Brand Essence Wheel and It’s Application to HTC Desire 600

HTC Corporation is a global smartphone designer and manufacturer based in Taiwan and the company has generated the revenues of NT$289 billion in 2012 with consolidated operating margin at 6.51% (Annual Report, 2012).

Brand essence represents the core of the company and it is impacted by the following elements that constitute brand essance wheel:

• Attributes of HTC brand in general relate to thin, candy bar form of smartphones with large displays and these attributes have been applied to HTC Desire 600 model as well.

• Benefits offered by HTC Desire 600 include using certain functionalities of a computer on a mobile phone, whereas on emotional level, these benefits also include sense of being cool, trendy and productive.

• Consumer values associated with HTC Desire 600 relates it the price aspects of the product. Specifically, while product benefits discussed above are offered by other companies as well such as Apple, Samsung, and Google, cheaper price of HTC Desire 600 compared to many other similar products is perceived to be as a valuable point by consumers.

• Brand personality relates to a set of human characteristics that can be applied to brands. Components of brand personality include sincerity, excitement, competence, ruggedness and sophistication (Franzen and Moriarty, 2009). According to this categorisation, HTC brand personality can be classified as excitement, because it integrates the elements of cool, youth and fun.

Brand Essence Wheel

HTC Desire 600 benefits and value as explained above reflects changes in consumer needs and wants in a direct manner. In other words, intensive levels of competition in smartphone industry have increased the levels of customer expectations, needs and wants in relation to smartphones. HTC Desire 600 addresses this change by integrating most of the latest developments in smartphone technology in the product and offering the product for a competitive price.

References

Annual Report (2012) HTC