Brand Management and Research Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Brand Management and Research - Coursework Example However, brand image becomes important both in the context of the marketer and the consumer (Holt, 2002) In the case of the laptop brands like Apple, HP and Acer, the brands are influential and potentially capable of shaping up the market trends. An evaluative approach would analyse the laptop brands not only on the basis of product quality but also on the basis of the very brand image. Apple is perhaps a very strong brand in the world of laptop market. It is an innovative and capable market leader. The brand image of Apple is based on a lot of anticipation from the customers. The Apple brand actually raises expectations. Apple has been such a strong brand that the corporation ventured to make the year 2003 the year of laptops. This was stated by Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, in his speech at the Macworld conference, San Francisco. Aptly, the brand image of Apple inspires â€Å"technolust† and creates a stir in the market with every new release in the array of its quality pr oducts (Albritton, 2003). From the perspective of critical reflection, evaluating the laptop brand from the customer’s point of view is worthy. Apple laptops would smoothly connect on the go. The Apple laptop is compact and elegantly designed. Using it in a meeting or conference is likely to create a good impression. It has a large Multi-Touch glass trackpad on its aluminium body. The built-in iSight video camera is a technological beauty (Reinhold, 2009). Moreover, customer experience tells that it has a large display and respectable battery life (Allbritton, 2003). Overall, the brand image of Apple is innovative and adventurous. HP, on the other hand, is a brand that has an influential image as an organisation. It has a worldwide presence and a strong customer relationship management system. HP offers great after-sales support as a strong and powerful organisation. The brand has top level support and formidable investment of resources. As a laptop brand, it is backed with a mechanism of design and redesign which is apt to adjust in the rapidly changing laptop markets. The group dynamics at HP are productive and help it to survive as an organisation in fierce competition (Zell, 1997). The brand image of HP is rather dependable and the company is always ready to assist its customers. It can be rightly called an international giant in the world of information technology. With a wide range of other electronic products, HP has a reliable brand image in the laptop markets too. The company has shown phenomenal growth throughout its history. It is relatively an older international brand that started its operations in the year 1938. The brand image of HP offers a blend of strong organisation, considerable business experience and competent customer support (Pham-Gia, 2009). Companies like BenQ and Acer are known for designing and making several ICT products for other companies. The brand image of Acer is thus not as impressive as that of Apple and HP. Still, Ac er is a known name in the laptop markets. It has established a respectable brand image and it is one of the largest brands of monitors and laptops in Europe (Martin, 2006). Acer, however, depends on low cost manufacturing bases to maintain the economy of its production lines. The company has outsourced many of its manufacturing processes to Eastern Asia. As a brand, it has to depend largely on the cost-effectiveness of its products (Yu, 2007). By means of relevant