What are brands, and what are their functions in global marketing? How do brands develop their image, identity, and equity? Are global product and global brands the same?

What will be an ideal response?

A brand is a complex bundle of images and experiences in the consumer's mind. Brands perform two important functions. First, they represent a promise by a particular company about a particular product and secondly, brands enable customers to better organize their shopping experiences by helping them seek out and find a particular product. Customers integrate all their experiences of observing, using, or consuming a product with other aspects that they obtain from a variety of published and verbal information. Perceptions can be based on price, after-sale service, distribution, and a variety of other experiences. The sum of these impressions becomes a brand image which is actually a mental image of both the product as well as the company. Brand equity represents the total value that accrues to a product as a result of a company's cumulative investments in the marketing of the brand. Companies develop logos, distinctive packaging, and other communication devices to provide visual representations of their brands. A local product or local brand is one that has achieved success in a single national market. A global product meets the wants and needs of a global market. A true global product is offered in all world regions. A global brand has the same name and, in some instances, a similar image and positioning throughout the world. Thus, global products and global brands are different.