Executive summary

In the present day highly competitive business scenarios companies across the globe strive really hard to create business impact and mark in international markets. Rapid change in technological and business transformations occurring across the world have drastically changed the internal and external business operations of the organizations. Today companies are keener about their image and recognition in the markets as brighter image makes them sustainable and long lasting in competitive markets. Here in the present case the report deals with concept of branding and its significance in the present day competitive business scenarios. Three major market giants namely ODEON cinemas, Cine World and Vue cinemas of UK’s entertainment industry have been analyzed and evaluated their brand position, image and brand effectiveness. Based on this analysis and evaluation the brand image and position of these companies are compared in order to find the effectives of each individual brand in UK entertainment market. The report successfully evaluates the position and identifies how well each individual brand is connected to the customers. It also concentrates on customer response for better evaluation and understanding of these brands. All the available resources are used to find required material and information in order to prepare this report for better analysis and understanding.

Introduction:

“Brand is a name, term, sign, symbol or design or a combination of them, intended to define the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors”. Many of the earlier studies have successfully established the fact the branding has always helped the organizations to keep ahead in competitive markets. Companies believe that building the branding is right strategy to compete efficiently and effectively in present global market. Organizations across the globe strive hard and invest enormously in the process of building brand image which in turn gives the companies an edge for their products and services in national and international markets. Today companies work really hard and carry continuous research in building unbeatable brands and their sustenance in competitive markets. A stronger brand always fetches organizations better business prospects and keeps them a head in competition. Companies gain competitive advantage and sustain for longer time in the market with well build brand image. Today many companies such as BMW, TOYOTA and MERCEDEZ BENZ have tremendous brand following in global market. These organizations succeeded in building enormous brand image and their position is unbeatable which made them world’s most influencing market giants in automobile industry. Today companies concentrate on building brand image irrespective of their sectors or core businesses. Organizations from different sectors such as food, textile, automobiles, entertainment and banking are involving actively in building or enhancing their brand image. It is necessary that companies continuously monitor and evaluate their brand position and take necessary actions to enhance their brand image in competitive markets for sustenance and better business prospects.

Here in the present case three most influencing organizations of United Kingdom’s entertainment industry have been chosen for analyzing and evaluation their brand image and position in the market. Reports also evaluate and identify how intensive each of these brands are and how well each individual organization is connected to customers.

Many business factors influences companies to build brand image. Building a brand identity in the market involves various factors such as

Advertisement: advertisement is considered to be most influencing and effective tool used in building brands. It helps the companies in building unbeatable brand image for their products and services and also involves actively in upgrading brand in to well known in the market. Advertisement makes use of various channels and creates an impression in customer minds which in turn gives long lasting sustainability and customer retention. Today the well known brands such as Coca-Cola still invests huge amounts in advertisements as it helps the company in gaining competitive advantage in competitive markets.

Quality of Products: Quality plays vital role in building brand image and brand positioning, despite of extensive advertisement campaigns companies fail to make an impression in customer mind with their products or services due to lack of quality in products/services. It is necessary that companies take extensive research for product/service development. It is the quality which makes customers to stick to particular brand for longer time.

Associated services after sales: In present business trends service after sales is playing a vital role in the market. Companies need to stand behind their product and ensure optimized performance from the product or services sold to customers. Better brand image can be created with the services which are associated during and after sale. After sale service fetches the company enhanced brand image along with repetitive business. Brand remains in customer minds longer with these services which normally achieved by extensive advertisement campaigns involved huge investments. Brand increases its value through customer satisfaction which includes increasing product/service value which is very much necessary in the present day competitive business scenarios.

Brand image can be created effectively with the involvement of key elements such as Logo, Uniqueness, Slogan and customer satisfaction. Here in the present case uniqueness and customer satisfaction plays vital role in building better brand image as the organizations are related to entertainment sector.

Odeon cinemas and Branding:

Odeon cinemas have been enjoying a prominent position in entertainment industry of United Kingdom since decades. It is considered to be one among the largest cinema chains in United Kingdom. It has been entertaining the UK audiences over years and it has captured cinema market which entertains more people when compared to other market players in UK’s entertainment industry. One third of the tickets sold in UK are from Odeon Cinemas which establish the fact that Odeon Cinemas is key influencing cinema chain in the market. Odeon cinemas was founded by Oscar Deutsch in 1930 which was later acquired by J Arthur Rank 1941 who was fond of film distribution and production. The Rank organizations lead Odeon cinemas for further 58 years.

Brand Slogan: Odeon Cinemas- Fanatical about Film

Brand Image:

In the year 1998 Odeon cinemas has undergone extensive re-branding campaign which made Odeon cinemas tremendously strong brand in United Kingdom market. The Re-branding campaign has further reinforced the existing the brand image which was later evolved as a market leader in UK’s cinema industry. With the enhanced brand image and stable growth rate Odeon cinemas succeeded in introducing “Fanatical about Film” to the UK cinema-goer which created a revolution and UK audiences have enjoyed the enhanced services. The Odeon Leicester square was upgraded with 3 million pounds as a part of refurbishment and re-branding campaign. Later on 21st February 2000 newly re-branded Odeon was acquired by Cinven from ABC Cinema chain and Odeon has become a part of ABC cinema chain. The newly united cinema chain was re-branded which has brought continuous positive growth to Odeon cinemas for next two years.

Brand position: Odeon is well known and occupied position in world’s most influencing cinema chains and it is considered to be largest in Europe. Odeon under Terra group has undergone considerable changes and the Terra group successfully transformed 350 screens in to 3D during the first quarter of the financial year 2010.

Brand Effectiveness:

More recently the Odeon cinema was acquired by Terra firm which is a private equity firm on September 2004 and also it also acquired United cinema International in October 2004, Now Odeon cinema group is looking ahead to enhance their market share and expecting positive growth which ensures to continue its unique position in cinema industry of United Kingdom. Odeon cinema has been unique in its style and always gave tough competition to other key market players of United Kingdom Cinema industry. They have upgraded themselves according to changing tastes and interests of UK’s audiences and evolved as unbeatable market player in entertainment sector. Odeon cinemas have successfully positioned the brand name at top level which has brought continuous positive growth over years.

Cine world and Branding:

Brand slogan: Leading the way in digital and 3D cinema

Brand position:

Cine world has grown as one of the most powerful brand since its inception in the year 1995 by Stephen Wiener. Today a Cine world cinema is to be one of leading cinema groups in United Kingdom cinema market. Under cine world brand first multiplex cinema was opened in Stevenage. Since its inception cine world has recorded positive growth in continuous years and during 199-2004 cine world succeeded in adding 34 more multiplex cinemas to the existing cinemas under cine world brand. Later in Dec 2004 42 cinemas operating under UGC cinema group were acquired by cine world group which was merging of business with cine-UK business belonging to cine world brand.

Brand Image:

Brand image can be defined as the impression created in consumer mind over a period of time by continuous advertisements and campaigns. Today companies invest huge amounts for advertisements and campaigns. Companies succeed in creating stronger brand image by being loyal to their esteemed customers. Companies will be whole responsible to satisfy the loyal customers by giving services/products which are needed by them. Cine world cinemas have always maintained their brand value by giving the required services to their loyal customer in United Kingdom. “Digital cinema media” on screen advertising business started by cineworld had been making considerable progress in the recent years.

Brand effectiveness:

Brand effectiveness can be defined as the extent to which the brand succeeded in creating a mark with their product or services in the market. A particular brand is said to be effective only when they create a competitive edge to their product or services. Brand will be effective only when company maintain distinctiveness and differentiation. Cine world unlimited card membership has been performing really well in the recent years. It has shown 8% higher growth rate when compared to its previous year. The subscriber base of cineworld has grown tremendously in the recent years and today it is entertaining 2, 45,000 people with their effective and efficient services. The services offered by cineworld are considered to be unique and it has offer excellent value to cine-goers and also it has extensively encouraged people for visiting off-peak times. Cineworld consumer website has recorded over 1 million hits per week which makes cineworld one among the 50 most visited websites of United Kingdom. Cineworld participation in Tesco club card programme has shown tremendous response and it has continuously expanded during first two quarters of financial year 2010.

Vue entertainment and Brand Image:

Brand slogan:

Vision: “To be the 1st choice for cinema entertainment”

Mission: “To deliver an unrivalled cinema experience with outstanding service provided by friendly and helpful people”

A Vue entertainment has grown rapidly and it is one of the most influencing key market players in United Kingdom. It is one of the leading multiplex operators and cinema developers in the market. Being one among the most influencing cinema brands along other two entertainment market giants such as Odeon cinemas and cineworld cinemas Vue entertainment has acquired considerable market share and occupied place in among top three entertainment organizations. Vue Brand was started in the year 2003 and the company is successfully entertaining UK audiences since then with their outstanding services in the market. Vue succeeded in building immense brand image in short span and entertained over 37 million people since its inception which clearly shows that the brand has made tremendous growth in short period. Vue can be considered to be unique in offering services to UK and Ireland audiences and it has 95% of its seats in stadium seated screens which is considered to be most modern state-of-the-art multiplex cinema circuit located in United Kingdom. It has the highest number of stadium seated screens when compared to other key market players such as Odeon and Cineworld cinemas. Vue brand has redefined the standards of comfort by introducing premium seating facility under which over 12000 VIP seats were provided to the audiences and it made the company a step ahead in UK’s entertainment market. Being one among the well established brands of UK’s cinema sector Vue has enhanced its brand image by involving in to fifteen significant acquisitions such as Hoyts, Village Roadshow, Ster Century and Cinemark.

Brand position:

“Positioning is the art of creating a brand that can persuade and realistically demonstrate its relevance to a customer’s daily life to become his or her regular choice”. According to Dettore “Positioning is everything”, he explains that proper positioning of brand helps the organization to identify and classify the audience based on their wants, needs and expectations. These identified drivers can be used for better development of products and services which fits the needs of audiences. Companies gain competitive advantage to their product and services in competitive markets with proper positioning of brands. Here in the present case Vue entertainment has successfully positioned their brands by understanding the ever changing tastes and interests of UK’s entertainment sector. Vue entertainment has been considered to be most active developer of new cinemas in UK’s entertainment sector. Recently Vue has developed Vue Camberley (Nov 2008), Vue Bury -The Rock (Jul 2010), Vue Newbury (Nov 2009), Vue Westfield (Feb 2010) and Eastleigh (Apr 2009).

Brand Effectiveness:

Vue has always given best services to UK audiences and maintained distinctiveness and differentiation in services delivered to the customers. Under the control of strong and highly experienced management Vue has introduced many new services to its customers and it has been a step ahead in understanding and satisfying the ever changing need and requirements of audiences. Vue has been providing a leading cinema experience to UK audience with continuous growth range of innovative and offers involved price differentiation along with sophisticated technologies and continuous varying experimental benefits.

Vue stands out of the crowd by following well defined principles and culture which are characterized as follows:

Customer focused: Vue consider customer as prime factor and always tries to put the customer first

Innovative: Vue has always been a head in bringing new ideas which helps them in being a step ahead in competitive entertainment market.

Challenging: Vue always take active part in handling the challenges by redefining and introducing latest technologies to satisfy the audiences.

Demanding: Vue has always maintained standards in services offered to customers.

Analytical: Decisions made by Vue management have always been informed which made the company to run aisle free business operations.

Supportive: always believed in sharing ideas and getting feedback which helped the company in continuous research for service enhancements.

Vue involve people belonging to different sectors of the organization and it creates fun working environment. It works with passion and confidence in serving the customers.

Comparison of three Brands:

Here in the present case the report successfully evaluated and analyzed the individual brand image, brand positioning and brand effectiveness of three organizations. Based on findings and analysis all the three organizations occupied top three positions in UK’s entertainment industry. Odeon cinemas has successfully built unbeatable brand image in UK and Ireland. Terra firm is continuously investing in Odeon brand as cinema business as remained good value in entertainment industry. Odeon cinemas along with UCI group is rapidly spreading across Europe, today it evolved as number one operator in UK, Italy and Spain, simultaneously it is operating successfully in four other European markets. Whereas on the other hand Cineworld group is evolving as most influential player and increasing its market share in UK entertainment market. Though it is growing rapidly cineworld need to work on various other aspects such as film scheduling, technology advancement, screen advertisement revenue is falling gradually, need to take wise decisions while selecting locations, new and existing competitors are turning to be threat to cineworld, need to generate required capital to develop infrastructure in order to meet growing demand in UK market. Cineworld management has planned and implemented various business strategies to overcome all these uncertainties in the financial year 2010. Odeon being 60 years old organization in entertainment sector has more market share when compared to Cineworld and Vue cinemas. From the analysis carried on these three brands it can be observed that Odeon has built strong brand image, however in case of brand effectiveness all the three organizations are maintaining equal standards. Odeon has greater market share when compared to other two market players. Odeon and Vue cinemas are operating multiple locations across UK and Europe enhancing brand image continuously. In case of brand effectiveness Odeon cinemas is maintaining distinctiveness and differentiation by various promotional offers such as “film fan Tuesday”, which gives 25% on ticket for premiere card membership. It also has teen deals and super saver deals which shows that Odeon trying new things to grab more business.

Recommendations:

After the thorough analysis and evaluation of brand image, position and effectiveness of three brands namely Odeon cinemas, Cineworld and Vue cinemas. Though cineworld and Vue cinemas are operating their businesses at multiple locations the number places they are operation is less when compared to Odeon they need to look for more places to operate which an edge to the companies and increase the market share. Being an entertainment company’s cineworld and Vue cinemas need to enhance their service levels and work continuously for introducing new promotions which in turn generates more business. Classification of target market is necessary and advertising extensively gives enhanced brand image and keep informing the customers about the changes made in the service levels and new promotions. Cineworld and vue need to work on increasing on brand effectiveness by maintaining distinction and differentiation in services offered to the loyal and esteemed customers.