The biscuits story ends here …

Discovering the world of biscuits and gaining many insights of this market, its competitors, its customers’ behavior as well as its ways of communicating and advertising with them helped us to learn a lot and to improve our knowledge both on this specific market but also on the branding process happening in it. Building and managing a brand in the biscuits market can be a long and difficult journey but when understanding it one can avoid many ambushes and obstacles and achieved in making a successful lovemark.

After getting an overall sight of the biscuits market and defining its major components and characteristics, we focused our attention on the competition and on the key success factors required to succeed in beating this very competition. We identified the key players and their strategies but we also learned about their strategic brand management. And that’s why we came up with a positioning map that highlighted the major aspects of the different brand formula and the various touchpoints for value creation of this market. 

Then we explored and went deeper into the motivations and emotions of the customers of biscuits in order to understand what truly drive them when they are purchasing biscuits. 

At that time, we discovered a famous cow and a quite interesting Vichy fabric. Indeed we began to learn more and more about the brands we chose: Michel & Augustin and Bonne Maman. We started to look at their products, their packaging and their communication strategies. We tried to leverage the knowledge of our branding courses and applied the concepts learned in class to our brands, leading us to the achievement of the customer-based brand equity pyramid of each of our brands and to the understanding of their overall branding strategy. 

Eventually managing this blog and learning all these concepts about branding and information about Bonne Maman and Michel & Augustin allowed us to dig deeper into our analysis of these brands.

Managing a brand in our globalized and ever-changing environment is quite a challenge and having these management tools is essential to give birth to a successful brand and to keep it alive and ensure its steady ongoing success!

Thank you for following and reading our articles!We really hope you had pleasure in it and now all we can do is wish you a merry little Christmas and a happy new year! (and a lot of Christmas biscuits, of course ;) !)

From:  Vanille, Madeleine, Framboise & Fraise.

Photo: 
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/christmasbiscuits_93733
- http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/p/keep-calm-and-eat-biscuits-19/

Brand communities

With the booming of digital marketing and social media, building brand communities has become a truly strategic tool for companies. In this article, we’ll first define the notion of brand community as well as the challenges it implies in terms of strategic brand management. Then, we’ll focus on Michel et Augustin and Bonne Maman examples, that are really different. 

According to Albert Muniz Jr. and Thomas C. O’Guinn (Brand community, Journal of Consumer Research, 2011) brand community is “a specialized, non-geographically bound community, based on a structured set of social relations among admirers of a brand”. Generally speaking, the concept is often used to talk about the customers, fans and advocates of a brand. The more the community is strong and loyal, the more it is likely to turn a small brand into a successful one. “The people out in the marketplace who embrace the values of the brands, as customers and/or purchase influencers, are the brand’s true owners” wrote ad agency Blade Creative Branding. 

Actually, brand communities have a great power, as they become promoters of the brands, but they are also groups that marketers are interested in as they reduce the costs of communication (by sharing their enthusiasm about the brand by word of mouth) and they provide potential new buyers by inviting their friends into the community. Moreover, brand communities are a way to add value to the customer experience as it gets people closer to the brand they love, it is hence really important to develop and feed the interest of the customers by providing them an animated and nice community.

Retrieved from How brand communities create value (HJ Schau, 2009)

Now that we have seen how important brand communities are, let’s focus on Michel et Augustin and Bonne Maman. 

Michel et Augustin really focuses on its customers and often tries to surprise them with new events and giveaways. A lot of communication is done through their official Facebook page, which totalizes 66,502 likes. They communicate about special events like the open-house days of la Bananeraie or their special meetings (the next “Boire une vache avec…” will be on January 13 with special guests Pierre Hermé and Charles Znaty). They often invite customers to taste their products or propose new recipes and the current special giveaway “Les 4 vaches en or” prize is a trip to La Réunion with the whole Michel et Augustin team to discover more about vanilla. The brand really wants to imply the customer and this objective can be seen through their close, friendly tone. 

Bonne Maman's brand community doesn’t really exist. Of course the brand has it fans but there is no official animated brand community. Even though Bonne Maman sometimes organizes events such as cooking workshops, the brand isn’t involved at all on social media and it doesn’t seem that it’s interested in developing its proper community. Some might think that the brand might want to keep the mystery and tradition that characterize it by keeping a certain distance with the customer but nowadays it’s primordial that brands get involved deeper with their customers to benefit from the advantages of the community…

By Vanille

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand_community
http://www.micheletaugustin.com/missionlareunion/programme/
Brand communities, marketing and media, DM Kalman (2009)
How brand communities create value, HJ Schau (2009)

Pictures:
http://newcarnetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/social-media-community-300x244.jpg
How brand communities create value, HJ Schau (2009)

Brand Awareness and Lovemarks !

To test the Brand Awareness of Bonne Maman and Michel et Augustin, we have created a questionnaire and have interrogated over 50 persons. The main goal of this questionnaire was to evaluate the brand recognition of those 2 brands and to figure out if they are considered as Lovemarks by the consumers. 

Top of mind

First of all, we asked the consumers to name 5 biscuits brands. We figured out that Bonne Maman and Michel et Augustin are not the “top of mind” brands. When people think about biscuits brands, they think about Lu, BN, Prince, Saint Michel and Delacre. 

Bonne Maman is more famous for its marmalades than for its biscuits. Michel et Augustin has been named by a few respondents but is not part of “top of mind”. 

To understand, we asked some questions regarding brand awareness. 

Brand Recognition: 

We talk about brand recognition when potential consumers are able to recognize and identify a brand. To test the brand recognition of the respondents, we asked them if they could identify a brand from modified images:

- Over 98% of the respondents recognized the brand Bonne Maman. 

- Whereas only 67% of them recognized the brand Michel et Augustin. 

The brand awareness of Bonne Maman is way better than the one of Michel et Augustin. Bonne Maman, is well-known for its marmalades and most part of consumers are able to recognize the famous red and white Vichy fabric. Moreover, Bonne Maman has been created in 1971 and is considered as traditional brand. 

On the other hand, Michel et Augustin is a young brand, created 9 years ago and still has to gain awareness. Even if the brand is well-known by the young generation, most part of the older generation (over 40 years old) has never heard about the brand. 

Lovemarkers 

We also wanted to know if the brands Bonne Maman and Michel et Augustin were considered as brands, commodities or as Lovemarks. The respondents had to rank some criteria on a scale from HOT to COLD, HOT being the best grade. The criteria were ranked on 2 categories, Respect and Love. 

To be a Lovemark, the brand has to achieve 41 points! 

Results:

- Bonne Maman is a Lovemark with 41 points! 

The brand has very good results in the categories Performance, Trust, Reputation, Sensuality and Intimacy. Indeed, Bonne Maman is perceived as a high quality brand. It is a reliable brand and consumers are never disappointed when they buy Bonne Maman products. 

- Michel et Augustin is a Commodity with 36 points! 

The brand has good grades in the categories Performance, Reputation and Sensuality. However, Michel et Augustin should try to improve its performance on the categories Trust and Mystery. This young brand still has to prove itself and to gain the trust of the consumers.

Sources: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1kAVBDRSsndPsZHgyrKHC1A67hCRNZUS1_tZyhjRBnzU/viewform

Author : Madeleine

BRANDS: ... Bonne Maman ! (Brands Value Assessment continues)

After assessing the Michel & Augustin brand, let's have a closer look on Bonne Maman and how it has developed its brand for it to be such a success nowadays ! Since 1971, Bonne Maman has tried hard to make its core business unique and attrative to a lot of consumers... and it has been amazingly done! But how has Bonne Maman achieved this?


Below is the customer-based brand equity pyramid applied to the brand Bonne Maman. Indeed, this is the results of analysing and establishing the brand awareness and the points-of-parity and points-of-difference of Bonne Maman, but also by looking deeply into this brand aspects and main characteristic.

Therefore, after analysing Bonne Maman brand's salience, performance and imagery but also feelings and judgments that customers can have about it and finally its salience (according to the customer-based brand equity pyramid from Keller), we can conclude that Bonne Maman has created a really strong customer base on which it can rely upon thanks to an effective marketing-mix but also to a continuous communication strategy that tries to deeply enhance and spread its values of tradition and authenticity and touch the feelings of its customers.

Offering high quality product is one key element of building a strong brand but it's not the only one. Bonne Maman has understood that and therefore has performed all along its existence both by delivering premium quality products and by focusing its strategy on emotional branding, mixing not only a strong brand personality but also emphasizing the affection side of its brand which really matters for its customers.

Sources: 
- http://www.marketing-made-simple.com/articles/brand-building.htm#.UofQDtJWySo
- http://www.tns-gallup.no/arch/_img/9082421.pdf
- http://www.bonne-maman.com/
- http://www.mariefrance.fr/cuisine/sos-chef/comment-faire-les-desserts-comme-bonne-maman-28278.html
- http://www.strategies.fr/actualites/marques/222482W/bonne-maman-met-ses-recettes-a-l-honneur.html

Photo: 
http://www.momes.net/recettes/recette-bonne-maman.html

 Author : Fraise

BRANDS: Brands Value Assessment - Michel & Augustin VS ...

Building a strong brand is no easy matter. It requires taking several steps in order to climb the "branding ladder". The brand manager needs to construct step by step, logically, his brand in order for this one to be unshakeable! We cannot take shortcuts when it comes to lead a brand to success!

Therefore in this article, through the customer-based brand equity pyramid, I had examined the several characteristics that are inherent to Michel&Augustin and the different steps that they took in order to strengthen their brand to finally reach what they have today : a brand that enjoys a fast-growing niche community which is spreading the words about their loving brand!



Below, here is the customer-based brand equity pyramid applied to the brand Michel&Augustin :

This pyramid is based on the analysis made on the POP and POD of Michel & Augustin but also on the brand awareness analysis we realized.

So Michel&Augustin is currently enjoying a strong and great reputation among its customers whose number tends to grow exponentially. This is the result of a precious recipe that mixes up creativity, fun, sense of quality and customer relationship !

Sources :
- Keller K., Brand Planning (2009), retrieved from Shoulder of Giants, www.SOGiants.com
- http://www.micheletaugustin.com/
- https://www.facebook.com/MichelEtAugustin
- http://www.liberation.fr/evenements-libe/2013/04/02/michel-et-augustin-le-bonheur-est-dans-la-communication_893160
- http://www.entreprises-et-decideurs.fr/Michel-et-Augustin-une-marque-des-ambitions_a197.html
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AL0o2tSephQ#t=250

Photo:
http://www.lautremedia.com/medias-sociaux/facebook/michel-et-augustin-utilisation-attractive-reseaux-sociaux/

Author : Fraise

Brand Positioning : POD and POP of Bonne Maman and Michel&Augustin

After seeing what are the different strategies developed by Bonne Maman and Michel & Augustin, we can now discuss and establish their points of difference and their points of parity. But first, how can we define these two concepts?
When it comes to brand positioning, the marketer in charge of the brand needs to establish clear and unique brand associations in the minds of consumers. Indeed, it is essential for a brand to have an end positioning that has both points-of-parity (POP) and points-of-difference (POD) in order to build a powerful brand that will outpace its competitors and therefore capture the consumer’s attention.

Moreover:
“Points of difference are strong, favorable, unique brand associations that drive customers’ behavior; points of parity are those associations where the brand ‘breaks even’ with competitors and negates their intended points of difference.” (Webster and Keller, “A Roadmap for Branding,” p. 390.)
Therefore a brand needs both to differentiate from its competitor and to abide by the main aspects that are necessary in one market. 

Now, what about the points-of-parity and points-of-difference of both Bonne Maman and Michel & Augustin? 

Points-of-parity:

• Premium quality products 
• Natural ingredients 
• The prices are almost the same ==> high prices
• Large range of products available 
• Childhood recall 
• Reliable customer services 
• International presence

Points-of difference:

- Michel & Augustin: 

• Focus on a funny and innovative value proposition 
• Strong social connection with their customers 
• Cow logo and corporate values that prevails in their communication 

- Bonne Maman:

• Focus on a value proposition that foster traditional know-how and authenticity 
• Motherly tenderness aspect and family gathering that prevails in their advertising campaigns 
• Traditional advertising campaigns (TV, radio, streetmarketing, …) 
• Vichy Fabric 

As a result, we can conclude that Bonne Maman and Michel & Augustin have both clearly implemented a strong and differentiated brand strategy that relies on unique brand associations. Indeed each of these brands evokes different thoughts, feelings, perceptions, images to the customer. But their positioning relies also upon on various points-of-parity as you can see above. 

This article will help us understand how Michel & Augustin as well as Bonne Maman has built their brand and completed each step of the customer-based brand equity that we will describe in the next two articles. 

Author : Fraise

Photo: 
-http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2012/02/brand-positioning-elements-defined.html#.UqM5kdLuKSo

Sources: 
- http://www.segmentationstudyguide.com/understanding-perceptual-maps/points-of-difference-pod/ 
- Webster and Keller, “A Roadmap for Branding,” p. 390.
- http://www.micheletaugustin.com/ 
- http://www.bonnemaman.ch/fr/

BRANDS: Bonne Maman's products strategy

In order to better understand the Bonne Maman's strategic brand management, we first have to describe its offer and understand how Bonne Maman differentiates itself on the biscuits maket.

Bonne Maman's biscuits :

The name of the brand :

The name "Bonne Maman" conjures up so many happy childhood memories and the motherly tenderness.

Ingredients :

All Bonne Maman's products are made without preservatives or artificial colors and with fresh, traditional and premium ingredients. This really is the strength of this brand as most of biscuits brands use artificial products in their recipes. 

Packaging : 

The Bonne Maman's packaging has not change a lot since the brand creation.

Even if the brand is distributed in large retailers, Bonne Maman has kept its authenticity thanks to the packaging. Indeed, the famous Vichy fabric is the brand's symbol and it reminds us the homemade marmalade that we used to eat when we were children. Today, Bonne Maman uses this vichy visual for all its products.

The names of the products look like they have been hand-written in an old-fashion way. On each packaging, there is a picture of the product with natural and fresh ingredients that have been used to produce it (fresh butter, fresh raspberries…).

All the elements on the Bonne Maman packaging has been chosen to remind us our childhood and that the products are made with the best ingredients, in a traditional way. 

By Madeleine