Tiểu luậnQuản trị kinh doanh: Brand Building In Startups: Case Study Of Qua Hanoi Xua

List of figures Figure 2-1 Customer-Based Brand Equity Pyramid Figure 2-2 Toyota Prius' Customer-Based Brand Equity Pyramid Figure 2-3 Universal Brand Identity Process Figure 4-1 The 3 B

BRAND BUILDING IN STARTUPS:

CASE STUDY OF QUA HANOI XUA

Supervisor’s name: Dr Pham Thi Lien

Student’s name: Trinh Tuan Anh

Student ID: 08050109Intake: QH2009-E

Hanoi — May, 2013

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List of tables

Table 2-1 The Functions Of The Brand For The Consumer

Table 3-1 Case Studies - International Startups

Table 3-2 Case Studies — Vietnamese Startups

Table 4-1 Summary Of The Three Archetypes

Table 4-2 Levels Of Start-Up Brand Orientation

Table 5-1 Qua Ha Noi Xua’s Brand Brief

Table 5-2 Brand Voice Of Hanoi Fragrance

Table 6-1 Budgeting

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List of figures

Figure 2-1 Customer-Based Brand Equity Pyramid

Figure 2-2 Toyota Prius' Customer-Based Brand Equity Pyramid

Figure 2-3 Universal Brand Identity Process

Figure 4-1 The 3 Brand Orientation Archetypes

Figure 4-2 Brand-Driven Approach To Brand Marketing Strategy

Figure S-1 Market Structure Of The Traditional Snack Food MarketFigure 5-2 Brand Touchpoints

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to every person who has given me their

help and support during the making of this paper.

First and foremost, I want to thank the University of Economics and Business — Vietnam

National University Hanoi and in particular, the Faculty of Business Administration for

providing me the opportunity to begin this project, as well as their generous and constantsupport ever since the beginning

I would like to personally express my deepest thanks to my mentor, Doctor Pham Thi

Lien of the Faculty of Business Administration for her constant guidance, support and

encouragement throughout the making of this paper The paper would not be possiblewithout his contribution

I deeply thank everyone at Alpine Creative Ltd for the generous guidance and

inspirations that I’ve received during the making of this project; and also Qua Ha Noi

Xua for giving me access to valuable sources of information on which this whole paperwas founded

Last but not least, I convey my sincerest gratitude to the project’s incredible creative

designer, as well as all the people who have given me valuable suggestions and

information on various aspects of the study I am indebted to their tremendous andunconditional support

Trinh Tuan Anh, Student.

Abstract

The start-up scene, both around the world and in Vietnam, is now growing stronger than

ever As the barriers to entry goes down, competition for all businesses in general, andstartups in particular is increasing, and the need to differentiate become more important.One of the solutions for differentiation has always been brand building and development.Although in the past, branding and marketing activities are often neglected by start-upfounders, particularly those in the tech industry, in recent years many startups havestarted to look at branding seriously In fact, there are many benefits that branding

activities can bring to startups, such as attracting customers through differentiation and

building customer loyalty through communicating brand values A quick glance at the

more successful startups in recent years e.g Kickstarter and Flipboard reveals how

effective branding can contribute greatly to commercial success In this paper, the

necessity (or lack thereof) of brand building in startups will be discussed, and a guideline

for brand building in start-up companies is developed

line of products that is “modern”, “sleek” or even “best in business” The list does go

on, but some questions arise: What do these names have in common? Is it only the

quality of the products that has propelled these names to worldwide popularity? A common belief held by many corporations today is that in an increasingly competitive

business environment, having a brand image that “stand out” is the key to success

However, not every company can afford the multi-million dollar promotion campaignsrun by international conglomerates such as the brands mentioned above The case isparticular true for SME startups, who often need to be highly sale-oriented in order tosurvive, and therefore would focus more on product and price (Carson, 1995) rather thanimage building activities (Krake, 2005) In fact, in later sections of this paper it would

be demonstrated how start-up owners might even be reluctant to invest in marketing

activities in general, and brand management activities in particular

In Vietnam, the relative ease of setting up a new company in recent years have led to astrong increase in the number of SME startups (there were 65,000 new startups in 2012alone — data by the Ministry of Planning and Investment), especially in the 2 main

commercial centers: Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City At the same time, the number of

companies that went bankrupt remains high at 55,000 This is particularly apparent in

the food and beverages industry, with new restaurants, coffee shops and bars that seem

to go in and out of business on a monthly basis In this kind of business environment,

differentiating one’s products or services has become more difficult yet more important

than ever

This paper first discusses the various existing branding philosophy through a review of

literature After that, the paper discusses the necessity of brand building and development in startups; and try to develop a guideline for strategic brand building in

startups Finally, the paper applies that guideline to the specific case study of Qua Ha

Noi Xua, a start-up Hanoian snack food restaurant located on Pham Hong Thai Street

1.2 Purpose and significance of the study

There are two purposes to this study: one theoretical and one practical Theoretically,the study aims to prove the necessity of having a branding strategy, even in cost-

conscious startups; and try to establish a general guideline for strategic brand building

in startups Practically, the study aims to apply that discussion/guideline to developing a

unified branding strategy for Qua Ha Noi Xua.

Relating to the significance of the study, a question arises: Is there a real need for aseparate guideline to brand building and development in startups? Although there areample resources to be found on corporate branding, it is the author’s view that thesestrategic models and guidelines, being designed with multination corporations in mind,

can sometimes be too complicated or too resource-consuming for cost-conscious

startups to apply Therefore, it is the author’s aim to propose a simple and easily

applicable model that can help startups define a brand strategy and build an identity at alow cost Due to the limited scope of the paper, the author does not propose an originalmodel, but instead seek to adapt existing brand building models for use in startups

1.3 Research questions

The paper answers 3 main research questions:

- First, is it necessary and practical for startups to invest in brand building and

management?

- Second, is there a general guideline from which a startup can develop their branding

strategy, especially in Vietnam’s business environment?

- Third, how would the established guideline be applicable to the case of Qua Ha Noi

Xua?

1.4 Limitations & Delimitations

Although brand management is a well-tread ground of academic research, most of the

existing papers discuss branding and brand management in the corporation environment(usually multi-nationals corporations who need to present a unified image in variousmarkets) Academic research of the matter in startups is almost non-existent, howeverthere are several literature on brand management in SMEs, which would be used as a

basis in this paper

A second limitation of this research is the lack of financial data in most startups,

especially in Vietnam, making any quantitative analysis difficult to implement.Moreover, the author is concern about the possibility of collecting measurable results

that can be gained from the case study due to the lack of a Performance Assessment

Framework.

Chapter 2: Review of Literature

2.1 Definitions of the brand, brand equity, brand building and brand

management

2.1.1 The brand

During the last few decades, the concerns of branding literature have experienced adramatic shift Traditionally, the brand is defined as simply “the name, associated with

one or more items in the product line, that is used to identify the source of character of

the item(s)” (Kotler 2000, p.396), or “(a brand is) a name, term, sign, symbol, or design,

or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of (sellers)”

(AMA) These definitions, while being correct in defining the basic function of the brand,describe the brand as no more than a product identifier In very much the same way, the

traditional branding model consists of a brand management team who were responsiblefor creating and coordinating the brand’s management program (Aaker and

Joachmisthaler, 2000) The drawback of this model was that the brand manager (who

was often not high in the company’s hierarchy), would focus only on the short-term

financial results of single “brands” or products in the market Overall, the model itselfwas reactive, rather than strategic and visionary (Aaker and Joachmisthaler, 2000)

Keller (2003a) argued that “technically speaking, then, whenever a marketer creates anew name, logo or symbol for a new product, he or she has created a brand” Kellerrecognized, then, that the brands today must be much more than just a product’sidentifier In other words, our definition of the brand must change to accommodate thisunderstanding Kapferer (1997) proposed the modern definition of the brand, which nowserves 8 distinct functions as shown in Table 1 He argued that “the value of the brandcomes from its ability to gain an exclusive, positive and prominent meaning in the minds

of a large number of consumers” Therefore, branding and brand building should focus

on developing brand values

Function Consumer benefit

Identification To be clearly seen, to make sense of the offer, to quickly identify

the sought-after products

Practicality To allow savings of time and energy through identical

repurchasing and loyalty

Guarantee To be sure of finding the same quality no matter where or when

you buy the product or service

Optimization To be sure of buying the best product in its category, the best

performer for a particular purpose

Characterization To have confirmation of your self-image or the image that you

present to others

Continuity Satisfaction brought about through familiarity and intimacy with

the brand that you have been consuming for years

Hedonistic Satisfaction linked to the attractiveness of the brand, to its logo,

to its communication

Ethical Satisfaction linked to the responsible behavior of the brand in its

relationship towards society

Table 2-1 The Functions of the Brand for the Consumer

2.1.2 Brand equity

The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines brand equity as the value of a

brand Aaker (1991) argued that the most important asset of a company is its intangible

assets i.e its name, brand, symbols and slogans From a consumer perspective, brand equity is based on consumer attitudes about positive brand attributes and favorable

consequences of brand use

2.1.3 Brand building

Building brands allows companies to grow their business, make them even moreprofitable and create an intangible asset (Kapferer, 2007) Aaker (1991) lists fourdimensions that help create a strong brand: Awareness, Associations, Perceived qualityand Brand loyalty Aaker also argued that “companies who have built strong brands have

an alternative to competing on price and specifications”.

How, then, does a company build the basic brand values that would help it gain acompetitive edge? Keller (2007) suggested the Customer-Based Brand Equity (or

CBBE) model that would act as a branding ladder, or building block, for a firm’s

branding program Below is the diagram of the CBBE model:

4 RELATIONSHIPS =

What about you and

me?

Figure 2-1 Customer-Based Brand Equity Pyramid

(From Strategic Brand Management 3e, Kevin L Keller)

The CBBE model approaches brand equity from the perspective of the customer,providing a unique point of view as to what brand equity is and how it should best be

built, measured and managed The power of a brand lies in what customers have learned,

felt, seen and heard about the brand as a result of their experiences over time Thechallenge for marketers and brand managers, then, is to ensure that the customers willhave the right type of experience with their product or service An example of asuccessful brand, the Toyota Prius, shows how this concept is actualize:

if you care for the environment

The car drives] Ì am a good

as and well as a gas | responsible

tize

engines

IMAGERY Distinct look versus Other cars/hybrids

Higher fuel economy Lower emissions

SALIENCE-I need a car to get around town/transportayon

Figure 2-2 Toyota Prius’ Customer-Based Brand

“^ «

Equit Pyramid (From Management and Strategy, 2007)

Companies can manage their brands by implementing effective marketing strategies that

focus on building sustainable advantages over the competition (Kapferer, 1997),

Marketing strategies, on their own, are focused on two main factors: differentiation and

value added (Abraham, 2005)

2.2 The Brand Identity

In order to achieve the desired image and values for a brand in the minds of the

customers, a company can build what is call the brand identity The brand identity is a set of elements that is both tangible and appealing to the senses, taking disparate

elements and unifies them into whole systems (Wheeler, 2009 Designing brand identity)

Because the brand identity is assembled by the brand owner, it reflects how the company

wants the consumers to perceive the brand — and by extension the company, products orservices This is in contrast to the aforementioned brand image, which is a customer’smental picture of a brand An important element of the brand identity is the brand name

Effective brand names build a connection between the brand personalities as they are

perceived by the target audience and the actual product/service The brand name should

be conceptually on target with the product/service (what the company stands for).Furthermore, the brand name should be on target with the brand demographic Typically,

sustainable brand names are easy to remember, transcend trends and have positive

connotations Brand identity is fundamental to consumer recognition and symbolizes the

brand's differentiation from competitors

: 3 Designing 4 Creating 5 Managing

identity touchpoints assets

Figure 2-3 Universal Brand Identity Process

(Adapted from Wheeler, 2009)

Although the Universal Brand Identity Process looks deceptively simple, it carries manyimplications that are of strategic importance to all companies looking to establish the

desired image This model is discussed in details in another section of this paper

2.3 Branding strategy

The brand manager’s jobs are not done after a brand identity has been created In order

to ensure brand growth, companies need to build a brand strategy in order to maintaincustomer trust and loyalty, and to ensure that the brand remains easy to identify and

consistent in quality (North, Kotze, Stark and de Vos, 2003) Wong and Merrilees (2005)pointed out four key components to brand strategy: brand orientation, brand barriers,brand distinctiveness and brand marketing performance

Brand orientation: Brand orientation is “an approach in which the process of the

organization revolve around the creation, development, and protection of brand identity

in an ongoing interaction with target customers with the aim of achieving lasting

competitive advantages In the form ofbrands” (Urde, 1999) Wong and Merrilees (2005)note than the brand orientation is a choice of strategy which can determine a firm’s

competitive edge, ensuring future survival in the long term.

Brand barriers: The brand can be used as a means of differentiation, and so

corporations invest significant amounts of money to build up brand equity This kind of

expense is seen as a huge barrier for smaller companies as they seek to create similar

brands from scratch (Kotler and Keller, 2005)

Brand distinctiveness: Brand distinctiveness offers firms a competitive marketing

advantage as firms position their goods or services in a unique manner, whichdistinguishes them from their competitors (Carvalho, 2007)

Brand marketing performance: There are various means of evaluating the

performance of a brand i.e based on financial value (Feldwick, 1996), or on equity

(Aaker, 1995), or through the brand report card (Keller, 2000), or on the brand building

process (Chernatory, 2001) However, Wong and Merrilees argued that a combination of

various evaluation methods enhances the possibility of a true picture of the performance

of a brand

2.4 Brand building from a financial perspective — The value of a strong brand

As indicated in the sections above, both academic research during recent years and themajority of business people today generally acknowledge the importance of building astrong brand, and that developing a brand identity should be taken as part of the long-

term strategy However, organizations are often under tremendous pressure from

stakeholders to focus on current financial results, and because of this, the challenge has been to measure the financial benefits of branding from both short and long term

perspectives

Aœording to David Aaker (Building Strong Brands, 1995), there are a number offimncial benefits to building a strong brand These benefits can be measured, and theyare interdependent and build on each other

Th: AVS Group listed 6 direct financial benefits (derived from Aaker’s) of having a

strong brand identity:

Beiefit 1: Brand identity commands a price-premium Why is someone willing to pay

thausands of dollars more for a Lexus than for a Toyota? They are virtually the sameprcduct with the exception of some additional options and accessories

Th: value proposition is wrapped around the brand The Lexus, Jaguar, Volvo, andRaige Rover brands are worth more in the minds of consumers regardless of whetherthe product actually functions better

Benefit 2: A price premium creates the perception of quality This follows the age-old

axiom of “you get what you pay for.” If a Lexus costs more than a comparable product,

it must be because the Lexus provides better quality Right? Not necessarily There arepleaty of lower-cost, high-quality vehicles available, yet people still pay more for whatthey perceive to be a better or higher-quality brand So the axiom lives on

Benefit 3: Perceived quality has been shown to positively affect customer usage.Consumers tend to select brands they perceive to be quality brands This also connects

to repeat buying or brand loyalty Consumers tend to continue buying brands that rewardthem with a good experience versus repeating the evaluation process time after time

Benefit 4: According to Dr Aaker’s research, perceived quality is the single

most-important contributor to a company’s return on investment (ROI), having more impact

than market share, R&D, or marketing expenditures Brand identity perceives quality

that contributes to profitability, in part by enhancing prices and market share Improveperceived quality and the organization’s ROI will improve.

Benefit 5: Customers relate value with quality This is closely connected to Benefit 1 If

one brand is perceived to be of higher quality than another brand, customers tend to

perceive that the higher-quality brand is a better value

Benefit 6: Perceived quality can be a point of differentiation Smart companies are

continually looking for ways to differentiate their brand's identity from competing offers.Perceived quality can be used to differentiate, and in doing so, enable the company toloop back to Benefit ] and charge a price premium for their strong brand

(Adapted from

hitp://www.avsgroup.com/Resources/Articles/FinancialBenefitsofBrandldentity.aspx)

Chapter 3: Methodology

Because of the limited literature on brand building and development in startups, the

author wants to explore how startups understand and use brands in their business.

Because of this exploratory focus and the lack of statistic and financial data of startups,

the author chooses the qualitative approach based on related literature review,

in-depth personal interviews and case study method This methodology allows the

author to explore wholly and gain insight into the branding situation and issues of

startups It is also in line with a number of branding studies, such as Wong and Merrilees,

2005 and de Chernatony and Riley, 1998.

In order to answer the first research question “Is brand building and development

necessary for startups?” the author reviews recent literature and expert opinions on thematter, then conducts thorough personal interviews with branding experts to discoverthe answer The author also looks at the success stories of famous internationalstartups to discover how these companies utilize their brands An overview of the

startups used in this section is presented below

Company’ Website Business type Time in No of

name business Employee

Kickstarter kickstarter.com Crowd-funding — 5 years 50 to 100

Getaround = getaround.com Peer-to-peer 1 year 10 to 50

Carsharing

Storenvy storenvy.com Social e- 6 years Less than 10

marketplace

in startups”, the author proposes using a simple model adapted from Wong and Merrilees’

Brand Orientation Archetypes for SMEs as a general guideline, then uses case studies

of Vietnamese startups to show the model in action Information of the case studiedwas gathered using both direct and indirect means An overview of the startups used as

case studies used in this section is presented below:

Company’ Website Business type Time in No of

name business Employee

HATCH! © hatch.vn Entrepreneurial Š months Less than 10

Support

Ig9 ig9.vn Crowd-funding | month Less than 10

Keewi keewi.me Event | year 10 to 20

Management

VYE vye.vn Entrepreneurial Ì year 10 to 20

Support

Muafast muafast.com Online shopping 6 months 20 to 50

Foody.vn =foody.vn Restaurant guide l year 20 to 50

Mintown — mintown.vn Handmade goods 2 year - Less than 10

Table 3-2 Case studies — Vietnamese Startups

Chapter 4: Answering the Research Questions

4.1 The necessity of Brand building and development in Startups

4.2.1 Deductive arguments

Many start-up founders, particularly those in the tech industry, discount the importance

of brand in startups It’s difficult, especially for new founders who have to face myriad

of priorities each day, to think about brand in a way that make sense for startups Manymodern startups today operate following both the Lean Startup philosophy (1.e doing

things and making incremental changes as necessary) and the just-in-time attitude of

only doing something when it’s absolutely necessary The problem with this approach is

that it is short-term focused, and sometimes when a problem is realized (e.g the

company lacks purpose, some people are destructive to the working environment, etc.),

it may have been too late to reconcile Branding, on the other hand, help the company in

the long run by creating a strong foundation for the future

Another reason for which startups should focus more on branding is the decreasing

technological barrier As barriers to entry continue to fall driven by cloud technologies,

competitions among startups will increase and the startups that reach their target

customer bases with the best messaging and building the most effective brands will win

(Tunguz, 2013)

Raisanen of Fast Co.Design described three main reasons why startups should invest in

brand building and management:

- Startups can use the brand to define who they are Most entrepreneurs have a

clear idea in their head what they are aiming to accomplish However, when asked

what their company does, most entrepreneurs will respond with a confused garble of

abstractions, conceptual solutions, and tech jargon An understanding of the basic

principles of branding will help start-up founders refined their language to achievebrevity and clarity while communicating the brand

- Startups can use brand to differentiate While this may sound obvious, many new

companies keel falling into the trap of telling everyone how fantastic they are, andhow great their technology is Instead, what other people want to hear is why yourproduct is better than the other ones

- Startups can use a visual identity to communicate brand values Elements of the

identity such as logo, website, fonts and colors, when applied correctly will instantly

emit the values that the company want to communicate e.g trust, innovation, luxury,

etc.

Although the initial brand barriers for startups maybe high, in truth startups also have a

tremendous advantage in brand building because they have the ability to build and

leverage early stage brand DNA, enabling them to define their own niche and cut

through the competitive clutter (The Guardian, 2012) Building and cultivating core

brand values from the beginning will help startups quickly capture a loyal customer base ard provide a certain amount of “gravitas”.

The impacts of the brand, when view from an internal standpoint, are no less significant;

as brand values can have major influence on the internal workings and structures of a

business As startups grow, the threat of losing their initial core values can begin to

surface It’s easy for brand values to become diluted, and it is therefore crucial to create

an internal culture that reflects the brand positioning and can grow the equity of thebrind (The Guardian, 2012)

4.2.2 Success stories

Before discussing about developing a guideline for startups, the paper looks atsuccessful international startups today and how they build and utilize their brands FourU.S.-based startups are considered: Kickstarter, Getaround, Storenvy and Flipboard

Kickstarter (U.S.)

Kickstarter’s branding strategies revolve around using novel, highly visible and

creative projects to promote the brand As the most famous crowd-funding platform inthe world, Kickstarter can attract and host creative and high-profile business ideas from

entrepreneurs around the world Because the name Kickstarter is attached to every

project it hosts, the more attention a project gained, the more publicity Kickstarter

enjoys The company logo and name reflect clearly what the company does —

kick-starting potential businesses The company even provide the “style guide” — a brand

guideline for media and Kickstarter’s partners to use the Kickstarter Brand properly

Storenvy (U.S.)

Storenvy is a social e-commerce platform that allow sellers to open fully customizableand feature-rich online stores for free while at the same time create one big

marketplace where shoppers can interact with sellers and each other Storenvy’s

branding strategies focus on simplicity with a consistent brand identity including: a

simple and creative logo, minimalist website’s interface that features a product grid

and roll-over categories Storenvy is designed based on customers’ needs (both sellers

and buyers) therefore it’s friendly and easy for small-business owners to use The

integration with Facebook also support store owners to easily manage their shop and

keep in touch with customers All of those features support Storenvy’s vision of

becoming an ultimate place for “creative indie businesses”

Gitaround (U.S.)

Gdaround is not the first company to provide peer-to-peer car sharing services; however

by offering a trustworthy car sharing community as well as an easy system to connect

ca: owners and renters, they are becoming one of the most high profile peer-to-peer car

shiring services Their brand strategies also play an important role on helping Getaroundachieve this position The brand name reflects the company business The website’s

interface is simple, coherent and attractive The tone of voice using is positive, reliable

an¿ friendly The company’s color (blue green) is the color of trust and responsibility

theefore is consistent with company’s spirit All of those factors reflect the nature of

Gearound services which are convenient and reliable

Flioboard (U.S.)

Flipboard has been one of the best and most popular mobile and tablet applications in

recent years, with good reasons The company provides a unified, integrated news

reading service to users that can be personalize in almost infinite ways Users ofFlipboard can enjoy a brand that is simple and elegant but instantly recognizable Boththe name and the logo provide a clear idea of the company business Flipboard alsopronote its brand by providing special news topics curated by Flipboard staff from newschannels around the globe, creating a brand image consists of words such as “useful”,

“coavenient” and “knowledgable”.

4.2 Ageneral guideline for brand building and development in Startups

Although there have been various articles on the subject of creating brands in startups,

so far there haven’t been a systematic guideline for brand building and development in

this type of organization After reviewing literature on this matter, the author proposes a

two-phase process that would help startups to correctly identify their branding strategy,

and build a brand identity that correctly reflects their company values The two phases

are:

- Phase |: Identifying the brand strategy (Strategic Phase)

- Phase 2: Building the brand identity (Implementation Phase)

But first, the logic behind the choice and adaptations made to the brand building models

presented in the next section is explained below

4.2.1 Basis of the guideline: Principles of Branding in startups

In order to identify the correct models that can be applied and adapted to develop a brand strategy and brand identity for startups, main principles of branding in startups (as

opposed to branding in corporations in general) need to be established These principles (adapted from Guery, 2009 http://www.slideshare.net/safster/ibm-presentation-exit09)

are identified as:

- At the beginning, the brand personality and the startup personality are one.

The belief and values of the startup founder will usually shape its employees,investment opportunities and overall perception of the company This is different

from a large corporation where task force needs to be organize to discover and gain

internal consensus on company values

- Messaging and positioning should be at the core of everything the startup does

Many startups have great products or services but fail to articulate their key target

audiences Messaging and positioning should be communicated internally to

employees and externally to investors, the media, partners and other key

stakeholders.

- Understand the needs of customers and elicit their feedback Startups are often

founded when the founders identified an unknown or unmet customer needs It is

important for startups to clearly communicate that understanding and utilize

customer feedback from the beginning to gain market traction

- Manage the brand like a flagship product Usually, marketers are hired relatively

late in the start-up recruiting cycle (after business picks up) Moreover, many startupsare technology driven, however the majority of users have no interest in technology.Having someone whose key responsibility is managing the brand identity is key to

SUCCCSS.

With these principles in mind, the guideline to brand building and development in

startups is presented in the following sections of this paper

4.2.2 Phase 1 The brand strategy

4.2.2.1 Brand strategy in SMEs and its relation to startups

Despite the long list of brand building and management aspects that are presented in theliterature, one topic remain largely untouched: brand building and development in

startups However, there are existing literature that discusses a similar issue: brandbuilding and its relative importance in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) Theauthor suggests that these literature can be used as a basis for creating a generalguideline for brand building and management in startups It is not lightly that theauthor make this comparison between the two types of company Besides from size,

some of the brand-related features that are often shared by startups and SMEs include:

- First is the “survival mentality”: or, in other words, the needs to put sales before

the brands Since both SMEs and startups often face limited budget, they may havethe mindset that resources should be put into attracting new customers and drivingsales, instead of making new names and logos That, combined with the

significantly high cost that goes with a brand building/ rebranding project, often

prohibit or postpone any real efforts at brand building in startups and SMEs alike

Second is the lack of know-how: Startups and SMEs are usually lean in structure,

with only enough employees to handle the day-to-day operations While we canfind in large corporations dedicated brand management teams that create andmanage their establish identities, in SMEs and startups this is rarer As a result,branding efforts in these types of companies often require the help of branding

agency, which is both expensive and time-consuming.

- Third is extensive use of digital means: Because of the small budget, there are

limited solutions available for both SMEs and startups to use in brand management,

as well as marketing in general The most useful (and widely used) tools in these

companies are often digital-based, with most modern startups used online solutions

as part of their operations

- Fourth is brand management through non-traditional channels: Even when SMEs

and startups companies possess an adequately established brand identity, brand

management poses a considerable problems In order to promote the brand,

companies need to invest in marketing and advertising However, traditionalmarketing channels (i.e magazines, TV, newspapers, billboards, etc.) can incurtremendous costs; and that’s why SMEs and startups usually look for non-

traditional channels, such as word-of-mouth and social media

Wong and Merrilees (2005) proposed a simple model of branding strategy in SMEs,

based on the four key components discussed in the “Brand strategy” section of thispaper This model identified three branding “archetypes”: the Minimalist brandorientation, the Embryonic brand orientation, and Integrated brand orientation A shortdescription of the archetypes can be found below Figure 4

Figure 4-1 The 3 brand orientation archetypes

(Source Wong and Merrilees, 2005)

The three archetypes are described in details in Table 3 below:

however still

limited

The brand is a Good

more important understanding of

and active part of the competitive

Branding vision

Survivaloriented, nobranding

Long-term

brandingvision

Brandbarrier

High brandbarrier

Medium

brandbarrier

Low brandbarrier

the marketing advantage of the

strategy Branding firm and overall has a greaterrole distinctiveness

in the marketing compared to

mix competitors

Table 4-3 Summary of the three archetypes(Adapted from Wong & Merrilees, 2005)

According to this model, if minimalist brand orientation firms can progress to

embryonic brand orientation, its brand-marketing performance will improve In the

same way, embryonic brand-oriented firms can improve brand-marketing performance

if they advance to an integrated orientation level Therefore, Figure 4 can be a tool tothe successfulness of brand-marketing performance

Wong and Merrilees also proposed a broader brand strategy model, which describes

the 3-stage process to improving brand-marketing performance At the beginning (the

first stage), brand barrier is a challenge for SMEs to invest in building thedistinctiveness of the brand The next stage of the model shows that brand barrier and

brand distinctiveness act as antecedents of brand orientation The distinctivenessprovided to customers is instilled in the brand and branding becomes the primary forcefor the business The final stage of the model posits that brand orientation and brand

distinctiveness act as antecedents to brand-marketing performance This model is

shown graphically in Figure 5 below

Figure 4-2 Brand-driven approach to brand marketing strategy

(From Wong & Merrilees, 2005)

How, then, is the models above related to brand strategy in startups?

- Firstly, because the four components proposed by Wong and Merrilees are not

exclusively applicable to SMEs, but are general elements of the brand strategy, it

can be argued that these four components can be used for startups as well.

- Secondly, because most start-up founders are not marketing or branding expert but

an expert in their own field e.g IT or engineering, many startups were establishedwithout proper understanding of their branding and marketing in general (MarkEvans Tech, 2013) As the startup grows, its focus gradually changes from survival

to creating a strong position for itself in the market With that focus in mind,

branding becomes an important tool for the startup, and receive more attention as well as investment In that case, we can say that the startup has grew from a Minimalist Brand Orientation company to an Embryonic Brand Orientation.

Reasoning along similar lines, the author suggests that most startups can also becategorized into the Minimalist, Embryonic and Integrated Brand Orientationarchetypes Some case studies of startups in Vietnam and their level of brand

orientation are shown below It must be noted that in the same way as SMEs, while

startups could grow from one level of brand orientation to the next, some startups

can start at the Embryonic or even Integrated Brand Orientation level

4.2.2.2 Brand strategy in Startups

Based on Wong and Merrilees’ model, the author suggest a simple model for

categorizing startups based on their level of Brand Orientation The model is based on

three main criteria:

- Scope of marketing and branding activities:

What kinds of marketing activities are there, if they exist at all?

Does the company have a marketing strategy?

What kinds of promotional tools are utilized?

Is there a concerted effort to use the company brand?

Is marketing and branding a formal or informal activities?

Are marketing and branding considered crucial to the company’s operations?

- Level of brand distinctiveness

How many distinct branding elements does the company have?

Is there a brand guideline? Is there concerted effort to follow the brand guideline?Does the company know its distinctive features and try to communicate thesefeatures in its marketing activities?

Does the company invest in developing its brand distinctiveness?

- Level of brand-marketing performance

Is the impact of branding activities measured, and if so based on which criteria?

What is the level of brand awareness?

Is the brand identity a representation of the company values and distinctiveness?

The three Brand Orientation Archetypes are then categorized as

Scope of Brand Brand-marketing

Marketing and Distinctiveness performance

Branding

Activities

Minimalist Brand | Few marketing The only brand The impact of

Orientation activities, mostly identity marketing is not

Startup based on informal | components measured

channels include company

Level of brandname and logo

Marketing are awareness is low

considered costs There is no brand

The brand identityrather than guideline

; doesn’t representimportant part of

The company may | company values

operations

know its distinctive

No awareness of strengths butbranding and its cannot translate it

effects to a brand identity.

Embryonic Brand | More marketing There is clearer The impact of

Orientation activities, some are | brand identity with | marketing is

logo, name, color, measured throughStartup formal There is a

financial means,simple marketing typography, etc

strategy the impact of

There isn’t a formal

branding is notThere is effort to brand guideline but

measuredput the company simple rules to

brand “out there”, | follow

however the brand

tools are utilized.

The company brand

is used consistently

in every activities

The brand identity

is comprehensive,clear and distinct

There is a strictbrand guideline that

is followed at all

time

The company

invest resourcesinto building branddistinctiveness

The impact of

marketing andbrand is measuredthrough many

a Minimalist Startups

Keewi (Vietnam)

Keew/i is a start-up service that aim to provide centralized event management tools The

company also provide a mobile applications to help people easily find and connect with

each other when participating in any events Although the “Keewi” name is gaining

some awareness due to its participation in events such as Startup Weekend, the brandidentity is not distinct or memorable in any way with its generic color theme,

inconsistent typography and design choice, and mixed personality The name “Keewi”has an obscured origin, and doesn’t say anything about what the company does There

is no branding activities even on the homepage, with only an outdated blog and a short

and undescriptive “About Us” section

Younet (Vietnam)

Younet is one of the older and more successful startups in Vietnam The company aims

to provide Social Network and Social Media solutions for company both in and outside

Vietnam However, branding-wise the company is still in its minimalist stage The brandidentity is generic, and it doesn’t show any personality nor values of the company Thecompany makes up for its lack of branding activities with a long list of famed clients

and work history

b Embryonic Startups

VYE (Vietnam)

VYE is the first entrepreneurship movement in Vietnam that is by students and for

students VYE’s mission is described as “to inspire and empower passionate Vietnamese

youths to create successful entrepreneurial endeavors” To that end, VYE organizes both