Page 28 - Branding Yourself and Your Business

24 ROBERT DRAKES

not stuck with consumers and they are having a hard time figuring
out what the message was that your company was trying to convey.
For example, look at the success of home gaming systems. When
you hear the brand name Playstation, you know two things right off
the bat, it is a video game system and that is made by Sony. You
never hear it referred to as a Sony Playstation in advertisements.
Sony has successfully put the brand name first and it has become
recognized by consumers as a brand, yet they also know it is made
by Sony. This is further demonstrated with a consumer goes to
purchase the prod-uct. They do not ask the sales associate where
the Sony Playstation is, they just say Playstation.

Conversely, Microsoft takes a different approach to branding
than Proctor & Gamble and Sony. Their company name is
displayed prominently on their software packaging. They use their
company name to try to help their brands. When you are looking for
software you will find Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, or Microsoft
Office, but something different happens to the Microsoft that does
not happen to many other company names, consumers will act like
the company name is not even there. How many times have you
been asked if you are proficient in some computer programs and if
you are familiar with pc’s you answer with just Word, Excel or
Office. Microsoft can get by with this because consumers have
done the work for them, instead of having a cumbersome brand
names consumers have shortened them to easily recognizable and
memo-rable brand names by only using Word, Excel, and Office.