Conducting a Brand Audit. Business & Marketing Research Paper

Slate Inc. Brand Audit
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Executive Summary
This report was commissioned by Slate Inc. to examine the brand decisions and branding performance vis-à-vis Casio and Roland, Slate’s major competitors in the music instrument manufacturing industry, and to provide recommendations on the best branding strategies. The research focuses on specific branding elements of both companies, namely; brand personality, image, identity, differentiation, positioning, communication, loyalty, and equity. Through these elements, it is revealed that Roland has better branding strategies than Casio, especially in terms of brand identity, communication, and differentiation. Also, the audit reveals that Casio has been lagging on innovation, at least when compared to Roland. This is because Casio has mostly depended on its history as an early innovator, but has since been overtaken by other companies, such as Roland. Further, Casio has not been utilizing social media platforms as much as Roland and this has given Roland an edge because it has been able to enhance consumer engagement. Roland, thus, appears to be making better branding decisions than Casio. Both companies form a very strong case study as they point out what Slate Inc. should do and should not do in terms of making branding decisions.
This report recommends two branding strategies that Slate can adopt, based on how effective they have been on Roland’s brand. One, the use of social media platforms in predicting the market trends in the industry, which will enhance its brand. Two, enhancing customer engagement to strengthen Slate’s brand, especially by enhancing a two-way communication where customers can interact with Roland employees.
Slate Inc. Brand Audit
For millennia, music has inspired humans. For professionals and amateurs, music has redefined human experiences in numerous ways. With changing technology, apps are dominating the current music scene, but musical instruments are still a force in the music industry. For current purposes, music instrument manufacturers are of central interest. This is because whilst absorbing changes in the current music landscape, music instrument manufacturers still hold on to historical standards – and missions – to continue to make musical instruments and to survive. To better understand these manufacturers, an in-depth analysis of the current music instrument manufacturing industry is required. This will take the form of a brand audit for several reasons. First, audits usually identify the strengths and weaknesses of a given company rather than major industry players. Second, branding, as part of marketing efforts, is becoming increasingly important in current business practice. Third, brand audits offer a comparative way of analysis, whereby a company’s market positioning is well suited in the market compared to active and/or emerging competition. The central aim of this report is to offer a brand audit in order to situate Slate Inc., a music instrument manufacturing company, in the current market as opposed to select companies of choice operating in the same industry. This report, a brand audit commissioned by Slate Inc., aims to focus on a central question about company’s brand performance, positioning, branding efforts vis-à-vis Casio and Roland as major competitors in music instrument manufacturing market.
Casio: Branding in Context
For generations, Casio has been a household name. The iconic quality of the company's products has branded Casio in consumer minds for years. Essentially, Casio is a manufacturer of consumer electronics including, but not limited to, calculators, electronic dictionaries, and digital cameras and, of course, electronic music instruments (Bloomberg, n.d.). Casio’s operations span several continents and regions including North America, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia & Oceania (Casio, n.d). An early innovator, Casio has maintained a spirit of innovation as stated in company’s mission statement: “At Casio, we see it as our mission to invent new products that support human intellectual and creative activities, which will, in turn, drive social progress around the world (Casio 2016, p.4).” In electronic music instrument segment, Casio has product offerings including primarily keyboard instruments and apps such as Casiotone, Celviano Grand Hybrid, Celviano, Privia, Console Pianos, Stage Pianos, Workstation Keyboards, Lighted Keys, Portable Keyboards, Mini Keyboards, Music Arrangers, Apps (Casio, n.d.). The new product offerings are not, however, radically new and still fall into the keyboard segment. These include, for instance, CT-S200, CT-X800, and CT-X5000, and CT-X3000.
Given current product offerings, coupled with the company’s low-profile marketing and promotion efforts, several key remarks could be made about Casio’s brand performance:
Casio Personality - For years, Casio has been “associated with trust, warmth, and respect”. However, failing to come up with breakthrough products, Casio has become perceived as “less modern” and, as such, needed a revamp (B2B Marketing, 2005). 
Casio Image -This perception, as noted above, of Casio, has changed the company’s image gradually into one of incremental innovation, if at all – hardly acceptable in the current fast-paced business landscape.
Casio Identity- Casio’s corporate identity is characterized by the word CASIO as the brand name. This brand name also makes the company’s logo which appears in blue. Casio uses different taglines for different products. For instance, the tagline for CT-X5000 and CT-X3000 is “A world of incredible sound is now within reach (Casio, n.d.).” Casio has not yet established a catchphrase that would help consumers quickly identify the brand.
Casio’s brand name
Casio Differentiation- In an attempt to accentuate value, Casio introduced Digital Camera EX-FR10 (Casio 2015, p.10), perhaps as a means of last resort to reclaim “digital” as Casio’s exclusive domain of innovation. This innovation is what Casio is using to separate itself from competitors, especially at a time when people are using their phones to do most things. 
Casio Positioning- Casio has been known to many consumers as the pacesetter in providing electronic musical instruments. Over the years, it has continued to provide consumers with new innovative products, albeit through incremental innovation. For instance, it is the only brand that offers digital pianos that have high-resolution MIDI Velocity (Yahoo!, 2019). As a result, it has gained considerable respect from consumers over the years and they perceive it as a trendsetter in electronic music instruments innovation. 
Casio Communication- Given the company’s current corporate website design and channel offerings, Casio is barely effectively engaging music instrument consumers. However, Casio uses two main, non-traditional activities to influence customers and inform them of the company and its offering. It participates in international trade shows and uses the opportunity to share the latest information with consumers across the world (Casio, n.d.). Also, Casio uses experience-based events, such as the ones that promote the G-SHOCK brand, to create awareness about its brands. Such events allow consumers to fully experience their products. During such events, consumers can also provide feedback based on their experience with the product. 
Casio Loyalty- Once again, given the company’s current product lines, most conventional music instruments minimally upgraded, Casio has little chances, should current brand differentiation strategy persists, of maintaining a customer base. Casio’s customers’ loyalty, like other many companies’, depends on the relationship that Casio has with consumers. Over the years, the Casio brand has been seen as trustworthy by consumers. However, consumers do not always see it as contemporary (B2B Marketing, 2005). The lack of upgrades for its electronic music instruments is attributed to the company’s failure to focus on consumer benefits. This is also why consumers do not always consider Casio products as contemporary. Casio also allows users to customize their high-grade keyboards and digital pianos by adding rhythms, tones, and songs, among others (Casio Music Site, n.d.). According to Gibbons (2019), enhancing product customization is one way of building customer brand loyalty because every consumer’s needs are met. 
Casio Equity- Casio has been able to build strong brand equity through its logo. This is why even when considering changes in other areas such as brand positioning; the company has maintained its logo over the years (B2B Marketing, 2005). Also, in its electronic music instruments line, Casio has been able to build brand equity from Casiotone Smart Keyboards (Newswire, 2019). Thus, despite the fact that not many people know about Casio electronic music instruments, Casio still has some brand equity from music products. 
           The Casio market positioning, informed by the above discussion, can be said to be a precarious one, perhaps offering market opportunities which Slate should, as is discussed shortly, capture.
Roland: Branding in Context
This is a “new generation” music instrument company. “New generation” means a company operating under new music and business landscape defined more by constant innovation to achieve and sustain brand status and less by history. This is a particularly important point to make from the start since the current music industry, including music instrument manufacturing, is becoming more fragmented and increasingly defined by app experiences and less by physical devices to create melodies. Roland is a company that specializes in electronic musical instruments and electronic equipment and software by manufacturing, marketing, and importing/exporting such products (Roland, n.d.). Unlike, Casio, Roland’s innovation is informed less by relatively outdated concept on one breakthrough innovation at a time and more by attention to constant innovations that make all the difference. This sentiment, or market sensibility, is reflected in company’s slogan: (i) “Inspire the Enjoyment of Creativity,” (ii) “Be the BEST Rather Than the BIGGEST,” and (iii) “Cooperative Enthusiasm for All Stakeholders” (Roland, n.d.). The ranges of products offered by Roland are not, moreover, limited to conventional keyboard offerings. Instead, Roland attracts corporates and individuals with a rich portfolio including pianos, organs, synthesizers, keyboards, guitar & bass, drums & percussion, production, amplifiers, AIRA & DJ, Pro Audio, Pro Video and Accessories (Roland, n.d.). Of particular note are innovations, particularly synthesizers, including D-50 Synthesizer, E-20 Arranger, Juno-106 and TR-8S.
                       Given current product offerings, coupled with the company’s high-profile marketing and promotion efforts, several key remarks could be made about Ronald’s brand performance: 
Roland Personality -True, Roland is not a completely new market entrant, since the company’s foundation dates as far back as 1972 (Roland, n.d.). Given the current company’s design components, on the corporate website and across different communication channels including social media, Roland could be characterized as young, innovative, and daring. This is at an extreme compared to C...