Ann Taylor Brand Analysis Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ann Taylor Brand Analysis - Term Paper Example The Ann Taylor brand was created in 1954 and today it has become a well established brand. According to Keller, Sternthal and Tybout, in case of established brands, managers must reassess their points of parity and points of difference from time to time. When customers think about Ann Taylor, they first consider the long term and the admirable market operations of the brand. In order to analyze the brand image of AT, a survey was conducted among 6 women professional from different age groups (between 30 and 39). From the survey responses, it is obvious that old brand image of Ann Taylor including poor fit, the traditional style, comes to customers’ mind when they think of AT despite the restructuring efforts of the company. All the five respondents said that they owned an Ann Taylor product. In addition, most of the participants said that they gave great emphasis on company’s reputation while choosing a clothing brand. The survey also indicated that poor quality and sty le are the main reasons why customers are reluctant to buy AT products. Misconceptions like ‘AT still follows a conventional business pattern’ also have adversely affected the brand’s reputation and thereby sales volume. Nowadays, AT deploys celebrities and initiates advertisement campaigns to change its brand image and associations so as to make consumers enlightened on particular product characteristics and quality. This advantage assists Ann Taylor to raise sales only on the strength of its brand image despite its product features. Although these brand-related or non-product related associations have to be emphasized, the company must make sure that such associations do not reduce the market demand of its products. In short, American women customers tend to choose Ann Taylor brand mainly because of the reputation the brand has in the US clothing market. Brand Elements Brand position, brand promise, brand personality, brand story, and brand associations are the important elements associated with a brand. Ann Taylor brand specifically works for addressing the clothing needs of middle class professional women. This brand equally serves the interests of every woman whether she is a trainee in a small firm or a top executive at a multinational corporation. High quality is the most important feature that the brand offers to its customers. The brand is well known for its repute across the New York market for more than a half century. The company’s long success history adds value to its brand credibility which in turn assists the brand to maintain customer loyalty. While analyzing the brand association, it seems that the Ann Taylor makes efficient use of its logos, packaging, and slogans. Ann Taylor’s Heidi Klum featured Holiday 2010 campaign attained great public attention and it assisted the company to change its brand image to some extent. However, Ann Taylor’s logo is not much recognized in the market and people do not e asily recognize AT products among other brands despite its long years’ service history. In short, these brand elements have reinforced the point of difference, which represents the outcomes of product differentiation. While analyzing