Achieving Brand Power: Bean Pole of Samsung

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국마케팅과학회
· 수록지 정보 : Journal of Global Fashion Marketing / 1권 / 1호 / 61 ~ 70페이지
· 저자명 : Eun Young Kim, 고은주

초록

Along with continuous increases in the globalization ofmarket, today’s business is challenged by a maturing domesticretail environment and an aging consumer market. Given thisatmosphere in Korean fashion market, one of critical issues tosurvival for companies is a strong “brand power” with brandimage (identity) and its strategic marketing Strong brands areviewed to differentiate themselves from unknown brands,resulting in favorable brand images that mirror the brand’sidentity.
As exploratory approach, this study identifies a strategicbusiness focus on achieving brand power and provides aninsight into developing effective brand positioning and fashionmarketing strategy toward global markets. By focusing on aKorean fashion brand “Bean Pole”, objectives of this study areto profile the Cheil Industry in Samsung Group, define brandidentity of the Bean Pole, and explore critical factors ofstrategic brand management.
Korea’s economy ranks among the top 10 in the world, andits consumers have long been familiar with Western culturesthrough travel abroad and mass communications. Now, theKorean fashion marketplace is characterized by two marketniches; (a) primarily domestically-produced, inexpensive apparellines and (b) high-end collections dominated by designerbrands imported mostly from the U.S. and Europe.
More recently, apparel retail industry has shown strong ratesof growth in South Korea, increasing its attractiveness to newentrants from foreign retailers. While some retailers sellingapparel are highly diverse, many retailers still retain a strongemphasis on clothing, which intensifies rivalry.
Cheil Industries is an affiliate of the Samsung Group,founded in 1954, as an initiative company with force in thedevelopment of textile industry, Korea. Today, the companyhas established a worldwide reputation for high quality andvalue in the three aspects: (a) leadership of electronic materialin the IT area, (b) creating high profit by business structure ofchemicals, and (c) gaining competitive fashion brand power.
Currently, the Cheil Industry became a leading fashion firmwith dominant brand power by launching various brands indomestic as well as foreign markets.
As a traditional casual brand, “Bean Pole” launched in 1989 is currently expanding to family brands with different productlines. In 2005, the company had annual sales of $950millionfor fashion business. “Bean Pole” is the core fashion brand ofthe Cheil Industries, contributing 31% ($290million) of totalsales in the fashion division in 2005. Now, the Bean Pole isnumber 1 brand in the retail venue of casual wear andchildren wear. Obviously, Bean Pole plays an important role asthe best brand in achieving powerful brand asset of CheilIndustries’ fashion brands in Korea.
This case study discusses Bean Pole from two aspects. Thefirst thing is building brand salience. For fashion products,brand salience may be strongly related to brand image (orconcept) including fashion image and style. The second thingis how to do strategic brand management. Strategic brandmanagement involves the design and implementation ofmarketing programs and activities to build, measure, andmanage brand equity.
This study provides an insight into marketers and researchersto develop devise strategic brand management in the area ofhigh-end fashion brand and underscore the inherent need forfurther, in-depth empirical research in the brand equity theory.
A basic observation exemplify the brand identity of Bean Poleand its strategic brand management for sustaining strong brandequity in three aspects: brand extension, image positioning, andmarketing mixes. In case of Bean Pole, success of marketingstrategy for brand management heavily relies on its prestigeimage with high quality, establishing the brand equity. Thebrand equity can be leverage of brand extension entering intovariety of new product categories within a same category ofapparel. Especially, masstige brand positioning is critical tosuccess of lifestyle brand extension for Bean Pole, which mayhave synergy effect on achieving strong brand value in bothcore brand and its extension.
A strategic brand managing effort of Bean Pole can helpcompanies establish brand equity. Fashion firms that are ableto have a strong relationship with their customer should real ahost of value, such as salient brand identity, premium brandprice, and efficient marketing programs. Such understandingBean Pole’s business focus allow marketers or retailers toentry into global brand extensions.

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