion- Selling the Product through different media helps in increasing the area of focus for the Product. In the hospitality sector, sales promotion is done by the marketing team of the Company.
- Public Relations- In the hospitality sector, Public relations has been made through organizing events and presenting the unique features of the Company. It helps to increase the growth of the Company in the larger field.
- Personal selling- In the hospitality sector, there is little scope of personal selling. Hotels or organizations mainly offer discounts to the existing customers that visit regularly. It helps to maintain one-to-one interaction.
- Direct Marketing- In the hospitality sector, direct marketing is done physically by the marketing team. The marketing team mainly offers different discounted schemes to attract customers and survive in the competitive field.
Figure: - Diagram showing the main components of the Promotion mix and their relation with the Consumer market(Kumar & Patra, 2017).
B. The strategy of Management Performance
Analyzing the performance of management is one of the major tasks of the marketing team. It helps to increase its brand equity in the global market. The learning dimensions based on the performance can also be measured using this effective strategy. A balanced scorecard is the best option to evaluate the organization's management performance.
The establishment of this strategy illustrated in this section of brand equity assignment will help to analyze the activity of the Organization and its effectiveness on the international market because it also emphasizes measuring the different components of the finance department and its improvement. Through the improvement of finance, the Company can extend its sectors and branches on the global market. It will help them to make a significant stand.
C. The strategy of ‘Service Branding Dominant Logic Model’
Brand equity helps to provide interactive services by the Company to the customers. The brand equity assignmentexamines that the modern scope of brand management has a direct relation with the financial measurement of the Company(Kegoro & Justus, 2020). Thus, it helps to maintain the customer relationship as well as the improvement of the Company. The Company can take effective measures for increasing its brand value on the global market(Kegoro & Justus, 2020).
In the hospitality sector, brand management has been used as a companion tool for improving the performance of the Company. Several Organizations focus on brand revitalization for improving their business on the global market. It helps to deliver effective services to the customers. The customers can give valuable feedback based on the services received by the Company(Kegoro & Justus, 2020). As a result, the Company selected in this brand equity assignment can gain a brand value on the market that helps to improve the growth of the Company.
Figure: - Diagram showing the structure of ‘Service branding Dominant Logic Model’(Kegoro & Justus, 2020).
D. The strategy of Advertising Framework
Advertising has emerged as a critical tool for every sector. It needs to be implemented must on the Organization for gaining the customer feedback from the global market(Hilman, et al., 2017). It helps to increase the brand value of the Company and helps to make the effective communication. Effective communication can be built as the tool for delivering the message of new features of the brand to effective customers. The customer relationship can also be improved with the advancement of technology in advertising.
In the hospitality sector, Advertising is the main tool for communicating the message to the customers. Thus, it is stated herein brand equity assignment that various technological tools have been used in making an advertisement for the Company. They can also exploit their brand equity through a useful presentation on the Products. Customers mainly trust those brands that have transparency in their services.
E. The strategy of ‘Personal Moral Codes’
The concept of 'Personal Moral codes' focuses on brand equity as the ethics of the Organization for gaining brand value. Through this concept, every individual has the right to express the views on brand equity. The brand management of the Organization can also be determined by evaluating the views through ‘Personal Moral codes.’ The readings used to build this brand equity assignmentsignifies that it can be used as a technological tool for measuring the ethics value of the Company. It will help to gain the moral value of the Competitive market.
As per the research on brand equity assignment, the 'H-V' theory mainly focusses on the ethical problem, its alternatives, and consequences that were perceived by the Organization. The ‘Deontological’ Norms must be maintained for keeping the ethics value of the Company. It helps to analyze the views through the codes of moral ethics on the Organization. In the hospitality sector, the implementation of 'personal moral codes' helps to gain effective brand value on the global market.
Figure: - Diagram showing the structure of ‘Hunt- Vitell’ Theory of Ethics(Hunt, 2019).
4.2 Specifying the role of factors in context with the 7Ps of the marketing mix
In this case of brand equity assignment, Marriott International wants to build up its brand equity for engaging new customers. Based on that, the marketing mix has been discussed. The 7Ps are explained below within this brand equity assignment: -
a) Product
The product of the hospitality sector is mainly services that have been designed to satisfy the needs of the customers. The factor of ‘customer-based’ services is perfect to analyze the product of Marriott International.
The Company huge services to its customers for satisfying their needs.
b) Price
The gaining of brand value is not depending on the services but also their reasonable cost. The Brand ‘Loyalty’ and ‘Image’ can be maintained only if the cost is made reasonable of every aspect. It will help to gain brand equity for the Company.
c) Place
The environmental contribution has a great effect on the place of the Organization. The organizations in the hospitality sector sometimes affect the environment through their operations(Aloina, et al., 2019). It leads to a decrease in the brand value of the Company.
d) Promotion
The service quality and the customer’s perception have a major role in the promotion(Loo & Leung, 2018). Company promotion is mainly depending on the digital channels through which the Company is presenting its products on the global market.
e) Process
Company assets have a major role in the Process of the Company. The internal process of the Company explained in the brand equity assignment depending on various operations and thus, measuring the Company assets is needed for increasing the brand value of the Company(Othman, et al., 2019). Marriott International has some unique operations and they also focus on maintaining their Company assets securely.
f) People
Socio-economic awareness is a must for the staff of the Company to provide good services. The hotel industry is not only focused on the food but also the services that are provided by their staff. The staff of Marriott International plays the main role in satisfying the customers and their needs. It helps to build long-term customer relationship.
g) Physical Evidence
Before installing any model, the Company must follow previous case studies to improve their brand value. The case studies help to provide relevant information to the leaders about the installation of a certain factor on the Company. All the factors mentioned in the brand equity assignment must be maintained to improve the brand equity value of the Company on the global market. It must be designed based on the case studies considered in the brand equity assignment that are used as the physical evidence for the Company.
5. Conclusion
The factors are then reviewed through the relevant journal paper explored in the brand equity assignment that helps in providing proper theoretical knowledge on the factors. The role of factors for improving brand equity has been discussed based on the case of Marriott International. In the above segments of brand equity assignment, the strategies have been explained to improve the brand value of the Company on the global market. A marketing plan provided in the brand equity assignment has been conducted based on the 7Ps of the marketing mix to understand the role of factors on the Company. It will help the Company to obtain a significant stand on the global market. The Company can also expand its areas by acquiring knowledge from the Project.
6. Bibliography
Aloina, G. et al., 2019. Designing market strategy for Indonesian dining house in Industrial 4.0 era. s.l.,brand equity assignment IOP Publishing, p. 012102.
Amaldas, K. H., 2019. Hotel industry and environmental impact. [Online] Available at: https://www.slideshare.net/AMALDASKH/hotel-industry-and-environmental-impact
Brand Finance, 2019. The annual report on the most valuable and strongest hotel brands. Hotels 50 2019, February.
Hilman, H., Hanaysha, J. R. M. & Ghani, N. H. A., 2017. Analyzing the relationship between advertising and sales promotion with brand equity. Asian International Journal of Social Sciences, 17(2), pp. 88-103.
Hunt, S. D., 2019. The ethics of branding, customer-brand relationships, brand-equity strategy, and branding as a societal institution. Journal of Business Research, Volume 95, pp. 408-416.
Kegoro, H. O. & Justus, M., 2020. CRITICAL REVIEW OF LITERATURE ON BRAND EQUITY AND CUSTOMER LOYALTY. International Journal of Business, 7(3), pp. 146-165.
Kumar, S. & Patra, S., 2017. Does promotion mix really help to enhance brand equity: A literature review. Asian Journal of Management, 8(4), pp. 1387-1392.
Liat, C. B., Mansori, S., Chuan, G. C. & Imrie, B. C., 2017. Hotel service recovery and service quality: Influences of corporate image and generational differences in the relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty. Journal of Global Marketing, 30(1), pp. 42-51.
Liu, M. T. et al., 2017. Applying a consumer-based brand equity in luxury hotel branding. Journal of Business Research, Volume 81, pp. 192-202.
Loo, P. T. & Leung, R., 2018. A service failure framework of hotels in Taiwan: Adaptation of 7Ps marketing mix elements. Brand equity assignmentJournal of Vacation Marketing, 24(1), pp. 79-100.
Marriott International, 2020. Core Values & Heritage. [Online] Available at: https://www.marriott.com/culture-and-values/core-values.mi#
Martínez, P. & Nishiyama, N., 2019. Enhancing customer-based brand equity through CSR in the hospitality sector. International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, 20(3), pp. 329-353.
Mest, E., 2018. Hilton bests Marriott in brand value survey. [Online] Available at: https://www.hotelmanagement.net/operate/a-look-at-brand-finance-s-top-50-hotel-brands-2018
Othman, B. et al., 2019. The influences of service marketing mix on customer loyalty towards Umrah travel agents: Evidence from Malaysia. Management Science Letters, 9(6), pp. 865-876.
Roper, A., 2018. Ring the changes: the industrial evolution of the corporate hotel industry.. New Vistas, 3(2), pp. 34-39.
Sürücü, Ö., Öztürk, Y., Okumus, F. & Bilgihan, A., 2019. Brand awareness, image, physical quality and employee behavior as building blocks of customer-based brand equity: Consequences in the hotel context. Brand equity assignmentJournal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Volume 40, pp. 114-124.
